Just arrived...

 ... from Caliver Books.

In line with this year's plan to make better use of existing toys, I've gone back to the search for a set of rules that will encourage me to get the Irregular Miniatures Franco-Prussian War models back out of storage. I wondered if Bloody Big Battles might do the job.

I quite enjoyed Principles of War but it doesn't really cover whole battles in a war as big as the FPW. I suppose you can squint a bit and say a single POW unit is a brigade or a division but... nah, not really.

Having looked at one of the scenarios available on line (a draft version of Spicheren) I think I have enough toys to do it with BBB. A brief flick through the rules suggests that maybe I need to add a few more to do the larger battles but that can be left for a later date if I decide these are the rules for me.

As I'm still waiting for one of the players to provide orders for the Muddy River Blues campaign, I thought I'd have a quick go at trying out BBB. I picked a couple of the grid squares from the Froeschwiller scenario.

This sees the 7th and 8th Brigades from 4th Division of II Bavarian Korps attacking Ducrot's 1st Division around Nehwiller.

The game started with 8th Brigade marching in column into the woods west of Langensulzbach. No problem, though they were slowed down by the woods and by having to cross the Sulzbach stream.

7th Brigade, however, were more problematic. Despite the presence of General von Hartmann, they failed to get moving thanks to a lousy die roll. Units in BBB have to dice to see if they get a full move, a half move or no move at all, or maybe even a retreat or rout (if they're already disrupted).

To make things worse, the Bavarian Korps artillery came under fire from their French counterparts and were "silenced". This would men that they'd have to withdraw on the following turn. 

On the French turn, I restricted myself to pivoting Ducrot's Zouaves to be in position to fire at the Bavarians when they emerged from the woods. I replaced the village base with a Post-It note because a unit's facing is crucial.

On game turn 2 the roles were reversed for the Bavarians. 8th Brigade's column got lost in the woods and didn't move at all, while 7th Brigade trundled forward across the Sulzbach and onto the Woerth-Langensulzbach road.

Having got there they came under withering Chassepot and artillery fire from the French. The result on the Firefight Table was "1" - this saw them lose a base (one of their original five) and become Disrupted and, because they are classified as "raw" troops, all Spent. This would make them harder to move forward in future and less effective if they ever got to assault the enemy. In addition, the lost base is automatically their "skirmisher" base so they become marginally less effective in fire combat.

The French had clearly found a position magnifique and they decided to remain in place.

On the third turn the Bavarian 7th Brigade failed the movement roll that could have seen them rally off their Disrupted status. They didn't fall back but they remained on the road under that galling Chassepot fire. This would see them lose another base by the end of the turn.

Meanwhile the 8th Brigade managed to sort themselves out into line of battle and make some progress towards the Zouaves' line at Nehwiller. Sadly for the boys in pale blue, the enemy's fire was enough to Disrupt them and force them to halt (actually pushed back slightly into the woods). With both Bavarian brigades effectively pinned down by the murderous fire of the Chassepot I decided that we'd seen enough. 

Bloody Big Battles has a fine pedigree in Chris Pringle's previous games TacWWII and Arc of Fire and I think it's going to repay further investigation. I just need to find some Franco-Prussian War scenarios I can manage with the current forces here at Stately Counterpane Manor.