"Battle of Wijnendale 1708 - Devon Wargames Group" Topic

The chaps got the Malburian collection out for this month's meeting at the DWG to refight the Battle of Wijnendale using "Beneath the Lilly Banners" 2nd Edition rules.

A really interesting scenario, produced a hard fought affair, with some especially good die rolling which caused some comments about 'deals with the devil' etc.

If you would like to see how things turned out then just follow the link to the club blog

link

If you are also looking to join a wargames club here in Devon then you might like to come along and check us out. We regularly play three different games a month right across the spectrum, specialising in historical wargaming and always aim to get visitors involved in a game on their first visit. You should also know that the first visit is free allowing you to decide if you would like to join us on a regular basis.

Details about where we meet and when are on the club blog together with plenty of examples of the kind of games we like to play.

Starting this month we are running a trial period of mid monthly meetings, details of which can be obtained by contacting the club via the the blog.

Jonathan

Nice report. One thing I always find lacking is theOOB and any special rules you may have used. Those things are always helpful to others who want to recreate the game for them selves. Beyond that a most excellent report

Fair point Flick40. We did not use many special rules, but there were a few:

1) The French were only allowed one shot from their guns as an "initial bombardment" and the guns could not move. The guns did little historically, as they were too far away & then masked.

2) The convoy started on one of the short edges (actually it should have been the other one, but it hardly matters) & rolled a D3 at the end of each turn. The result giving its movement in inches across the Allied table edge.

3) If the convoy made the opposite short edge of the table the Allies had won

4) The woods were open & passable, but rough terrain to all troops (Under Lily Banners this means any troops moving in them are disordered)

5)The woods extended to both short table edges and no off table movement was allowed, so no outflanking other than through the woods. In fact the woods at the time were extensive and Lille was only 8-10 miles away.

6) As support is imprtant under "Lily Banners", we allowed Brigades to be in different lines, but otherwise had to stay together. Brigades were generally 4 infantry units.

7) Victory was either the convoy getting off table or being caught by the French. Anything else was a draw.

Hope that helps.

Vince

As to the set up & OOB, we used the following:

6'x4' table, set up long edges. Two blobs of woods 1'6" each flank with defile in centre, 3' wide.

Allied first line deployed in gap between woods, 24" from their own table edge (i.e between the 2 woods, in the middle of the table)

Allied set up, in defile three lines of infantry battalions, in a 3, 4, 3 formation.

The 3- lines are made up with Platoon firing units (British principally, although there is some argument some Dutch were sent from Lille) and the 4- Rank firing (Danes, Germans etc)

In both flank woods 2 battalions each side (rank firing), with the ability for some fire into flank of French as the advance. The woods are open and give usual cover, visibility and disorder affects as per the rules (anyone moving in woods is disordered). The units in each wood are treated as seperate brigades for support, isolation etc.

1 sq of Dragoons in the rear which can be brigaded with a nominated brigade at the start of the game.

All brigades in the main lines to be identified at the start of the game, but may be split between 2 adjacent lines to allow for support within the brigade. Brigades to be 3 or 4 units strong.

French:

First line deployed 20" from Allied first line.

5 lines of 4 foot each (all rank firing) with 4sq cavalry on each flank and 4 squadrons in reserve at the rear. Reserve cavalry not released until convoy is half way across the base line. Cavalry to be equally split between Horse and Dragoons on the wings, with the Reserve being all Horse. Brigades to be 4 units strong, with brigades being all infantry or cavalry only. Infantry brigades may be split between adjacent lines to allow support.

The French artillery fire 1 turn of pre game bombardment from 4 batteries and the game starts before the French advance. The artillery plays no further part in the game after turn 1.

The convoy wagons crawling along the allied base at D3 inch per move.