"Newbie qustions ahead!" Topic

Hi,

I'm working at finishing up an ACW project in 3mm, and I'm thinking about what project I should take on next. The Franco Prussian war interests me, mostly because I like the Baccus range for the war, and it seems like it would lend itself well to brigade level units, given the gigantic sizes of the armies involved.

I was wondering what rules are best for all the European wars from the 1850s through the introduction of the rifle and beyond, up into the 1870s. I may also be interested in the Crimean war, but really moreso in the Central European area.

Also, what are the major differences between, say, the ACW and the Franco-Prussian war and other Euro-wars from that general period? From what I've gathered in different sources, the Europeans had begun (or continued) to make use of asault columns preceeded and supported by large numbers of skirmishers, outside of what you'd see in the Napoleonic era. The arty was also better, from what I understand, and played amuch larger role than arty in the Nap era or the ACW. And also there was the cavalry, which I understand was decisive in several battles.

I'm clearly a newbie in this time frame! So I'd be interested in any guidance available on here. Also, I'm using black powder for the ACW, and would hope to do so with the Franco Prussian War unless there are much better alternatives. If using BP what adjustments would I need to make?

thanks!

Great questions

For one thing, the introduction of breechloaders like the Chassepot and the Dreyse made infantry fire a lot more lethal – although I am a huge fan of Black Powder, infantry fire would need to be modified to allow for this (as acknowledged by the BP authors on page 30) – the use of infantry columns could produce ghastly losses, like the Prussian Guards suffered at Gravelotte

The artillery was much better – especially those Krupp guns the Prussians deployed

Cavalry could still produce interesting results, but charges against infantry with breech loaders resulted in hideous losses – von Bulow's Death Ride was not called the Death Ride for nothing!

We have used a Fire and Fury variant and it plays well for Grand Tactical

link

The tactics of the Franco-Prussian war were very much shaped by the weapons used. The German rifle was considerably outranged by the French rifle, while the breech-loading German artillery was superiour in range and accuracy to the muzzle loading French artillery. The battles tended to consist of costly German assults in column that succeeded mostly because of thier superiour artillery and the French losing thier nerves. Later the Germans used more dispersed formations. Cavalry was an annoyance that could neither scout or fight dismounted effectivly. A set of rules for the FPW that goes a long way to capturing the unique aspects of the conflict are "they die for glory".

Another set of Franco-German War (aka FPW) rules is Chassepot and Needlegun by Larry Brom of sergeants3.com . If you handle the mix of the superior German artillery and swiftly moving columns right, then you can overcome the longer range of the French rifles. Lori Brom and I almost did it in a game several years ago.

Although the main rules are written for 25/28mm figures, there are measurement variants for 15mm and 6mm figures.

Jim

The biggest difference was the widespread use of rifled breechloading small arms which meant that casualties inflicted by small arms rose to over 50% of all losses.

Infantry generally operated in dispersed-ish formations and artillery had a muich bigger role to play than in the ACW as:

i) the guns were much better and there were a lot more of them
ii) the battlefields were much less cluttered with terrain

Cavalry was barely viable against breechloaders and evn when successful in shock action , sufferd shattering loss. Von Bredows death ride was called that for a reason. Cavalry shock action could however generate decisive results e.g. as at Custoza, even at the expense of destroying the participating cavalry.

As for rules, depends what you are after. I'm sure BP would work with suitable mods. A good source for both battle scenarios and historical info as well as a decent rules are '1870'.

Other decent big battle sets are:

Volley & Bayonet.
Principles of War and its earlier incarnation, Warring Empires.
Wars of Empire (1866) and To the Last Gaiter Button (1870) by Realistic Modelling.
Horse, Foot & Guns by Phil Barker

Plus the inevitable homegrown and niche sets. I am rather a fan of Richard Brooks efforts in this area – Minischlacht, Terrible Swift Rules and more recently, Kiloschlacht.

You could probably even use Command and Colours Napoleonics for FPW, with a few mods.

what are the major differences between, say, the ACW and the Franco-Prussian war and other Euro-wars from that general period?

One of the differences: it was still considered shameful in Europe to look for cover under fire (except for skirmishers perhaps). Europeans took a long time to accept that times had changed.

For painting guidance how about those?
They looks very good.

From
docsartofwar.blogspot.com.au

Hope you enjoy!.

Amicalement
Armand