French Revolutionary Wargames 1789-1802: A Surprise Night Attack in Flanders, 1793

Wargame Rules, Ratios, etc

RAISING MINIATURE ARMIES FOR THE LATE 18TH CENTURY

I am very keen to keep my wargame rules as simple as possible, yet capture the character of the 1790s. Morale dominates the games as the opposing sides are very different. Most of the French troops are 'levee' battalions, which I have chosen to base in column as their ability to change formation on a battlefield must have been limited, nor do I believe their volley fire had any great value. Of better quality, able to change formation, will be white-coated regular and blue-coated volunteer battalions, aided by a fair number of skirmishers. The British, Austrian, Dutch and German armies are often outnumbered, but they maintain the discipline and order of typical 18th century armed forces. Interestingly, French revolutionary cavalry have little in common with their later Napoleonic counterparts, the former are few in number, often poorly mounted, and no match for those in the service of the Allies. All figures are 28mm in scale, using a 1=25 ratio.

Monday, 11 September 2017

A Surprise Night Attack in Flanders, 1793

With a guest staying over on Friday night, we decided it would be nice to have a small scale war-game set during the French Revolutionary Wars. The simple scenario comprised a town in Flanders held by a brigade of Republican troops. Although the garrison was of mixed quality it was well fortified in their positions. Now the Allies besieging the town outnumbered this garrison but time was against a prolonged siege and so, a brigade of elite Allied troops with several gentleman volunteers would make a surprise night attack against a key redoubt. As silence was vital to the likely success of this action it was decided that flints should be removed from all firelocks to stop misfires. It would take a full stationary move to replace these flints, but only if the enemy had become aware of this assault, and they were so ordered.

The garrison commander had wisely established several outworks where company strong units had been posted to forewarn of any likely attacks. And, every MOVE, the garrison commander would dice to see if they fired a flare (dice 5 or 6), if this occurred, any unit within 24" of the Allied column should also through a dice to see if they spot the approaching column (dice 5 or 6).

Movement by the allies would be difficult, good or bad there was to be no moonlight for this surprise attack. The Brigade was to comprise a column of three battalions, each formed up in line. A dice would determine the move distance for each battalion.

For the record, the ALARM would comprise shouting for that MOVE, firing could only occur on the following MOVE. A charge move is not determined by dice (8") but usual reductions for terrain may apply, and a dice must be thrown by the garrison to see if the alarm is given during the charge. Or were the sentries fast asleep?

WELL THAT DIDN'T FOLLOW THE PLAN AT ALL
At the agreed time the column set off towards the objective. But the ground was exceedingly boggy and movement was dreadfully slow. The two rear battalions also fell somewhat behind as the ground was now a quagmire. (After four moves the column had barely covered six inches.) The first flare appeared in the sky, but no further reaction. A second flare followed on move six, and a company of grenadiers in a local barn reacted. The total alarm now spread quickly, even the dark could not limit occasional casualties as the column received fire on both flanks, and a battery of 8pdrs opened up on their front. With all hope lost of taking the official position, George, commanding the column, advanced two battalions at the right flank outpost Not particularly fortified and manned by the Batave Legion infantry and some Paris National Guard chasseurs, their musketry could not stop a fair charge, and after a brief melee left the field in a rout. But with casualties mounting, and with no hope of securing the official position, George decided to pull out. Now the French commander, Chris, saw this as no such conclusion, and pursued with his white-coated grenadier company and several companies of Foot Gendarmes. Here, at least, the 18th Regiment of Foot about faced and delivered a volley which scattered the French grenadiers, and the Allied column returned to their camp. Casualties for the Allies on a 1:25 ratio were as follows: Loyal Emigres 500 strong (300 K+W), Light Battalion 500 strong (100 K+W), 18th Foot 500 strong (25 K+W). The Garrison lost: French Grenadiers (50 K+W), Batave Legion (125 K+W), but a further 425 are reported as missing during the night. So, the surprise night attack failed, but that is fate (and Chris is peculiarly lucky with war-games dice!). A special prize to the gallantry of the Loyal Emigres, forced to retire with over 50% casualties but never routing, and also to the accuracy of the French artillery crews.

NOTE This game had two objectives. Firstly to capture some of the stress in carrying out a surprise attack. Secondly, to fight a game which would take no more than two hours to actually set up and play. Both were fully achieved at 1 hour, 57 minutes.
MGB

4 comments:

George13 September 2017 at 17:42
I enjoyed the scenario a great deal. I do think it would have been interesting to see how the troops in the defensive position would have reacted to noticing the British and Allied forces half way up the table.
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Captain Brummel22 September 2017 at 05:59
I have been on holiday, thus my very late comments. Lovely to return and catch up on the blog. There are some lovely touches in this game that really appeal to me.
The variable movement at night controlled by a dice throw, the lighting a flare rule to see who can be seen and the remove flints rule to avaoid discovery through misfires. All adds to the period flavour. I enjoyed reading the account, thank you very much for the write up.
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