Malplaquet 1709. Game at NBHW

Back on September 14th at New Buckenham we held a very special game. The game was the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709, fought during the War of Spanish Succession and a long term project of the late Adrian "Shep" Shepherd who unfortunately never got to play this battle. Thanks to his partner Sarah we were able to utilise his magnificent collection and terrain pieces to re-fight this battle in his honour.

Once again the figures were 25/28mm and the rules chosen, Post of Honour.

This battle, one of the bloodiest of it's time, was fought between the French forces of Louis XIV of France, commanded by Marshal Villars and a Dutch-British army, led by the Duke of Marlborough.

Map by Victor Falk at French Wikipedia.

Translated to the table using Adrian's superb earthworks boards.

French positions in the Bois de Sars

I took command of the Hessian and Hanoverian troops under Lottum along with a brigade of allied cavalry in the centre of the allied line.

My right hand brigade, Bois de Sars to the right.

Left brigade and supporting artillery.

Cavalry support.

At the start of the battle the Imperial troops to my right flung themselves at the French in the Bois de Sars while the Dutch and English to my left assaulted the French defences around the Bois de la Laniere and Malplaquet itself.

My force advanced towards the french centre, which had had most of its infantry redeployed to the flanks, leaving me faced by the mass of French horse. My rightmost brigade pivoted right into the eastern side of the Bois de Sars to support the Imperial attack while the leftmost brigade obliqued to the right and continued to advance. My cavalry were brought up to face off against the french cavalry in the centre and support the left flank of my infantry.

Advancing to the Bois de Sars

To the left combined Dutch and British pressure finally overwhelmed a French defensive earthwork but on the far left the French defenders held firm.

Dutch assault

British advance.

Over on the far right a British infantry and allied cavalry flank march now appeared on the far side of the Bois de Sar and advanced to hit the French in the flank.

British troops arrive on the French flank

French turn to meet this new threat.

Assaulted now on three sides it was only a matter of time before the French troops in the Bois de Sar area were overwhelmed and this they were eventually, after some stiff resistance.

The fight in the Bois de Sar, allied horse advancing to the rear.

More of the stubborn french defence.

With the French left flank almost destroyed and a significant incursion into their right centre only their right flank and cavalry reserve remained in good order. I swung my forces around again and advanced of the French centre but by now we were out of time.

My troops advance on the French centre at games end.

Allied and French cavalry engage in a final skirmish.

The umpire called the game at this point as a victory for the allies. The French right would have been able to disengage largely intact along with most of their cavalry, whilst despite some fierce fighting the allies lost a lot less casualties than historically.

Once again a massive thank you goes out to Sarah for letting us borrow Adrian's collection and allowing us to run this game in his memory.

As usual many more photographs and thorougher AAR in the clubs Facebook album

Tony.

Minden 1759. Game at NBHW

On the last weekend of August at New Buckenham we re-fought the Battle of Minden from 1759 during the Seven Years War (SYW). The rules we used were Post of Honour which we have found to be very successful for playing large SYW battles. The game started on the Friday night and concluded on the Saturday.

Map of the Battle.

Translated to the table, start of second days play.

Starting positions, Allied left flank. around Kutenhausen.

Starting positions, Allied left looking towards the centre and Malbergen.

Starting positions, Allied centre facing massed French cavalry.

Starting Positions, Allied right and Hahlen. My command area.

I was given command of the allied right flank tasked with trying to hold the village of Hahlen. I initially had two units of jaeger within the town with a line battalion, two artillery batteries and a small hussar regiment in support. Off table I had a brigade of Hanoverian infantry under general Anhalt and the Britsh and Hanoverian cavalry under general Sackville.

The French wasted no time in assaulting Hahlen and soon gained a foothold while I struggled to get the Cavalry under Sackville moving. He is rated "dithering" under this ruleset due to his historical non performance and so I required several fortuitous die roles to even get the lead elements onto the table by the fifth turn. Meanwhile my Hanoverian line started to arrive along the road through the woods to the north of Hahlen.

The jaegers hold out, for a while.

The French and their Saxon allies so pushed the jaegers out of Hahlen but could advance no further as my line battalion with hussar support blocked the road out. This blocking force was soon joined by leading elements of Sackville's cavalry. However this stalemate allowed the french to move more troops towards the centre and also mass their artillery to cover the pen ground between Hahlen and the woods, which would prove a real problem to me the following day, especially the lead battalions of Hanoverians as their cleared the woods.

Right flank at end of first evening's play

In the centre the British and Hanoverian Guard had advanced historically and poured volley fire into the massed french cavalry, however the French started moving reserves from their left to try and halt this advance.

To their left the German infantry tasked with taking Malbergen could only stand and watch as a swirling cavalry melee took place to their front, their artillery occasionally getting in a clear shot at the French horse.

On the allied left flank the troops from both armies around Kutenhausen remained in defensive positions exchanging some long range artillery fire to keep people awake. On the far left, after initial advances were met with fearsome allied fire, the French commander decided to withdraw less his whole command be destroyed.

And so the first evening of gaming ended.

The following day the French right wing, bolstered by the arrival of an additional more aggressive commander, about faced and drove back into the allied positions with a vengeance which soon saw the allied left wing re-positioning themselves to hold back this relentless push.

Allied extreme left flank coming under pressure.

In front of Kutenhausen nothing much changed apart from a few allied troops moving left to bolster the flank defences and the allied cavalry moving forward into the open ground north of Malbergen.

Allied cavalry move to threaten the French north of Malbergen.

As anyone who has played Seven Years War battles, attacking formed infantry in good order with cavalry is a shore way to lose said cavalry, so this move was really only to stop the French moving troops away from this area.

In the centre the mass cavalry melee continued for most of the day, preventing the German infantry from seriously engaging the french in Malbergen. The right brigade of German infantry was sent to assist the British and Hanoverian Guard who were faced by cavalry to their front and increasing numbers of infantry to their flank.

Cavalry melees continue in the centre.

On my flank I finally managed to get all my cavalry onto the table and deployed the elite regiments in the open ground between Hahlen and the woods while the regular regiments I positioned to blockade the french in the town. The Hanoverian infantry were deploying out of the woods and my artillery was alternately trying to weaken the french infantry and artillery to my front in an attempt to soften them up for my cavalry.

Hahlen blockading force.

Hanoverian infantry deploying out of the woods

As my infantry cleared the wood they came under telling fire from the massed French artillery and the casualties soon mounted. Despite this they pressed on towards the guns to cover the advance of the British household cavalry.

Elite British cavalry advance through the artillery to charge range.

Masked by the Hanoverian infantry I advanced my elite cavalry through my artillery, which had managed to weaken the opposing lines slightly, to charge range.

The remains of the infantry pulled back to the woods as the cavalry charged,

Charge!

only to be met by devastating closing fire which inflicted serious casualties and prevented them from closing, damn!

At this point I received new orders from our CinC to contain the French to my front without risking anymore of my units, so the cavalry pulled back behind the artillery and maintqained a vigilant watch for the rest of the battle.

The rear unit of Hanoverian infantry, unblooded by the artillery, veered off to their left through the woods and appeared to the rear and flank of the lead French battalions that were engaged with the British and Hanoverian Guards. this attack helped stabilise the position until further units from the allied centre could be brought to bear.

Apart from my artillery finally creating a hole in the French lines, after a battalion routed, this was the end of the game on my flank. The French held Hahlen and I had no infantry to attempt to retake it. The massed french artillery commanded the clear ground, despite my artillery's best efforts. And my cavalry were powerless against the fresh Saxon  units replacing the tired French in the front ranks.

Elsewhere on the battlefield the allied far left flank had collapsed back onto Kutenhausen under the rejuvenated assault from the French right. while in the centre the French still held Malbergen as the cavalry engagements had blocked infantry movement in this area all day. The allied advance in the centre had also stalled, after initial success due in no small part to the dogged resistance of the French cavalry who held on despite horrendous casualties. The ability of the French to move support troops away from the stalemate on my flanks helped hold the allied centre too.

When called by the umpire, a French victory was announced as the allies had been unable to pierce the French line at any point.

Another great two session game and a very close fought battle.

As usual many more photos and a fullsome AAR can be found in the club's Facebook albums

Minden 1759 Part One

Minden 1759 Part Two

Tony.

Dettingen 1743. Game at NBHW.

Back in the middle of July we had a game of Post of Honour, the fast play version of Osprey's Honours of War rules which can be found on the Honours of War forum. For this game the scenario was based of the Battle of Dettingen from the War of Austrian Succession. The battle is known for being the last time a reigning British monarch, George II, led troops in battle.

A combined British, Hanoverian and Austrian force heading for their supply depots find a French force blocking their path with further French forces rapidly approaching to their rear.
Our game focused on the lead elements of the allies trying to force a path through the French blocking force.

The allies advance to find the french ahead mostely behind a stream and marshy ground.

The French hold a strong position behind streams and marshy ground with artillery across the unfordable river Main on the allies left flank.
The French started with some troops across the streams to represent the historical battle where the French commander ignored his orders and advanced his whole command over the bridge to fight with his back to the streams and marshes. Unfortunately our French players chose not to repeat his mistake.

The British forces on the left flank.

Austrians in the centre with Hanoverians on the right. King George right of centre.

The British advanced towards the forward French units of the Garde du Corps and Maison de Roi all the while coming under artillery fire from across the river.

British engage the Garde du Corps and Maison de Roi

In the centre the Austrians, my command, advanced towards the french deploying behind the marshy ground.

Austrian advance.

The plan on the right was for the Hanoverians to advance quickly around the edge of the marsh to threaten the French left, and this was going well until French re-enforcements appeared out of the wooded high ground to their flank.

After a hard scrap the British saw off the leading French units and continued to advance on Dettingen, the Austrians made it to the marsh and began the slow process of crossing it under sustained French fire and the Hanoverians found themselves fighting on two fronts under the inspirational leadership of King George himself.

British advance on Dettingen

French await the oncoming Austrians

The advance continues

Bogged down in the marshes

Austrians push on.

On they come.

King George II leading his Hanoverians

With the French now pushed back into the defensive position of Dettingen their resolve stiffened as did that of the units pouring fire into the brave Austrians slogging through the marsh to come to grips with their tormentors. On the right the Hanoverians manged to hold against the pressure from two flanks but were pushed back towards the supporting Austrian cavalry.

With no way through for the allies and the main French army rapidly approaching to the rear the umpire called the game. Unlike in the historical battle, this time King George would have to negotiate terms with the surrounding French.

Another great game using these rules, all bodes well for the Battle of Minden in a couple of weeks.

For a fuller AAR and a lot more photographs see the club's Facebook album here.

Tony.