As promised, the details for the Mont Cassel game with some general notes/ideas about the game design added at the end. I have made the scenario information non-specific in terms of rules to use, as everybody has their favourite, however, for unit sizes, I have foot regiments of 24 figures, squadrons of 6 figures, but large squadrons of 8 figures, and the large Swiss regiment has 36 figures. I think if I manage to put the battle on at my local club, where they have an 8 foot by 6 foot board, I would be able to show the river Peene and its bridges along the north edge of the battlefield with the Dutch reserve cavalry beyond, and the rest of the river Lyncke below the south edge, with the French deployed behind it. However, this would change the dynamics a bit because the French could sit out the battle behind the Lyncke and make the Dutch attack them across it, rather than as happened in the real battle. However, different victory conditions for the French might help? If you wanted to let the Dutch reserve cavalry cross without having to roll a dice for arrival, this would also make a drastic difference to the game and would not really reflect the real battle, though the Dutch player would probably be very pleased! In our refight, the Dutch commander got tied up leading cavalry charges on his left wing and, when he got out of that habit and did make dice rolls to bring the cavalry across, he failed them all, much to his colleague's chagrin!
Map:
Terrain:
The terrain is very straightforward for this battle. The roads do not give any bonus to movement. The hedges count as linear obstacles to infantry and are impassable to cavalry. The stream, which represents the lower half of the river Lyncke, is passable along its full length to both infantry and cavalry, counting as a linear obstacle. The orchard is passable to infantry and cavalry with a minor reduction to movement. The windmill is a “feature”, i.e. it was a prominent landmark, but gave no defensive advantages. The building, which should be quite large, is also a “feature”, representing the Abbey of Peene, but it should be shown on fire, as it had been set ablaze by Dutch dragoons earlier in the day.
General Situation:
The Dutch army under William, Prince of Orange, is trying to get to Saint Omer, which is off the table to the south, the town being under siege by the French. The French army under Philippe, duc d’Orléans, which was besieging Saint Omer, has left a blockading force behind and moved to stop the Dutch advance.
Orders:
The Dutch army has to break through to Saint Omer, so it must exit
as many troops as possible off the table along the south edge between the west
and central roads.
The French army has to prevent the Dutch breaking through and, if
possible, exit some cavalry off the north edge of the table, as this will
threaten the Dutch baggage train.
Dutch Army:
(See map as well)
Left Wing: E1-F1 One Elite Horse Regiment
(3
x squadrons)
One
Trained Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
One
Brigade General
F2-F3 Two Trained Foot Regiments
One
Brigade General
Centre: D2-E2-D3-E3 Four Trained Foot Regiments
One
Brigade General
Reserve: D1-E1 One Veteran Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
D2-E2 One Trained Foot Regiment
D1 One Veteran Dragoon Regiment
One
Army General
Right Wing: C2-C3-D2 One Elite Foot Regiment
One
Veteran Foot Regiment
Three
Trained Foot Regiments
One
Brigade General
D3 One Trained Light Cannon
C1 One Veteran Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
One
Trained Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
One
Brigade General
Off Table: Left Wing One Veteran Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
Two
Trained Horse Regiments
(2
x squadrons each)
One
Brigade General
Right Wing One Veteran Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
Two
Trained Horse Regiments
(2
x squadrons each)
One
Brigade General
Dutch Army Notes:
1) All foot and horse units should be deployed in line.
2) The light cannon battery should be deployed ready to fire
facing towards area west of the central road. i.e. D4. It is under the command
of the brigade general in C2.
3) The dragoon regiment deploys mounted, but may dismount
thereafter.
4) The army general in D1 is the overall army commander and
controls the Reserve units on the table, which he may allocate to particular
brigade generals.
5) The units off table to the north are only available to enter
the battlefield from Turn Six onwards as follows:
First, the Dutch army
commander must not be attached to a unit and must be within 12” of the triple
road entry point in D1-E1. If neither condition applies, no die roll is
allowed.
Second, the Dutch army
commander must decide whether the Horse Regiment will enter on the Right Wing
at Entry Point 3 or the Left Wing at Entry Point 1 or Entry Point 2.
Third, only one Horse
Regiment (2 x squadrons) enters the table if the die roll is successful.
Four, the Horse Regiment
will appear on the edge of the table, its two squadrons in line and side by
side, counting that as its move for that turn.
Five, if a French unit
is within 6” of an Entry Point, no Dutch Horse Regiment can enter the table at
that Entry Point.
Six, the brigade general
enters the table with the first Horse Regiment.
Seven, the Dutch army
commander rolls 1d6 at the start of the turn: a 5 or 6 is a successful roll.
Any subsequent roll after a successful one needs 4, 5 or 6 for a unit to enter
the table.
Eight, Horse Regiments
on the Left Wing are not allowed to enter on the Right Wing side of the table
and vice versa.
French Army:
(see map as well)
Left Wing: A2-B2 Two Veteran Horse Regiments
(2
x squadrons each)
One Trained Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
One
Brigade General
A3 One Veteran
Dragoon Regiment
Centre Left: B3-B4 One Veteran Foot Regiment
Two
Trained Foot Regiments
One
Brigade General
Centre Right: C4-D4 One Elite Foot Regiment
Two
Veteran Foot Regiments
One
Brigade General
Reserve: D4 One Veteran Foot Regiment
One Army General
Right Wing: G4 Three Elite Horse Squadrons
One
Brigade General
H4 Two Veteran Horse Regiments
(2
x squadrons each)
One
Trained Horse Regiment
(2
x squadrons)
One
Brigade General
Off Table: One Trained Dragoon Regiment
French Army Notes:
1) All foot and horse units should be deployed in line.
2) The dragoon regiment at A3 deploys mounted, but may dismount
thereafter. The dragoon regiment off table enters H4 on Turn One mounted, behind
the cavalry in that square. Both French dragoon regiments are independent and
do not need to be under a command.
3) The army general in D4 is the overall army commander and
controls the Reserve unit on the table, which he may allocate to particular brigade
generals.
Victory Points:
Dutch Army:
Each Foot Regiment
exited from the south side
of the table
between the west road exit and
central road exit 10 VP
Each Horse Squadron
or Dragoon Regiment exited
from the south side
of the table between the west
road exit and
central road exit 5 VP
French Army:
No Dutch units
exited from the south side
of the table
between the west road exit and
the central road
exit 50 VP
Both sides:
Per enemy Foot
Regiment destroyed 5 VP
Per enemy Horse
Squadron destroyed 2 VP
Per enemy Dragoon
Regiment destroyed 2 VP
Per enemy Light
Cannon Battery destroyed 1 VP
General Notes:
In
terms of the initial set up, on the day of the battle William of Orange had
committed most of his army to his centre and right wing in order to punch
through to Saint Omer, severely weakening his left wing. The French under the duc d’Orléans saw this and exploited it
by putting their best cavalry on their right wing and launching an attack
across the river Lyncke, followed by a general assault all along their line. So
the set up on the map represents the moment when the French have gone onto the
offensive, crossing the river Lyncke (off table to the south, entering the
table at B4) and catching the Dutch before they could launch their attack.
The
Dutch cavalry off the table to the north represent large portion of his mounted
units that William of Orange left beyond the river Peene (off the table to the
north, stretching all the way from A1 to H1) and made no attempt to bring them
across it for the duration of the battle. So although they never intervened in
the fighting, I thought it should be allowed, but severely restricted, hence
the conditions set for the Dutch army commander and the fact there are only a
few entry points (representing the pontoon bridges William of Orange had built
over the river Peene the night before).
The
French elite squadrons should be larger than normal, as the units they
represent were so at the time. In addition, the French reserve foot regiment
ought to be larger than the standard ones, as it represents the Swiss
formations in the army and these were bigger than the regular line regiments.
The French have an advantage in quality, partly to counterbalance the Dutch
numerical advantage, but more because they do seem to have fought better on the
day overall.
The
Dutch cannot really win the game without attacking as they get points for
exiting units off the table, whereas the French can play a defensive role as
they have a big advantage in Victory Points from the start of the battle.
Staying behind the hedges is not going to win the game for the Dutch unless the
French player gets carried away with attacking instead. The Dutch left wing is
weak, no two ways about it, so somehow they have to avoid losing units and
adding to the French Victory Points, but at the same time the Dutch cannot
afford to lose control of the entry points if they want to get extra cavalry
onto the table, so to some extent a forward defence on that side of the battle
is needed.
In
the actual battle, the Dutch left wing collapsed first, then their right gave
way after a stubborn fight and the whole lot retreated in disorder across the
river Peene, abandoning the attempt to reach Saint Omer, which surrendered to
the French not longer after.
