Franco Prussian War - Krupps Reign Supreme

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.....

Napoleonics - The Russians and Prussians in Alliance

In this moderately large game a force of Russians and Prussians took on the French. The Russian cavalry was successful on their left wing and the Prussian cavalry seemed to get the better of some confused cavalry melees in the centre. The Allied right flank never really engaged with the French left flank.

All in all, the game was a bit too large to complete in one evening, which is a shame as there was still some interesting fighting to be done. The Allies would have had to grapple with how to deal with the French grand battery in the centre and would have needed to have been much more aggressive with their infantry to have secured a result.

Rapid Fire! - A Scenario Available Online

Rapid Fire! games are one of the 'old dependables' of the club. Most of us know the rules, have quite a lot of vehicles and figures in 20mm and we can easily finish a game in an evening, with plenty of time for idle chit chat between turns.

In this scenario the Germans managed to secure a win with quite aggressive use of two Panthers, coupled with a gruesome display of effective flamethrower usage (at least 12 British infantry were incinerated by this terrible weapon). For the British, they just seemed to lack suitable AT to take on the Panthers effectively.

First Foray into Franco-Prussian

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.