Battle of Dreux 2022

[Westbury]

Our first game of the year as a group was the Battle of Dreux 1562, first real battle of the French Wars of Religion.
A hard fought and bloody Catholic victory which saw the fortunes of war shift back and forth - how would we fare?

[Westbury]

In the opening phase of the real battle the Huguenot right wing launched a devastating charge which swept away the Catholic left and resulted in the capture of the catholic commander, Anne de Montmorency. Not so in our refight; the Catholic left launched two regiments of gendarmes in a confident charge which, due to player incompetence, fell short of the target and so were subject to close range fire and then a counter charge (well trot actually) which after a couple of round of melee saw the pride of France effectively destroyed 
So ended Catholic plan A   

[Westbury]

In the 2nd phase of the real thing the Royal Swiss were repeatedly attacked by Huguenot cavalry and mercenary landsknechts, who they saw off in fine style despite heavy losses.
In our version the Catholic players advanced the Swiss in an attempted to stem the Huguenot tide which I guess was something like the real thing  The two victorious cavalry regiments wisely avoided the Swiss, one just carried on going, routing a French infantry regiment and then some guns and ended the game rallying at the village of Blainville virtually unscathed. The other rallied itself and would eventually threaten the Swiss enough to force them into square. 

[Westbury]

In the 3rd phase of the real thing, the Catholic right under St Andre and de Guise attacked and swept away the opposing Huguenot infantry and forced the Landsknechts on that wing to retreat.
This was the only bit the Catholic players got right (nearly)  They attacked with their fresh gendarmes who broke through the opposing foot and then broke through the reserve Huguenot cavalry behind them - good job! Unfortunately they then careered off the table in search of loot leaving behind a messy but still intact Huguenot left wing 

[Westbury]

In the final phase of the real thing, the Admiral Coligny rallied his right wing horse and prepared to attack the scattered Catholics but de Guise deployed a stable infantry unit in their path and shot them enough to force them to retire and leave the field in Catholic hands.
Oh, if only 
In our version, all that was left of the Catholics at this stage was the Swiss who, threatened on all sides had formed square in the middle of the battle field, and the right wing foot who were just not getting going. St Andre joined the Landsknecht regiment in a desperate attempt to get them moving when up trotted some reiters who fire blasted away some mercenary Germans (so what) but also killed St Andre himself (at least that was historical  ). This in turn finished the rest of the army, the Spanish (who did nothing all game) and the reserve cavalry halted and the remaining infantry regiment decided to retreat.
Clearly the game was done. History was reversed with a decisive Huguenot victory.

[Westbury]

A good game to open the season with and great to have most of us back round the table together.
The rules worked well and most eventualities were covered as near to the historical prototype as you could expect. The period is essentially one where cavalry dominate the action and our game was no exception.
The game was lost by the rash action in the opening turns and with two elite units lost there was no coming back.

[has.been]

Nice show Ian.

[Anderson Collection]

Looks like a great set up

[flatpack]

Charge.....

[Sparrow]

Brilliant seeing someone gaming the French Wars of Religion… and a cracking game at that! Wonderfull stuff!

[Friends of General Haig]

Great looking game and I really enjoyed the battle report. 👍

[bigredbat]

A great looking game! Who makes the lovely pikemen with the baggy striped trousers, please?

[Bloggard]

crikey - there's a proper looking game.

[Hu Rhu]

Whast a wonderful looking game. 

[MGH]

Great looking armies on a nice battlefield. I also enjoyed your style of AAR, explaining what happened in the actual battle then contrasting it with your game.

Thanks!