Franco-Prussian War Battle 4

Another game in Tom's sequence of Franco-Prussian War battles, this was played at the end of February 2023. Thanks again to Tom for the details.

In this game two Bavarian Corps are facing the French 2nd Corps with elements of the 5th Corps attached. The French set up with the 5th Corps on the right with orders to take objective three. The 2nd Division deploys to their left with orders to advance in support of the 5th Corps supported by the 12th Corps artillery under the Corps commander. The 1st Division deploys in the centre with orders to advance and hold objective 2 on the central hill. The Cavalry Division deploys on the road on the French left flank with the 3rd infantry Division to their right, and a dummy blind on the far left. The Prussians deploy their 2nd Corps on the right with orders to take the 1st objective. The 1st Corps deploy to their left with orders to take Objective 2. The Bavarians refuse their left flank with the 1st Corps Commander taking two brigades of cavalry to cover objective 3 and deploying two ‘dummy blinds to their left.

During the game the French 5th Corps moves forward and uses its attached artillery to beat back the Prussian cavalry while the cavalry move round the flank and the infantry move forward. The 2nd Division moves forward next to them. The 1st Division moves to the right and deploys behind the crest on the hill for objective 2. The 3rd division deploys on the flank to face off the Bavarian 3rd division. The French cavalry on the right move past objective 1 towards the central objective 2 only to have their orders changed to move back to objective 1.

The Bavarian 2nd Corps advances towards objective 1, the 3rd Division (with cavalry regiment) deploy first pinning the French 3rd Division in place as the Bavarian 4th Division with all the Corps artillery moves to their right to flank the defenders and overrun the objective when the French 3rd Division get wiped out taking fire from the Bavarian 1st and 2nd Corps artillery.

The Bavarian 1st Corps move towards objective 2, the 1st Division on the right taking long range fire from the French grand battery all game. The 2nd Division deploy to the right of the hill, the artillery firing in support of the Bavarian 3rd division's attack. At the end of the game the Bavarians make a final assault over the brow of the hill but it was to late to make a difference.

The Prussian 1st Corps Commander takes the cavalry forward to make a demonstration on the left flank, forcing the French to deploy and delaying their advance on objective 3. But the cavalry was broken by heavy artillery fire and the C-in-C makes his way back to the infantry as the French take Objective 3 and start to move to take the Bavarians on objective 2 in the flank.

At the end of the game the Germans had taken Objective 1 but the French cavalry had a toehold so the French did not take a points loss. Both sides were disputing objective 2 so no points gained or lost on either side. The French had taken objective 3.

The French had 90% of their army remaining plus 20 points for their objective taken giving them 110 points.

The Bavarians had 78% of their army remaining with 50 points for objectives taken giving them 128 points and a narrow victory.