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 Battery

               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.