Battle of Sedan 1870, finale

This game was played on September 29 2016. German units are in italics.

Last Thursday the Corlears Hook Fencibles finished our battle of Sedan 1870 using the Bloody Big Battles rules. It is part of the campaign we are playing of the major battles of that war. So far the Prussians have won 3, the French 1 and there have been 3 ties. Sedan is the last battle of the Imperial phase. French victory or tie in this battle is just a scoring method. The French army is surrounded and going down in any case. “Victory” just means some units may escape the trap for the moment. We played 5 turns the previous week and set down to finish the battle. If no objectives changed hands the game would be a tie (better than the French managed on the day).

The Bavarian II Corps got over their jitters and advanced on the demoralized French 5 Corps in the Sedan forts. 

Sometimes spelling errors in the photos sneak under my radar.

On the western sector the French Reserve cavalry was unable to extricate themselves from their abortive attack. 

In the east the Saxon Corps was slowly shot up after their penetration of the French line. 

They suffered from a lack of support. The nearest Corps had not yet recovered from the previous battle.

In the west the fighting continued. 

The spent 5 Corps units prove unable to hold their forts.

Carnage on the west continued. 

On the last turn the Bavarians overran the Sedan Citadel. 

Meanwhile hot French dice laid Prussians low in the west. 

The story in the east was the same. The caption below is in error: the game was a Prussian win. There was some confusion about the victory conditions, cleared up later.

Some pictures to show the losses on the field. Each casualty marker equals one base removed. 

It took us some 3.5 hours to play 3 turns. Our excuse is the train crash in nearby Hoboken and other current events that generated a lot of talking during the game.

French Losses: 16 infantry bases gone, 1 ran away, 4 cavalry bases gone, 2 ran away, 2 artillery bases gone. The Germans lost 24 infantry bases, 3 ran away, 2 cavalry bases, 1 ran away, and 1 artillery base shot down by rifle fire. Each army lost nearly a third of their starting strength.

This would have been a tie by campaign rules if the Bavarians had not stormed Sedan. The Prussians head into the next game, Coulmiers, with a free re-roll.

The French Army of Chalons surrendered, Napoleon III was taken prisoner and the 2^nd Empire fell, replaced by the 3^rd Republic. No more well-trained French led by ciphers loyal to the Emperor. From now on it will be ragged mobs of republican French and some decent generals. Vive la Republique!