Game Title:Flames on the Rhine
Rules Used: "With Faith a Pike"
6 players participated, three on each side.
The Battle of Frankenhoven 1610 (fictitious)
Imperial Forces consisting of Hapsburg Austrians, Spanish, Walloons and Germans moved into the Palatinate to push Emperor Rudolph's claim to the territories of Jülich-Cleves-Berg following the death of Duke John William.
To meet this incursion Protestant forces supporting the claims of Duke Wolfgang William of Palatinate-Neuberg and Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg took up a blocking position near Frankeshoven just east of the town of Niderembt on the road to the fortress of Julich. Imperial forces had seized the fortress earlier and the main Imperial army was now moving to reinforce it and settle the dispute.
Protestant forces consisted of Dutch, English, Brandenburg, and Palatine forces along with some Swiss and German Mercenaries. They established themselves along the eastern side of some open farmland spanning the area between the two villages.
The battle opened with the commander of the Imperial right flank quickly advancing his light cavalry forward. This was countered by an advance of Protestant light cavalry. The two groups of cavalry clashed in a spirited action with the Protestants finally giving way. The Imperial cavalry attempted to pursue, but the action had caused the units to become somewhat disorganized and they were forced to hold up and reorganize. The Protestant forces were caught off guard by this setback and were forced to hold there positions and form a more organized defensive line.
Meanwhile in the center the three Imperial Tercios began the slow advance against the enemy center. They were in turn supported by some smaller foot units on their flanks. The Imperial left flank also began to move forward, but in a more cautious fashion then the center and right. The Protestant center made some adjustments to their line, but for the most part awaited the advance of the Tercios. On the Protestant right a screen of cavalry was sent forward along with a Dutch pike and shot battalion. The flanks single light gun was also moved forward.
Heavy action once again got underway on the Imperial right. The cavalry now supported by some infantry again surged forward driving in the protestant left flank. The flank was in real danger of collapsing. The protestant left flank commander was forced to move up the last of his reserves and an English battalion had to abandon its position in the center and come to the aid of the flank. Seeing the state of the enemy line the Imperial commander sent in a second cavalry attack. This attack failed and the cavalry was forced to retreat. Up till now the Imperial right had been in complete control of that part of the battlefield. The Imperial commander still had some cards to play in the form of some heavy cavalry and infantry, but at this crucial point he seemed to have lost his nerve. Except for the movement of some infantry to occupy a small hill that overlooked the center and left of the enemy line he would make no further offensive action.
The Imperial Tercios continued the advance against the enemy center and were soon brought under fire from some well placed Dutch guns. The Dutch guns loosed shot after shot into the Tercios. The fire was intense and well laid forcing the Tercios to constantly reorganize themselves slowing the advance. Only the right most Tercio was able to regularly move forward. Some Spanish guns were brought into play to counter the enemy guns, but bad positioning and poor fire prevented them from having any meaningful effect.
The action on the Dutch right now began to heat up as Dutch and German cavalry attempted to engage the advancing Imperials forces. The two sides each giving as good as they got. The Dutch suffered a bit more as the cavalry got a little too involved with the enemy infantry and was soon out of action. The support of a light gun prevented the situation and neither side was able to gain any real advantage.
Over on the Dutch left the fighting was still heavy, but the Imperial advance had been checked. The Dutch commander seeing that the enemy attack had stalled moved forward his heavy cavalry, this was countered by the Imperial commander moving up his main force of heavy cavalry. The two sides clashed in a massive cavalry engagement. The Dutch side was eventually forced to give way, but any advantage that the Imperial side may have had was wasted as the victorious cavalry perished in an ill fated attempt to overcome the mixed pike and shot battalion of well trained English that had been moved up in support of the protestant left flank. This ended all meaningful action on this side of the battlefield. The Protestant line had held, but could do little more then reorganize and hold. The Imperials could no longer mount any kind of attack and the action petered out.
The center Tercios were still under heavy fire but would not give way and were still trying to advance. The right most Tercio finally came into contact with the enemy line and despite being assailed on its flank became involved in heavy back and forth battle that raged on for sometime with neither side giving way. Over on the Imperial left a heavy infantry attack was launched and the two sides again became locked in a desperate struggle. In both the center and on the flank the push of pike looked to be going the way of the Imperials, but they could never quite achieve the effect needed to overcome the Protestant infantry. The actions were very bloody.
The hand to hand fighting continued for some time and it was apparent that they would decide the day. The Imperial left finally forced the Dutch/German line to give way driving them back, but the enemy quickly rallied and again put up a stiff defense.
Back in the center the right most Tercio continued to try and win the day, but it was not to be. Suffering heavy casualties it broke and fled. The remaining Tercios continued to be pounded by the Dutch cannon and seeing the collapse the Tercio to the right, they to collapsed and fled. The Imperial army was soon in full retreat.
Imperial forces would quit the fortress of Jülich the following week and Jülich-Cleves-Berg would fall under the joint control of Brandenburg and Palatinate-Neuberg. The Emperor withdrew any claim to the territory.
