Mars la Tour, end game

The following was played on April 4, 2016.

This is a brief account of the end of our battle of Mars la Tour.

This was played a couple weeks back but I didn't get around to posting it until now. Some details have faded with time.

The situation at the end of the previous session was the Prussians had seized Vionville in the French right center and had long been in Mars la Tour on the French right. If the French could recapture one town the game would be a tie. If by some miracle they could recapture both they would have a victory. There were two turns left. Bill and Rick commanded the Prussians and I the French. Ken was away, watching the Royal Shakespeare Company.

I threw in an attack on Vionville and rushed another unit up behind in column. The attack failed and the column was left facing the Prussian garrison.

On my right the unit on the bridge rallied in place. I had hoped they would rally and deploy so they could attack on the last turn. Instead they rallied and deployed on the last turn, ready to attack after the game ended. The unit on the far side of the stream failed to attack the enfiladed German unit, which might have allowed them to attack on the last turn. Instead they fired effectively into the Germans and attacked on the last turn, just managing to shove them back. No attack was made on Mars la Tour by game end.

On the French left center, Guard Voltigeurs and artillery forced a Krupp battalion to limber up and pull back, a sop to French pride.

The French column in front of Vionville rallied, deployed and charged into the town – to be repulsed by the Prussians.

With that the game was over and the Prussians notched their second victory of the campaign. They will have a free re-roll in the coming game of Gravelotte.

Final losses were some 24,000 French and 28,500 Germans. It took us a little over 5 hours to play 11 turns in two sessions.

The score in our campaign so far: two ties (Spicheren and Froeschwiller), two German victories (Borny and Mars la Tour).