I managed another small Sun King game on the dining room table last month. This one was based on the Battle of Tanaro, 1653. It involved the French and Spanish and was pretty much a head-on attack by the French against Spanish-held defences and buildings, with the latter's flanks covered by rivers. I kept the French as the attackers, with Dutch and German units on the defence. The French no advantage in numbers and there was no artillery on either side. The attackers had to capture the farmhouses on each flank and the fieldworks in the centre; the defenders to hold them. The deployment roughly follows that of the battle. Here are some photographs.
The opposing forces, French to the left, Dutch/Germans to the right. Both rivers are impassable, so the French have no opportunity to manoeuvre the defenders out of their positions.
From behind the French lines.
From behind the Dutch/German lines.
Tilladet Cavalry Regiment (two squadrons).
French foot - d'Humières to the front, Royal to the rear.
Lyonnais to the front, Turenne to the rear.
Villeroi Cavalry Regiment (two squadrons).
Grancey.
German foot - Münster.
Baden-Durlach.
Dragoons - Erbprinz (Hesse).
Dutch Cavalry - Nassau-Friesland (two squadrons).
More German foot - Anhalt-Bernberg.
Dutch foot - Beaumont.
Dutch cavalry - Waldeck (two squadrons).
The attack gets under way: Grancey head for the left hand farm, while Lyonnais and d'Humières march towards the fieldworks, and Royal wheels to engage the right hand farm. The cavalry are somewhat at a loose end in this situation, moving up as supports on the left.
Royal attacks the farm held by Erbprinz Dragoons. My rules have built-up areas of varying sizes/defenders, but before hand-to-hand combat is resolved, a die is rolled to see how may turns fighting goes on for before a result is worked out. I decided a few years ago that the chaos and confusion of house-to-house fighting was best represented by assuming a period of time elapsed while the two sides fought it with attacks and counter-attacks, completely engrossed in their tasks while the battle raised elsewhere, making it unpredictable for a while what would happen. Then the result is worked out. Another reason was that, on the table, a farmhouse usually represents a small village, so there would have been several buildings to take and re-take, as well as gardens and walls, units would be operating in squads, platoons and companies, not battalions. In this case, the French are fortunate they only have a turn to wait, plus they have a major advantage in numbers.
On the other side of the field, Grancey attacks the Dutch foot regiment Reede. The die shows four turns of house-to-house combat here.
Lyonnais attacks Münster.
D'Humières attacks Baden-Durlach.
Unsurprisingly, the French are repulsed from the fieldworks with loss.
On the right, Royal storms the farmhouse and the dragoons retreat in confusion.
Royal on the right have secured their objective by advancing through the farm. In the centre, the French foot are reluctant to charge fieldworks again, while Tilladet cavalry regiment comes up in support.
Nassau-Friesland cavalry charge Royal, but are repulsed for their pains. I now think that, by this date, i.e. the 1670s, foot were not often forming pike squares with musketeers trying to squash into the middle or shelter under outstretched pikes unable to shoot, or running off while the pikemen stood alone against the cavalry. If they had secure flanks, and owing to the ratio of one pikeman to two musketeers. I think they were doing what the French called "fraising", with wings of shot closing together and the pikemen forming rows between those of the musketeers, thrusting their pikes forward between one, two or three files of musketeers, with the latter still able to shoot to some degree to the front and disrupt a cavalry attack. The battle of Entzheim in 1674, where French battalions faced off Austrian cuirassier regiments by forming a large square, each unit's flank protected by another, seems to me only explicable in this sense, for the sources do not state they formed pike squares. However, I am open to other suggestions! I confess, I have never really read a convincing explanation of how it was all done even when the pike to shot ratio was 1:1. Were contemporary manuals just wishful thinking?
On the French left, the farm is captured by Grancey and Reede is bundled out the back.
Lyonnais tries again, but with no more success than last time.
The Dutch Montpouillan cavalry face off against Grancey, reluctant to charge formed, stationary foot, led by a mounted officer, exchange carbine fire with the infantry.
The French have taken the farmhouses, but are not making much progress otherwise. D'Humières has retreated, while Anhalt-Bernberg is moving to block Royal.
Anhalt_Bernberg is in position to counter Royal.
Grancey and Montpouillan still exchanging shots; the cavalry are, unsurprisingly, coming off worst.
Turenne had reformed into column to move across the field quicker, while Royal has advanced from the farm on the right, with Tilladet cavalry up in support.
On the Dutch/German left, Anhalt-Bernebrg is in a firefight with Royal. Montpouillan on the right has lost one squadron to Grancey's musketry. Tilladet's lead squadron has been trying to charge the fieldworks, which is allowed by the rules, but it failed repeatedly to pass the morale test, which was pretty realistic!
The Dutch/German centre remains rock solid.
Grancey remains by the farmhouse it has captured. If it moves, it risks getting charged by Montpouillan's second squadron, which would not be good!
Royal and Anhalt-Bernberg exchanging musketry fire.
I played out twelve turns, my usual limit. By then, it was clear the French were not going to get any further against the fieldworks and they were not going to make progress either on the flanks. So I gave the game to the Dutch/Germans. The result was pretty much the same as the real battle in 1653.
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