Background
The Battle of Loigny–Lumeau-Poupry was a battle of the Franco–Prussian War. It took place on 2 December 1870 during the Loire Campaign on a frontline between Loigny, Lumeau and Poupry.
After the Battle of Villepion, an army detachment (Armee-Abteilung) under the command of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, engaged the French Army of the Loire and defeated them. The French force was led by General Antoine Chanzy (16th corps d’armée), supported in the afternoon by General Gaston de Sonis (17th corps d’armée).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Loigny%E2%80%93Poupry
The Game
The game was set up as stated in the Bloody Big Battles rule book (one of the bonuses of the rules is that they include set scenarios for most of the larger Franco Prussian War battles) and set up on a 6′ x 4′ table as prescribed. The battle is one of maneuver, with both sides moving to contact. The winner of the scenario is determined by who holds the most objective towns in the center of the table. The German side has the initial advantage, as they get their troops first and they start out with better quality. The French must then bring their quality reserves up quickly to try to win the game at the end.
It has been a while since we have played the period (we have mostly focused on playing Napoleonics with the rules) and the players did not quite have the hang of how effective the fire power was! With that said, both sides basically had the same strategy, move to all the objectives and try to seize them.
It turn out that the Prussians were more aggressive on their right and took the objective town and kept attacking to defeat the French army. The French on the other hand did the same on their right! These attacks left the center town somewhat lightly defended by the French and both flank towns vulnerable to flanking counter attack. Seeing the opening, the Prussian center commander attempted to try to snatch victory and take the two towns in French hands, but was hampered by poor command roles and being spread out. The French on the table held out just long enough for the French reserves to appear and halt the Prussian attacks! With that, the game was not decided until the last turn! The game ended up as a very unhistorical French victory!
- Manteuffel