Blucher Franco Prussian War French v Prussian/Bavarian

Among the armies I've had for a long time but never really used much are some later 19th century forces done for 'Principles of War'. I have French, Prussians, Austrians and Italians and started converting the French and Prussians to use with 'Blucher' quite a while ago, even going as far as painting up some more French. However, the project gradually lost steam and was abandoned for a long time.

Finding some adaptations for the FPW for Blucher on the web inspired me to finish off the armies over the last week or so (just rebasing really, nothing too onerous) and give the rule changes a run out.

Basically the changes involve doubling the range of the French infantry to reflect the superiority of the Chassepot rifle, making the Prussian artillery more effective than the French and altering the cavalry v infantry combat to make the cavalry much less efficient. They also allow cavalry to fire but I didn't bother with that.

The other big change is to give the Prussians 2 D6 for momentum while the French only get a single D8 (or two D4). To give it a try I set up both armies on a relatively open table with the Prussians/Bavarians attacking the French:

The Bavarians move up their cavalry:

With a poor momentum score the Prussians stand and wait. This may not be a bad thing as they can use their superior artillery to soften up the French in front of them:

The French have moved some Turco's over to support their outnumbered cavalry while Bavarian infantry advance to extend the Bavarian line:

The Prussians begin to advance:

The first combat is a traditional cavalry v cavalry one with the Bavarian Cuirassiers taking on French Lancers. The Lancers repulse the Cuirassiers:

Prussian artillery continues to bombard the French:

The Bavarians close with the French infantry:

The French move forwards against the Prussians:

Having watched their Cuirassiers fail the Bavarian Chevaux Leger try their luck. Again the French Lancers triumph!:

One of the Bavarian artillery batteries has used up all it's ammunition. Fire from the French infantry is taking it's toll on the Bavarian infantry who have moved to close the range in the hope that this will make the firepower of both sides more equal:

Most of the artillery is out of ammo on the other flank, again long ranger French infantry fire is whittling down the Prussians:

The Bavarian line starts to crack:

French Cuirassiers advance while the main battle lines exchange fire:

The Bavarians are under heavy pressure:

Another Bavarian brigade breaks:

Prussian infantry are suffering from accurate French fire:

Battered French infantry brigades are replaced by fresh Zouave ones:

The Bavarians continue to fall back:

At this point I called it a day, most of the surviving Prussian and Bavarian brigades were heavily damaged and, while the French had some losses, they were in much better shape.

As regards how the rule adaptions worked there was certainly a difference between the two armies. The French infantry fire far more effectively than the Prussians making it hard for the Prussians to close to a range where they fire as effectively. On the other hand the much more efficient Prussian artillery did considerable damage to the French before the lines closed. 

However, in a more 'complicated' battle than the line the up one I chose to try the rules out the difference in MO dice would definitely have more of an effect, the French found it quite hard to move though that is mitigated by the fact that once their infantry get in range they don't need to move much!

The other issue with the game was that I didn't use any points values, just deployed everything I had. The French are much better quality than the Prussians and considerably better than the Bavarians especially.

All in all I enjoyed trying out the rules and getting the figures back on the table, the French especially are one of the nicer armies I've painted and it is a colourful period. I probably need to add some more artillery batteries (and some guns for the French crews who don't have any actual gins!) plus perhaps some more Prussian infantry, all of which could easily and cheaply be acquired from Lancashire games.