Henry's photos of Gravelotte St Privat

[battleeditor]

As described by Molinary in his thread, I was one of the participants in the huge 10mm Gravelotte-St Privat FPW game at retired Major-General John Drewienkiewicz's house. Here's the album of  pics on Flickr taken with my Fuji.

The photos are at http://ow.ly/2Et6F

There were eleven players (five French, six Prussian at times) and three umpires. We used Keith Warren of Realistic Modeliing's "To the Last Gaiter Button" rules, which work by dividing the table into 10" squares, each of which has a stacking limit of 8 units at any one time. Units move by square (infantry 1 normally, 2 marching, cavalry 2 normally, 3 marching); they also shoot by square (Prussian Dreyse 1 square, Chassepot 2 squares, French guns 3 squares, Prusssian Krupps 4 squares). Melee is square-to-square, and must observe the stacking limits. No more than four units may fire or fight out of any one side of a square. (Molinary can correct me if I'm wrong!)

The little discs you can see are circular 'sandwiches' of magnetic sheet, with a pie slice cut out of the top one and numbers 1-10 showing on the lower one. As you work out all the casualties inflicted on the troops in each square, you use these to keep tabs, and then return the number to 0 once all the effects have been worked out.

All the terrain was also made my Keith Warren, and very effective it was too. As Molinary mentions, figures are mostly Pendraken 10mm, painted by Fernando Enterprises and Molinary himself, who I believe also owns most or all of them.

The game followed an astonishingly historical pattern, with the Prussians arriving in corps-sized waves as they struggled to find the French flank. Eventually, this massive wave, having crashed against the French defences along the line and stalled, arrived at St Privat, which began to take the full brunt of the Prussian and Saxon artillery as dusk approached. Despite a gallant resistance, it was adjudged that the hugely outnumbered and especially outgunned French right flank under Canrobert (me!) would have been forced to abandon the ruins of St Privat at nightfall and pull back. 

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Henry
Battlegames
http://www.battlegames.co.uk

[lentulus]

Those are great images, and a really fantastic table.

Can we look forward to an article in Battlegames extolling the virtues of 10mm? 

[battleeditor]

I don't know, Lentulus -- will you write one?

I have been promised an article of some kind by some of those involved in the game -- we'll have to see what arrives.

[lentulus]

I don't know, Lentulus -- will you write one?

One is long overdue.

I will download your submissions guidelines and give it a good mull-over anyway.    Hopefully others will do the same.

[lentulus]

.

[nikharwood]

Great pics Henry - thanks for sharing [& welcome to the forum BTW  ]

It would be great to see more 10mm 'coverage' in the wargames press: and we've got a bunch of talented & interesting gamers here who, I'm sure, might be able to string some interesting things together which might warrant publication 

Contributor guidelines are here: http://www.battlegames.co.uk/documents/BG_A4_Contributor-Guidelines.pdf

Get writing folks 

[mollinary]

Thanks Henry, that's brilliant. 

To fill in a few of the gaps/questions:

i)  On the rules, cavalry move two squares, not three.

ii) Yup, I own all the figures.

iii) Keith Warren, of Realistic Modelling Ltd did all the terrain, and a lovely job he did of it.  The buildings he used on the villages and farms are Timecast 6mm, with the exception of the church for St Privat which I bought about 20 years ago to go with some Micro Armour. No idea who made it, or whether it is still in production.

iv) Figure painting is rather more varied.  The Prussian Guard Corps and Canrobert's French 6th Corps were painted by the talented Dave Hathaway (French 4th Corps commander General Ladmirault for this game). The French 4th Corps, and two and a half Prussian Corps by Keith Warren of RML(See above).  The other French, the Saxons, Hessians and assorted Prussians, a mix of Fernando Showcase Standard, and Mollinary Bog Standard.  All the basing for the Fernando figures done by me. 

v) Figures.  90+% Pendraken, a mix of new and old. The others, some Perrin Miniatures (largely the Prussian Guard) available from Magister Militum, and a tiny number of Wargames South figures (Hessian Chevaulegers and a Regiment of Chasseurs D'Afriques.


vi) 4 umpires. Myself and John  Dz, Adam and Otto Poole
Cheers for now,

Mollinary

[privateer]

Harry, great game and thanks for the pictures. I have a question about the French wagons - whos are they? they are what I need and I can't find any. can you help please

[battleeditor]

Hi Privateer

First of all, I'm Henry, not Harry, and secondly, you'll have to ask Mollinary, whose collection this is!

[mollinary]

Privateer,

      The wagons look good don't they?  Well, hardly surprising as they are Pendraken - I asked Dave what might be suitable, and he recommended one (if I recall correctly GR35 from the WW2 Range).  I then ordered double the horses (they come as a two horse wagon), chose the wheels to be the same front and back, and got some limber riders.  The only modification to the model was a bit of plastic card on the seat to allow the limber riders to sit comfortably, as they are a bit long in the leg.   I'm sure Dave will be happy to suggest the best fit from his ranges for your requirements.

Hope that is helpful,

Mollinary

[privateer]

My humble apologies, being on the other side of the would and not reading correctly is my only excuse, and not a very good one at that.
But i will complement you on the photos again, they are great.

Mollinary, they are just what I am looking for and for the same purpose, my Franco-Prussians. Foundry do I nice Prussian Ammuntion Wagon and I am hoping Dave will do something like it someday but until then they will fulfill the role of Ammo and supply in my Train companies.

Thanks

[mollinary]

Privateer,

    I've checked, and it is GW 35 from the WW2 range, which is, I think a WW1 wagon still in service.  On
combatcommand.co.uk you will find a very nice gallery of Pendraken WW2 models, and it is illustrated a couple of times as the German supply wagon.  An e mail to Dave to confirm the number of horses, size of wheels, and extra limber riders, and Bob's your uncle.  I confess I have another 11 painted as Prussian and Saxon wagons with spiky hatted limber riders!

All the best,

Mollinary