Small Fleurus – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1

Chris and Adam played my Small Fleurus Scenario. This was, of course Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and was played before I published Version 2.

Summary: Spanish won. Scenario was too challenging for inferior Protestant Paladins. But potential for a good game with tweaks.


Version of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

We played a draft set of Tilly’s Very Bad Day (version 2.0). The main difference from the draft and the final version was the draft, like version 1.0 through 1.3, allowed units to move backwards up to their full move. You will see this a lot in this game.


The Draft Scenario

I made some tweaks to the orders of battle following the game. For this play test all Spanish were ordinary and all Protestant Horse and Pike+Shot were inferior.


Pre-Game

The guys deployed following the orders of battle, i.e. the left wing on the left.

Fleurus-108 Deployment
Fleurus-108 Deployment

Adam pointed out that this didn’t make sense as the cavalry heavy Protestant left wing was on the flank with the heavy terrain. Well, it must have made sense to Christian of Brunswick at the time. I guess his command was the vanguard and he deployed from the march facing the obvious threat. But who knows now.

Fleurus-109 Protestant Paladins
Fleurus-109 Protestant Paladins
Fleurus-112 Protestant left wing
Fleurus-112 Protestant left wing

The Spanish right was anchored on Chaussard Farm. Like his historical counter part, Chris had the shot in the farm itself.

Fleurus-111 Spanish right
Fleurus-111 Spanish right

Game Turn 1

My lot like the attacker having initiative every game turn. So game turn 1 and the Protestants surged forward.

Fleurus-113 Protestants surge forward
Fleurus-113 Protestants surge forward

The Spanish musketeers opened up and a Protestant horse unit routed.

Fleurus-115 Spanish musketry
Fleurus-115 Spanish musketry

The Protestant cavalry on both flanks charged. On the left the Spanish counter charged.

Fleurus-116 Charges
Fleurus-116 Charges

The melee on the Spanish right was brutal. Another Protestant horse unit routed.

Fleurus-118 Violent clash on Spanish left
Fleurus-118 Violent clash on Spanish left

But surprisingly Christian of Brunswick charged a Spanish Pike+Shot unit frontally and managed to drive them backward.

Fleurus-119 Protestant horse successful against Spanish foot
Fleurus-119 Protestant horse successful against Spanish foot
Fleurus-121 Battlefield
Fleurus-121 Battlefield

Game Turn 2

Game turn 2 had the Protestants trying to close as fast as possible. But they had to suffer Spanish fire first.

Fleurus-123 Spanish musketry
Fleurus-123 Spanish musketry

Chris now revealed his strategy for the Spanish. Shoot and move backwards. In the version of TVBD we were using he could move his full movement and shoot. So he could pull away as fast as the Protestants advanced. And Chris insisted in leaving the shooting markers behind when he moved his units, thus orphaning the smoke.

Fleurus-124 Orphaned smoke
Fleurus-124 Orphaned smoke

But some Spanish were in charge distance and more Protestant charges resulted.

Fleurus-125 Protestant left wing charges
Fleurus-125 Protestant left wing charges

But another Protestant unit of horse routed. Those inferior horse, with only two resolve, were pretty fragile.

Fleurus-126 Protestants stall in front of Spanish foot
Fleurus-126 Protestants stall in front of Spanish foot
Fleurus-127 Battlefield
Fleurus-127 Battlefield

Game Turn 3

The Protestants kept coming forward.

Fleurus-130 Battlefield
Fleurus-130 Battlefield

The Spanish shot at them.

Fleurus-131 Spanish musketry
Fleurus-131 Spanish musketry

The Spanish pulled back.

Fleurus-132 Spanish pull back again
Fleurus-132 Spanish pull back again

But some Protestant charges would go in.

Fleurus-133 Charges
Fleurus-133 Charges

Another routed unit of Protestant horse. But the got the commander of the Spanish right wing (Baron de Gauchier),

Fleurus-134 Spanish rout another Protestant horse
Fleurus-134 Spanish rout another Protestant horse

By this stage the Spanish left wing was alongside the wagon park.

Fleurus-135 Battlefield
Fleurus-135 Battlefield

But the Spanish right were still firmly positioned around the farm.

Fleurus-136 The farm
Fleurus-136 The farm

Game Turn 4

Game turn 4 was the finale. The Protestant line crashed against the Spaniards.

Fleurus-138 Battlefield
Fleurus-138 Battlefield

For a small game I still found it quite impressive.

Fleurus-139 Centre
Fleurus-139 Centre

The Spanish infantry routed one of their Protestant opponents through musketry.

Fleurus-140 Infantry fight
Fleurus-140 Infantry fight

Musketry was engaged along the line.

Fleurus-141 Battlefield
Fleurus-141 Battlefield
Fleurus-142 Battlefield
Fleurus-142 Battlefield

The Spanish continued to pull back.

Fleurus-143 Spanish foot keep pulling back
Fleurus-143 Spanish foot keep pulling back
Fleurus-144 Battlefield
Fleurus-144 Battlefield

More charges

Fleurus-145 Charges
Fleurus-145 Charges

Another Protestant infantry unit routed.

Fleurus-146 Another Protestant foot unit routs on Spanish left
Fleurus-146 Another Protestant foot unit routs on Spanish left

And further along a Protestant horse unit routed.

Fleurus-147 Spanish foot punish Protestants
Fleurus-147 Spanish foot punish Protestants

End of the game.

Fleurus-148 End Game
Fleurus-148 End Game

Conclusions and Observations

The Protestant Paladins lost six horse and two pike+shot. The Spanish lost one cannon unit and a commander. Clear Spanish victory.

We decided the Paladins didn’t have a chance. So talked about increasing the Protest horse to ordinary and half the Spanish pike+shot to superior. Both Adam and Chris were keen. In the end I upgrade only half the Protestant horse to ordinary and left he rest as inferior. We’ll see if that is enough to give them a chance.

In version 2 I also made it much harder to do what Chris did, a fighting withdrawal. Now units can only do a backward movement (except a rally back) if they neither shoot nor charge in the game turn.

3 thoughts on “Small Fleurus – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1”

  1. Making the fighting withdrawal more difficult should be a big change. It is the most difficult thing to do in real battles.

    Reply
  2. Excellent report. Are the rules flexible enough to play Ottomans or Easter European Poles and Muscovites?

    Reply
    • James I think it should work for the eastern armies. Light Horse is included to cater for these nations. I would treat lancers as Horse. Shot. Cannon. A few rabble. Should be fine.

      Reply

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