Franco-Prussian War Campaign Ends.....With a Thump

The final game was "interesting".   "Odd" might be a better description.  The French had elected to fight on the same battlefield as in Game 3 (the campaign mechanism gave this battlefield as a choice, and they chose to fight again on the same ground).   The terrain was very full, with probably 40% of the table full of woods.  The Prussians had a huge advantage in initial deployment, but since the French won the actual deployment/placement rolls, the Prussian plan (to get as far up the hill as possible in the initial set up, as well as get on the French left flank) hit the windshield at 120 MPH with a giant splat.

The French were huddled on the hill in a formation best described as a giant blob, and stayed on that hill for the duration of the game, gleefully firing off round after round of Chassepot ammunition at the flailing Prussians.

The game was a disaster for the Prussians - they ended up losing by 16 points - a crushing loss.

The campaign ended after 4 games with 1 win for the Prussians, 3 for the French.   10 Campaign Points for the Prussians, 26 for the French.  At this rate, I'd say the French are eyeing the German border...

One item that was noticeable was that in all three losses, the Prussians made little if any use of their vastly superior artillery.

Some photos:

General Toby attempts to use the Force to levitate cookies off of the counter down to his location

Initial deployments.  Ick.  This game could have been played on a card table!

French cavalry pass the time on a nice, comfortable flank march

The French win no points for subtlety with their deployment

Rank after rank after rank of French

Prussian infantry enjoy a nice walk in the woods

French division moves off on an assault on a town

So - the campaign season is over, and I'm thinking of trying some WW2 stuff for the next game at the end of June.  I'm rebasing my stuff and working on a new WW2 rule "set" for the game.  I'm wanting to get to a set that fits multiple scales (unit could be a squad, platoon, company, battalion) with somewhat minimal changes that would allow players to play any scale of game that they wanted without learning an entirely new set of rules.  We'll see how that works out....

There and Back Again

We played the 3rd game of our FPW campaign season last night.  The previous two games had been split with the French winning game 2 and the Prussians winning game 1.  After 2 games, the victory points were Prussians 10, French 6.

The French had selected the battlefield with hopes of nullifying the Prussian Krupp advantage.  As it turned out, both armies completely deployed in the "open" end of the battlefield - as shown below.

My camera battery died before the game ended, so I only have a few shots of the game -

The battle turned into a bitterly contested fight for the Class III woods next to the town.  Terry (Prussian) and Greg R. (French) battled it out while Greg C. (Prussian) and Rodney/John (French) traded some long range fire on the river flank.

Divisional commander Budritzki looks at his map, trying to understand where all the French came from!

More and more of the French army poured into the Class III woods, eventually wrestling it away from the Prussians.

A fine Prussian regiment deploys to protect the army's right flank.

I apologize for the slightly blurred photos of French regiments deployed behind their hasty works.  This was taken to show the first use of hasty works in our campaign!   The French "dug in" on their right, and the Prussians elected to not get shot to pieces in a bloody assault.

A closely fought game, with no wide ranging maneuvers but a LOT of close range tactical decisions required.   When the Prussians ran out of Army Morale Points, the French had been battered down to only having 2 remaining!  When the Prussians failed their Army Morale test, the French had 4 Army Morale Points.

So - the campaign now stands at 10 VP's each.   We elected to continue the season to game 4 to have a season winner.  As it turned out, the new battlefield is exactly the same as this battlefield from game 3!  It will be fascinating to see how the armies deploy differently in the next game, having learned from game 3.

The campaign system continues to work well.   Just a few minutes after the game, and ready to roll for the next game.  Minimal paper work, no real time commitment - the BEST way to keep a campaign going.

So, there you are.  Battle 4 on the bloody battlefield of Battle 3.  There and Back Again!

FPW Game Map

The battlefield terrain is unusually "thick" for the upcoming battle - quite a bit of terrain, and a fair amount of difficult (III) woods.

The French are on the right side - the edge with the two tiered hill.

The game is tomorrow afternoon - it should be an interesting situation!

FPW Game

I've been a bad, bad, blogger.  I've been busy with various things, and something had to give.  In this case, it has been the blog.   We've had pretty regular game sessions, but my blogging hasn't kept pace. 

In fact, we're playing game 3 in a Franco-Prussian War campaign this Saturday.  So far, game honors are 1 for the Prussians (10VP), and 1 for the French (6 VP).

The last game was a French victory - a few photos follow below:

Prussian Commanders (left to right):  Greg C., Terry, Eric

French Commanders (left to right):  Ed, Greg R., John (Mumbasa)

So - we're on to game 3 of the campaign this Saturday.  I have a pretty robust campaign system that I've developed that seems to work well.   All I need to do is write it up and complete the card deck artwork, and it could be ready as a product.   The beauty of the system is that it doesn't take any substantial time to do, you resolve the process for the next game immediately after you finish the present game, and it creates ongoing battles and unit character.   I'm really happy with it.

On a final note, I've cracked the problem with Blogger.   Use Google Chrome!   No problems when using the "right" browser - no problem loading photos, etc.   So, with that irritation solved, I'll try to post more frequently.

Franco Prussian War Game - And a New Period Project!

We got together for a game last Saturday afternoon/evening to play a FPW game using Field of Battle, 2nd Edition.

French Command Team (Left to Right):  John, Bob, Chris

Prussian Command Team (Left to Right):  Ed (Advisor/Observer), Terry, Greg

Rather than a blow by blow game report, I'll instead do a quick summary....the Prussians mopped up the table with the French!   I think a couple of things (Krupp grand battery rule, ranges relative to unit frontages, French "special" cards) made the game practically impossible for the French to win.  However, they lost with style!  Both sides planned a "left hook" flank attack, but the Prussians got theirs in first, and combined with heavy artillery support from the hill (at the bottom of the photo below), they pummeled the French defending the town and center - effectively destroying the French will to fight (their Army Morale Points hit 0 when the Prussians still had something like 21 out of 24 original points!).

Some photos from the game:

As for the new period project - I'm painting English Civil War!   I'll post more about that project in my next post.....which hopefully won't appear with as much space between it as has happened between this post and my most recent previous post.....