WARGAMING THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR AT SEA
The interest in the Franco-Prussian War for a wargamer is in the possibilities not the actual actions. This period was the start of the transition from the wooden three deckers of Nelson to the steel dreadnoughts of Jellicoe. Ships of varying layouts and armament were to be found in the same fleet. Trying to get the best use out of such a heterogeneous squadron is the challenge of gaming this period.
The Gauloise Sinking
Unlike other naval periods, rules and ships are hard to find. The best source for ships in this period is Houston's Ships. The ships are 1/1100 scale, white metal. A much more limited range of ships is Triton's Transitional Steam range. Their are two sets of rules that cover this period, in particular, that are available. Mindgames', Age of Iron
Expansion Rules, is a simple rule set that abstracts out much of the detail. It is very good for large engagements with few players. Skytrex's The Devil at the Helm, covers the same period but with more detailed rules. It is much better for small engagements such as Bouvet vs Meteor. For the Franco-Prussian War it would also be very easy to adapt your favorite American Civil War naval rules to cover the period.
SCENARIOS FOR THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR
There are several small actions that can be gamed based on this war. The battle between Bouvet and Meteor can be refought. This scenario would benefit from using a very tactical set of rules since the ships are very simple. A more strategic game could involve searching for the raider Augusta. A larger game would involve the German ironclads against a French squadron.
One scenario that I hosted recently was a hypothetical encounter at the start of the war. The French Channel Squadron had found the Germans off of the Belgian coast. As listed earlier the French had Flandre, Gauloise, and Thetis; with Flandre as the flag. The Germans were Konig Wilhelm (flag), Kronprinz, Friedrich Karl, and Prinz Adalbert. Konig Wilhelm was only allowed to go up to 12 knots to reflect its foul bottom. Friedrich Karl could only make 10 knots safely, if the German player wanted to go faster there ws a change of losing the temporary screw.
Both players got a briefing that explained the situation. They were considered to have seen each other earlier and were able to start in any formation desired. One thing that made this battle different was that the victory conditions were not primarily military. The war was to be decided on land so the naval side of the war only matters with regard to how it affects domestic morale and foreign opinion. Victory was going to be judged by what kind of headline the battle would make in the world's newspapers.
The German player was also reminded that each of his ships was 20% of the main fleet. Loss of any one could only be accepted in exchange for a decisive victory. The loss of the flagship was totally unacceptable.
The French player was reminded that while he was outnumbered and to an extent outgunned at the moment, there were a lot more ships back in France. In this situation the loss of any or all of his ships was acceptable, if the German flotilla was heavily damaged.
The rules used were Age of Iron, Expansion by Leo Walsh. These rules are fairly abstract which makes it easy for one player to run several ships at the same time. The German commander had never seen the rules before, but had a good understanding of naval tactics in general. The French commander had used the rules fairly often.
The French squadron came on in a wedge which would allow them to quickly form line in any direction. The Germans came on with most of their ships in line astern with Konig Wilhelm leading. She was put in the lead since not only did she have the best armor but also the only pivoted gun, this would allow some fire during the approach. The Prinz Adalbert was to the east of the battleline. The Prussian player explained that he wanted to use Adalbert as a distraction or lure to split up the French. See Map 1 for this phase of battle.
Seeing the Prussian line coming at him the French commander formed line with Gauloise in the lead by bringing in the wings of the wedge. The Prussian player had to slow down the main battleline to allow the Prinz Adalbert to pull ahead and start its mission. Both fleets were closing at the maximum speed that would still allow them to stay together and were soon in long gunfire range.
In the rules long rage gunnery has a very low change to hit. Range, target speed, and turns made by both ships all lower the change to hit. Two ships that are moving fast and turning generally have no chance to hit each other except at very close range. After a hit is scored then penetration and damage is checked. Penetration depends on gun size and range. Guns are grouped into size classes Light, Medium, Heavy, and Primary. At long range heavy and primary guns are more likely to hit the deck of the ship rather than the armor and have a greater chance to do damage than otherwise.
Once both fleets got into range of each other the Prussian's decision to place Konig Wilhelm in the lead immediately paid off. The pivoted gun in the bow was able to fire on the lead French ship. The hit scored a critical damage result that stopped the Gauloise's engines and forced it to drift to a stop. This forced the French ships to turn to the east to avoid their crippled leader. At the same time the German line turned west to clear its broadsides. After this, the turn's fire was mostly ineffective, the French in particular had problems getting their broadsides lined up on the Germans.
Seeing the Prinz Adalbert alone the two mobile French ships went after her. This left the Gauloise unsupported, the Prussian commander sent the Konig Wilhelm to engage her at long range. Kronprinz and Friedrich Karl were sent between the two parts of the French flotilla. The only effective firing was between the Gauloise and the Konig. The French ship got several hits on the Prussian flagship but they all failed to harm the heavy armor. Konig's return fire only hit with its secondary guns and did not score any major damage. Map 2 covers the final phase of the battle.
This lackluster exchange of fire tried the German player's patience and he sent the Kronprinz in to point blank range to finish Gauloise off. At the same time the Prinz Adalbert began turing towards the east to bring itself back into the battle. The French player saw his best chance of a quick kill and attempted to ram her. In the Age of Iron rules movement is split up with one side moving half its turn then the other side does all movement and then the first side finishes movement.
This allows the first side, determined by a dice roll each turn, to respond to the other sides move. It also allows the second side its best change to ram since it makes all of its maneuvers at once. Once two models contact each other there is a chance of collision, this chance depends of a comparison of the two ships turning ability. The French sent their most maneuverable ship Thetis against the Adalbert. She was also the only French ship with a ram bow built onto her. A ship with a ram bow will take less damage from hitting another ship and do more damage to the target than a ship with a normal bow. Unfortunately for the French the Prinz Adalbert was the most maneuverable Prussian ship and the ram failed to contact. Thetis was going at 12 knots at the time and if it had contacted, Adalbert would undoubtedly have been sunk.
Kronprinz now exchanged broadsides with the drifting Gauloise. Between the long range fire on Konig Wilhelm and the point blank barrage from Kronprinz, Gauloise had no chance and was sunk. Her final broadside did knock Kronprinz out of the fight, with several guns dismounted and over half her hull destroyed. Meanwhile the other French ships had hurt Prinz Adalbert but not stopped her. They were having trouble hitting her because both sides were maneuvering to stay near the rest of the ships.
After seeing the Gauloise sunk the French commander turned and headed south. The Prussian player sent Kronprinz out of the way and started to bring Konig Wilhelm around to rejoin the rest of the fleet. While Adalbert continued turning away from the French ships to open the range she took her final hits which left her with only 8 out of 10 hull points remaining. Not realizing how close they were to sinking the Prinz Adalbert the French continued to depart at top speed. The German ships could not have caught up with the French and did not try and pursue.
The German player felt that he could probably stay at sea a little longer then put into port. He did not feel that he had won a tactical victory since the Kronprinz had been heavily damaged. Kronprinz was the ship in the Prussian fleet with the weakest armor and should not have been sent in to close. The French player agreed that he had been thrown off stride by the early disabling of one of his ships. He forgot that he was less concerned with preserving his force than hurting the Germans. Both players had a good time and are ready for a rematch.
In the context of the Franco-Prussian War this battle would have to be called a Prussian victory. One French ship was sunk and the rest fled. The Germans only had one ship heavily damaged. The North German Navy was not expected to do anything to the French Fleet. In the scenario they did hurt the French and then got all their ships away.
CONCLUSION
The Franco-Prussian War fell at the start of a transitional period in naval design and tactics. The combination of broadside guns and steam mobility demand new tactics. During this transitional period the "best" tactics were not discovered. Actual battles were few and far between, so theory had to replace practice. This means that the players will have to see what works for them.
The whole period of naval history between Gloire and Dreadnought is rarely seen on the tabletop. If you are interested in 20th century naval gaming you should look at this period because it is the foundation that the modern navies are built on. The wide range of ships that appeared make this one of the more visually appealing of the possible periods for a naval gamer. There is lots of information on ships available. What is missing is historic battles, these missing battles can be supplyed just by asking "What if?" This period saw the formation of the colonial empires, several wars almost started over the resulting conflicts of interest. Hopefully this article will serve as an introduction to a new period for naval gaming.
NOTES AND SOURCES
Thanks to Tom Gaughan and John Tonelli for help with the battle report.
Conways AH the World's Fighting Ships 1860 - 1905. Conway Maritime Press, London 1979. Ship reference book, distributed in U.S. by Naval Institute Press.
Ironclads in Action: Naval Warfare From 1855 to 1895 by H.W. Wilson, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1896
More The Franco-Prussian War at Sea
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