Hal Thinglum has kindly asked me to make a few comments on his 20mm Franco-Prussian War Project. I love this period because the Franco-Prussian War was the last of the colorful European Wars. The uniforms of the Second Empire were beautiful. By way of full disclosure, I should mention that I am the co-author (along with Dave Waxtel) of THEY DIED FOR GLORY (TDFG). I would like to start by thanking Hal for choosing our rules for his project. With such a great start I'm sure that his project will be a smashing success. Having said that, I'm not sure exactly how to proceed. I find it difficult to comment on someone's project without having actually played it. So I thought I would start out by making some observations about TDFG in general and some specific comments about Hal's scenario. Hal is using 16-man French battalions while all of my French line infantry are organized as 12-man battalions. Thereby hangs a tale. When TDFG was first published in The Courier (in 1986) the organization for French line battalions was given as 16 men. However, in doing research for the subsequent glossy edition (published in 1992), I discovered that the French battalions kept two companies in depot. This reduced the size of a French battalion from 800 to 600 men (TDFG uses a 50:1 ratio). That posed a problem for Dave Waxtel and myself. We wanted to be historically accurate but at the same time we did not want to commit the cardinal sin of game designers and force wargamers to rebase troops that had already been painted and based. That is a great way to lose fans for your wargame rules. So we struck a compromise. We kept the French line battalions as 16 men but added an Optional Rules section in the back of the rule book that laid out an optional organization for 12-man battalions. The advantage of the 12-man battalions (besides historical accuracy) is that this was the size of the French battalions during the Crimean War and the Austro-Prussian War of 1859. Of course there is downside. The smaller French battalions are easier for the Prussians to break. A similar discovery was made in regards to the French Chasseur battalions. In the first edition they were 24-men strong. In the subsequent glossy edition they have only 18 figures. With Hal's permission, I'd like to throw in a quick plug. I've been working on various supplements for THEY DIED FOR GLORY for the past several years and I hope to have the Crimean War supplement ready for publication next year in time for the 150th anniversary of the Crimean War (we now return you to our regularly scheduled column). I was glad to see that Hal had included command figures in his scenario. I've been playing miniatures wargames for over 30 years and I think that command figures add a certain touch of quality to the gaming table. THEY DIED FOR GLORY has Optional Rules for command figures. Although not spelled out in the rules, I use a slightly different mounting system than Hal does. My Corps Commander has 3 figures on the stand (3 mounted or 2 mounted and one dismounted). My Division commander has 2 figures on the stand (2 mounted or 1 mounted and 1 dismounted). My Brigade commander is a single dismounted figure, the same as Hal's Brigade commander. However, it is the command stand as a whole, and not the number of figures on it, that is important. We now get to the meat of the scenario, the opposing armies. The first thing I noticed in Hal's Orders of Battle were the presence of Grenadiers in the Bavarian, Saxon, and Baden armies. In the OBs that I have, these units are usually listed as Leib battalions (sometimes translated as Guard). However, this is a minor point since by the time of the Franco-Prussian War the distinction between Leib regiments and the rest of the line infantry was basically in name only. In terms of total numbers, the Germans appear to only slightly outnumber the French (1,240 vs. 1,064 infantry). However, this difference is far greater than appearances would suggest. In TDFG, Prussian and German infantry have a greater melee value than most of the French infantry (French Zouaves and Turcos are an exception and can fight as well as the Prussians). The rationale for this difference is based on the fact that the Prussians fought two wars in the 1860s; the Second Schlesweg-Holstein War of 1864 and the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 (Saxony had taken part in both wars while Bavaria had taken part in the latter conflict). As a result, the Prussian and many of the German infantry in the Franco-Prussian War were veterans who had seen recent action. In addition, the Germans were better supplied and better led than most of the French army. France, on the other hand, had not fought a major European War in over a decade (1859 against Austria). Some French units had been involved in North Africa and in Mexico, which is why the Zouaves, Turcos, and Foreign Legion have a higher melee rating than regular French line units (the French Guard also have a higher melee rating to reflect their elite status). However, the Prussian advantage in melee is partially offset by the greater French morale. Since the French were defending their home territory they are one point better in morale than the Prussians and other Germans. In addition, the Prussians are - 1 on their morale tests when attempting to charge (since any sane infantryman armed with a breechloading rifle would rather go prone and fire at the enemy than stand up and charge them). The French player would be well advised to avoid getting into hand-to-hand melees with the Prussians and Germans. Especially since this negates the French infantry's main advantage, the Chassepot rifle. The Chassepot rifle was far superior both in range and accuracy as compared to the German needle-gun. The French commander therefore wants to stand as far away from the Germans as he can and fire at them. He preferably wants to do this while in cover because of the Prussian army's great advantage, their artillery. The only major complaint I've ever had in running TDFG games is that the Prussian artillery is too good. I have to inform the players that if anything, we didn't make it good enough. It's almost impossible to understate how devastating the Prussian artillery was against the French. In Hal's scenario, the Prussians have 29 batteries vs. the French 25, but again, mere numbers can be misleading. Of the 25 French batteries, 5 of them are Mitrailleuse batteries (the Mitrailleuse was an early version of the machine gun). Unless these Mitrailleuse batteries are initially well hidden, they usually become the first target of the Prussian guns. Since the Prussian guns outrange a Mitrailleuse by a factor of more than 3:1, the Mitrailleuses cannot usually fire back against the Prussian guns. Although classified as artillery, the Mitrailleuse should be considered an infantry support weapon (note to Hal, you may wish to add another Horse Artillery Battery and Foot Artillery Battery to the French Reserve Artillery. They're going to need them). The cavalry is fairly well balanced for both sides (260 for the Prussians and Germans and 240 for the French). In my experience, they will not be very important since both sides have breechloading rifles (in fact, the Franco-Prussian War was the first European war where both sides had breechloading rifles). However, if kept as a reserve, cavalry can come in handy for routing units that have already been weakened. Hal mentions that historically the Bavarian infantry regiments had only two battalions while he gave his Bavarian regiments three battalions. Actually, he's being very historical. Bavarian infantry regiments did have three battalions. However, for some reason, the third battalion of some regiments was split off from the first two battalions and were brigaded separately. In the 2nd Bavarian Corps, the 8th Brigade of the 4th Division was composed of the third battalion of the 1st, 5th, 7th, 11th, and 14th Infantry Regiments. As I remember it, the last time Hal asked me for input, it did not take much persuading on my part to convince him to increase his infantry regiments from two to three battalions. Hal, now that you know the Bavarian regiments had three battalions, aren't you glad you listened to me? As far as Hal's deviations from historical Orders of Battle, these are to be deplored of course. Seriously, every wargamer I know usually has to make compromises because of budget and/or time restraints. The important thing is that Hal has maintained a reasonable balance between the armies. The French should be at a disadvantage because, historically, they were at a disadvantage. There was one aspect of his scenario that Hal did not include so I thought I would mention it. Terrain will play a key factor in the French ability to fight off the Prussians. If they attempt to fight the Prussians in the open the Prussian artillery will destroy them. The French need terrain where they can hide. They needs Hills to block Line of Sight for enemy artillery. They need Woods where French infantry can hide and wait for the Prussians, to come into range of their Chassepots. They need walls, buildings, and other obstacles that they can hide their Mitrailleuses behind until they can be wheeled out at the proper moment. If the Mitrailleuses can be hidden until the Prussian infantry advance far enough towards the French line to screen the Prussian guns, the Mitrailleuses may be able to stop a determined Prussian attack, which is why they became a favorite target of the Prussian artillery. Having made some tactical suggestions for the French, I thought in all fairness I should do the same for the Prussians. The Prussians need to soften up the French positions with their artillery. When their infantry starts to advance, they should try to leave open a clear Line of Sight for their guns so they can continue to fire. I have a favorite Prussian infantry tactic which can be very successful against the French. It involves a Prussian Brigade (six battalions). The first two battalions advance in skirmish formation (with each battalion in a line four stands across with a small space between the stands), with the remaining four battalions in Deep Column formation behind them (on the wargaming table, it looks like a 4 x 6 formation, with four stands across and six deep). When the first skirmish line suffers enough casualties (from small arms fire) to force it to go prone, it takes a Voluntary Fallback at the end of the turn. Otherwise, all of the battalions behind it are halted while the prone skirmish line spends half a turn standing up. The second skirmish line also takes a Voluntary Fallback when it is forced to go prone due to French Chassepot fire. By this time, the remaining four battalions should be within charging distance of the French and can charge home with close to their full strength. However, a well placed French Mitrailleuse or French gun firing canister can spoil the best laid plans. If a charging battalion receives four or more casualties from Chassepot and/or Mitrailleuse fire it is forced to go prone immediately. Having pointed out the tactical disadvantages that the French face, would I be willing to command them in Hal's scenario? In a New York second! I would love the challenge, besides the great fun of being able to play in a wargame with Hal. No wargame can completely recreate history. That's why it's called a game. However, Hal's scenario promises to capture the feel of a typical Franco-Prussian battle, complete with all the advantages and disadvantages experienced by both sides. I hope he will publish an after action report so the rest of us can learn how the game went. Hal's 20mm Franco-Prussian War Project Back to MWAN # 126 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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