Last Sunday, Anton and I laid on a Franco-Prussian War game for a couple of new friends, Malcolm and Ian. When we were deciding which battle to offer, it was very simple: I immediately thought of Loigny/Poupry.
Looking back through this blog I see posts about playing it in 2022 and 2023 (the latter also prompting a "Reflections on Wargaming" essay). As the 2022 report notes, apart from the playtests before publication in 2014, I had already played it several more times since. Evidently it is a favourite of ours.
- Waterloo and Borodino for the Napoleonic period;
- Gettysburg and Antietam from the ACW;
- the Alma and Balaclava for the Crimea;
- and Blenheim for the 18th century.
1. Epic History!
The most famous ones are generally also among the largest and most consequential: both sides' main armies in a clash that is seen as either a crucial turning point or a climactic end. (This latter factor is why a battle such as Resaca in the ACW, which was just as large as Gettysburg though not as bloody, hardly impinges on most wargamers' consciousness at all. It was a speed bump that changed nothing.)
The Crimean battles are exceptions, as the largest engagement of the war and arguably the most important was actually the battle of the Chernaya. They are famous for other reasons: Balaclava has no fewer than three famous episodes within it, the Charge of the Light Brigade obviously being #1; the frontal assault on the heights at the Alma has a certain legendary status too. (The Chernaya remains relatively obscure among us Anglo-Saxons as it features hardly any Brits.)
At about 35,000-45,000 a side, Loigny/Poupry was only medium-sized by FPW standards. However, it is a turning point of sorts, in that the French repulse here was the highwater mark of their advance during the Loire campaign - and it was a close contest that could conceivably have gone the other way. It also has one notable dramatic episode at the end, when the Papal Zouaves attempted to storm Loigny.
2. Great Generals!
Famous battles are fought by famous generals. This verges on tautology. Napoleon vs Wellington; Bobby Lee; Marlborough - all famous. (As for McClellan and Raglan, you might say infamous.) Kutusov and Meade play supporting roles. Tallard, Menshikov, Liprandi: more like bit-parts.
One of the French corps commanders at Loigny was Antoine Chanzy. His is a less familiar name than most of these above but deserves to be better known. He is something of a hero of mine for the way he subsequently held his 2nd Army of the Loire together during his determined fighting withdrawal down the Loire.
3. The Battlefield!
The terrain shapes the battle; the battlefield gives it its character. All our famous examples feature famous locations. Waterloo has the bastions of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte in front of its ridge; Borodino is all about the Raevski Redoubt (in a lot of wargamers' imaginations, at least); more Russian redoubts on the heights above the Alma; the Gettysburg 'fishhook' and all its landmarks; Antietam's Bloody Lane; Balaclava's valley of death; the two villages anchoring the French line at Blenheim.
Loigny/Poupry is unremarkable by comparison. It was fought on a relatively flat and open plain, dotted with a dozen villages. However, from a practical perspective, its plain terrain is a major virtue. Doing large historical battles properly often requires quite a complicated terrain set-up: a jigsaw of hills, a patchwork of woods, a network of streams and rivers. As Loigny is so quick and simple by comparison, that makes it particularly good for a Monday night at the club, where we have to factor in the set-up and take-down time. That is definitely a significant contribution to making it a favourite for us. (It was also a snowy winter battlefield, an aesthetic plus as far as I'm concerned.)
4. The Armies!
Tabletop wargamers want to get troops on the table. The more varied and colourful those troops, the better. Characterful and unusual units add a lot to a game.
Waterloo is hard to beat in that respect and Borodino not far behind. Napoleon has his Imperial Guard in all its glory, while Wellington has the most variegated and motley of allied armies. ACW can be a bit drab - all that monotonous blue and gray - mitigated for our US brethren by being able to point at their local regiment or the unit great-grandpappy was in. The Alma and Balaclava are a proper parade: not only does one side get three different armies, but each army has multiple different types of unit. Blenheim has lots of 18th-century peacocks in tricornes and lace.
Loigny/Poupry can hold its own in this respect. The German side is not just a lot of pickelhaubes in Prussian blue, it has the Bavarians to add colour. The French are more varied. Their infantry is a mix of newly raised garde mobile and regular regiments' depot battalions, further spiced by the presence of the Foreign Legion and the Papal Zouaves. Assorted cavalry livens up the picture as well.
5. The Drama!
Famous battles tell famous stories. As well as strong characters (the famous generals), these stories have multiple chapters, twists and turns, and moments of high drama in which other particular characters may step forward for their moment of glory. I hardly need to list these for the battles we've been examining. Instead, let me generalise and say that they all have some ebb and flow, fortunes swaying from one side to the other until their grand finale. For wargamers, ideally this means they translate into close and exciting games on the tabletop.
Loigny/Poupry does tell just such a story. It's worth going into this in a little detail and explaining why it is such a good game to keep replaying.
Multiple Chapters. This battle lasts a day and a half. Both sides receive reinforcements in several echelons, mostly on the second day. The Germans start with just most of a Bavarian corps on the table; the Hessian and Holstein divisions then march up on the Bavarians' left, with the remainder of the Bavarians arriving on the right. As for the French, they too have just one corps initially, but two others join them as the game progresses. This reinforcement schedule has a couple of benefits. One is that it means the shape of the game changes as it goes on, which is always good for keeping things interesting. (See my essay on Changing Situations Mid-Game.) Another - a definite advantage when there are newish players involved - is that the players can get to grips with the scenario situation and the game mechanics gradually, rather than being overwhelmed by having to order 50,000 men around from Turn 1.
Twists and Turns. Although the Germans are on the defensive, the fact that more than half their army has to march on obviously means the German players get to do some manoeuvring. And it's not simply a case of marching directly into a pre-ordained defensive line without much thought. There are three objectives to defend and different ways of defending them - plus, of course, much depends on what the French attackers do. The French, meanwhile, have to advance and develop their attacks to take a couple of those objectives. The French have several different routes to victory, while the Germans, as mentioned, have different ways to defend. The many possible interactions between the two sides' different plans produce twists and turns that can play out in multiple different ways. The existence of these different options therefore means the scenario has a lot of replay value.
Moments of High Drama. Historically, the grand finale was a dramatic one alright, when de Sonis led the Papal Zouaves in their vain attempt to storm Loigny. This is exactly the kind of last-gasp assault that we see all the time in BBB scenarios!
To Sum Up:
Although Loigny/Poupry was not among the largest or most consequential battles of the FPW, it has enough merits in all the other respects to deserve the attention it has had from our group. I commend it to anyone else who wants to wargame the Franco-Prussian War.
I'd be very interested to hear from you all, a) whether you think there are other features that contribute to making battles into 'favourites' and b), which are your favourite battles and why.
The Game
Just for the record, here are a few photos of the Loigny game (including a couple labelled up at great pains for the greater enjoyment of my reading public) so you can see how that went. No extra reflections this time as you've already had the major one above.
