This event, held in the epicentre of the 'Lead Belt' in Nottingham City Centre (Nottingham Trent University), just gets bigger and better! Great competition games and scenery, superb trader stalls, interesting demo games, dedicated 'Perry' and 'Two Fat Lardies' rooms, a bring and buy stall etc etc.....what more could you want?!
We ran a Franco-Prussian demonstration game in which the Prussians eventually managed to eke out the narrowest of victories after suffering horrendous casualties.
In this blistering encounter, the Prussians secured a convincing win against their brave French opponents. In a race to secure control of a village, both sides had two infantry regiments, with accompanying artillery, although the Prussians benefited from larger battalions, a battalion of Jaegers and two regiments of cavalry, rather than one. They also could rely on the power of a number of 4pdr and 6pdr Krupp batteries.
The French reached the village first, but were unable to make much of a defensive position of it. The Prussian right flank emerged from the woods, but decided to retire back into the cover when they were raked with Chassepot and Mitrailleuse fire. On the Prussian left flank, the Cuirassiers managed to get the better of the French Chasseurs d'Afrique in a flanking manoeuvre.
In reality, the game was probably won in the centre where two well positioned Krupp batteries were able to decimate a number of exposed French line battalions and a battery of French artillery. The poor French weren't really able to make the most of their deadly Chassepot at longer ranges.
The Franco-Prussian War offers a lot of scenario opportunities and, with the differing troop type classifications, coupled with the respective advantages of the weapons carried, this provides the wargamer with lots to think about.....
This was a modest sized game set in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870. A French regiment with three battalions had to defend a hamlet and ridge line against a Brigade of 6 Prussian battalions. Both sides had supporting artillery. The primary objective was to test the club rules variant to ensure a relatively authentic battle and outcome.
The French held on stoically, but were eventually overrun by the advancing Prussians, who deployed in a combination of line and attack columns, with skirmish screen. Nevertheless, the heaps of Prussian dead at the end of the game, attested to the superiority of the Chassepot rifle.
With regards the rules, I think that the Prussian Krupp guns need to be improved to align with their prowess in the period.
