"Playtesting some FPW rules" Topic

Even though Ambush Alley hasn't worked "To the Last Cartridge" into its release schedule, that hasn't stopped Trenchraider and I from beginning work on the first supplement to cover the Franco-Prussian War

Above is a picture of our table setup and below are shots of the French and Prussian starting positions:

If your interested in reading the full battle report with pictures check out our club's web forum:

link

Regards,
Dave

Some of the French infantry standards seem to have the red portion next to the flagstaff.

Is that correct?

Great painting and photography.

Are you compelling your friends to play games in a dungeon?

JimDuncanUK; I downloaded the flags from warflag.com and basically trusted them to get it right. I haven't done any research myself on French flags of the period. Those are flags for the Garde Mobile who officially were not authorized flags in the Imperial period of the war although most had unofficial ones. They don't have the Imperial cypher so I am assuming they are actually for the republican phase of the war. To be truthful, I hadn't noticed till you pointed it out. Now it just screams at me. I may change them even if they are correct cause now it looks odd.

Dan Beattie; The game was played in our FLGS. That's how they have the game room decorated there.

JumDuncanUK's comment made me curious so I started digging into the origins of the flag. Its actually for a foreign unit serving in the FPW on the French side, the volontaires de l'Ouest, who were formally papal troops who immigrated to France. I think I will replace these with simple French national flags.

well done Dave!
Always enjoy the FPW.
Did you say Ambush Alley Games???
Thanks;
Joe

Eventually, AAG will publish yes. No firm release date yet but they have the final draft of the Colonial rules titled "To the Last Cartridge". They haven't signed off on any supplements of course, but that doesn't mean we can't work on them

Dave

It will be interesting to see if anyone can find any references to the 'volontaires de l'Ouest' and their standards.

The only things I could find were in French, not my best language.

Still, I have a French friend who might be able to help.

Google translate is what I depended on so I probably got one word in 3 right I did find they wore a Zouave uniform. In any case the flag isn't right for plain-jane Garde Mobile so I am going to change it to a simple tricolor.

Thoroughly enjoyed the photos and After Action Report. Those Legionaires really whupped up on the Prussians.

We plan on a second playtest game next Sunday. In addition, Trenchraider and I are painting up additional figures so we can do a cavalry battle in this scale.

Those Legionaires really whupped up on the Prussians.

Now if we can only get the Prussian dragoons to defect to our side, we will be invincible

Dave

JimDuncanK;

Somebody posted a couple of pages out of the Osprey book on the Republican French and it has a lot of information about the volontaires de l'Ouest including a couple of period photographs of members of the unit. So if you have that Osprey give it a thumb-through. Basically after the collapse of the Empire, the French army "officially" has no flag although many units came up with their own. Most of them appear to be some variation of the tricolor, sometimes with the unit name sewn on the flag and perhaps some patriotic slogan or battle honor.

Dave

This is what I was able to dig up on the volontaires de l'Ouest:

For a number of years French troops had been stationed in Rome to guarantee the integrity of the Papal States,but following an agreement with Italy in 1866 the troops were withdrawn.The French did however help the Papal government raise other units to protect its borders,one of these was the Zouaves Pontificaux. When Garibaldi invaded in 1867 the French sent an expeditionary force which defeated him at the battle of Mentana,the Zouaves were the first into action and fought very well. After Sedan, the contingent returned home to France and the unit took the new name Volontaires de l'Ouest.
The Volontaires were experienced troops and in the upcoming campaign they fought with distinction.At the battle of Loigny December 2,1870 the 2nd battalion help to cover the retreat of the dispirited 16th Corps. Charging with the bayonet,they were met with heavy fire and forced to retire,losing 18 officers and 198 men out of 300.During the campaign the Volontaires were armed with a mixture of Chassepots and Remingtons.

Interesting unit, too bad they are post-Imperial. If I ever get around to doing a Republican force, I'll have to include these guys.

Dave

Of course the Legion are Republican troops as well -I'm not going to mention the hats…