Summer battle: Prussians stop the French at Mayence

The last period we didn´t post anything new, because of the active preparation for our annual summer battle. So, I finished some French cavalry units, completed the command stand and worked on the rule book.
At the weekend, finally, we met all together at my father´s house near Mayence and arranged in his garden the tabletop, the gaming mat and all the terrain elements.
The scenario provided a battle between the advancing French army under General Montcalm to the Rhine, where the Prussians awaited them in an area with meadows, a village and a forest - to stop their advance to the East.
It was a splendid war-game and we tested our rules again and again and still had to confess, that we should work on details (shooting points, bonus systems, morale etc...).

That are the French Generals: my son-in-law, Roman, and me.

And the Prussian commanders: my son Levent and Anselm, my nephew.

The army box with sheets, dices, markers...

... and the army sheets with values, combat forces, morale and general informations about each regiment..

The deployment: The French on the left side formed a long rank with the infantry. Their left wing was positioned in front of the village, the right flank was with massed cavalry. The Prussians stood on the hill with a powerful battery and placed infantry and cavalry more open and flexible. Two absolutely different styles of strategy promised an exciting game....

The village shows a bucolic and quiet view..

.. but behind, the Prussians are preparing the artillery fire...

on the other side, the French "Gensdarmes de la Garde" stood ready for capturing the village...

...flanked by the "Chasseurs"..

... but Prussians Jaegers awaited them behind hedgerows and buildings..

First attack by the Chasseurs to the village and the fire opening of the whole battle....

What they didn´t see, was the elite regiment of Prussian Cuirassiers, the "Berlin Gensdarmes" ....

...assisted by the terrific mortar. His first shot killed most of the invading Chasseurs, even before they could enter into a skirmish.. Nice Nürnberger Meisterzinn and Prince August figures!

On the other flank, the Prussians had a powerful cavalry and horse artillery...

..but the French cavalry regiment "Orléans" opened the initiative and attacked the artillery and the 18. regiment

Counterattack by Prussian Red Hussars

... and the Prussian Canaries swarmed out to reach the flank of Orléans!

Prussian headquarter on the hill, under French artillery fire..... one of the guns is already out of order...

Prussian Cuirassiers preparing the 2nd wave of charge...

French "Mestre du Camps" and "Commissaire Général" attacked Prussian Dragoons and Cuirassiers!! They were thrown back 2x by the Prussian counterattack....

The French center is advancing in line formation during the overheated battle between the cavalry units...

Langermann Dragoons in counterattack

French have to re-order their troops....

Typical Prussian formation: infantry, battalion gun and cavalry - a deadly mixture...

But the French center moves forward - in great discipline! Here: Royal Pologne and Auvergne

Their counterpart: Prussian Regiments 40, 25, 13...

....followed by 49 and 34...

French marching to the hill..

positioning French battery

The French were successful in the center. The long rank with 6 regiments, shoulder on shoulder, assisted by heavy artillery fire, pushed the Prussians back and caused them several casualties. They should retreat to the hill for getting some medical points to turn back later... The French tried now to reach the hill and to capture the battery position...

.. same scene

Wonderful miniatures (Trident!)...

But the Prussians thrown their last reserves into the battle...

French won terrain, but still not the battle...

Chartres, Champagne, Flandres and the Gardes Françaises

Orléans cavalry attacks the Prussian 18th regiment using our "break-into-infantry"-rule and caused several casualties...

Second attack by French light cavalry

The Swiss are called to support the front lines... 

The French headquarter: discussion about next steps..

Same with the CinCs... in large scale..

... and in small scale...

Retreating Prussians with 3 hits... (shaken)...

All in all a wonderful game with a duration of 2,5 hours and some advantages for the French. The won more terrain, but had more casualties than the Prussians. 

We lost a lot of time for each turn (30-40 minutes) and couldn't´t really find a fast decision in the battle. The French had more privates, the Prussians had better shooting points - so it was equal by force, but any kind of "Blitzkrieg" on one side or the other wasn't possible. 

Maybe we have to change the effect of the dices.

We will try, next time, also to raise the speed of the game.