Sunday 21 November 2021

War of the Spanish Succession Game Report

The game and tabletop setup uses the ideas from the "The Battle of Langensalza", chapter 15 in "Wargame Tactics" by Charles Grant. The original setting was for the Seven Years War, but has been repurposed for the War of the Spanish Succession and also scaled down by half as I have no where near the number of figures described in the chapter.

For the rules I am using the WSS Card home-brew rules mentioned in my previous post, and also found on the blog's header.

Order of battle

France:

  • 2 x Cavalry
  • 3 x Infantry
  • 2 x Dragoons
  • 1 x Artillery
  • 1 x Mortar

Alliance:

  • 3 x Cavalry
  • 4 x Infantry
  • 1 x Artillery

Both sides fielded 3 Commanders and 1 General which are used in the game to rally and reorganise units.

The objectives for both armies are to capture and control the town near an important river crossing.

Deployment of forces. French are depicted in blue and the Alliance in red. The French dragoons can arrive through the woods on their left flank.

A view of the tabletop from behind the Alliance forces. All units are Paper Soldiers standing at 42mm tall because I increase the size when printing. I do this so I can see the art work better and they are less fiddly to cut out.

French dragoons arrive through the woods.

The opening turns had both sides pushing forward. On their right flank the Alliance stopped and deployed in the hill. The French were able to occupy the town first, as the Alliance were mostly deployed and moved at a slower pace. The French dragoons soon appeared on the flank from the woods.

A general advance by both sides for the opening move.

The French dragoons appear from the woods, while artillery from both sides exchange shots.

A large cavalry engagement occurs on the other flank.

The cavalry engagement was a hard fought affair, and with two evenly matched cavalry forces it was going to be touch and go as to who would win. Both sides used their available commanders to rally troops. In the end the Alliance managed to gain the upper hand.

The Alliance cavalry gain the upper hand in a hard fought engagement. Whoever won the engagement would be pretty much nullified as a threat and unable to withstand any serious opposition.

Movement of forces on the battlefield.

The French Dragoons arrived but had not progressed as far through the woods as they expected, and were less of a surprise and easily countered. While they swiftly attacked it was unlikely to be more than a diversion. Even more so when the Alliance reserve cavalry unit arrived.

The dragoons put up a spirited attack, but failure was always on the cards (excuse the pun)

In the centre the French still had some reasonably fresh units, but the threat of cavalry appearing on the flank, and lacking any more reserves, meant they had been reluctant to fully support the town's defence. Eventually, the town changed hands and was occupied by the Alliance.

The Alliance gain access to the town

With a flank exposed, even to a very weak cavalry force, the French line is obliged to retire.

A victory to the Alliance who by securing the river flank where able to do just enough to gain control of the town. The French dragoons who were intended to be the main threat appeared too early from the woods and were easily countered. Had they appeared later and further towards the Allied rear the story could have been different.

How did the rules play? 

There was not a lot of difference from using cards (red/blank) rather than D3 dice (1,1,2,2,3,3) for combat. The slight difference was for the winning unit, which in most cases would not stand up to more than one attack before being routed. Now I quite like this as I am always troubled by units going on to make too much mischief after an engagement, unless they are rallied and reorganised by a commander.


18 comments:

  1. I really like the dense look you achieve with your woods, so atmospheric.

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    1. Thank you, pretty much all my available trees were used.

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  2. A great looking game during a splendid period, nice report Peter!

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    1. Thank you kindly. It was an enjoyable game to play.

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  3. Interesting little game - personally I'm less keen on units being incapable after winning combat, rallying before further action yes, but strong enough to do more or it rather takes away the point of winning.

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    1. Thanks. The rally and reorganising is important, along with having reserves available and in place.

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  4. Just my kind of battle. Nice size, great looking units and a clear explanation of events - which made it easy to follow. What happened to the mortar by the way? Was it not able to shell the enemy once they were in the town?

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    1. I find 8-10 units is about the right size on a 6x4 foot for a good game. The mortar did take part in the game, but was somewhat ineffective. I need to have another look at the mortar rules. Thanks.

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  5. Great looking game, and the mechanics looking more and more interesting. I love how the cards actually 'modify' the result as opposed to dictating it. This is very innovative and seems to suit the period very well. Units also are fragile, which I think adds to the proceedings.

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    1. Thanks, I need to play a few more games before finally settling upon the rules. Then look at doing a siege game at some point in the future.

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  6. A great looking game and as always, nice to see your hand drawn maps:)

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    1. If I get the time it is always enjoyable to draw up a map. They also help explain the game narrative so much simpler. Thanks.

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  7. Those Paperboys look really good in 42mm. Can I ask how you base them? That is, do you weight them down a bit?

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    1. Thank you. I cut two pieces of heavy card which I can still cut easily for the base. Then with one piece I cut in half longways. Using PVC (wood craft glue) I glue to uncut base, then use the two cut pieces to hold the figures in place. Once dry the base gets a coat of green paint. I then add PVA again to the base and apply flock, which once dry get a coat of watered down PVA to hold the flock in place. I find this is sufficient to hold the figures firmly and there is enough weight in the base.

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  8. A really enjoyable report! Was this with your D3 rules? I've been thinking of trying them, but only have found the Jacobite version.

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    1. Thank you. I used cards for this game reworking the D3 rules (which I seem to have overwritten in the process). The rules are WSS Cards at the top of the blog.

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  9. Sounds like a good, first test of your newly amended rules.
    You have shown how good these paper soldiers can look. I really like the idea of printing them larger—in fact adjusting the size in either direction to suit a desired scale of operation!
    Regards, James

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    1. I do like the paper soldier series. I have three period; WSS, Jacobite and Norman Conquest. They have allowed me to do other period cheaply and reasonably quickly that I would not have attempted otherwise.

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