Battle of Appelfeldt 1673

Well now the dust has settles and I have had a chance to take on-board rules suggestions and improvements I thought I'd sort out the figures boxes and run through the casualty returns etc.

The Battlefield, French to left, Spanish / Dutch to right

Well it as a close run thing, the Spanish / Dutch armies were required to hold their lines whilst the French army's aim was to exit the tabletop by carrying the enemy positions.

The French army broke when the  elite 'Maison du Roi' brigade was routed in the centre after an epic struggle between the Swiss Guards & Dutch Guards of van Hussen's brigade. It was the Dutch Guards that held out longest, albeit with only 3 remaining damage points when their Swiss adversaries broke!

The French had already lost Guerette's Brigade on their left flank as they assaulted the Spanish lines - they routed a couple of turns prior to the centre. It is worth noting that both Spanish Brigades - Raventos & Laura, took significant casualties (General Laura himself being killed) and were close to breaking themselves. It also has to be said that Marchette's Horse brigade was untouched as it supported Guerette's attacking Foot, largely due to its unwillingness to move!

On the French Right Monmouth's brigade fought off an aggressive attack from McKay's Scots brigade which was its-self supported by Muller's brigade. Muller's troops began to engage with Montal's French brigade late in the game but to little effect.

In detail casualties in terms of Damage points was as follows:

Casualties/Original Strength

FRENCH ARMY

CinC Conte de Vicque (Rupert), 3 x Army Batteries                                                          12/45 DPs

Monmouth's Brigade (Phil),  3x Regts Foot                                                                    119/170 DPs

Maison du Roi (Rupert), 1 Foot Regt, Musqueaires & 2 x Gendarmes                          186/194 DPs

Montal's Brigde (Rupert),3 x Regt Foote                                                                          52/190 DPs

Guerette's Brigade (Steve),4 x Regts of Foot                                                                  210/220 DPs

Marcheterre's Brigade (Steve) 4 x Horse Squadrons                                                          0/100 DPs

                                                                                                TOTAL                            589/919 DPs

SPANISH ARMY

CinC Raentos (Mike)

Raventos' Brigade (Mike), 2 x Regts Foot, 1 Horse Sqdn, 1 x battery                              77/160 DPs

Laura's Brigade (John), 4 x Regt Foot                                                                               79/240 DPs

                                                                                                TOTAL                              156/400 DPs

DUTCH ARMY

CinC William of Orange (Nigel) 4 x Army Batteries                                                          25/60 DPs

van Hussen' Brigade (Nigel), 3 x Regts Foot, 1 Horse Sqdn                                           170/230 DPs

Muller's Brigade (Mark / Andy), 3 x Regt Foot                                                                60/170 DPs

McKay's Brigade (Mark / Dave), 3 x Regt Foot, " x Dragoon Sqdns                               83/200 DPs

                                                                                                TOTAL                             338/760 DPs

Coldstream Guards in Fire fight with Scots of MacKays
Foote and a supporting squadrons of Dragoons

Overall the French had approx 900 Damage Points (DP) whilst the Allied Spanish & Dutch had about 1000 DPs between them. it was always going to be a tough ask of the French to win this battle but they came close - witness the 'squeaky bum' time when Laura's Spanish brigade was directly intervening to support their Dutch neighbours...

Regiment d'Anglais supported by Lord High Admiral's Foote in firefight with Dutch Foote,
who are in turn supported by MacKays Foote.
Note: Brigade Commander Duke of Monmouth & Colonel John Churchill leading the English lines.

...in hindsight / historically this did not happen and so I need to make this limitation clear in future games. If the Dutch Guards had broken it might have taken the rest of van Hussan's brigade with them leaving a big hole in the Allied centre.

So there it is - hope you enjoyed it, another 28mm spectacular to follow later in the year, once everyone's fingers have healed!