Oudenarde July 11th 1708 -- or an attempt at it anyway

 Well it was going to be a big one as the Brothers gathered.  For a variety of reasons there were less of us than originally planned. Ralph was the French CinC , Vendome, and Tom and Phil were his subordinates.

Ross played Marlborough ( I think Ross liked being referred to as 'Milord' or 'His Grace') and Spyros and Chris were his subordinates. 

The game was interesting as both sides were marching onto the field and had to jockey for position as each brigade had to shake out into line. Troops arrived on a predetermined plan - each commander had a good idea of the arrival of various brigades with some possible alteration. The battlefield had long lines of approaching troops!

View from the French side. Moving along the road-A Dragoon Brigade. Behind Infantry brigade with Irish, Royal Italians and Barvarians. In the middle of the picture- the opening engagement- A brigade of Prussians and Hanoverians attack a brigade of Swiss and Germans holding the small village of Eyne.

The opening engagement. Allied Brigade of Prussians and Hanoverians engaging a French Brigade ( of Swiss and Germans)

Sabine's Brigade of British Foote arrive.

Early stages as the Allies attampt to deploy

Forming line- the Allied center.

The clash along the Diepenbeck Stream

Same again from the French side.

This opening clash was initially won by the Prussians and Hanoverians (Chris)- but the Alsace Regiment held onto the village of Eyne (Tom)  (on the right)- despite repeated Brigade tests after the others had been routed or forced to withdraw.

Firefight across the stream.

View from the French side.

From the Allied side

Dutch Cavalry moving forward.(Spyros)

Stadtholder de Frise Regiment ( Spyros-Dutch) backing up Sabine's Brigade  (Ross) ( top of picture)

British troops forming a line (Ross)

Natzmer's Prussian Cavalry (Chris) charging the French Dragoons (Ralph) holding the slope of the hill

Lord North's Brigade arrives (Ross)

The French Guard!! Montpezat's Brigade of Guards moving past Eyne- (Tom)

The French Cavalry form long lines ready to charge. (Ralph and Phil)

One of the fun aspects of the game was the 'Special Event' cards that were played each turn. The long line of French cavalry in the picture above arrived on Turn 2 of the game due to a Special Event instead of Turn 8- a very important arrival. It gave the French a numerical superiorty in the early third of the game

Allied Traffic jam!! The eagle eyed/ pedantic/knowledgable (take your pick) will note differing types of flags for the British. In the picture above the 1st Regiment of Foote- (Orkney's) Royal Scots etc are carrying the pre 1707 flag as are a number of otehr regiments and some are carrying the post 1707 flag. As I built up the collection I have added units for Blenheim ( old style) and have the OOB for all the Hanoverian ( British) for the Jacobite rebellion of the '15...so a mix of flags...sacrilege!! 

Heavy hitters- Palffy's Imperial Cuirassiers! (Chris)

Mid game- the French were looking good at this point...until a 'Special Event' card called 'Wrong signal you Imbecile!" was drawn. Some damned fool fired the flare for 'general retreat' and each brigade had to roll a d6. A couple ignored it the flare, although nearly half the French army halted for a turn! One Brigade of cavalry wouldn't move for two turns until Vendome himself had to order them forward. Vendome was having a busy day- a brigade of Irish and Germans also refused to move as they had not been paid- and he had to promise them their pay 

More allies arriving. For each player there was a palm card that showed the units in the Brigade as well as the Brigade commander. This way everyone remembered their troops and their quality ( Raw/Drilled/Veteran or Guard). Allied were pink card, French pale blue.

Prussians under pressure  commanded by Chris- Alsace Regt in mid picture and First Battalion Garde Suisse advancing from the right commanded by Tom.

The French Cavalry Sweep forward

The Allies getting moving

Stair's Brigade of Dragoon. Austrian Foote in front them. Another Allied traffic jam emerging from the town of Oudenarde

Danish Cavalry arriving

Dutch Regiment Pallandt in a firefight with Veteran Irish Regiment Bulkeley in French Service.
The Irish won!

By the late game the lines had formed and it became a attritional bloodbath.
More troops arriving every turn.

The Allies

The French. By turn 9 ( of 12) I had forgot taking photos!

By the end of it all, most of the players were looking overwhelmed! Originally, with twelve players, no player would have commanded more than 8-10 units. But with only 6 players on the day the senior commanders were overseeing over double that number. For games of this size, especially with inexperienced players I have always felt that 8-12 units (maximum) is key, as it can get confusing.

I think Spyros will have more pictures on his Blog " No Duff Gamer - see down the right hand side of the screen!

Last moves

Anyway, the Umpire had to make a decision. Strategically Marlborough had lodged a bridgehead  and got across the Scheldt in number, but was under pressure as the French dominated two of the three key heights and the village of Eyne. So a tactical French victory!

Playing historical scenarios of this size can be frustrating as you can only ever get a 'feel' for the battle rather than an accurate recreating of it. The balance also needs to be right and sometimes special events can slow down one side or the other if they have too much of an advantage. If I did this again, I'd change some of the initial deployments- and make the table a bit wider at points! Historically, one of the factors that hampered the French command was the friction between Vendome and the Duc de Burgundy ( The Petit Dauphin). I had built this in as differing objectives for the two senior commanders- one (Vendome) was after positional advantage over the allies- the other ( Burgundy) was after personal glory. Burgundy was tasked with breaking allied units and would have emerged victorious if his units had broken more allied units than his colleagues- even if the French army had been defeated.  When it was clear that I didn't have the number of player I felt necessary - I scrapped that idea and had to include 'special event' cards that reflected the friction- hence the 'wrong flare' card to slow the French somewhat.

Another factor is the battlefield itself. In this scale it was almost impossible to get the 5 or 6 villages onto the table without cluttering it up so much that there is no room for manoeuvre. The one village ( Eyne) was really an amalgam of Heune and Eyne and I left all the others out. Necessity trumping representation! 

I collapsed in a heap .....and started planning my next big game....Kliszow in 1702 ...or Fraustadt 1706......or....