Ramilles: Consolidated History

High Level Summary:

End Scene: The storming of Ramillies (see below, after the fire of cannon comes the storming of the infantry, a bloody and dangerous affair for sure):

A game of three parts, two won by the Allies, one a winning draw by the French which translates into a 2-1 football score and Allied win; compared that is to Marlborough's 3-0 masterpiece on the day. This was cause partly with the 'historical hindsight' (hard to factor out without being too deterninistic) allowing the French to defend far further forward than they did on the day. Another Allied disadvantage being the total 100% information presence - aka no "Fog of War" which denied the 'stroke of genius' Marlborough had on the day in achieving a critical mass of cavalry on his left flank. However it produced a hard fought and entertaining game which gave a greater appreciation of how good a general Marlborough was.

The Battle Plan: 

As viewed from the Allied side the left wing was going to be the scene of a massed and ferocious cavalry battle, the slim centre was a concentrated bombardment of the town of Ramillies (hopefully down to rubble) and a holding action along the length of the riverbank (despite the Allied infantry being provided with 'historical' brush fascines to assist filling the ditch - to attempt a full frontal attack would be suicidal). The bulk of the artillery from the holding sector was transferred to the Ramillies bombardment along with the Allied Cavalry Reserve (this movement was in the clear as opposed to hidden). The French were happy be aggressive with their cavalry wing and be defensive elsewhere, however they countered the Allied Cavalry Reserved by committing their own Bavarian Cavalry Reserve to the cavalry wing (again movement seen to all).

The Battle: 

The Allied obtained a swift storming of a fortified town hamlet on their extreme left which was invaluable in securing that flank. In addition it drew in no less than six French dismounted Dragoon formations into a futile attempt to retake it. These French Dragoon formations were sorely missed in their mounted role as despite their fighting ability being "less than" that of regular fresh Line Cavalry, they could certainly hold more than their own against the same Line Cavalry weakened or disordered. This in the end tipped the balance in the Allies favour. The reciprocating mutual destruction of massed ranks of cavalry oscillating back and forth across the battlefield was the 'standard mode of operation' for the day. To give you a feel of the level fluctuation, portions of both side's baseline at some point were occupied by 'enemy' cavalry (albeit rather transient in the case of the French Cavalry success). The wear and tear of successful charges being subsequently caught afterwards in a disordered state and then in turn routing seemed a shameful waste of good cavalry. The Elite French Guard Cavalry was the first formation to disappear (as was its fate historically), followed by an Allied Line Cavalry Division and so on. The reciprocal exchange continued but the Allies manage to rally more of the routing units maintaining a slight superiority, having some when the French had lost all of theirs. Towards the end of the battle what was previously the French Cavalry Wing was collapsing into the ruins of Ramillies and rout!

Ramillies itself had been methodically reduced by the might of the Allied artillery (something that from an OrBat perspective was in their favour). When the Allied infantry went in success was assured and the town feel in four quick turns of fighting (compared to the twenty rounds that decided the cavalry affair). This was timed to perfection with the collapse of the French Cavalry Wing so that the defenders of Ramillies were not supported in their time of need.

Meanwhile the posturing along the "Siegfried Bank" by the river eventually escalated from earnest skirmishing with dismounted Dragoons to full musketry exchanges between Line Infantry. From the Allied perspective this sector was always planned as a forceful demonstration to 'pin' the bulk of the French Infantry down in what they [the French] knew as an advantageous position without committing to the 'futile' (historical) fascine crossing. However the course of the battle drew in the Allied First Infantry Line and then even some of the Second Infantry Line. It was the concern of the Allied Cavalry Commanders (including myself) on the outer Cavalry Wing that the Allied Infantry Commanders would lose their restraint and commit to an assault (in fact because the battle continued over ten separate "game nights" the faces of the infantry commanders were never the same). There in question being "one particular moment" where this seemed to about to happen - thankfully instead of going forwards the Allied Commanders took the pain of tracing back [and taking artillery hits as a consequence of being condensed targets]. If the French had counterattacked at the end of the line (the Allied Right Wing) something may have come of it. As it was, when Ramillies and the French Cavalry Wing fell so did the player morale of the French and the came was conceded. Night was calculated as falling and the it seemed natural to stop at this point. We (the players) were all mentally exhausted and glad to see it "done".

In Retrospect and Conclusion: 

The rule-set was Under The Lilly Banner Version 3 (admittedly this was not a universally known set of rules - although several play tests had been made, several unique circumstances occurred during the battle which we had to figure out on the fly). One conclusion was that although we "bath-tubbed" down the scenario with regiments representing brigades, the rules at times played (such as partial interpenetration being prohibited) too tactical for the forces we were trying to represent. Higher level morale was absent and the consequences of a wings's collapse "were local". Having said that the game was played and thoroughly enjoyed which stands as a great testament to all involved.

Note: One 'house rule' that really seemed to work was an ammunition restriction on cannon, only having a certain number of cannon balls [black balls as markers] which turned it into an asset that needs to be husbanded.

All Ramillies Posts can seen through this link but you will have to cycle back to the oldest post and read forward: https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/search/label/Ramillies%201706

Individual Ramillies Posts can be seen directly using the following links:

1. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/01/ramillies-set-up.html
2. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/01/big-game-ramillies-final-set-up.html
3. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/01/ramillies-opening-rounds.html
4. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-cavalry-sash-and.html
5. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-heart-of-matter-game.html
6. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-second-wave-of.html
7. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-second-wave-of_10.html
8. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-not-even-pause-for.html
9. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-all-that-remained-of.html
10. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-sickening-sight-of.html
11. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-spilling-more.html
12. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-first-blooding-of.html
13. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/02/big-game-ramillies-oh-fortuna-game-11.html
14. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/03/big-game-ramillies-hot-pursuit-game-12.html
15. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/03/big-game-ramillies-allied-cavalry-close.html
16. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/03/big-game-ramillies-sternest-french.html
17. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/03/big-game-ramillies-hanoverian-cavalry.html
18. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/03/big-game-ramillies-crumbling-french.html
19. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/03/big-game-ramillies-attack-on-name-sake.html
20. https://exiledfog.blogspot.com/2019/03/big-game-ramillies-victory-ramilies.html

The end of one Malburian Epic but the starting point of  another ..