Blenheim: the refight, part I

The battle starts following the historical plans: Eugene and Cutts attacking on the wing, then Marlborough pushing at the center. 

Here the Imperial cavalry crossing the  Nebel to engage the Franco-Bavarians:

Cutts and the Palmer cavalry crossing the Nebel towards Blenheim:

The cavalry battle developed with a see-saw evolution which will last nearly to the end. At the first stages the Imperial are at disadvantage since they must stop to cross the Nebel being penalised in melee:

Eugene infantry moves to attack Oberglau (to make things easier I removed the village to arrange troops inside)

Lord Cutts has crossed the Nebel without any French reaction and closes on Blenheim. The French choose a defensive attitude, with Clereambault being careful to not be sucked into the battle for the village: at the end this will prove a costly error.

The cavalry battle still rages without a clear winner, to this moment

                       

Clereambault unleashes the Maison du Roi on the flank of Cutts, with Palmer's cavalry closing in support

The situation becomes hot in Oberglau, the garrison commanded by Blainville puts up a stiff resistance and Eugene infantry must retire with losses to reorganise

 

Under Cutts pressure Blenheim falls, despite a spirited counterattack of Clereambault, which arrives too late to prevent the disaster.

On the Franco-Bavarian vs. Imperial side, the Confederate are slowly taking the edge:

This is the situation at the end of the 5th move: Tallard and Marlborough are still idle, waiting for the battles on the wings. Maybe Tallard should send reinforcements to his right.

To follow.

 Just for fun: Blenheim with Juniorgeneral

Blenheim is one of the battles I like more: I have three boardgames dealing with it (Blenheim, 3W 1977 form the Wargamer magazine, by J. Hind; Marlborough at Blenheim, West End Games, 1979 by D.S. Palter and A Famous Victory, 1995, by R. Berg) and by looking at Boardgamegeek there are many others.

There are also many scenarios for miniatures, also for the rules I use, V&B and Maurice. However these scenarios require more miniatures than I have and furthermore I don’t have French and Confederate armies in my collection.

So i decided, just for fun in this cold and wet lockdown January sunday to refight Blenheim by using simple rules and proxy armies. As far as the rules are concerned i decided and ha to try those given in the website Juniorgeneral, which has also a scenario dedicated to Blenheim (https://juniorgeneral.org/wss/blenheim.html).  In these rules any unit is comprised of six base on two lines. The frontage of infantry is 2.25 inches (57 mm) whereas that of cavalry is 4.5 inches (114 mm). I fudged a little the basing and any infantry unit will be formed by two 40 mm bases (80 mm, a little larger) whereas the cavalry is on three 40 mm bases (120 mm). The rules prescribe base removal: i stick with the V&B philosophy of losses as combat capacity reduction so i shall simply put beyond the units a number which gives the current force. The original rules provide for unit removal when it is reduced to one base, here the unit is removed when also last point is destroyed.

Another modification is the following. In the rules the Franco-Bavarian cavalry fires with a charge bonus of +1, whereas the confederate doesn’t fire but has a charge bonus of +2. Following the suggestion of Richard Berg, for the French cavalry alone the first time the unit charges a dice is rolled: on 1,2,3 they follow the fire discipline, on 4,5,6 they charges at cold steel and have a +2 bonus. This choice is maintained for the whole game.

Now the proxies: the French are proxied by my GNW swedes whereas the Conferate are proxied by GNW russian and danish (some danish regiment where indeed at Blenheim as mercenary unit for the Maritime Powers). The most eye-sighted between you shall detect also some napoleonic french artillery proofing confederate artillery. I beg your pardon, sirs.

Now let’s look at the battle (woods and hills are just to add variety).

A general view with the town of Blenheim, the village of Oberglau and the muddy and marshy-banked Nebel Bach.

The Franco-Bavarian wing of Marsin and the Elector of Bavaria (3 units Infantry, 3 units Cavalry, 1 unit Guard Cavalry, 4 Guns)

The French center under Tallard, overall commander (3 units Infantry, 2 units Cavalry, 1 unit Guard Cavalry, 4 Guns) and the Oberglau garrison, Blainville with 2 units of infantry

The French right wing of Clerambault with the Blenheim garrison (4 units Infantry, 1 unit Guard Cavalry, 1 Guns plus 2 infantry units in garrison)

The Imperial army of Prinz Eugen (3 units Infantry, 1 unit Guard Infantry, 4 units Cavalry, 1 unit Guard Cavalry, 3 Guns):

The Center under Malborough (overall commander) and Holstein-Beck (4 units Infantry, 1 unit Guard Infantry, 4 units Cavalry, 1 unit Guard Cavalry, 3 Guns):

The left wing under Lord Cutts (3 units Infantry, 1 unit Guard Infantry, 1 unit Cavalry):

So, let’s play! A  battle report will follow soon.