BBB – Battle of Froeschwiller (Woerth), August 1870

After using Bloody Big Battles (BBB) to play some games set in the Napoleonic era, we decided to return to the era for which BBB was written, namely, the late 19th century, and specifically, the Franco-Prussian War.  The core rule book contains nine scenarios for that conflict, several of which we had played before.  However, our group has added several new players since then, so, for their benefit, we decided to go back to the beginning of the list and play the first scenario again.  That scenario is the Battle of Froeschwiller (also known as the Battle of Woerth), which was fought on 6 August 1870.

Froeschwiller was a hard fought battle that took place early in the war near the frontier between France and Germany.  The French defenders occupied a strong position on a steep ridge, and repulsed several piecemeal attacks until the Germans were able to bring their greater strength to bear.  The day ended with a French retreat.  Could the Prussians and their German allies achieve the same result in our game?

We took the orders of battle, map, and victory conditions straight from the scenario, so the only pregame work that was required was organizing and labelling the figures.

Terrain:  The French occupy a steep ridge on the western side of a valley that is formed by the Sauer River and the Sulzbach Stream, both of which are fordable.  The German side of the valley to the east also rises steeply.  The town of Woerth sits astride the river near the center of the table, and the town of Froeschwiller lies on the ridge above it.  The terrain is a mixture of open ground and woods, and is dotted with several villages and small towns.

Deployment:

The French begin with their four divisions deployed in a line on the ridge.  Starting on the French left, 1st Division defends Froeschwiller; 3rd Division overlooks Woerth, 2nd Division is in the woods to the right of 3rd Division, and on the far right, in the south, 4th Division overlooks the bridge that crosses the river near the town of Gunstett.

The Germans begin with the Bavarian 4th Division in and around the town of Langensulzbach, facing the French 1st Division.  One brigade of the Prussian V Korps occupies Woerth.  One brigade of the Prussian XI Korps is deployed on a hill next to Gunstett.  The bulk of the two Prussian corps, plus elements of two more Bavarian divisions and a Wurttemberg division, will arrive later in the game from the east.

Moves:

With their first shots of the game, the French demonstrated the superiority of their massed firepower by decimating the Bavarian brigade in Langensulzbach and the Prussian brigade in Woerth, leaving both targets spent.  Emboldened by this early success to their left, the two brigades of the 4th Division came off the ridge and advanced to the river’s edge, ready to take the fight to the Prussian side of the river.

The appearance of masses of Prussian reserves must have had a chilling effect on the ardor of the soldiers of 4th Division, as the two French brigades promptly failed their rolls to move across the river (which would become a repeated problem for this unlucky division).  Near Froeschwiller, the undaunted commander of 1st Division moved his two brigades down to the water’s edge to shoot it out with the Bavarians.

The Prussian reserves soon made their strength known.  Seven batteries of artillery unlimbered on the high ground and began to pound the French units that were opposite Woerth and Gunstett.  Two brigades of V Korps crossed the river north of Woerth and then engaged in several turns of mutual destruction with the two brigades of the French 3rd Division and a brigade of the 2nd Division, which were closely supported by a mitrailleuse battery and an artillery battery.

Further to the south, the attack of the later-arriving Prussian XI Korps developed a bit more slowly, but once the three brigades of the corps were united, they quickly gained the ascendency over their disorganized French opponents.  As the battle progressed, XI Korps was able to send three batteries of artillery to support V Korps in the center while the XI Korps infantry, along with the infantry and cavalry of the Wurtemmberg division, pursued the beaten French across the ridge.

The sacrifice of two Prussian brigades in the center, combined with 1st Division’s fixation on the Bavarians, enabled a fresh brigade of V Korps to cross the river unopposed and slip into Froeschwiller, which had been left unoccupied by the French.  This Prussian brigade was quickly ejected by a French counterattack, but this early incursion into Froeschwiller earned the Prussians a victory point.

The end game saw the full Bavarian corps and the Prussian brigade from V Korps make a series of concerted assaults on the French defenders in and around Froeschwiller.  The French brigade holding the town was low on ammo, but its defensive fire was still sufficient to halt an attacking Bavarian brigade (rolled a 12).  The adjacent Prussian brigade braved its way through the canister fire of a nearby French battery, becoming disrupted but not halted.  The first German assault was delivered by a Bavarian brigade that overran an unsupported French battery, then exploited into the melee in the town.  The numerical advantage provided by this additional brigade was enough to offset the advantage of defending the town.  The Germans won the assault by one pip, and forced the French out of the town.

So the game came down to the last half of the last turn.  If the French could counterattack and drive the Bavarians out of Froeschwiller, they would deny a critical victory point to the Germans.  Unfortunately, the French brigade failed its roll to rally, and the counterattack could not be made.  Thus the game ended.

The Germans earned a third victory point for reducing the French army to four infantry units, so the game resulted in a German victory!

What a good game!  Most of our BBB games come down to the last dice roll on the final turn, and this scenario was no different.  (The first time we played this scenario, the Germans eked out a draw on the last turn — the fact that I still remember this several years later speaks volumes about how good a game that was.)  One of our players remarked that, while BBB works fine for Napoleonics, the late 19th century seems to be the sweet spot for the rules.  We all agreed.  We believe that the increased lethality of the weapons in the late 19th century makes the games much more dynamic than in the earlier period.  We were encouraged by the success of this game to play all of the Franco-Prussian war scenarios in the rule book.  Stay tuned.

• TJ