After running a 15mm Franco-Prussian War campaign for a historical gaming club in St. Louis, MO, I’m in a good position to give a somewhat unbiased review of They Died for Glory. TDFG was written by Dave Waxtel and Bob Burke as an easy and fast paced tactical system. Basic unit organization is structured at an infantry battalion, cavalry regiment, and artillery battery level with a figure and ground scale of 1:50.

One drawback to this, of course, is the amount of figures needed to build brigades or divisions. As an example, it took about fourteen months worth of painting to complete one 15mm 1870 French infantry division and nearly a whole 15mm German Confederation corps (along supporting cavalry brigades, artillery, and command).

Besides French and German Orders of Battle, eleven different scenarios are included from the first engagement at Weissenburg to the Sedan Debacle. The authors also provide advice for generic scenarios, optional rules, and alternative Imperial French organization. Only real complaints I heard was from veteran players concerning the morale system (which some viewed as too simplistic) and movements rates for heavy cavalry. Throughout my campaign, most battles opened up with German players hammering the entrenched French with their breech loading Krupp guns and then sending forth skirmishers to cover their advancing assault columns. The French would respond in kind, only be mowed down by weight of German counter battery fire.

As the Germans marched forward with fixed bayonets, French Chassepot fire would tear holes through enemy formations. However, once the Germans closed in, they’d usually roll over the French in melee (during the War of 1870, the Dreyse needle gun was nearly useless in range when compared to the Chassepot, though it made up as an excellent club for hand to hand combat). Cavalry also proved to be rather ineffective in the face of breeching loading rifles and long-range artillery, unless one tried to save some routing infantry units by sacrificing them in the manner of General Bonnemains 2nd Cuirassier Division at Froeschwiller or General von Bulow’s ‘Death Ride’.

However, in the end, the Imperial French lost due to conflicting personalities and a lack of cooperation early in the campaign as the Germans maintained a united front. Even with the ability to savage battlefield losses and tap reserves, both sides also suffered higher casualties than historically due to the aggressive nature of some players and horrendous effects of breach loading rifles and artillery.

Overall, I highly recommend TDFG. Though I’d suggest any potential players invest in about 200 poker chips as an easy way to keep track of artillery ammo expenditures during a game, while also buying about 75-100 casualty caps.