Last night I played my first game of To the last Gaiter button', a set of FPW rules from Real Time Games. One French Corps of three infantry and a cavalry division defended against two Prussian Corps of four divisions. The French defended a strong position with a large wooded hill on their left and a village on their right, linked by a wooded ridge slightly to the rear; however on the extreme end of each flank there was open ground. On the left flank the French defended a village further back, but on the right they extended their line with a series of scrapes.
The initial Prussian advance was delayed by Chasseurs in the woods, and although these units were eventually destroyed they slowed down Prussian deployment. The French cavalry division sortied in order to eliminate a Prussian cavalry regiment that had advanced too far forward in an attempt to cut off some Chasseurs.
After these opening shots, the main attack developed. True to their tactical (and strategic) doctrine, the Prussians went straight on to the attack. I Corps went for the large hill, while II Corps attacked the village on the French right. The attack on the village stalled and it became apparent that fortified villages are a hard nut to crack. The I Corps commander decided to mask the hill and assault down the open flank. It was not a good decision, and the brigade he sent to lead the attack was torn to shreds by a combination of chassepot and artillery fire.
At this stage things did not look well for the Prussians; and a wide flank move by a division of Bavarians was also making slow progress. Things were to change however. The full weight of the Prussian I Corps was concentrated in a frontal attack against the hill. Casualties were severe on both sides, and in order to shore up the defences the French threw in their reserve division, as the weight of Prussian artillery was making itself felt on the defenders.
In the centre a grand battery of some 60 guns was formed to pound the village, and the attack was widened to take in the scrapes on the extreme flank. The French defenders (a mere brigade of infantry, supported by two batteries of artillery and one of mitrailleuses) were now under attack by an entire corps of Prussians: the end was swift. The grand battery swept the village of defenders, while the scrapes were taken by assault. The flank had collapsed and the French would be forced to retreat.
At this point we had to finish the game. Another turn would have allowed time for a futile charge by the French cavalry, but it was clear that this would have had little effect. The game was played in about two-and-a-half hours (plus set-up) and was our first attempt at the rules. A few queries came up, the main one being how troops are to manage a retreat (as things stand, without an officer they will stand and die; even with an officer they have to take a turn to change facing, and another to move out; and having taken casualties it is difficult to move out of a rough terrain square in any case) but on the whole I was very pleased with the rules. The use of squares to regulate movement and distances gives it a certain board-game like quality, but I still felt as if I was playing a miniatures game. The rules seemed to be simple but effective, and the overall effect long range French rifle fire vs massed Prussian artillery seems to match my understanding of the tactical issues of the period. Troop density for the board (7 squares by 6) seemed about right, as there were stages that the Prussian columns got in each other's way, whilst the table was big enough to prevent he French simply doing a wall-to-wall defence.
many thanks to Gablenz for pointing this rules set out to me on a previous thread – TMP link – I would not have found out about it otherwise.
