Fontenoy Test Game 1 - Decision Time

We have reached the end pulse of turn four and the Anglo/Hanoverian line has exchanged fire and combat with the first French line (Gardes and Aubterre brigades) while the Dutch have assaulted Fontenoy twice to no great effect yet.  A possible decision point?  No, neither side had yet achieved any real advantage but here is what the lines looked like at the end of turn 4:

Before Fontenoy the Dutch can not gain any traction and are taking losses at around two to one.  Their artillery is screened so not of use to them and the French get saving throws on any hits (saving about half of the time with a 4,5, or 6) and the Dutch have to simply take the hits as they are out in the open killing ground.  The Dutch can not force their second line battalions into the fight yet as some of their first line units though damaged are still in the front.

The allowance of one die for artillery impact from each of the three redoubts may have been too small, perhaps a 2 dice (or half of what we allow a regular battery firing) would have been a better approximation of how well these small guns could have fired when in a protected area and closely supported by fresh forces.  As it is their occasional hit is not making a large impact.

On the top edge of the plateau the first British line has not yet breached the sunken road although most of the French Garde battalions and their Aubterre Brigade units have taken 3-4 hits and are close to being removed.  The British Guards are almost shot away but they have a strong number of line battalions closer to Fontenoy along this line so may be able to continue the advance.

Turn Five and the French roll 24 control dice to the British 12.  So the French can add command dice and re-roll combat result dice all day without fear of falling out of dice.  The British will have to struggle to save wherever they can to counter.

But the British win the Initiative for the turn and make two decisions.  The first is to storm ahead with their British troops and try to break into the French position.  The second is to call off the attack on Fontenoy and try to rebuild the Dutch forces after they retire beyond three base widths.

The situation in Fontenoy shows this is the best that the Dutch could have done, they lost nine of 21 battalions outright and the few still in the close contact zone all have some casualties. They are a base 6 strength (like their French neighbors) but taking a minus 2 trying to club their way forward in combat is too much to expect of them.  Here are the respective casualty piles for the Dutch and the French:  9 Dutch to 2 French battalions plus the 2 batteries lost earlier in the game.

The British do surge forward and taking advantage of a couple of breaks in the French line and the fact that they had the initiative which allows them to pick the direction to move across the table in combats, allows them to erase the remainder of the French Gardes and the Aubterre brigade with little cost to their units. 

Here is the picture of the line at that point.

The British crown the sunken road and move their second line forward to cover it in its entirety.  But, you can see there are no reserves to the second line and the cavalry is weak and far away.  The French second line (the wild geese of the Irish Brigade) are ready to continue the fight and the French still have a complete second line behind them and then three lines of cavalry as yet untouched.

The village of Fontenoy will soon be taking enfilade shots across the British line as will the redoubts d'Eu which are still manned and ready for the fight.  One can see why Cumberland had to make the best of a bad situation and retire before the strength of the position and de Saxe's deployments.  Our Cumberland similarly decides to withdraw while still strong enough to hold off any French counter attack.

Total losses for both sides is heavily weighted down by the loss ratio at Fontenoy.  Elsewhere both sides killed at about a 1 to 1 ratio.  The first French line of 10 battalions is gone, but so are the British in their front line of 9 battalions.  There is not enough time left in the day to redeploy artillery to the threatened areas and if the French cavalry are able to break into and through the British second infantry line the entire Anglo/Allied army would be at risk of losing their retreat route back through Vezon.

Interesting replay with some things to consider about weather Might & Reason really shows that it can provide a good and simple rules solution to this period.  I'll have more to add to that in the next posting.