Vedette · The Intelligencer · Historical Battle

Blenheim

13 August 1704

Blindheim · War of the Spanish Succession · 4 engagements · first light 04:13, last light 19:54

Distances are in inches. The same numbers read as centimetres — change it with Distances at the top.

The Grand Alliance — The army of Marlborough and Eugene
Marlborough — With Eugene commanding the right wing as an equal; the two agreed the plan on the church tower at Tapfheim the evening before.
52,000 men · 66 guns
Cross the Nebel and break the centre; pin the villages.

France and Bavaria — The armies of Tallard, Marsin and the Elector
Tallard — Commanding his own army on the right; Marsin and the Elector commanded the left as a separate army, and the three never agreed how to fight.
56,000 men · 90 guns
Hold the villages, let them cross, and destroy them on the plain.

The Situation

Marlborough had marched an army from the Low Countries to the Danube in five weeks to save Vienna, and the Elector of Bavaria and the two French marshals sent to sustain him had at last come together on the north bank of the river between Höchstädt and Blindheim: some sixty thousand men in a chosen position, their right on the Danube at the village of Blindheim, their left on the wooded hills above Lutzingen, and a marshy brook, the Nebel, along the whole of their front. They did not expect to be attacked. Tallard finished a letter to the King at seven that morning predicting that the Allies would march away to Nördlingen; the Allied columns were already deploying in front of him as he sealed it.

The two armies did not agree how to fight. Tallard, on the right, meant to let the Allies cross the Nebel and destroy them on the open ground between Blenheim and Oberglau with his horse, the two villages sallying on their flanks. Marsin and the Elector, on the left, meant to hold the firm ground at the water's edge and shoot the Allies down as they waded. Each did as he meant, and the seam between the two methods ran through Oberglau.

Marlborough and Eugene had looked at the ground from the church tower at Tapfheim the evening before and agreed the plan: Eugene, with the smaller wing, would fix the Elector and Marsin on the left; Cutts would assault Blenheim on the right and draw its garrison's attention; and Marlborough would take the centre over the Nebel — foot first to cover the crossing, then the horse, then foot again — and break the French between the villages. It took from half past twelve to four o'clock to get the centre across and formed. The charge that finished it went in at about half past five.

Deploying. Use your own rules if you prefer. Ours: the side that deploys first (see Deploying in each game) sets up anywhere in its own zones; the other side then sets up at least 12 inches from any enemy unit already placed, and where its zone runs closer, the zone gives way. A force marked engaged starts close to the enemy rather than 12 inches off: use your own rules’ minimum distance, or agree a sensible gap before play. Arrivals enter at their marked edge on their turn, whatever the distance.

How to play — the chain. Each engagement below is a complete scenario — its own table, its own map, its own victory conditions. Pick one, or fight them in order.

Table size. The forces are written at two sizes: a 14 ft list — close to the whole force actually engaged — and a 12 ft list, which is the same order of battle with the outer formations left off. Ten- and eight-foot tables play the 12 ft list cut down, and each engagement says by how much. This sheet is the 12 ft list.

The Whole Battle

the operational picture — you don’t need it to play

Blenheim, 13 August 1704 — about 4 × 2 km of country. The four actions are boxed on it; each has its own table map below, and you do not need this one to play.

The whole-battle map shows the armies at the moment described: the boxed names are formations where they stood at that moment; a solid arrow is a movement under way; a dashed arrow is an attack as it was planned and not yet delivered — the design for the day, which the day may or may not have followed.

What the arrows show

Numbered on the map at each arrow's midpoint. A solid arrow is a movement under way; a dashed one, in italics here, is the attack as planned.

1→ CUTTS — THE ASSAULTS ON BLENHEIM FROM 12:30 · REPULSED TWICE, THE GARRISON PINNED
2→ MARLBOROUGH — THE CENTRE OVER THE NEBEL, 15:00–17:30 · TALLARD'S HORSE BROKEN
3→ HOLSTEIN-BECK — THE ATTACK ON OBERGLAU, 14:30 · REPULSED, THEN HELD BY FUGGER
4→ EUGENE — THREE ATTACKS ON LUTZINGEN · THE THIRD TOOK THE BATTERY
5⇢ TALLARD'S HORSE — DRIVEN INTO THE DANUBE AT SONDERHEIM, 17:30–18:00
6⇢ MARSIN AND THE ELECTOR — WITHDREW IN ORDER TOWARD MORSELINGEN, 19:00

How this war was fought

the same on every sheet

Platoon fire and the sword. British, Dutch, Hessian, Hanoverian, Prussian and Danish battalions fire by platoons; French and Bavarian battalions fire by ranks. Allied squadrons charge with the sword and do not fire mounted; French and Bavarian squadrons fire pistol and carbine from the saddle before contact. If your rules distinguish these things, apply them; if they do not, give the Allied foot the better fire and the Allied horse the better charge.

The village is a strongpoint. A fortified village is cover and an obstacle: it is taken by assault and never by fire, no cavalry may charge into it, and the churchyard is the keep. Its garrison may sortie. A piece outside the village at the end of the game that cannot see an unbroken piece inside it counts as lost, and the village may not be assaulted while three or more pieces are inside it.

The stream that takes hours. The banks, not the water, are the obstacle. Infantry cross the marsh at half pace and arrive disordered; horse cross only at the bridges and causeways, in column, and re-form beyond. That is why an attack in this war takes three hours, and every sheet says where the crossings are.

The guns. Battalion guns are part of the infantry piece and are not counted separately. A positioned battery is a piece by its calibre group; a great battery is one large piece that fires as two. Nothing in this war shot the width of a table, so no gun fires from beyond the map.

The Engagements

one table each · pick one or play the chain

Organisation. How each army on this table divides — corps, divisions, brigades, battalions, and where the guns sit.
The Grand Alliance. Two wings under two commanders, Marlborough's and Eugene's, each a separate army with its own train. Within a wing the foot and horse are brigaded by nation and paymaster — British, Dutch-paid, English-paid Danes — and brigades are grouped into lines rather than divisions: a first line of foot, two of horse, a fourth of foot. A regiment is one battalion almost everywhere; only the Guards, the Royal Scots and a few German regiments field two. The guns are in Blood's train, in batteries by calibre, with every battalion's own 3-pounders besides.
France and Bavaria. Two armies side by side — Tallard's, and the Elector's with Marsin's — that never became one. Each is lines of brigades, foot and horse separately, with lieutenant-generals commanding sectors (Clérambault at Blenheim, Blainville at Oberglau, d'Arco on the left) rather than divisions. French regiments field one to three battalions; cavalry regiments two or three squadrons of 120, brigaded in twos and threes. The guns are the royal artillery's under Frézelière and Houville, with twenty-two 4-pounders spread along the front.
No account places the batteries on the ground; they stand where the accounts say they fired from.

E1Blenheim village and the Danube flank12:30–15:15 · 11 turns of 15 minTABLE 12 × 6 ft25 m to the inch

The Grand Alliance attacking · France and Bavaria defending

The Grand Alliance — Take the village if you can; failing that, pin its garrison and draw the French reserves into it, so that the centre can be crossed. The Nebel-side enclosures and the churchyard are what to fight for.

France and Bavaria — Hold Blenheim with what is in it. Every battalion you call in from behind the village is a battalion Tallard will not have on the plain at five o'clock — the replacement rule counts them.

Arrivals

Arrival. A formation marked DICE is not certain to arrive on the turn printed. Before the game begins its owner rolls one die for it and notes the result: on a 1 or 2 it arrives on the turn printed; on a 3 or 4, one turn later; on a 5 or 6, one turn earlier. A formation due on turn 1 cannot come earlier: for it a 5 or 6 means turn 1. One roll, made once, at the start of the game.

I turn 4 (13:15) · dice — enters across ZONE I · on that turn, no condition
Ross's Dragoon Brigade (includes Lord John Hay's Brigade)
Ross's Dragoon Brigade (includes Lord John Hay's Brigade) — Ross's dragoons came up behind Cutts' column and were at hand for the afternoon.
A turn 4 (13:15) — arrives in ZONE A · They enter inside the village zone at its rear edge
d'Argelos' Brigade, St Segond's Brigade
d'Argelos' Brigade — Clérambault drew the seven supporting battalions into the village 'quite early' under the first assaults; they enter at the village's rear.St Segond's Brigade — The second of the two supporting brigades, drawn in with d'Argelos'.

Your 12 ft table: The Grand Alliance 15 battalions, 4 cavalry, 1 batteries · France and Bavaria 20 battalions, 1 cavalry, 1 batteries. The muster below is this force.

Command — who leads what, and how good he is

Every formation here is led by the man who led it, at the level he held. Where anything is recorded of the man himself it is given — 3 of 10 here. 10 of them are graded from the histories of this battle; the rest from the record, or by default, as each card says. Use the note where there is one, and your own judgement where the card says the grade is a default.

What a span of command means. Each card says how many formations a man has under him. His orders reach some of them each hour, not all: the more he holds, the less of it he moves at once, and what he does not reach that hour stands where it is.

Each commander is rated on five levels, best to worst — Decisive · Capable · Workmanlike · Laboured · Adrift. The rating says how much of his command he can get fresh orders to in an hour's fighting; whatever he does not reach carries on with its last orders. A grade from the sources rests on what the histories of this battle say of the man; one from the record on what he did here and on other fields, with the fact it rests on printed beside it; one by default is the middle of the scale, given because nothing consulted marks him out either way. The shape of his command — how many formations his orders must reach — is printed separately and is not his grade. If your rules grade generals, Workmanlike is the middle of that scale.

The Grand Alliance

The Duke of Marlborough — the whole force The Grand Alliance

Decisive from the sources

Read the field from the church tower at Tapfheim, timed the assault on Blenheim to fix the reserves, formed foot and horse in four lines under fire, and delivered the charge at the hour the centre was thin.

Commands the army, not this wing.

1 division (1 brigade) — a small command — only 1 formation, few enough that his orders reach all of them. By that shape alone, he can turn most of his command within the hour, and all of it within two. What he does not reach holds what it has and conforms to what is happening beside it — it does not blunder forward and it does not sit under fire doing nothing.

No divisional echelon: he handles his one brigade himself.

Captain-General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough — Marlborough's wing (left) The Grand Alliance

Capable from the sources

Brought the infantry over the Nebel first and formed it to cover the cavalry's crossing — the 'entirely novel' four-line order.

3 divisions (3 brigades) — a small command — only 3 formations, few enough that his orders reach all of them. By that shape alone, he can turn most of his command within the hour, and all of it within two. What he does not reach holds what it has and conforms to what is happening beside it — it does not blunder forward and it does not sit under fire doing nothing.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.

Lieutenant-General Lord CuttsColumn

Brigadier-General RoweBrigade

Killed on turn 1 by the history; if your rules remove a leader, remove him.

Brigadier-General FergusonBrigade

The Duke of MarlboroughArmy

Commands the army, not this wing.

Major-General WilkesBrigade

Brigadier-General PalmesBrigade

France and Bavaria

Marshal Camille d'Hostun, duc de Tallard — Tallard's army France and Bavaria

Laboured from the sources

Let the Allies cross the Nebel by design, saw Clérambault empty his reserve into Blenheim and did nothing, asked Marsin for help and was refused, and called on his cavalry for a last effort 'with no response'; captured near Sonderheim.

Commands the other army.

2 divisions (2 brigades) — a small command — only 2 formations, few enough that his orders reach all of them; a coalition command — his orders pass through a staff that is not his own. By that shape alone, about half his command can be turned to a new purpose within the hour. What he does not reach goes on doing what it was last told, competently, whether or not that is still the right thing.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 2 brigades himself.

Lieutenant-General Philippe, Marquis de Clérambault; Maréchal de camp the Marquis de Blansac — Blenheim wing (Tallard's right) France and Bavaria

Laboured from the sources

Drew twenty-seven battalions into a village that could hold nine, so packed that most could neither move nor fire; rode to the Danube and drowned when the centre broke.

4 divisions (4 brigades) — a coalition command — his orders pass through a staff that is not his own. By that shape alone, one formation at a time, and the far flank is an hour behind the near one. What he does not reach goes on with its last order, and commits itself before news of any change arrives.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Marshal TallardArmy

Commands the other army.

Lieutenant-General the Marquis de ClérambaultWing

Marquis de MaulevrierBrigade

Comte d'HautefeuilleBrigade

Order of battle — the real regiments, brigade by brigade

Not every unit that fought is on this table. Some are left off to keep the game manageable, and some were not in this part of the battle. The full list is under The historical record, below.

The Grand Alliance15 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

British 10 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery — Hessian 5 battalions

Cutts' columnLieutenant-General John, Lord Cutts

Rowe's brigadeBrigadier-General Rowe British arrives turn 1

Howe's Regiment of Foot (later 15th) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers (23rd) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
The Duke of Marlborough's Regiment of Foot (24th) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Scots Fusiliers (21st Foot) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Lord North and Grey's Regiment of Foot (10th) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard

Wilkes' brigadeMajor-General Wilkes Hessian arrives turn 1

Prinz Wilhelm Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small
Erbprinz von Hessen-Kassel Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small
Hessian Grenadiers Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small
Hessian Guard (Leibregiment) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small
Wartensleben Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small

Ferguson's brigadeBrigadier-General Ferguson British arrives turn 1

Derby's Regiment of Foot (16th) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Ferguson's Regiment of Foot (26th, Cameronians) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Royal Regiment of Ireland (18th) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
2nd Battalion, His Majesty's Royal Regiment of Foot (Royal Scots) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
1st Regiment of Foot Guards (1 bn) — 1 bn · Elite Standard

Lumley's horse British

Palmes' brigadeBrigadier-General Palmes arrives turn 1

The King's Carabiniers (9th Horse) — Veteran · heavy Standard
The Duke of Schomberg's Regiment of Horse (8th Horse) — Veteran · heavy Small
Wood's Horse (4th Horse, both halves) (2 sqns) — Veteran · heavy StandardThe two single-squadron halves of the 4th Horse, one in Palmes' brigade and one in Wood's, fielded as one regiment.

Ross's dragoon brigadeMajor-General Ross arrives turn 4

Ross's Dragoons and the Greys (3 sqns) — Veteran · dragoons LargeRoss's 5th Dragoons (2 sqns) and the Grey Dragoons (1 sqn) as one unit.

The train British

Artillery arrives turn 1

Blood's sakers — the battery by the mills — ten sakers (light field units of about 5 lb) LargeOne of Blood's three ten-saker batteries. The one that answered the French guns before Blenheim.

France and Bavaria20 battalions · 1 cavalry · 1 battery

French 15 battalions · 1 cavalry · 1 battery — German (French service) 2 battalions — Walloon (French service) 2 battalions — Italian (French service) 1 battalion

The Blenheim garrison (Clérambault)

Maulevrier's brigadeMarquis de Maulevrier French arrives turn 1

Régiment de Navarre (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran Standard

Balincourt's brigadeMarquis de Balincourt French arrives turn 1

Régiment d'Artois (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Standard
1st/Provence (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard

Greder's brigadeMarquis de Greder arrives turn 1

Régiment de Greder Allemand (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Standard German (French service)
Régiment de Lassay (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard French

The Blenheim reserve (behind the village) arrives turn 4commander unknown

d'Argelos' brigadeBaron d'Argelos French

Régiment de Languedoc (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line StandardThe seven supporting battalions came into the village 'quite early'. Here they enter on turn 4 at the village's rear.
Régiment de Santerre (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Standard

St Segond's brigadeMarquis de St Segond

Régiment de Zurlauben (Walloon) (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Standard Walloon (French service)
Régiment de St Segond (Italian) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Italian (French service)

Hautefeuille's dragoons (dismounted) French

Hautefeuille's brigadeComte d'Hautefeuille arrives turn 1

Mestre de Camp Général and La Reine Dragons, on foot (6 sqns) — 2 bns · Line SmallTwo dismounted dragoon regiments as one unit of foot behind the waggon line. They fight as infantry.
Rohan-Chabot and Vassé Dragons, on foot (6 sqns) — 2 bns · Line SmallThe other two dismounted regiments as one unit of foot. They fight as infantry.

Zurlauben's cavalry (first line) French

Vertilly's brigadeMarquis de Vertilly arrives turn 1

Gendarmerie de France — the three squadrons on the Blenheim flank — Veteran · heavy LargeThe three squadrons that charged Rowe's flank. The other five are on the centre table.

Tallard's artillery French

Artillery arrives turn 1

The guns before Blenheim — the battery on the rise — six field units with four 24-pounders beside them, on the small eminence east of the village LargeThe battery that fired on Rowe's brigade for three hours before the assault. The four 24-pounders 'posted before Blenheim' stand with it and are counted in its weight.

Odds: a: 15 battalions (about 7,900 foot), 4 units of horse (9 squadrons) and 10 guns vs b: 20 battalions (about 9,200 foot), 1 unit of horse (3 squadrons) and 10 guns — the Allies attacking a fortified village at rough parity in foot, which is why Cutts was stopped; the French dragoons fight on foot and are counted with the battalions

Deployment — who sets up where, and from which turn

Deploying. First to deploy: France and Bavaria; then The Grand Alliance. Engaged here: Rowe's Brigade (England) (Rowe's brigade was across the Nebel and a hundred and fifty yards from the palisades; he had ordered that no man fire until his sword struck the pales.), Palmes' Brigade (England) (Palmes's five squadrons were across the Nebel on the plain's edge when the Gendarmerie came at them.).

The zones as lettered on the map:

A Clérambault — the garrison, in the village
B Hautefeuille — dragoons, dismounted behind the waggons
C The Guns Before Blenheim
D The Gendarmerie — in line on the plain
E Rowe — 150 yards from the pales
F General Wilkes — the hessians, at the marsh edge
G Ferguson — in line on the near bank
H Palmes — five English squadrons
I General Ross — the dragoons, enter here (enters across this edge)

How they stand. Each zone says how its formation stood at the moment the action opened, in the words of the histories, and that is how it is set up. One IN LINE begins in line, along its zone and facing as the line says. The facing is the way the formation looks, by the map's north arrow. Nothing may be set up otherwise: the situation is the scenario.

The Grand Alliance

A Maulevrier's Brigade (Marquis de Maulevrier) — at start faces north-east In the village and its enclosures, Navarre at the pales facing the Nebel.
A Balincourt's Brigade (Claude-Guillaume Testu de Balincourt) — at start faces north-east In the village and its enclosures.
A Greder's Brigade (Marquis de Greder) — at start faces north-east In the village and its enclosures, the churchyard held.
B Hautefeuille's Brigade (dismounted dragoons) (Comte Gabriel d'Hautefeuille) — at start faces north-east On foot behind the waggon line between the village and the river.
D Vertilly's Brigade (Marquis de Vertilly) — at start in line faces north-east In line on the plain, three squadrons.
C Franco-Bavarian artillery · Royal Artillery — Frézelière (Marquis de la Frézelière) — at start faces north-east In battery on the rise east of the village.

France and Bavaria

E Rowe's Brigade (England) (Brigadier-General Archibald Rowe) — at start in line faces south-west In line, across the Nebel and lying 150 yards from the pales; the assault goes in on turn 1.
G Ferguson's Brigade (Scotland) (Brigadier-General James Ferguson) — at start in line faces south-west In line on the near bank, the second line of the assault.
F Wilkes' Brigade (Hesse-Kassel) (Major-General John Wilkes) — at start in line faces south-west In line at the marsh edge, covering the right of the assault against the horse on the plain.
H Palmes' Brigade (England) (Brigadier-General Francis Palmes) — at start in line faces south-west In line at the plain's edge beyond the burnt mills, five squadrons.
G Allied artillery (Colonel Holcroft Blood) — at start faces south-west In battery on the near bank beside Ferguson's brigade.

Victory

French DecisiveAt the end of turn 11 an unbroken Allied infantry unit stands inside the Nebel-side enclosures of Blenheim, or the French player has used five or more replacements.
Allied DecisiveBoth Allied assault brigades are broken or withdrawn beyond 12 in of the enclosures by the end of turn 11, and the French player has used at most one replacement.
MarginalNeither: the enclosures hold, but the village has swallowed part of the reserve — typically two to four replacements used, the place full and the assault stopped in front of it.

Special rules

Rowe's order: On turn 1 Rowe's five battalions must advance straight at Blindheim — the walled village and its enclosures — and may not fire at all until they stand within 1 in of those enclosures. They take the French fire without halting: casualties are worked out as usual, but the brigade does not test morale for them on turn 1, and fire alone may not stop it short of the enclosures.
The crammed village: From turn 5, when a French infantry unit inside Blenheim is broken or destroyed, the French player may replace it at the start of the next turn with a fresh unit of the same kind, grade Line, size Standard, placed inside the village. He may do this up to eleven times. Write down the number used: it is the engagement's result and it is carried to the centre table.
Cutts pins the garrison: A French unit inside Blenheim may not leave the village zone while an unbroken Allied infantry unit stands within 6 in of the enclosures; the garrison may sortie only against Allied units that are further off than that.
Blenheim is a strongpoint: The village's houses, walls, hedges and palisades are cover and an obstacle: it is taken by assault, never by fire alone, and a battalion inside it cannot be charged by horse. The walled churchyard is the keep.
Battalion guns: Every infantry unit carries its own light guns; they are part of the unit and not a battery. The batteries fielded separately are the positioned guns.
The Nebel and the mills: The Nebel is crossed by the stone bridge (repaired) and by fascines at the marsh edge; infantry crossing the marsh move at half pace and arrive disordered, horse cross only at the bridge. The burnt mills give cover on the near bank.

On the day, and how the result carries forward

marginal

French decisive	The village has swallowed the reserve and its Nebel side is on fire; there is nothing behind Blenheim but the road to Höchstädt. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road France and Bavaria fight without one unit of infantry.A battalion of the nine had to be sent to steady the village's rear; it was not on the plain when the charge came. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road France and Bavaria need one fewer to win it.With the reserve gone into the village, Tallard's centre had no second line of foot.
Marginal	Twenty-seven battalions are packed into a village that could hold nine, and sixteen keep them there. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance gains one unit of infantry, from turn 8.Cutts' unused Hanoverian brigade rejoined Churchill's infantry in the centre once the assaults were stopped.
Allied decisive	Cutts' brigades are back at the marsh edge and the garrison has room to breathe; two of the reserve battalions stand out on the plain where Tallard can use them. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road France and Bavaria gain two units of infantry, from turn 4.Reserve battalions not needed in the village were Tallard's to post between his cavalry lines. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance needs one more to win it.An intact Blenheim flank made the Allied crossing a more dangerous thing.

The historical record — what is left off, what was changed, and how the strengths were reached

What is on the table, and what is not. The two British brigades and the Hessians who made the assaults, against the nine battalions that met them and the seven that came in behind. Marinvaux's eleven reserve battalions, the rest of the crammed village, are represented by the replacement rule rather than as units. 33 units: 26 infantry units (35 battalions), 5 cavalry units, 2 batteries.

Left off the table

St Paul's Hanoverian brigade (5 bns) — Cutts' fourth brigade was never committed and rejoined Churchill's infantry in the centre; it is fielded there (E2).
Marinvaux's reserve — eleven battalions — Summoned into the village after the second assault and unable to fight for want of room. The replacement rule represents them.
Wood's brigade (the Queen's Horse, Cadogan's) — Lumley's second brigade crossed with the centre and fought there (E2).
The Gendarmerie beyond three squadrons — Five squadrons charged Palmes on the plain, which is the centre's fight (E2).

Where this game departs from the record

The four dismounted dragoon regiments are two units of foot — They fought on foot behind the waggon line; two regiments to a unit gives them a battalion's weight.
Ross's and the Grey Dragoons are one unit; both halves of the 4th Horse are one unit — Single-squadron regiments are not a playing unit; paired, they are.
The village reserve of seven battalions enters on turn 3 — Clérambault drew them in 'quite early' under the first assaults; a turn number is what the table needs.

Some units are named in the sources but never counted. Those go on the table at the standard strength for their army in that year — a standard battalion, squadron or battery. So there is nothing on this list you cannot field, and the scenario plays as written. Which strengths come from the sources, and which are the standard, is set out in the notes and sources at the end.

E3Oberglau14:20–16:20 · 8 turns of 15 minTABLE 12 × 6 ft25 m to the inch

The Grand Alliance attacking · France and Bavaria counter-attacking

The Grand Alliance — Cross at Weilheim and hold the ground beyond it, so that the two Allied wings are joined; Oberglau itself need not fall. If the leading battalions are lost, hold with the rest until Marlborough and General Fugger arrive.

France and Bavaria — Sortie against the head of the attack while it is still forming and throw it back over the stream; if du Bourg's squadrons can get in among the Dutch before the cuirassiers come, the Allied army is cut in two.

Arrivals

F turn 4 (15:05) — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
d'Herleville's Brigade (includes Stückrad's Brigade), Allied artillery (Blood)
d'Herleville's Brigade (includes Stückrad's Brigade) — Marlborough crossed by a causeway in person and brought three Hanoverian battalions from Holstein-Beck's reserve to the point of danger.Allied artillery (Blood) — Blood's battery came over with Marlborough and unlimbered against the sortie.
G turn 5 (15:20) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
Fugger's Brigade (Austria)
Fugger's Brigade (Austria) — Fugger would not move without Eugene's order; Eugene, his own second attack failing, released him 'without a moment's hesitation'.
H turn 7 (15:50) · dice — enters across ZONE H · on that turn, no condition
Rantzau's Brigade (Denmark, Dutch pay)
Rantzau's Brigade (Denmark, Dutch pay) — The Danish horse crossed near Oberglau about three o'clock and came up on the right.

Your 12 ft table: The Grand Alliance 13 battalions, 4 cavalry, 1 batteries · France and Bavaria 14 battalions, 3 cavalry, 1 batteries. The muster below is this force.

Command — who leads what, and how good he is

Every formation here is led by the man who led it, at the level he held. Where anything is recorded of the man himself it is given — 4 of 8 here. 8 of them are graded from the histories of this battle; the rest from the record, or by default, as each card says. Use the note where there is one, and your own judgement where the card says the grade is a default.

The Grand Alliance

The Duke of Marlborough — the whole force The Grand Alliance

Decisive from the sources

Commands the army, not this wing.

No divisional echelon: he handles his one brigade himself.

Field Marshal Prince Eugene of Savoy — Eugene's wing (right; Army of the Empire) The Grand Alliance

Decisive from the sources

Attacked three times with fewer squadrons, half the battalions and half the guns of his enemy, released Fugger at the crisis of the centre, and led the last attack in person after shooting two fugitives.

6 divisions (6 brigades). By that shape alone, about half his command can be turned to a new purpose within the hour. What he does not reach goes on doing what it was last told, competently, whether or not that is still the right thing.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 6 brigades himself.

Captain-General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough — Marlborough's wing (left) The Grand Alliance

Capable from the sources

Brought the infantry over the Nebel first and formed it to cover the cavalry's crossing — the 'entirely novel' four-line order.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.

Major-General the Prince of Holstein-BeckDivision

Mortally wounded on turn 2 by the history; if your rules remove a leader, Major-General van Pallandt commands from turn 3.

The Duke of MarlboroughArmy

Commands the army, not this wing.

Major-General FuggerBrigade

France and Bavaria

Marshal Marsin — the whole force France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Commanding the left army with the Elector. He held Eugene's three attacks, and when the centre went he fired Oberglau and Lutzingen and retired in column.

Commands the left army; Oberglau is his sector, not Tallard's.

3 divisions (3 brigades) — a small command — only 3 formations, few enough that his orders reach all of them; a coalition command — his orders pass through a staff that is not his own. By that shape alone, about half his command can be turned to a new purpose within the hour. What he does not reach goes on doing what it was last told, competently, whether or not that is still the right thing.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.

Marshal Tallard — the whole force France and Bavaria

Laboured from the sources

Commands the other army.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria; second in command Marshal Ferdinand de Marsin — Army of the Elector of Bavaria and Marsin (left) France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Moved his troops down to the water and contested the crossing, 'galloping about in the most dangerous places'; his wing withdrew in order at the end.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Lieutenant-General the Marquis du Bourg — du Bourg's corps (Marsin's cavalry lines) France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Advanced on the open Allied right and was struck in flank by Fugger's cuirassiers; five years later he beat Mercy at Rumersheim in independent command and saved Alsace, and took the baton in 1724.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 2 brigades himself.

Lieutenant-General Jean-Jules-Armand Colbert, Marquis de Blainville — Blainville's corps (Oberglau) France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Sortied with nine battalions and destroyed the head of the attack; penned back into the village by three o'clock.

1 division (2 brigades) — a small command — only 1 formation, few enough that his orders reach all of them; a coalition command — his orders pass through a staff that is not his own. By that shape alone, about half his command can be turned to a new purpose within the hour. What he does not reach goes on doing what it was last told, competently, whether or not that is still the right thing.

Maréchal de camp William Dorrington — 2 brigades

Lieutenant-General the Marquis de Rosel (Rozel) — Rosel's corps (Oberglau support) France and Bavaria

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Lieutenant-General the Marquis de BlainvilleDivision

Lord ClareBrigade

Lieutenant-General the Marquis du BourgWing

Marshal TallardArmy

Commands the other army.

Order of battle — the real regiments, brigade by brigade

Not every unit that fought is on this table. Some are left off to keep the game manageable, and some were not in this part of the battle. The full list is under The historical record, below.

The Grand Alliance13 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

Swiss (Dutch service) 2 battalions — Dutch 2 battalions — Prussian (Dutch pay) 2 battalions — Hanoverian 2 battalions — Ansbach 1 battalion — Ansbach (Dutch pay) 1 battalion — Palatine (Dutch pay) 1 battalion — Mecklenburg (Dutch pay) 1 battalion — Hanoverian (Lüneburg-Celle) 1 battalion — Imperial 2 cavalry — Danish 2 cavalry — British 1 battery

Horn's line

Holstein-Beck's brigadeMajor-General the Prince of Holstein-Beck arrives turn 1

Seckendorff's Infantry Regiment (Ansbach-Bayreuth) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Ansbach
Heidebrecht Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Ansbach (Dutch pay)
Stürler Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Swiss (Dutch service)
Hirzel Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Swiss (Dutch service)
Rechteren Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Dutch

Pallandt's brigadeMajor-General van Pallandt arrives turn 1

Goor Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Dutch
Bynheim Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Palatine (Dutch pay)
Schwerin Infantry Regiment (Mecklenburg-Prussian Meith Regiment) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Mecklenburg (Dutch pay)
de Varenne Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Prussian (Dutch pay)
Wulffen Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Prussian (Dutch pay)

Ingoldsby's line arrives turn 4

d'Herleville's brigadeMajor-General d'Herleville

d'Herleville Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small HanoverianThe three Hanoverian battalions Marlborough brought up in person from Holstein-Beck's reserve.
von Tozin Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small Hanoverian (Lüneburg-Celle)The three Hanoverian battalions Marlborough brought up in person from Holstein-Beck's reserve.
Hulsen Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Small HanoverianThe three Hanoverian battalions Marlborough brought up in person from Holstein-Beck's reserve.

Eugene's wing arrives turn 5 Imperial

Fugger's brigadeMajor-General Fugger

Alt-Hanover Cuirassiers — Veteran · heavy StandardReleased by Eugene at the crisis. Charged Marsin's squadrons 'at a favourable angle and on the bridle hand'.
Lobkowicz's Cuirassiers — Veteran · heavy Standard

Württemberg-Neuenstadt's command arrives turn 7 Danish

Rantzau's Danish brigadeBrigadier-General von Rantzau

4th Jydske Regiment of Horse — Veteran · heavy Standard
5th Jydske Regiment of Horse — Veteran · heavy Standard

The train arrives turn 4 British

Artillery

Blood's nine-gun battery — field units brought over by the causeway at Weilheim Large

France and Bavaria14 battalions · 3 cavalry · 1 battery

French 11 battalions · 3 cavalry · 1 battery — Irish (French service) 3 battalions

Blainville's corps (Oberglau) French

Bligny's brigadeMarquis de Bligny arrives turn 1

Régiment de Champagne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran Standard
1st/Saintonge (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard

Nangis' brigadeMarquis de Nangis arrives turn 1

Régiment de Bourbonnais (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Standard
1st/Foix (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard
1st/Agenois (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard

Rosel's corps

Clare's brigade (Irish)Lord Clare Irish (French service) arrives turn 1

Clare's Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Dorrington's Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Lee's Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard

Buzançois' brigadeMarquis de Buzançois French arrives turn 1

Régiment de la Reine (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran Standard

du Bourg's cavalry French

Massenbach's brigadebrigadier unknown arrives turn 1

Massenbach's brigade — Royal, La Ferronnaye, Lévy (7 sqns) — Line · line Large

Prince Charles de Lorraine's brigadebrigadier unknown arrives turn 1

Prince Charles de Lorraine's brigade — Prince Charles and Choiseul (4 sqns) — Line · line Standard

d'Anlezy's brigadebrigadier unknown arrives turn 1

d'Anlezy's brigade — Anlezy, Livry, Heudicourt, Dauphin Étranger (9 sqns) — Line · line Large

Marsin's artillery French

Artillery arrives turn 1

Marsin's batteries beside Oberglau — three batteries of four 12-pounders LargeThe guns that, with Lutzingen's, caught Eugene's horse in a crossfire and covered the sortie.

Odds: a: 13 battalions (about 6,800 foot), 4 units of horse (16 squadrons) and 9 guns vs b: 14 battalions (about 7,000 foot), 3 units of horse (20 squadrons) and 12 guns — the attackers outnumber the sortie, but the sortie strikes first and the village cannot be taken

Deployment — who sets up where, and from which turn

Deploying. First to deploy: France and Bavaria; then The Grand Alliance.

The zones as lettered on the map:

A Blainville — the garrison, in the village
B Marsin's Batteries — beside the village
C Du Bourg — marsin's squadrons, in two lines
D Rosel — the Irish brigade and La Reine
E Holstein-Beck — ten battalions, in two lines
F Marlborough — d'Herleville's foot and Blood's guns (enters across this edge)
G General Fugger — the Imperial cuirassiers, enter here (enters across this edge)
H General Rantzau — the Danish horse, enter here (enters across this edge)

The Grand Alliance

A Bligny's Brigade (Marquis de Bligny) — at start faces north-east In the village and its enclosures, ready to sortie; Champagne leads.
A Nangis' Brigade (Louis Armand de Brichanteau, marquis de Nangis) — at start faces north-east In the village and its enclosures, ready to sortie.
D Clare's Brigade (Irish) (Charles O'Brien, 5th Viscount Clare) — at start in line faces north-east In line beside the village on the Blenheim side, the Irish brigade.
D Buzançois' Brigade (Marquis de Buzançois) — at start in line faces north-east In line beside the village, La Reine in support of the Irish.
C Massenbach's Brigade (commander unknown) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the first cavalry line.
C Prince Charles de Lorraine's Brigade (commander unknown) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the first cavalry line.
C d'Anlezy's Brigade (commander unknown) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the second cavalry line.
B Franco-Bavarian artillery · Royal Artillery — Houville (Marquis de Houville) — at start faces north-east In battery beside the village.

France and Bavaria

E Holstein-Beck's Brigade (includes Heidebrecht's Brigade) (Major-General Anton Günther, Fürst von Holstein-Beck) — at start in line faces south-west In line at Weilheim, the leading brigade, the two leading battalions already at the crossing.
E Dutch Mercenary Brigade (Major-General Johan van Pallandt) — at start in line faces south-west In line behind Holstein-Beck's brigade, the second line.

Victory

French DecisiveAt the end of turn 8 two or more unbroken Allied infantry units stand on the far bank within 12 in of Oberglau's enclosures and no unbroken French unit stands on the far bank outside the village.
Allied DecisiveNo unbroken Allied infantry unit stands on the far bank at the end of turn 8, or at any moment a French cavalry unit contacts an Allied infantry unit that is still crossing.
MarginalNeither: the Allies hold the far bank at Weilheim but the French stand outside the village, or the French have been penned in but the Allied far bank is held by one unit only.

Special rules

The sortie: French infantry units may leave Oberglau at any time; a unit outside the village at the end of the game that cannot see an unbroken French unit inside it counts as lost. The village itself may not be assaulted while three or more French infantry units are inside it.
Fugger's brigade: Fugger's cuirassiers enter from Eugene's wing, in their own zone, on the turn rolled, and may not enter earlier however the die falls: they were Eugene's and came only when he let them go.
The crossfire: Any Allied cavalry unit on the far bank within 30 in of Marsin's batteries and within 30 in of the table edge on the Lutzingen side is under fire from both this table's guns and Lutzingen's; treat it as fired on by one more battery than it can see.
Oberglau is a strongpoint: The village's houses, walls, hedges and palisades are cover and an obstacle: it is taken by assault, never by fire alone, and a battalion inside it cannot be charged by horse. The walled churchyard is the keep.
Battalion guns: Every infantry unit carries its own light guns; they are part of the unit and not a battery. The batteries fielded separately are the positioned guns.
The Nebel at Weilheim: The crossing is the causeway at Weilheim and the marsh either side: infantry cross the marsh at half pace and disordered; horse cross only by the causeway, in column, and re-form on the far bank.

On the day, and how the result carries forward

marginal

French decisive	Blainville is shut up in his village and the Danish horse are free; the junction of the two wings is a road, not a gap. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance gains two units of cavalry, from turn 5.With Oberglau penned early, the Danish squadrons were free to join the centre's last charge. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road France and Bavaria need one fewer to win it.A French centre with its left flank sealed had one less way out.
Marginal	Holstein-Beck's leading battalions are gone and the rest stand; Marlborough has been here in person, and Fugger's charge has turned Marsin's squadrons back. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance's cavalry come on a turn later.Fugger's brigade was still needed at Oberglau; the Danish horse came to the centre a turn later than they might have.
Allied decisive	The head of the attack is destroyed at the crossing and Marsin's squadrons are on the Allied bank; the two wings are not joined, and the centre must fight with its right in the air. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance fights without two units of infantry.Churchill's second line had to face right to cover the gap Holstein-Beck left. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance needs one more to win it.An Allied army split in two attacks with less than its whole weight.

The historical record — what is left off, what was changed, and how the strengths were reached

What is on the table, and what is not. The whole of the fight for the junction of the two Allied wings, cut to the battalions that sortied and the ones that attacked. Oberglau's remaining five battalions (Coëtquen's and Isenghien's) are inside the village and are the reason it cannot be taken by assault. 31 units: 22 infantry units (27 battalions), 7 cavalry units, 2 batteries.

Left off the table

Coëtquen's and Isenghien's brigades (8 bns) — Inside Oberglau and never came out; the village is a strongpoint and cannot be assaulted out, which represents them.
Averock's Dutch cavalry — Came up late on the right; the Danish horse that did cross are fielded instead.

Where this game departs from the record

du Bourg's twenty squadrons are three units by brigade — Two-squadron regiments of 240 are not units; the brigades are.
Marlborough's three battalions and Blood's guns enter on turn 4, Fugger on turn 5 by dice, the Danes on turn 7 — The order the sources give for the crisis and its relief.

E4Lutzingen and the hills12:30–15:15 · 11 turns of 15 minTABLE 12 × 6 ft35 m to the inch

The Grand Alliance attacking · France and Bavaria defending

The Grand Alliance — Cross the brook, take the great battery and turn the Bavarian left through the woods; the village is the prize, but the guns are what stop the centre's flank being shot at.

France and Bavaria — Hold the line of the brook and the battery; counter-charge the Imperial horse whenever it crosses, and keep the woods. Marsin's squadrons are not yours to spend — they are the centre's.

Arrivals

E turn 1 (12:30) — enters across ZONE E · on that turn, no condition
Finck's Brigade (Prussia), Canitz's Brigade (Prussia)
Finck's Brigade (Prussia) — Anhalt-Dessau's four brigades came over the brook at the signal; Finck's leads.Canitz's Brigade (Prussia) — The second Prussian brigade, behind Finck's.
F turn 1 (12:30) — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
Bielke's Brigade (Denmark, Imperial pay), Rebsdorff's Brigade (Denmark, English/Dutch pay)
Bielke's Brigade (Denmark, Imperial pay) — Scholten's Danes attacked on the right, clearing the copses toward the woods.Rebsdorff's Brigade (Denmark, English/Dutch pay) — The second Danish brigade.
G turn 3 (13:00) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
Natzmer's Brigade (Prussia)
Natzmer's Brigade (Prussia) — The Prussian first-line horse crossed after the foot and was pressed back in confusion by the counter-charge.
G turn 4 (13:15) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
Cusani's Brigade (Austria)
Cusani's Brigade (Austria) — Cusani's Imperial cuirassiers of the second line came up as the first attack recoiled.
E turn 4 (13:15) · dice — enters across ZONE E · on that turn, no condition
Eugene's artillery
Eugene's artillery — Eugene's guns were still on the march through the ravines when he attacked and came into action late.

Your 12 ft table: The Grand Alliance 18 battalions, 4 cavalry, 1 batteries · France and Bavaria 14 battalions, 4 cavalry, 1 batteries. The muster below is this force.

Command — who leads what, and how good he is

The Grand Alliance

The Duke of Marlborough — the whole force The Grand Alliance

Decisive from the sources

Commands the army, not this wing.

Field Marshal Prince Eugene of Savoy — Eugene's wing (right; Army of the Empire) The Grand Alliance

Decisive from the sources

No divisional echelon: he handles all 6 brigades himself.

Prince Eugene of SavoyWing

Feldzeugmeister Prince Leopold of Anhalt-DessauDivision

Lieutenant-General ScholtenDivision

Major-General von NatzmerBrigade

The Duke of MarlboroughArmy

Commands the army, not this wing.

France and Bavaria

Marshal Tallard — the whole force France and Bavaria

Laboured from the sources

Commands the other army.

1 division (1 brigade) — a small command — only 1 formation, few enough that his orders reach all of them; a coalition command — his orders pass through a staff that is not his own. By that shape alone, about half his command can be turned to a new purpose within the hour. What he does not reach goes on doing what it was last told, competently, whether or not that is still the right thing.

No divisional echelon: he handles his one brigade himself.

Marshal Marsin — the whole force France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Commanding the left army with the Elector. He held Eugene's three attacks, and when the centre went he fired Oberglau and Lutzingen and retired in column.

Commands the left army; Oberglau is his sector, not Tallard's.

No divisional echelon: he handles his one brigade himself.

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria; second in command Marshal Ferdinand de Marsin — Army of the Elector of Bavaria and Marsin (left) France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Moved his troops down to the water and contested the crossing, 'galloping about in the most dangerous places'; his wing withdrew in order at the end.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Field Marshal Johann Baptist, Count d'Arco — d'Arco's corps (Bavarian and French left) France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Twelve Bavarian battalions in front of Lutzingen with the flank refused on the hills; a sound position, soundly held. President of the Bavarian war council from 1696 and field marshal from 1702, and not disgraced for either of the two days he lost to these opponents.

6 divisions (6 brigades) — a coalition command — his orders pass through a staff that is not his own. By that shape alone, one formation at a time, and the far flank is an hour behind the near one. What he does not reach goes on with its last order, and commits itself before news of any change arrives.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 6 brigades himself.

Marshal TallardArmy

Commands the other army.

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of BavariaArmy

Major-General de MaffeiDivision

Field Marshal Count d'ArcoWing

Order of battle — the real regiments, brigade by brigade

Not every unit that fought is on this table. Some are left off to keep the game manageable, and some were not in this part of the battle. The full list is under The historical record, below.

The Grand Alliance18 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

Prussian 11 battalions · 2 cavalry — Danish 7 battalions — Imperial 2 cavalry · 1 battery

Anhalt-Dessau's Prussians Prussian

Finck's brigadeMajor-General Finck von Finckenstein arrives turn 1

Grenadier Garde (Kronprinz) (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Small
Margraf Ludwig's Infantry Regiment (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Small
Anhalt-Dessau Infantry Regiment (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Small

Canitz's brigadeMajor-General von Canitz arrives turn 1

Margraf Philipp's Infantry Regiment (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Small
Leibgarde (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Small
Canitz's Infantry Regiment (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Small

Scholten's Danes Danish

Bielke's brigadeBrigadier-General Bielke arrives turn 1

Regiment Prince George (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Large
2nd Battalion, Regiment of Foot Prince Carl (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Den Kongelige Livgarde til Fods (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard

Rebsdorff's brigadeBrigadier-General Rebsdorff arrives turn 1

1st Battalion, Fynske Regiment of Foot (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Large
2nd Battalion, Sjællandske Regiment of Foot (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Regiment of Foot Christian Ulrich (Württemberg-Oels) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard

Brunswick-Lüneburg's first line arrives turn 3 Prussian

Natzmer's brigadeMajor-General von Natzmer

Natzmer's brigade — Leib Dragoons and Margraf Philipp's Cuirassiers (6 sqns) — Veteran · heavy Large
Wartensleben and Bayreuth-Kulmbach Horse (6 sqns) — Veteran · heavy Large

Württemberg-Teck's second line arrives turn 4 Imperial

Cusani's brigadeField Marshal Cusani

Darmstadt's Imperial Cuirassiers — Veteran · heavy Large
Cusani's Imperial Cuirassiers — Veteran · heavy Large

Eugene's wing arrives turn 4 Imperial

Artillery

Eugene's guns — field units that came up late on the march through the ravines StandardEugene's artillery was still on the road when the attack began. No account counts the guns that came up; eight is an estimate.

France and Bavaria14 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

Bavarian 9 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery — French 5 battalions

Maffei's Bavarian infantry Bavarian

de Maffei's brigadeMajor-General de Maffei arrives turn 1

Regiment de Maffei (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard
Kurprinz Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard
Leibgarde Fusiliers Regiment (2 bns) — 2 bns · Veteran Standard
Leibgarde Grenadiers Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Regiment d'Ocfort (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard

Mercy's brigadebrigadier unknown arrives turn 1

Regiment de Mercy (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Standard
Regiment de Tattenbach (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard

Sauffrey's infantry (Marsin's battalions) French

Montbron's brigadeMarquis de Montbron arrives turn 1

Régiment Dauphin (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran StandardRosel's French battalions in the woods on the Bavarian left are fielded as Montbron's brigade, the nearest named French formation on this wing in the order of battle.
1st/Condé (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard
Régiment de Montboissier (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard

The Bavarian cavalrycommander unknown Bavarian

Weickel's brigadebrigadier unknown arrives turn 1

d'Arco's Cuirassiers — Line · heavy Large
Weickel's Cuirassiers and the Garde squadrons (7 sqns) — Line · heavy LargeWeickel's regiment with the Garde Karabiniers, the Grenadiers à Cheval and the Leib Company of Locatelli's Hussars as one unit.

von Wolframsdorff's brigadeFreiherr von Wolframsdorf arrives turn 1

von Wolframsdorff's Cuirassiers — Line · heavy Large
de Costa's Cuirassiers — Line · heavy Large

The Elector's artillery Bavarian

Artillery arrives turn 1

The great battery at Lutzingen — sixteen guns in one position at the village edge LargeStormed by the Prussians in the third attack. Here it is what the first two attacks broke on.

Odds: a: 18 battalions (about 9,500 foot), 4 units of horse (24 squadrons) and 8 guns vs b: 14 battalions (about 7,000 foot), 4 units of horse (25 squadrons) and 16 guns — the attackers have the foot, the defenders the ground and the guns

Deployment — who sets up where, and from which turn

Deploying. First to deploy: France and Bavaria; then The Grand Alliance.

The zones as lettered on the map:

A General Maffei — the Bavarian foot, before the village
B The Great Battery — sixteen guns at the village
C Rosel — the French battalions in the woods
D The Elector's Horse — in two lines
E Anhalt-Dessau — the Prussian foot, enter here (enters across this edge)
F General Scholten — the Danes, enter here (enters across this edge)
G The Imperial Horse — enters here (enters across this edge)

The Grand Alliance

A de Maffei's Brigade (Major-General Alessandro, Marquis de Maffei) — at start in line faces north In line before the village, the front at the brook.
A Mercy's Brigade (commander unknown) — at start in line faces north In line behind Maffei's brigade, the second line.
B The Elector's artillery — the great battery at Lutzingen (Major-General de Maffei) — at start faces north In battery at the village edge, sixteen guns in one position.
C Montbron's Brigade (Marquis de Montbron) — at start faces north In the woods on the left, the flank refused.
D von Weickel's Brigade (commander unknown) — at start in line faces north In line, the first cavalry line, between the foot and Oberglau.
D von Wolframsdorff's Brigade (Baron Veit Heinrich Moritz, Freiherr von Wolframsdorf) — at start in line faces north In line, the second cavalry line.

Victory

French DecisiveAt the end of turn 11 the Allies hold the great battery, or two unbroken Allied infantry units stand within 6 in of Lutzingen's enclosures.
Allied DecisiveNo unbroken Allied infantry unit stands on the Bavarian side of the brook at the end of turn 11.
MarginalNeither: the Allies hold ground on the Bavarian side of the brook with two or more unbroken infantry units but the battery and the village stand.

Special rules

The brook below Lutzingen: The upper Nebel is a linear obstacle: infantry cross it at half pace and arrive disordered; horse may cross it only where a road does and may not charge across it.
The woods: A French unit in the woods is in cover and cannot be charged by horse; infantry attacking it move at half pace. The woods cannot be turned: the table edge beyond them is impassable.
The great battery: Sixteen guns in one position, Large: it fires as two batteries at any target it can see. Taken, it counts for the objective and its guns are silenced for the rest of the game.
Marsin's squadrons are the centre's: No French cavalry unit may be added to this table from the Oberglau table, whatever happens there; the Elector's horse are all he has here.
Lutzingen is a strongpoint: The village's houses, walls, hedges and palisades are cover and an obstacle: it is taken by assault, never by fire alone, and a battalion inside it cannot be charged by horse. The walled churchyard is the keep.
Battalion guns: Every infantry unit carries its own light guns; they are part of the unit and not a battery. The batteries fielded separately are the positioned guns.

On the day, and how the result carries forward

marginal

French decisive	The battery is taken in the first hours and the Bavarian left is bending back into the woods; Marsin looks over his shoulder before the centre has fought. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road France and Bavaria need one fewer to win it.A wing whose left was already giving way had to think of the road to Morselingen before Tallard's fight was decided. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance gains one unit of cavalry, from turn 7.With Lutzingen falling early, Fugger's cuirassiers could be spared to the centre.
Marginal	Two attacks have gone in and come back; Eugene holds his own and no more, and the Elector's horse and his stand sixty yards apart in the lull. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road France and Bavaria gain one unit of cavalry, from turn 9.With his own front merely held, Marsin could in the last hour have spared Tallard a brigade of his second line — the help asked for at 15:30 and refused; here it comes, late.
Allied decisive	Eugene is back over the brook with his Prussians in disorder and ten colours lost; the Bavarian horse are free to look toward Oberglau. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road France and Bavaria gain two units of cavalry, from turn 5.A Bavarian wing that had beaten Eugene off could lend the centre its second cavalry line. E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road The Grand Alliance needs one more to win it.The Allied right beaten, Marlborough's crossing had a flank to worry about.

The historical record — what is left off, what was changed, and how the strengths were reached

What is on the table, and what is not. The first two attacks, 12:30 to 15:00, on the Lutzingen front only: Anhalt-Dessau's and Scholten's foot with Natzmer's and Cusani's horse against Maffei's Bavarians, the battery and the Elector's cuirassiers. Marsin's French squadrons between Lutzingen and Oberglau are the E3 table's; Eugene's second cavalry line is left off, as it was held back. 32 units: 22 infantry units (32 battalions), 8 cavalry units, 2 batteries.

Left off the table

Württemberg-Teck's second cavalry line beyond Cusani's brigade, and de la Tour's reserve — Held back and caught in the crossfire when committed; the first line and Cusani's cuirassiers are the fight.
Regiment von Karthausen and von Spilburg — The last two Bavarian battalions, cut to fit the table. Five in front and two in the second line keeps the recorded shape.
Magnac's and Legall's French squadrons, Dreux's dragoons — Marsin's horse between Lutzingen and Oberglau; fielded as du Bourg's on the Oberglau table.

Where this game departs from the record

Rosel's seven battalions in the woods are fielded as Montbron's brigade of Marsin's infantry (5 bns) — The order of battle carries Rosel's corps at Oberglau and names no regiments in the woods; Montbron's is the nearest named French brigade on this wing.
Eugene's guns are eight units arriving on turn 4 — His artillery was still on the march through the ravines when he attacked; a number and a turn are what the table needs, and both are design figures.

E2The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road15:00–17:45 · 11 turns of 15 minTABLE 12 × 6 ft25 m to the inch

The Grand Alliance attacking · France and Bavaria defending

The Grand Alliance — Form the whole army beyond the Nebel — foot, then horse, then foot again — and break the French centre between the two villages before the light goes. The nine battalions are the hinge: destroy them and the cavalry has nothing to rally on.

France and Bavaria — Let them cross, then strike: charge the Allied horse while it is still filing over the causeways and re-forming, and use the sorties from Blenheim and Oberglau on the flanks of anything that has come too far. The nine battalions between your second line are raw; keep the squadrons in front of them.

Arrivals

G turn 2 (15:15) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
Wood's Brigade (England), Ross's Dragoon Brigade (includes Lord John Hay's Brigade)
Wood's Brigade (England) — Wood's brigade crossed behind Palmes' and was rolled up by Tallard's first charge before the line was restored.Ross's Dragoon Brigade (includes Lord John Hay's Brigade) — The Hessian dragoons of Ross's brigade crossed with the British horse.
G turn 4 (15:45) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
Noyelles' Brigade, Viller's Brigade
Noyelles' Brigade — Bülow's Hanoverian horse crossed by the causeways above the mills as the first line formed.Viller's Brigade — Bülow's dragoons, with Noyelles' cuirassiers.
G turn 6 (16:15) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
Erbach's Brigade
Erbach's Brigade — Hompesch's second line crossed last and stood behind the first; it made the final charge.
G turn 7 (16:30) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
Rantzau's Brigade (Denmark, Dutch pay)
Rantzau's Brigade (Denmark, Dutch pay) — The Danish horse, fed in by Lumley when the English left was rolled up, and in every charge after four o'clock.
C turn 5 (16:00) · dice — enters across ZONE C · If the Blenheim table has been played and Navarre was broken there, it does not come
Maulevrier's Brigade
Maulevrier's Brigade — Tallard ordered the Blenheim garrison to sortie against the Allied left; one battalion at a time came out and was shot down forming.
D turn 7 (16:30) · dice — enters across ZONE D · If the Oberglau table has been played and Champagne was broken there, it does not come
Bligny's Brigade
Bligny's Brigade — Oberglau's garrison sortied toward the centre once and was penned back by Marlborough's Hanoverians.

Your 12 ft table: The Grand Alliance 9 battalions, 7 cavalry, 1 batteries · France and Bavaria 15 battalions, 7 cavalry, 1 batteries. The muster below is this force.

Command — who leads what, and how good he is

Every formation here is led by the man who led it, at the level he held. Where anything is recorded of the man himself it is given — 2 of 7 here. 7 of them are graded from the histories of this battle; the rest from the record, or by default, as each card says. Use the note where there is one, and your own judgement where the card says the grade is a default.

The Grand Alliance

The Duke of Marlborough — the whole force The Grand Alliance

Decisive from the sources

Commands the army, not this wing.

No divisional echelon: he handles his one brigade himself.

Captain-General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough — Marlborough's wing (left) The Grand Alliance

Capable from the sources

Brought the infantry over the Nebel first and formed it to cover the cavalry's crossing — the 'entirely novel' four-line order.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.

The Duke of MarlboroughArmy

Commands the army, not this wing.

Lieutenant-General Charles ChurchillWing

Lieutenant-General LumleyWing

Colonel BloodBrigade

France and Bavaria

Marshal Camille d'Hostun, duc de Tallard — Tallard's army France and Bavaria

Laboured from the sources

Commands the other army.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 2 brigades himself.

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria; second in command Marshal Ferdinand de Marsin — Army of the Elector of Bavaria and Marsin (left) France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Moved his troops down to the water and contested the crossing, 'galloping about in the most dangerous places'; his wing withdrew in order at the end.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Lieutenant-General Philippe, Marquis de Clérambault; Maréchal de camp the Marquis de Blansac — Blenheim wing (Tallard's right) France and Bavaria

Laboured from the sources

Drew twenty-seven battalions into a village that could hold nine, so packed that most could neither move nor fire; rode to the Danube and drowned when the centre broke.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Lieutenant-General Jean-Jules-Armand Colbert, Marquis de Blainville — Blainville's corps (Oberglau) France and Bavaria

Capable from the sources

Sortied with nine battalions and destroyed the head of the attack; penned back into the village by three o'clock.

Maréchal de camp William Dorrington — 2 brigades

Marshal TallardArmy

Commands the other army.

Lieutenant-General ZurlaubenWing

Maréchal de camp the Marquis de St PierreDivision

Order of battle — the real regiments, brigade by brigade

Not every unit that fought is on this table. Some are left off to keep the game manageable, and some were not in this part of the battle. The full list is under The historical record, below.

The Grand Alliance9 battalions · 7 cavalry · 1 battery

British 4 battalions · 2 cavalry · 1 battery — Hanoverian (Lüneburg-Celle) 3 battalions — Hanoverian 2 battalions · 1 cavalry — Hessian 1 cavalry — Hanoverian (Osnabrück; Dutch pay) 1 cavalry — Dutch 1 cavalry — Danish 1 cavalry

Orkney's infantry British

Webb's brigadeMajor-General Webb arrives turn 1

Churchill's Regiment of Foot (3rd, the Buffs) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
Thomas Meredyth's Regiment of Foot (37th) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
The Queen's Regiment of Foot (8th) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
1st/His Majesty's Royal Regiment of Foot (Royal Scots) (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard

Württemberg-Neuenstadt's command

von Rantzau's brigadeMajor-General von Rantzau arrives turn 1

Regiment Rantzau (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Standard Hanoverian (Lüneburg-Celle)
Bernsdorff Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Hanoverian (Lüneburg-Celle)
Teckelenberg Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Hanoverian
St Paul Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Standard Hanoverian

Rantzau's Danish brigadeBrigadier-General von Rantzau Danish arrives turn 7

2nd Sjællandske Horse Regiment — Veteran · heavy Large

Lumley's horse

Wood's brigadeMajor-General Wood British arrives turn 2

The Queen's Regiment of Horse (2nd Horse) — Veteran · heavy Standard

Palmes' brigadeBrigadier-General Palmes British arrives turn 1

Carabiniers and Schomberg's Horse (4 sqns) — Veteran · heavy LargePalmes' brigade less Wood's squadron, already across and formed at the plain's edge. If the Blenheim table is being played at the same time, they enter with Wood's brigade on turn 2 instead.

Ross's dragoon brigadeMajor-General Ross Hessian arrives turn 2

Erbprinz von Hessen-Kassel Dragoons — Line · dragoons Standard

Bülow's horse arrives turn 4

Noyelles' brigadeMajor-General de Noyelles Hanoverian (Osnabrück; Dutch pay)

Noyelles' brigade — Leib, Voigt's and Noyelles' Cuirassiers (6 sqns) — Line · heavy StandardThree two-squadron Hanoverian regiments as one unit.

Viller's brigadeMajor-General Viller Hanoverian

Bülow's and Viller's Dragoons (7 sqns) — Line · dragoons StandardTwo Hanoverian dragoon regiments as one unit.

Hompesch's second line arrives turn 6 Dutch

Erbach's brigadeMajor-General Erbach

Erbach's brigade — Erbach's and Baldwin's Horse, Schmettau's Dragoons (7 sqns) — Line · heavy Large

The train British

Artillery arrives turn 1

Blood's nine-gun battery — field units brought over the Nebel by causeway LargeThe battery Marlborough brought across in person. It fired grape into the nine battalions at close range. If the Oberglau table is being played at the same time, it comes onto this table on turn 4 instead of standing on it at the start.

France and Bavaria15 battalions · 7 cavalry · 1 battery

French 13 battalions · 6 cavalry · 1 battery — Walloon (French service) 2 battalions — Spanish Netherlands 1 cavalry

St Pierre's nine battalions

Trécesson's brigadeMarquis de Trécesson arrives turn 1

Régiment de Robecq (Walloon) (2 bns) — 2 bns · Recruit Standard Walloon (French service)
Régiment d'Albaret (1 bn) — 1 bn · Recruit Standard French

Breuil's brigadeMarquis de Breuil French arrives turn 1

Régiment d'Auxerrois (2 bns) — 2 bns · Recruit Standard
Régiment de Chabrillant (1 bn) — 1 bn · Recruit Standard

Belleisle's brigadeMarquis de Belleisle French arrives turn 1

Régiment de Nice (1 bn) — 1 bn · Recruit Standard
Régiment de Tavannes (1 bn) — 1 bn · Recruit Standard
Régiment de Bandeville (1 bn) — 1 bn · Recruit Standard

The Blenheim garrison (Clérambault) arrives turn 5 French

Maulevrier's brigadeMarquis de Maulevrier

Régiment de Navarre (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran StandardA sortie from Blenheim: enters at the sortie edge by the village on the turn shown, if the garrison still has it to send.

Blainville's corps (Oberglau) arrives turn 7 French

Bligny's brigadeMarquis de Bligny

Régiment de Champagne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran StandardA sortie from Oberglau: enters at the sortie edge by the village on the turn shown.

Zurlauben's cavalry (first line) French

Vertilly's brigadeMarquis de Vertilly arrives turn 1

Gendarmerie de France — the five squadrons on the plain — Veteran · heavy LargeThe five squadrons Palmes beat. The other three are on the Blenheim table.

Broglie's brigadeMarquis de Broglie arrives turn 1

Régiment du Roi (cavalerie) — Line · line Standard
Tarneau and La Baume (4 sqns) — Line · line Standard

Grignan's brigadeMarquis de Grignan arrives turn 1

Grignan's brigade — Mestre de Camp Général and Grignan (6 sqns) — Line · line Large

d'Humières' cavalry (second line)Maréchal de camp the Duc d'Humières

Mérode-Westerloo's brigadeComte de Mérode-Westerloo Spanish Netherlands arrives turn 1

Mérode-Westerloo's brigade — Gaetano, Acosta and Heider (6 sqns) — Line · line Large

La Vallière's brigadeMarquis de la Vallière French arrives turn 1

Bourgogne and La Vallière (5 sqns) — Line · line Standard
Noailles and Beringhen (5 sqns) — Line · line Large

Tallard's artillery French

Artillery arrives turn 1

The eight-gun battery on the plain — eight 8-pounders before the cavalry lines Standard

Odds: a: 9 battalions (about 5,400 foot), 7 units of horse (33 squadrons) and 9 guns vs b: 15 battalions (about 7,500 foot), 7 units of horse (34 squadrons) and 8 guns — near parity in squadrons, the Allies with the foot and the doctrine, the French with the ground, the first charge and two sorties

Deployment — who sets up where, and from which turn

Deploying. First to deploy: France and Bavaria; then The Grand Alliance. Engaged here: Webb's Brigade (The French first line of horse was charging the Allied foot as it formed on the far bank of the Nebel.).

The zones as lettered on the map:

A Zurlauben — the first cavalry line
B D'humières and St Pierre — the second line
C The Blenheim Garrison — sorties enter here (enters across this edge)
D The Oberglau Garrison — sorties enter here (enters across this edge)
E General Churchill — Webb's and Rantzau's foot, across the Nebel
F Colonel Blood — the guns, on the near bank
G The Allied Horse — Lumley, Bülow, Hompesch, oostfries (enters across this edge)

The Grand Alliance

A Vertilly's Brigade (Marquis de Vertilly) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the first cavalry line, the Gendarmerie on the right.
A Broglie's Brigade (Marquis de Broglie) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the first cavalry line.
A Grignan's Brigade (Marquis de Grignan) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the first cavalry line, the left.
A Franco-Bavarian artillery · Royal Artillery — Frézelière (Marquis de la Frézelière) — at start faces north-east In battery before the first line.
B Mérode-Westerloo's Brigade (Spanish Netherlands) (Comte de Mérode-Westerloo) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the second cavalry line, with St Pierre's battalions between the squadrons.
B La Vallière's Brigade (Marquis de la Vallière) — at start in line faces north-east In line, the second cavalry line.
B Trécesson's Brigade (Marquis de Trécesson) — at start in line faces north-east In line between the squadrons of the second line.
B Breuil's Brigade (Marquis de Breuil) — at start in line faces north-east In line between the squadrons of the second line.
B Belleisle's Brigade (Marquis de Belleisle) — at start in line faces north-east In line between the squadrons of the second line.

France and Bavaria

E Webb's Brigade (Major-General John Richmond Webb) — at start in line faces south-west In line, across the Nebel and formed on the far bank; the first infantry line.
E von Rantzau's Brigade (Lüneburg-Celle / Hanover, Dutch pay) (Major-General Jørgen von Rantzau) — at start in line faces south-west In line beside Webb's brigade, the first infantry line.
E Palmes' Brigade (England) (Brigadier-General Francis Palmes) — at start in line faces south-west In line on the left of the foot, already across and formed at the plain's edge.
F Allied artillery (Colonel Holcroft Blood) — at start faces south-west In battery on the near bank by Unterglau; the guns cross by causeway from turn 3.

Victory

French DecisiveAt the end of turn 11 no unbroken French cavalry unit stands within 12 in of the first-line position (the zone the first cavalry line began in), and four or more of St Pierre's battalions are broken or destroyed.
Allied DecisiveAt the end of turn 11 no unbroken Allied cavalry unit stands on the far bank of the Nebel, or the Allied infantry first line has been driven back over the stream.
MarginalNeither: the French first line is gone but the second stands, or the nine battalions stand but the horse before them is broken.

Special rules

The causeways: Allied cavalry enters over the Nebel causeways, from the Allied edge, one brigade a turn on the turns shown, in column, and may not charge on the turn it enters; it re-forms on the far bank. Infantry may cross the marsh anywhere at half pace and disordered.
The nine battalions: St Pierre's battalions are Recruit. If the French cavalry unit nearest to one of them is broken, that battalion tests as if it had itself been charged.
The Allied advance: Allied cavalry that has re-formed on the far bank advances at a walk until the turn its player declares the charge; on that turn every Allied cavalry unit on the table may charge, and none may before it.
Sorties: A sortie battalion enters at its village's sortie edge on its turn and may not go further than 12 in from it; it is recalled (removed) at the end of any turn in which it is not within 12 in of an Allied unit.
The light: The game ends at the end of turn 11. Sunset was 19:19; the last turn is 17:45, and what is not decided by then is decided by the pursuit that is not played.
Battalion guns: Every infantry unit carries its own light guns; they are part of the unit and not a battery. The batteries fielded separately are the positioned guns.

On the day, and how the result carries forward

decisive_a

French decisive	Tallard's horse is in the Danube at Sonderheim and the Marshal is in a Hessian regiment's hands; the nine battalions are cut to units where they stood, and by nine o'clock twenty-four battalions in Blenheim have laid down their arms. Marsin and the Elector march away in the dusk. The chain ends here: the Grand Alliance wins it decisively.
Marginal	The first line is broken and the second stands, and the light is going. Tallard holds the Höchstädt road at nightfall with a wrecked army and Blenheim still full; the Allies hold the field between the villages and have paid for it. The chain ends here: the campaign is drawn.
Allied decisive	The Allied horse is beaten back onto the causeways with the foot still on the far bank, and the sorties from the villages come in on its flanks; Marlborough's army is on the wrong side of a marsh with the Danube behind it. The chain ends here: France and Bavaria win it decisively.

The historical record — what is left off, what was changed, and how the strengths were reached

What is on the table, and what is not. The decisive centre: Webb's and Rantzau's foot, the British and Hanoverian horse that made the first fights, and the Danish and second-line squadrons arriving as they crossed, against Tallard's two cavalry lines and the nine raw battalions. Oostfries' sixteen squadrons and d'Herleville's brigade are the rest of the Allied mass and are left off so the table is not a wall of horse. 33 units: 17 infantry units (24 battalions), 14 cavalry units, 2 batteries.

Left off the table

Oostfries' cavalry (16 sqns) — The third Allied cavalry command; on a 12 ft table it would double a line that is already superior. Restored at 14 ft.
d'Herleville's and the Württemberg brigades (9 bns) — Ingoldsby's first line; the right of it fought at Oberglau (E3) and the rest stood in the second line.
The Blenheim and Oberglau garrisons beyond one sortie each — Tallard ordered sorties, not evacuations; one battalion from each village is what came out.

Where this game departs from the record

Two-squadron regiments of 150–250 men are paired into one unit, both regiments named — A 150-man regiment is not a playing unit; a brigade of two is.
The Allied cavalry enters by brigades from turn 2 to turn 7 — It was still filing over the causeways when the infantry formed; the arrival order is the crossing order the sources give.

Playing the Chain

carry each result forward

Engagement	French win	Marginal	Allied win
E1 Blenheim village and the Danube flank	+2 The Grand Alliance	0	+2 France and Bavaria
E3 Oberglau	+2 The Grand Alliance	0	+2 France and Bavaria
E4 Lutzingen and the hills	+2 The Grand Alliance	0	+2 France and Bavaria
E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road	+3 The Grand Alliance	0	+3 France and Bavaria

The Grand Alliance leads by 4 or moreBlenheim as it was: an army destroyed and the Danube lost to France

Within 1 pointA bloody day between the villages, and the campaign to fight again

France and Bavaria lead by 4 or moreTallard's plan works: the Allies beaten on the wrong side of the Nebel

Reference & designer’s notes — the ground, the historical orders of battle, myths, and rules guidance

The Ground

read before setting terrain

The map is drawn to be read, not measured. Every plate is the real ground fitted to a table of the stated size, and your table is not that survey: your hills are the hills you own and your village is the village you own. Set the ground out to match the map as near as your terrain allows, and let it stand.

The lettered zones are the same. A zone shows where a formation stood when the action opened — read it across onto your own table by eye. What the scenario fixes is which side is whose and which edge a formation enters by; where inside its own zone you put each battalion is yours. Where a depth is given it says how much room the formation needs, not a line to measure to.

Feature	On the table
The Nebel nebelbach	A stream four yards wide at its mouth with soft, sometimes impassable margins: not a river, but a three-hour deployment obstacle that disorders what crosses it. The Allies crossed by one repaired bridge and five causeways.
Blindheim blenheim	About three hundred houses, a stone church and walled churchyard, gardens and enclosures hedged and palisaded, a furlong from the river: a strongpoint that nine battalions could hold and twenty-seven could not use.
The Danube its 1704 course under sonderh	In 1704 the river ran close under Blindheim and Sonderheim, fifty to a hundred metres wide and two deep, with a four-metre bank: impassable, and the death of Tallard's horse.

Table sizes: 14×6 ft: full force · 12×6 ft: full force · 10×6 ft: 80% · 8×6 ft: 67%

Weather, Light & Going

Dense mist on the marshes until about seven, then a clear hot August day; the Nebel low after dry weather; Unterglau, Weilheim and the mills burning through the morning.

Orders of Battle

historical

The Grand Alliance — The army of Marlborough and Eugene

E1/E2/E3 · Marlborough's wing (left) Captain-General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

E1/E2/E3 · Allied artillery Colonel Holcroft Blood · 80 gunsE1 G at startE3 FAllied artillery (Blood) turn 4E2 F at start

Cavalry reserve — de la Tour General of Cavalry Charles Maximilien, comte de la Tour et Valsassina 1,280

France and Bavaria — The armies of Tallard, Marsin and the Elector

E1/E2 · Blenheim wing (Tallard's right) Lieutenant-General Philippe, Marquis de Clérambault; Maréchal de camp the Marquis de Blansac 14,926

E1/E2/E3/E4 · Franco-Bavarian artillery commander unknown · 90 guns

E3 · du Bourg's corps (Marsin's cavalry lines) Lieutenant-General the Marquis du Bourg 2,400

E2/E3 · Blainville's corps (Oberglau) Lieutenant-General Jean-Jules-Armand Colbert, Marquis de Blainville 4,000

E3 · Rosel's corps (Oberglau support) Lieutenant-General the Marquis de Rosel (Rozel) 7,000

E4 · d'Arco's corps (Bavarian and French left) Field Marshal Johann Baptist, Count d'Arco 19,300

Strengths, marked with the game each formation fights in; a formation that fought on two days is listed once with both.

Villages on the Table

why four, and which is which

Only a built-up area that was fought over is played as a village, and no table carries more than four. That is a choice made for the game, not a claim about the ground: the Danube plain between Höchstädt and Blindheim was thick with villages, churches and farms, and drawn at their true size they would leave no room for the horse.

- Village (house blocks inside a ring): a built-up area fought over. Every rule for built-up areas applies. - Strongpoint (a walled square): a church, a walled churchyard, a farm or a battery that was held or could be. - Hamlet (two blocks): a few buildings the fight passed through. Light cover. - House (one small block): one or two buildings, marked for bearings, and not a village. - Landmark (a dot, or the outline of a village not fought over): for bearings; open ground.

On each table:

- E1 · Blenheim village and the Danube flank: village Blindheim; strongpoint St Martin's walled churchyard; house the burnt mills; landmarks the stone bridge, and Unterglau with its church (not fought over on this table). - E2 · The centre: villages Blindheim, Unterglau and Oberglau; strongpoints the two churches, and Weilheim farm; house the burnt mills; landmark the stone bridge. - E3 · Oberglau: village Oberglau; strongpoints St Oswald's church and Weilheim farm; landmark Unterglau (not fought over on this table). - E4 · Lutzingen and the hills: village Lutzingen; strongpoints St Michael's church and the Bavarian great battery.

Village (house blocks inside a ring): a built-up area fought over. Every rule for built-up areas applies.
Strongpoint (a walled square): a church, a walled churchyard, a farm or a battery that was held or could be.
Hamlet (two blocks): a few buildings the fight passed through. Light cover.
House (one small block): one or two buildings, marked for bearings, and not a village.
Landmark (a dot, or the outline of a village not fought over): for bearings; open ground.
E1 · Blenheim village and the Danube flank: village Blindheim; strongpoint St Martin's walled churchyard; house the burnt mills; landmarks the stone bridge, and Unterglau with its church (not fought over on this table).
E2 · The centre: villages Blindheim, Unterglau and Oberglau; strongpoints the two churches, and Weilheim farm; house the burnt mills; landmark the stone bridge.
E3 · Oberglau: village Oberglau; strongpoints St Oswald's church and Weilheim farm; landmark Unterglau (not fought over on this table).
E4 · Lutzingen and the hills: village Lutzingen; strongpoints St Michael's church and the Bavarian great battery.

Myths & Corrections

It was won by a cavalry charge. Churchill calls that a delusion in so many words: at least an hour passed between the Allied advance from the foot of the slope and the final charge, and in that hour the nine battalions were destroyed by grape and platoon fire. The charge was the last act, not the decisive one. The E2 rules make the Allied player earn it the same way.
Clérambault lost the battle alone. He drowned himself for it, but Tallard's own plan was to rely on sorties from the villages, and he watched the reserve go in. Fortescue has the garrison at twenty-seven battalions before noon, which puts most of the over-garrisoning before the assaults began. E1 gives the French player the same choice and counts what it costs.
The Nebel was a great obstacle. Serious, after a dry spell, but nowhere impassable to engineers: Rowe's brigade was across by ten in the morning, six bridges were built under fire, and the whole centre crossed. The real obstacle was that Tallard chose not to contest it — his measures, Fortescue says, ended with breaking one bridge.
Eugene's wing failed. It was repulsed three times and held its own and no more, with fewer squadrons, half the battalions and half the guns of its enemy; and it held the whole of the Elector's and Marsin's army in place all afternoon so that not a squadron of it reached Tallard, released Fugger at the crisis, and at the end stormed the great battery and drove the Bavarian left two miles. That is what a wing is for.
The date. Thirteenth of August is the New Style date, the one every modern account uses. In England it was the second of August; do not convert it again.
The Nebel nebelbach: Drawn as a serious river it makes Tallard's decision to let them cross look like folly; it was a calculated risk, and the calculation was that the crossing would take hours. It did.
Blindheim blenheim: The village did not fall to assault at all; it surrendered at nine in the evening, cut off, after the centre had gone.
The Danube its 1704 course under sonderh: The modern channel is a kilometre and a half to the south-east; a map drawn from it puts the Danube flank in the wrong place.

Sources

[B] Wikipedia, 'Battle of Blenheim order of battle' (citing Higgins, Strategy & Tactics 238, 2006) — Every battalion, regiment and brigade on both sides, with brigadiers; the printed unit strengths where it gives them
[B] Kronoskaf, Project WSS — Battle of Blenheim, 13 August 1704 (Skala's Allied order of battle; Pelet for the French) — Cross-check of brigades, wing totals, the terrain distances
[A] Churchill, W. S. — Marlborough: His Life and Times, vol. II (Harrap, 1934), chs XX–XXI — The clock, the sector narratives, the garrison of Blenheim, the nine battalions, the Nebel, casualties
[A] Fortescue, J. W. — A History of the British Army, vol. I (1899), the Blenheim chapter — Cutts' six lines, the Nebel and the mills, the raw battalions in the centre, the Danube flank
[B] Wikipedia, 'Battle of Blenheim' (citing Falkner 2004, Chandler, Spencer, Barnett, Clodfelter) — Timings from Falkner, Oberglau's garrison, the Lutzingen battery, casualty figures
[C] britishbattles.com — Battle of Blenheim — Corroboration of the sequence and of the British regiments engaged
[B] spanishsuccession.nl — Blenheim, 13 August 1704 — Battalion and squadron totals; the Blenheim garrison's final count
[C] National Army Museum — The Battle of Blenheim — Headline strengths, the march to the Danube
[A] Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900 — 'Ferguson, James (d. 1705)', via Wikisource — Ferguson's career and the contemporary judgements of him
[B] German Wikipedia — 'Beat Jakob II. von Zurlauben' — Zurlauben's promotions, his regiment, his wounds and his death at Ulm
[B] German Wikipedia — 'Léonor Marie du Maine du Bourg' — du Bourg's independent command in Alsace, Rumersheim 1709 and the baton of 1724
[B] German Wikipedia — 'Dubislav Gneomar von Natzmer' — Natzmer's career, his wound at Blenheim, Oudenaarde and Malplaquet, Generalfeldmarschall 1728
[B] Kronoskaf, Project WSS — 1704-08-13 Battle of Blenheim (narrative, after Pelet and Skala) — The French-side narrative: Marsin's deployment, his holding of Eugene and his withdrawal in column
[B] Battlefield Anomalies — Observations on classic accounts of the Battle of Blenheim, 1704 (a ground walk) — The 1704 Danube, the Riedberg, Blindheim's size, the Schwenningen defile

How well each muster is established

E1 Blenheim village and the Danube flank — British and Hessian battalions are at their recorded strengths; the French at a nominal 500 a battalion. The classic accounts agree on the sequence.
E3 Oberglau — The Dutch and Swiss battalions are at their recorded strengths; the French at nominal strength. The classic accounts agree on the sequence — sortie, the two leading battalions destroyed, Marlborough in person, Fugger's charge.
E4 Lutzingen and the hills — Prussian and Bavarian units are at nominal strength; the Danish at their recorded strengths. Which Bavarian regiments stood in front of Lutzingen and which behind is unknown; here Maffei's brigade leads and Mercy's is the second line.
E2 The centre — Unterglau to the Höchstädt road — The French cavalry regiments are at their recorded strengths, which are small; so are the British, Hanoverian and Danish. The clock and the shape of the fight are the classic accounts'.

Time, ground, and the bayonet decide.

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Blenheim, complete

Blenheim

The Situation

The Whole Battle

How this war was fought

The Engagements

The Grand Alliance

France and Bavaria

The Grand Alliance15 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

Cutts' columnLieutenant-General John, Lord Cutts

Lumley's horse British

The train British

France and Bavaria20 battalions · 1 cavalry · 1 battery

The Blenheim garrison (Clérambault)

The Blenheim reserve (behind the village) arrives turn 4commander unknown

Hautefeuille's dragoons (dismounted) French

Zurlauben's cavalry (first line) French

Tallard's artillery French

The Grand Alliance

France and Bavaria

The Grand Alliance

France and Bavaria

The Grand Alliance13 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

Horn's line

Ingoldsby's line arrives turn 4

Eugene's wing arrives turn 5 Imperial

Württemberg-Neuenstadt's command arrives turn 7 Danish

The train arrives turn 4 British

France and Bavaria14 battalions · 3 cavalry · 1 battery

Blainville's corps (Oberglau) French

Rosel's corps

du Bourg's cavalry French

Marsin's artillery French

The Grand Alliance

France and Bavaria

The Grand Alliance

France and Bavaria

The Grand Alliance18 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

Anhalt-Dessau's Prussians Prussian

Scholten's Danes Danish

Brunswick-Lüneburg's first line arrives turn 3 Prussian

Württemberg-Teck's second line arrives turn 4 Imperial

Eugene's wing arrives turn 4 Imperial

France and Bavaria14 battalions · 4 cavalry · 1 battery

Maffei's Bavarian infantry Bavarian

Sauffrey's infantry (Marsin's battalions) French

The Bavarian cavalrycommander unknown Bavarian

The Elector's artillery Bavarian

The Grand Alliance

The Grand Alliance

France and Bavaria

The Grand Alliance9 battalions · 7 cavalry · 1 battery

Orkney's infantry British

Württemberg-Neuenstadt's command

Lumley's horse

Bülow's horse arrives turn 4

Hompesch's second line arrives turn 6 Dutch

The train British

France and Bavaria15 battalions · 7 cavalry · 1 battery

St Pierre's nine battalions

The Blenheim garrison (Clérambault) arrives turn 5 French

Blainville's corps (Oberglau) arrives turn 7 French

Zurlauben's cavalry (first line) French

d'Humières' cavalry (second line)Maréchal de camp the Duc d'Humières

Tallard's artillery French

The Grand Alliance

France and Bavaria

Playing the Chain

The Ground

Weather, Light & Going

Orders of Battle

The Grand Alliance — The army of Marlborough and Eugene

France and Bavaria — The armies of Tallard, Marsin and the Elector

Villages on the Table

Myths & Corrections

Sources

How well each muster is established

What follows it