Vedette · Uhlan Patrol · Historical Battle

Wœrth–Frœschwiller

6 August 1870

Wœrth · The Franco-Prussian War · 3 engagements · first light 04:37, last light 20:36

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

Germany — The Third Army
The Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm — Eight kilometres away at Sulz until one o'clock, trying all morning to stop a battle his corps commanders had already begun.
88,000 men
Cross the Sauer, take the crest, and get round the ends of the line.

France — I Corps, the Army of the Rhine
Maréchal de Mac-Mahon — Fighting on ground he had chosen against an army he had been told was not coming that day.
43,000 men · 107 guns
Hold the ridge. Make them come across the meadow.

The Situation

Neither army meant to fight on the sixth. The Crown Prince's order, written at Sulz on the afternoon of the fifth, told the Third Army to stay concentrated and change front; MacMahon, on the Frœschwiller ridge, had broken the Sauer bridges and was using the day to let his men dry out after a night of torrential rain and put their clothing in order. The regimental wagons came up about six in the morning and the men were still changing when the first gun was fired.

It was fired by a Prussian brigadier settling a doubt. Walther, reconnoitring in person at four in the morning, thought he heard the French camp moving off, and pushed a battalion and a battery into Wœrth at seven to find out. They found the town empty, the bridges broken and the ridge beyond occupied in force, and at half past eight he broke the action off, exactly as ordered. It was too late. The firing had already drawn the Bavarians in on the north and Bose's XI Corps in on the south, and by half past nine the whole artillery of V Corps was unlimbering on the east-bank heights of its own accord — the corps chief of staff had ordered it up before the corps commander reached the field.

At ten o'clock eighty-four guns opened at two thousand four hundred to four thousand paces. The French mitrailleuses were driven off the position within minutes; the whole French gun line was silenced except one battery; and the French shells that reached the Prussian batteries largely failed to burst. Kirchbach, arriving wounded from Weissenburg, confirmed what his staff had done, watched two assaults fail on the slope, and then took what the Official History calls a very momentous decision: knowing the Commander-in-Chief did not want a battle, he judged that breaking off would cost his advance guard heavily and give the French a moral victory, and he attacked in earnest and reported it afterwards.

The Crown Prince reached the heights in front of Wœrth at one o'clock and took over a battle already three hours old.

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

Wœrth–Frœschwiller, 6 August 1870 — about 7 × 4 km of country. The three 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→ V CORPS (KIRCHBACH) — THE ATTACK ACROSS THE SAUER AT WŒRTH, FROM 10 A.M. · UNAUTHORISED, AND PRESSED ANYWAY
2→ XI CORPS (BOSE) — THE CROSSING AT GUNSTETT AND THE TURNING OF THE FRENCH RIGHT AT MORSBRONN
3→ II BAVARIAN CORPS (HARTMANN) — DOWN THE SOULTZBACH ONTO THE FRENCH LEFT · BROKEN OFF AT 10.30 BY A MISDELIVERED ORDER, RESUMED AFTER 1 P.M.
4⇢ THE WÜRTTEMBERGERS — ORDERED AT 1.30 P.M. TO MARCH ON REICHSHOFFEN AND CUT THE RETREAT · FED INTO THE LINE AT ELSASSHAUSEN INSTEAD
5→ MICHEL'S CUIRASSIERS — THE CHARGE ON MORSBRONN AT 1 P.M. · 800 OF 1,200 DOWN, NONE WITHIN FIFTY YARDS
6→ BONNEMAINS' CUIRASSIERS — THE CHARGES EAST OF ELSASSHAUSEN AT 3.30 P.M. · DELAYED V CORPS BY A FEW MINUTES
7⇢ I CORPS — THE RETREAT ON REICHSHOFFEN AND NIEDERBRONN FROM 5 P.M. · THE ROAD BLOCKED BY ITS OWN BURNING CONVOYS

How this war was fought

the same on every sheet

The range card. At fifty metres to the inch, and in fifteen-millimetre figures the same numbers in centimetres. Chassepot 24 in, sighted to 32. Dreyse needle gun 12 in — the sight stops there. Bavarian Podewils 10 in. Reffye mitrailleuse 36 in. Krupp field gun 60 in, and it has no dead zone. French rifled 4-pounder: 28 to 31 in, and again 53 to 57 in — nothing between, because the fuzes only work in those two brackets. A battalion in action covers 6 to 9 in of front; a brigade 16 to 20.

What these troops will stand. Units in this war fought on at loss rates that would have broken a Napoleonic battalion. If your rules break a unit at forty per cent, expect the action to end an hour early; consider carrying them to half.

Playing this with your rules. A turn is thirty minutes and an inch is fifty metres — in fifteen-millimetre figures, the same numbers in centimetres, fifty metres a centimetre. Battalion-level rules for this war are written for about this ground: play their moves and ranges as printed, and use the range card above where your rules give a distance in metres or yards rather than inches. If your rules state a different ground scale, multiply every distance on this sheet by fifty divided by your metres per inch. The units, zones, turns and objectives do not change.

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.
Germany — the Third Army. Corps of two divisions - not three or four - each division two brigades of two regiments, each regiment three battalions at war strength. The artillery is massed at corps level and that is the point: four batteries to a division and six to the corps, eighty-four guns that come into action together and stay together. A Bavarian corps is the same shape with worse rifles; the Württemberg division is the one German formation here with three brigades instead of two.
France — I Corps. A corps of four infantry divisions, each two brigades of two regiments, each regiment three battalions - with a chasseur battalion attached to the division over and above its four regiments, so a French division is eight line battalions and one of chasseurs, not eight flat. The artillery is two batteries and a mitrailleuse battery to a division and a general reserve behind, and the reserve was committed late, in packets, and too small.
Not one battalion's strength for 6 August survives on either side; every infantry unit is fielded at its army's standard strength.

E1Wœrth and the crossing of the Sauer08:00–13:00 · 10 turns of 30 minTABLE 12 × 6 ft50 m to the inch

Germany attacking · France defending

Germany — Your orders are that there is to be no battle today. You have eighty-four guns coming up that outrange everything the French have, and a division holding a crest a mile and a half beyond a river you must wade. Take Wœrth, get onto the slope, and decide for yourself whether to go on.

France — You are on the best ground on the field with the best rifle in Europe and orders to hold it. Let them come across the meadow. The one thing you cannot do is stand up in the open where their guns can see you.

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.

F turn 2 (08:30) — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
9th Infantry Division (Sandrart)
9th Infantry Division (Sandrart) — The 9th Division's batteries were ordered up with the 10th's, before Kirchbach arrived, and came into action on both sides of the Dieffenbach road.
F turn 3 (09:00) — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
V Corps Artillery (Koehler)
V Corps Artillery (Koehler) — With the divisional batteries this completed the eighty-four guns that opened at ten o'clock.
F turn 4 (09:30) · dice — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
19th Infantry Brigade (Schoenhoff)
19th Infantry Brigade (Schoenhoff) — The 10th Division's second brigade came up the Dieffenbach road behind the advance guard.
C turn 5 (10:00) · dice — enters across ZONE C · on that turn, no condition
2nd Infantry Division (Pelle)
2nd Infantry Division (Pelle) — Pellé's division was MacMahon's central reserve and was fed in a regiment at a time, as the French reserve characteristically was.
F turn 6 (10:30) · dice — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
17th Infantry Brigade (Bothmer)
17th Infantry Brigade (Bothmer) — The 9th Division's brigades came on after its artillery.
F turn 7 (11:00) · dice — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
18th Infantry Brigade (Voigts-Rhetz)
18th Infantry Brigade (Voigts-Rhetz) — The last of V Corps to reach the field; its grenadiers took the Galgenberg spur.
F turn 8 (11:30) · dice — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
V Army Corps (Prussian)
V Army Corps (Prussian) — The corps cavalry, whose fourth squadron had stood on the outpost line at Gunstett through the night.

Your 12 ft table: Germany 24 battalions, 1 cavalry, 3 batteries · France 19 battalions, 1 cavalry, 2 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 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.

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.

Germany

The Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm — the whole force Germany

Capable from the sources

Commanding the army, and trying all morning to stop this battle. He was eight kilometres off at Sulz with the guns audible from half past nine and reached the field at one o'clock, on Kirchbach's entreaty; the army won Wissembourg, Woerth and Sedan under him, and he ended a Field Marshal.

Commands the army, not this sector.

2 divisions (2 brigades) — a small command — only 2 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 2 brigades himself.

General der Infanterie Hugo Ewald von Kirchbach — V Army Corps (Prussian) Germany

Decisive from the sources

Took command wounded, confirmed the gun line his chief of staff had ordered up, and then took the decision of the day: knowing the Crown Prince did not want a battle, he judged that breaking off would cost his advance guard more than going on, and attacked.

3 divisions (9 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.

Generalmajor Karl Gustav von Sandrart — 5 brigades
Generalleutnant Christoph von Schmidt — 4 brigades

Generalmajor Karl Gustav von Sandrart — 9th Infantry Division Germany

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

5 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 5 brigades himself.

Generalleutnant Christoph von Schmidt — 10th Infantry Division Germany

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

4 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 4 brigades himself.

General der Infanterie von KirchbachCorps

Generalmajor Walther von MontbaryBrigade

Oberst von Henning auf SchoenhoffBrigade

The Crown Prince Friedrich WilhelmArmy

Commands the army, not this sector.

France

Marechal de Mac-Mahon — the whole force France

Capable from the sources

Fought the battle he did not want on the ground he had chosen, held Froeschwiller until it was enveloped from three sides, and got what was left of the army away down the Reichshoffen road.

Commands the army, not this sector.

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.

Marechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta — I Corps France

Capable from the sources

Fought the battle he did not want on the ground he had chosen, held Froeschwiller until it was enveloped from three sides, and got what was left of the army away down the Reichshoffen road.

Commands the army, not this sector.

6 divisions (15 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.

General de division Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot — 3 brigades
General de brigade Jean Pelle — 3 brigades
General de division Noel Raoult — 3 brigades
General de division Marie-Hippolyte de Lartigue — 3 brigades
General de division Xavier Hippolyte Leon Duhesme — 3 brigades

General de division RaoultDivision

General de brigade L'HerillerBrigade

Rated Workmanlike: only his name and his wound here are on record.

General de division PelleDivision

Marechal de Mac-MahonArmy

Commands the army, not this sector.

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.

Germany24 battalions · 1 cavalry · 3 batteries

the 10th DivisionGeneralleutnant Christoph von Schmidt

Walther's 20th BrigadeGeneralmajor Walther von Montbary arrives turn 1

Westphalian Fusilier Regiment Nr. 37 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeThe advance-guard regiment: it took Woerth at seven in the morning, found the bridges destroyed, and waded.
3rd Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment Nr. 50 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large

Henning's 19th BrigadeOberst von Henning auf Schoenhoff arrives turn 4

1st Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment Nr. 46 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeIts fusilier battalion turned two vine-clad spurs and stormed the breastworks on them at the point of the bayonet.
1st West Prussian Grenadier Regiment Nr. 6 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large

Artillery arrives turn 1

the 10th Division's artillery — four batteries, 4-pounder and 6-pounder Krupp LargeOn the heights east of the Sauer from the first hour. It never had to move.

the 9th DivisionGeneralmajor Karl Gustav von Sandrart

Bothmer's 17th BrigadeOberst von Bothmer arrives turn 6

3rd Posen Infantry Regiment Nr. 58 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large
4th Posen Infantry Regiment Nr. 59 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large

Voigts-Rhetz's 18th BrigadeGeneralmajor von Voigts-Rhetz arrives turn 7

2nd Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment Nr. 47 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large
King's Grenadier Regiment Nr. 7 (2nd West Prussian) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeIts right-wing companies took the Galgenberg spur and held it against repeated attacks.

Artillery arrives turn 2

the 9th Division's artillery — four batteries, 4-pounder and 6-pounder Krupp Large

V CorpsOberstleutnant Gustav Koehler

the corps cavalryregimental commander unknown arrives turn 8

Kurmark Dragoon Regiment Nr. 14 (4 sqns) — Line · line LargeIts fourth squadron had stood on the outpost line at Gunstett through the night.

Artillery arrives turn 3

the V Corps artillery — six batteries, 4-pounder and 6-pounder Krupp LargeWith the divisional batteries this is the 84-gun line that opened at ten o'clock and silenced the whole French artillery.

France19 battalions · 0 cavalry · 2 batteries

Raoult's 3rd Division

L'Heriller's brigadeGen de brigade L'Heriller arrives turn 1

8e bataillon de chasseurs a pied (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
36e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard
2e regiment de zouaves (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran Standard

Lefebvre's brigadeGen de brigade Lefebvre arrives turn 1

48e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard
2e regiment de tirailleurs algeriens (turcos) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran Standard

Artillery arrives turn 1

3rd Division's batteries — two batteries of rifled 4-pounders LargeSilenced by the German gun line within minutes of its opening. The shells that did fall largely failed to burst.
3rd Division's mitrailleuse battery — six Reffye mitrailleuses StandardThe mitrailleuses were the first thing the German gun line drove off the position.

Pelle's 2nd Division

Pelletier de Montmarie's brigadeGen de brigade Pelletier de Montmarie arrives turn 5

50e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard

the 2nd Brigadebrigadier unknown arrives turn 6

78e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard

Ranks as the sources abbreviate them: Oberst Colonel (Oberst).

Odds: a: 24 battalions, 4 squadrons, 84 guns vs b: 19 battalions, 18 guns — the Germans with three battalions to two and four guns to one, attacking across a river and up a slope into the best rifle in Europe

Deployment — who sets up where, and from which turn

Deploying. First to deploy: France; then Germany.

The zones as lettered on the map:

A Raoult's 1st Brigade (L'hériller) — in shelter trenches
B Raoult's 2nd Brigade (Nicolas) — in line on the ridge
C Pellé's 2nd Division — the reserve, enters here (enters across this edge)
D Walther's 20th Brigade — in the Sauer meadows
E The V Corps Gun Line — on the east-bank heights
F V Corps' Main Body — enters 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.

Germany

A 3rd Infantry Division · 1st Brigade (General de brigade Edmond Aimable L'Heriller) — at start in line faces east Deployed in line along the spur, in shelter trenches on the crest.
B 3rd Infantry Division · 2nd Brigade (General de brigade Henri Louis Nicolas Lefebvre) — at start in line faces east Deployed in line from the Frœschwiller lane to Elsasshausen, in shelter trenches.

France

D 10th Infantry Division · 20th Infantry Brigade (Generalmajor Rudolf Walther von Montbary) — at start faces west Deployed in the meadows on the east bank, the cemetery held, the bridges in front of it destroyed.
E V Army Corps (Prussian) · 10th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Christoph von Schmidt) — at start faces west In battery on the east-bank heights, the whole divisional artillery unlimbered before the corps commander reached the field.

Victory

French DecisiveAt the end of turn 10 an unbroken German infantry unit stands on or west of the crest line, holding either of the breastworks or Elsasshausen.
Allied DecisiveAt the end of turn 10 no unbroken German infantry unit stands west of the Sauer.
MarginalNeither: the Germans hold Wœrth and a footing on the slope east of the crest, and the crest itself is French.

Special rules

The Crown Prince has ordered no battle today: Before turn 5, at the start of each German turn, roll one ordinary die. On a 1 or 2 no German infantry unit may advance west of the Sauer that turn; the guns may fire as they please. From turn 5 the roll is not made and the German player may do as he likes. If the German player has crossed the Sauer with two or more infantry units before the roll first fails, he does not roll again at all.
The Sauer: The Sauer is twenty feet wide, five deep, sunk between steep banks and swollen by the night's rain. Infantry crosses anywhere at half pace and arrives disordered; it may not fire or charge in the turn it crosses. Guns and cavalry cross only at the Wœrth bridge. The bridge is destroyed at the start: a German infantry unit that spends a whole turn stationary at either end of it repairs it, and from the following turn guns and cavalry may use it.
The meadow: The meadow along both banks is a thousand paces broad and gives no cover at all. There is no way across it that is not in Chassepot range from the crest.
The gun line: The German batteries on the east-bank heights may fire at any target on the table. Any French artillery unit that fires while a German battery can see it is fired on by every German battery that can, in the same turn.
Scraped trenches: French infantry deployed on a crest or a wood edge is behind scraped shelter trenches, and in the woods behind abattis as well: hard cover for men lying down, no obstacle to movement, and no protection to anyone standing up.

On the day, and how the result carries forward

marginal

French decisive	The crest above Wœrth is gone before noon and the French centre is bending back on Frœschwiller. Lartigue, on the right, can hear it happening behind his left shoulder. E2 Morsbronn and the French right France needs one fewer to win it.A centre already broken meant the right could not expect the reserve it was promised. E2 Morsbronn and the French right Germany gains one unit of infantry, from turn 5.With the ridge above Wœrth taken early, V Corps could spare a regiment down the Eberbach.
Marginal	Four brigades are on the slope, the advance guard is wrecked, and the crest is still French. But the eighty-four guns are in place and nothing French can answer them, and away to the south Bose is across the Sauer at Gunstett. E2 Morsbronn and the French right France's infantry come on a turn later.The French reserve had been drawn to the centre and was slower to reach the right.
Allied decisive	V Corps is back on the east bank with nothing to show for the morning but its casualty returns. Kirchbach's gamble has failed, and the attack at Morsbronn will go in without a centre to support it. E2 Morsbronn and the French right France gains one unit of infantry, from turn 2.A French centre that had thrown V Corps back could release a regiment to its own right. E2 Morsbronn and the French right Germany needs one more to win it.XI Corps attacking alone had further to go before the day was decided.

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 Woerth sector only, and the morning: V Corps as it came up the road against the division that held the crest, with two of Pelle's regiments fed in as the French reserve always was. Ducrot on the French left and Lartigue on the right are the other two tables. 21 units: 15 infantry units (43 battalions), 1 cavalry units, 5 batteries.

Left off the table

Ducrot's 1st Division and Lartigue's 4th — The French left and right, holding their own sectors; they are E3 and E2.
The V Corps Jaeger battalion and the corps cavalry — Not engaged in this sector in the morning; the corps' one rifle battalion and its dragoons were with the outpost line and the trains.
Pelle's 2nd Brigade (the 1er Tirailleurs) — It was still behind the ridge at one o'clock and made its counter-attack later, at Elsasshausen; it is fielded in E3.

Where this game departs from the record

The V Corps artillery is three units - two divisional groups of twenty-four guns and the corps' thirty-six — Fourteen separate six-gun batteries would be fourteen units doing one thing. The groups are the army's own, and the eighty-four guns are the figure the Official History gives for ten o'clock.
The German infantry comes on from turn 2 to turn 7, the guns first — The order the Official History gives: the artillery was ordered up before the corps commander reached the field, and the brigades arrived from the Dieffenbach road through the morning.

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.

E2Morsbronn and the French right12:00–15:30 · 7 turns of 30 minTABLE 12 × 6 ft50 m to the inch

Germany attacking · France defending

Germany — Morsbronn is not part of their position - they left it out to keep their front short. Take it, come up through the Niederwald and the Albrechtshäuser farm, and you are round the end of the French line with the Reichshoffen road in front of you.

France — Seven battalions hold a broken line from the wood to the village, and the village is not really yours. If Morsbronn goes, everything behind it goes. There are cuirassiers in the Eberbach bottom behind you and one regiment of them might buy your flank back.

Arrivals

G turn 2 (12:30) — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
42nd Infantry Brigade (Thile)
42nd Infantry Brigade (Thile) — Bose reached Gunstett in person at eleven and ordered the advance; the 21st Division's second brigade crossed at Spachbach.
G turn 2 (12:30) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
43rd Infantry Brigade (Kontzki)
43rd Infantry Brigade (Kontzki) — The 22nd Division was ordered against the French right flank at eleven o'clock.
D turn 3 (13:00) · dice — enters across ZONE D · on that turn, no condition
1st Division, VII Corps (Conseil-Dumesnil)
1st Division, VII Corps (Conseil-Dumesnil) — Conseil-Dumesnil's brigade had been installed west of Elsasshausen and came down behind Lartigue as the pressure grew.
G turn 4 (13:30) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
44th Infantry Brigade (Schkopp), XI Corps Artillery (Oppeln-Bronikowski)
44th Infantry Brigade (Schkopp) — Schkopp's brigade, ordered into reserve at Gunstett with its regiments already under fire, sent back only the one that was not engaged and took the rest on.XI Corps Artillery (Oppeln-Bronikowski) — Twelve batteries of the corps came up onto the Gunstett heights; two heavy ones could find no room to unlimber.
G turn 6 (14:30) · dice — enters across ZONE G · on that turn, no condition
2nd Wuerttemberg Field Brigade
2nd Wuerttemberg Field Brigade — The Württemberg brigade was held up in Surburg by XI Corps' trains and was not assembled ready for action until nearly two o'clock.

Your 12 ft table: Germany 26 battalions, 1 cavalry, 2 batteries · France 15 battalions, 3 cavalry, 2 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 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.

Germany

The Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm — the whole force Germany

Capable from the sources

Commands the army, not this sector.

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.

General der Infanterie Julius von Bose — XI Army Corps (Prussian) Germany

Decisive from the sources

Crossed at Gunstett on his own judgement while the army commander was still trying to stop the battle, ordered the 22nd Division against the French right flank at eleven, and stayed on the field with a bullet wound in the hip.

Generalleutnant Hans von Schachtmeyer — 5 brigades
Generalleutnant Hermann von Gersdorff — 4 brigades

Generalleutnant Hans von Schachtmeyer — 21st Infantry Division Germany

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

No divisional echelon: he handles all 5 brigades himself.

Generalleutnant Hermann von Gersdorff — 22nd Infantry Division Germany

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Generalleutnant Hugo von Obernitz — Wuerttemberg Field Division Germany

Capable from the sources

Pour le Merite at Koeniggraetz, later commanding general of XIV Corps and Adjutant-General to the Kaiser. His division was ordered west from Gunstett on Reichshoffen to cut the French retreat, and its vanguard went into the firing line at Elsasshausen instead.

Rated on his career: what Obernitz himself did on 6 August is not recorded.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

General der Infanterie von BoseCorps

Generalmajor von SchkoppBrigade

The Crown Prince Friedrich WilhelmArmy

Commands the army, not this sector.

France

Marechal de Mac-Mahon — the whole force France

Capable from the sources

Fought the battle he did not want on the ground he had chosen, held Froeschwiller until it was enveloped from three sides, and got what was left of the army away down the Reichshoffen road.

Commands the army, not this sector.

No divisional echelon: he handles his one brigade himself.

Marechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta — I Corps France

Capable from the sources

Fought the battle he did not want on the ground he had chosen, held Froeschwiller until it was enveloped from three sides, and got what was left of the army away down the Reichshoffen road.

Commands the army, not this sector.

General de division Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot — 3 brigades
General de brigade Jean Pelle — 3 brigades
General de division Noel Raoult — 3 brigades
General de division Marie-Hippolyte de Lartigue — 3 brigades
General de division Xavier Hippolyte Leon Duhesme — 3 brigades

General de division Gustave-Antoine Conseil-Dumesnil — 1st Division, VII Corps France

Workmanlike from the sources

Brought his division up from Hagenau by rail and marched it into a battle nobody had planned; it held until the shells found it and then dissolved in groups. Bonnal's verdict is that his division and Raoult's satisfied fully the demands of the situation.

Rated Workmanlike: his division's conduct is on record, his own career is not.

3 brigades — a small command — only 3 brigades, 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.

General de division LartigueDivision

General de brigade MichelBrigade

General de division Conseil-DumesnilDivision

Rated Workmanlike: his division's conduct is on record, his own career is not.

Marechal de Mac-MahonArmy

Commands the army, not this sector.

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.

Germany26 battalions · 1 cavalry · 2 batteries

Prussian 23 battalions · 1 cavalry · 2 batteries — Wuerttemberg 3 battalions

the 21st DivisionOberstleutnant Eckart Prussian

Koblinski's 41st BrigadeOberst von Koblinski arrives turn 1

1st Nassau Infantry Regiment Nr. 87 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeSix of its companies crossed at Spachbach by wading and over felled tree trunks, reached the Niederwald, lost cohesion in it and were driven back over the main road.
Hessian Fusilier Regiment Nr. 80 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeThe regiment that brought down the commander of the 9th Cuirassiers and seventeen of his officers.

Thile's 42nd BrigadeGeneralmajor von Thile arrives turn 2

2nd Nassau Infantry Regiment Nr. 88 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeTwo of its battalions crossed at Spachbach and carried the eastern skirt of the Niederwald.
2nd Kurhessian Infantry Regiment Nr. 82 (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Large

the 22nd DivisionGeneralleutnant Hermann von Gersdorff Prussian

Kontzki's 43rd BrigadeOberst von Kontzki arrives turn 2

6th Thuringian Infantry Regiment Nr. 95 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeSix companies advanced from Gunstett by the Bruch Mill on Eberbach, the riflemen going right of the road against the Albrechtshaeuser farm.
2nd Thuringian Infantry Regiment Nr. 32 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeIts first battalion took Morsbronn at the first rush. It repulsed the lancers twice and later reached toward the Reichshoffen high road.

Schkopp's 44th BrigadeGeneralmajor von Schkopp arrives turn 4

5th Thuringian Infantry Regiment Nr. 94 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeIts fusiliers worked up the Eberbach valley, two companies on each bank.
3rd Kurhessian Infantry Regiment Nr. 83 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeThe one regiment Schkopp sent back to Gunstett when ordered into reserve, because it was not yet under fire.

the Wuerttemberg Field Division arrives turn 6Generalleutnant Hugo von Obernitz Wuerttemberg

Starkloff's 2nd BrigadeGeneralmajor von Starkloff

3rd Wuerttemberg Jaeger Battalion (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Large
5th Wuerttemberg Infantry Regiment (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Large

XI CorpsOberst Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski Prussian

the corps cavalryregimental commander unknown arrives turn 4

1st Kurhessian Hussar Regiment Nr. 13 (4 sqns) — Line · line LargeWheeled about by divisions and attacked the cuirassiers' survivors on the spot, for one man killed and twenty-three wounded.

Artillery arrives turn 1

the XI Corps advance-guard artillery — four batteries, 4-pounder and 6-pounder Krupp LargeNorth-west of Gunstett from eight in the morning. It engaged five French batteries, a mitrailleuse battery among them, and silenced them.
the XI Corps artillery — six batteries, 4-pounder and 6-pounder Krupp LargeTwo heavy batteries of the corps could not find room to come into action on the Gunstett heights.

France15 battalions · 3 cavalry · 2 batteries

Lartigue's 4th Division

Kerleadec's brigadeGen de brigade Fraboulet de Kerleadec arrives turn 1

1er bataillon de chasseurs a pied (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran StandardOne company stood as grand-garde at the Albrechtshaeuser farm at the opening of the action.
56e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard
3e regiment de zouaves (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran StandardIn the Niederwald with its grand-gardes on the eastern edge. The counter-attack after the cuirassiers' charge was led by two of its companies.

Lacretelle's brigadeGen de brigade Lacretelle arrives turn 1

3e regiment de tirailleurs algeriens (turcos) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran StandardTwo of its companies held Morsbronn itself, which was not part of the position and was taken at the first rush.

Artillery arrives turn 1

4th Division's batteries — two batteries of rifled 4-pounders Large
4th Division's mitrailleuse battery — six Reffye mitrailleuses StandardOpposite the Bruch Mill with two batteries. Silenced by the XI Corps guns north-west of Gunstett.

Conseil-Dumesnil's 1st Division, VII Corps arrives turn 3

the 1st Brigadebrigadier unknown

17e bataillon de chasseurs a pied (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
3e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard
21e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line StandardOne battalion only: the other two were at Haguenau and never reached the field.

Duhesme's Cavalry Division

Michel's brigadeGen de brigade Michel arrives turn 1

8e regiment de cuirassiers (4 sqns) — Veteran · heavy StandardCharged in column of squadrons because the Eberbach bottom was too cramped to deploy. It found the exits of Morsbronn unbarricaded and suffered less than the 9th.
9e regiment de cuirassiers (3 sqns) — Veteran · heavy StandardReceived at 300 paces by the pioneer company's fire. Most of it went into the main street and found the exits barricaded with carts.
6e regiment de lanciers (2 sqns) — Line · line SmallSwept along with the charge though the order named one regiment. Repulsed twice by the 32nd and then dispersed by the 13th Hussars.

Ranks as the sources abbreviate them: Oberst Colonel (Oberst).

Odds: a: 26 battalions, 4 squadrons, 60 guns vs b: 15 battalions, 9 squadrons, 18 guns — the Germans with nearly two battalions to one and three guns to one, against a broken line whose one reserve is a brigade of heavy cavalry

Deployment — who sets up where, and from which turn

Deploying. First to deploy: France; then Germany.

The zones as lettered on the map:

A Lartigue's 1st Brigade (Kerleadec) — in the Niederwald
B Lartigue's 2nd Brigade (Lefebvre) — facing Gunstett
C Michel's Cuirassiers — in the Eberbach bottom
D Conseil-Dumesnil's 1st Brigade — enters here (enters across this edge)
E Bose's Advance Guard — across the Sauer at the Bruch mill
F The XI Corps Gun Line — on the Gunstett heights
G XI Corps' Main Body — enters 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. 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.

Germany

A 4th Infantry Division · 1st Brigade (General de brigade Joseph Henri Fortune Fraboulet de Kerleadec) — at start faces east Deployed in and before the Niederwald, the zouaves' grand-gardes on its eastern edge, one chasseur company at the Albrechtshäuser farm.
B 4th Infantry Division · 2nd Brigade (General de brigade Charles Nicolas Lacretelle) — at start faces east Deployed facing Gunstett, two companies of turcos in Morsbronn itself.
C Cavalry Division, I Corps · 3rd Brigade (cuirassiers) - Michel's brigade (General de brigade Alexandre Ernest Michel) — at start faces east Deployed in two lines in the Eberbach bottom, facing east, the left close to the Niederwald; the ground is too cramped to deploy from column.

France

E 21st Infantry Division · 41st Infantry Brigade (Oberst Hermann von Koblinski) — at start faces west Deployed across the Sauer at the Bruch Mill and at Spachbach, the mill buildings put in a state of defence.
F XI Army Corps (Prussian) (General der Infanterie Julius von Bose) — at start faces west In battery on the heights north-west of Gunstett, in action since eight in the morning.

Victory

French DecisiveAt the end of turn 7 the Germans hold Morsbronn and the Albrechtshäuser farm, and no unbroken French infantry unit stands east of the Niederwald.
Allied DecisiveAt the end of turn 7 the French hold Morsbronn, or the Germans hold neither Morsbronn nor the Albrechtshäuser farm.
MarginalNeither: the Germans hold Morsbronn or the farm but not both, or hold both with French infantry still in the wood.

Special rules

Michel's charge: At the start of any turn from turn 3, if a German unit is within 12 in of Morsbronn, the French player may declare the charge. Every unit of Michel's brigade must then charge the nearest German infantry within 30 in, and must keep charging in each following turn while any of it remains formed. The French player is not obliged to declare it; if he has not done so by the end of turn 5, the brigade may not charge at all and is removed at the end of turn 6.
The Eberbach bottom: While a cavalry unit stays wholly inside Michel's deployment zone it is in dead ground: it may not be fired on by artillery and may not be seen from more than 12 in away. It loses that the moment any part of it leaves.
What the ground does to cavalry: Hop gardens, vineyards, orchards and the ground between them are strung with poles, wires, deep ditches and vine stumps cut off at a man's height. A cavalry unit that enters or crosses any of them, or charges across the open ground between them, loses its formation and may not charge again that turn. Infantry receiving a charge does not form square - it stands as it is and fires.
The lanes of Morsbronn: A cavalry unit that ends a move inside Morsbronn is destroyed at the end of that turn unless the French player can trace a path out of the village clear of German infantry.
The Niederwald: The wood has dense undergrowth. Units in it may not be charged by cavalry, move at half pace, and cannot see or be seen more than 4 in. An attacker who enters it is disordered until he has spent a whole turn stationary inside it.
The Albrechtshäuser farm: The farm is a strongpoint: hard cover, an obstacle, and it may not be taken by fire alone. It may be set alight by artillery - a battery that fires at it and hits sets it burning, and its garrison must leave at the end of the next turn.
Scraped trenches: French infantry deployed on a crest or a wood edge is behind scraped shelter trenches, and in the woods behind abattis as well: hard cover for men lying down, no obstacle to movement, and no protection to anyone standing up.

On the day, and how the result carries forward

decisive_a

French decisive	The French right has ceased to exist. Eight hundred of twelve hundred horses and riders are down in the lanes and on the plateau, and XI Corps is coming up the Eberbach with nothing between it and the Reichshoffen road. E3 Frœschwiller and the Bavarians Germany gains two units of infantry, from turn 4.XI Corps, having finished the French right by three o'clock, came up the Eberbach onto the plateau in strength. E3 Frœschwiller and the Bavarians France needs one fewer to win it.With its right gone the French army was holding a village, not a position.
Marginal	Morsbronn is taken and the wood is not, or the other way about; the cuirassiers have bought Lartigue an hour and the price was the brigade. E3 Frœschwiller and the Bavarians Germany's infantry come on a turn later.A French right that was still fighting at three o'clock held XI Corps off the plateau that much longer.
Allied decisive	Bose is checked at the Sauer and Lartigue's line is unbroken. The French right is still a flank and not a gap, and Frœschwiller will be attacked from two sides instead of three. E3 Frœschwiller and the Bavarians Germany fights without two units of infantry.XI Corps held at Gunstett could send nothing up the Eberbach onto the plateau. E3 Frœschwiller and the Bavarians France gains one unit of infantry, from turn 3.A French right that held could release a regiment to the village behind it.

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 French right from noon: the crossing at Gunstett, the Niederwald, the Albrechtshaeuser farm, Morsbronn and the charge. The rest of XI Corps' artillery and the whole Wuerttemberg division are behind it, and only what reached the firing line is on the table. 25 units: 17 infantry units (41 battalions), 4 cavalry units, 4 batteries.

Left off the table

The 87e de ligne — Lartigue's 2nd Brigade was three battalions strong on the day: the 87th had been left at Strasbourg.
Nansouty's and Septeuil's cavalry brigades — Distributed as divisional cavalry and standing behind Froeschwiller; neither was engaged here.
The Wuerttemberg 1st and 3rd Brigades and the Baden division — The 1st and 3rd reached Holschloch late in the afternoon and the Baden division never came up at all.

Where this game departs from the record

Michel's three regiments are three units of four, three and two squadrons — The order asked Duhesme for one regiment and more went than was contemplated; the table should let the French player make the same mistake, or not.
The XI Corps guns are two units, the advance guard's twenty-four and the corps' thirty-six — As on the Woerth table: the group is the army's own unit and twelve separate batteries would be twelve units doing one thing.

E3Frœschwiller and the Bavarians13:00–17:00 · 8 turns of 30 minTABLE 12 × 6 ft50 m to the inch

Germany attacking · France defending

Germany — Close on the village from three sides. The Bavarians come down the Soultzbach onto the French left, V Corps up from Wœrth, XI Corps and the Württembergers past the Niederwald. The Crown Prince wants the Reichshoffen road: get a unit onto it and the French army does not go home.

France — You are holding a village at the junction of every road off this plateau, with an army closing on three sides of it and one line of retreat. Hold it until the light goes, or until what is left of the army is past Reichshoffen - and there are four regiments of cuirassiers behind the ridge if you decide the only thing left to buy is minutes.

Arrivals

I turn 2 (13:30) · dice — enters across ZONE I · on that turn, no condition
4th Bavarian Infantry Division (Bothmer)
4th Bavarian Infantry Division (Bothmer) — Hartmann had broken off at half past ten on an order meant for V Corps and delivered to him by mistake, and put his troops forward again as soon as V Corps told him it meant to attack.
H turn 2 (13:30) · dice — enters across ZONE H · on that turn, no condition
18th Infantry Brigade (Voigts-Rhetz)
18th Infantry Brigade (Voigts-Rhetz) — V Corps' last brigade came up the slope from Wœrth behind the 17th.
I turn 3 (14:00) · dice — enters across ZONE I · on that turn, no condition
1st Bavarian Infantry Division (Stephan)
1st Bavarian Infantry Division (Stephan) — Von der Tann took four couriers from army headquarters before he moved; his division crossed at the Old Mill and by footbridges of felled trees and climbed the eastern slope.
F turn 3 (14:00) — enters across ZONE F · on that turn, no condition
I Corps Reserve Artillery (Vassart)
I Corps Reserve Artillery (Vassart) — MacMahon ordered the general artillery reserve up at three o'clock to establish itself north-west of Elsasshausen.
J turn 4 (14:30) · dice — enters across ZONE J · on that turn, no condition
43rd Infantry Brigade (Kontzki)
43rd Infantry Brigade (Kontzki) — XI Corps came up the Eberbach from Morsbronn onto the plateau.
H turn 4 (14:30) · dice — enters across ZONE H · on that turn, no condition
V Corps Artillery (Koehler)
V Corps Artillery (Koehler) — Two batteries went forward of their own skirmish line to case range of the village.
J turn 5 (15:00) · dice — enters across ZONE J · on that turn, no condition
44th Infantry Brigade (Schkopp)
44th Infantry Brigade (Schkopp) — The last of XI Corps up from the south.
J turn 6 (15:30) · dice — enters across ZONE J · on that turn, no condition
2nd Wuerttemberg Field Brigade
2nd Wuerttemberg Field Brigade — Ordered to march for Reichshoffen and cut the retreat, Starkloff found Elsasshausen in crisis and fed his battalions into the firing line instead.

Your 12 ft table: Germany 30 battalions, 1 cavalry, 2 batteries · France 24 battalions, 2 cavalry, 2 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.

Germany

The Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm — the whole force Germany

Capable from the sources

Commands the army, not this sector.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 2 brigades himself.

General der Infanterie Hugo Ewald von Kirchbach — V Army Corps (Prussian) Germany

Decisive from the sources

Generalmajor Karl Gustav von Sandrart — 5 brigades
Generalleutnant Christoph von Schmidt — 4 brigades

General der Infanterie Julius von Bose — XI Army Corps (Prussian) Germany

Decisive from the sources

Generalleutnant Hans von Schachtmeyer — 5 brigades
Generalleutnant Hermann von Gersdorff — 4 brigades

General der Infanterie Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann-Rathsamhausen — I Royal Bavarian Corps Germany

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

3 divisions (2 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.

Generalleutnant Baptist von Stephan — 2 brigades
Generalleutnant Karl Graf zu Pappenheim — 0 brigades

General der Infanterie Jakob von Hartmann — II Royal Bavarian Corps Germany

Capable from the sources

Seventy-five years old, twelve years in French service before he was ever a Bavarian officer. His energetic advance on the right at a quarter past eight helped bring the battle on a day early; then a recall order written for another corps took him out of it, and at noon he answered Kirchbach that he was much hindered from acting.

2 divisions (6 brigades) — a small command — only 2 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.

Generalleutnant Friedrich Wilhelm Walther von Walderstoetten — 2 brigades
Generalleutnant Friedrich Graf von Bothmer — 4 brigades

Generalmajor Karl Gustav von Sandrart — 9th Infantry Division Germany

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

No divisional echelon: he handles all 5 brigades himself.

Generalleutnant Hermann von Gersdorff — 22nd Infantry Division Germany

Workmanlike by default — nothing consulted marks him out either way

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Generalleutnant Hugo von Obernitz — Wuerttemberg Field Division Germany

Capable from the sources

Rated on his career: what Obernitz himself did on 6 August is not recorded.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 4 brigades himself.

Generalleutnant von StephanDivision

Generalmajor von OrffBrigade

Generalmajor von StarkloffBrigade

General der Infanterie von der TannCorps

General der Infanterie von HartmannCorps

Generalleutnant von ObernitzCorps

Rated on his career: what Obernitz himself did on 6 August is not recorded.

The Crown Prince Friedrich WilhelmArmy

Commands the army, not this sector.

France

Marechal de Mac-Mahon — the whole force France

Capable from the sources

Fought the battle he did not want on the ground he had chosen, held Froeschwiller until it was enveloped from three sides, and got what was left of the army away down the Reichshoffen road.

Commands the army, not this sector.

No divisional echelon: he handles his one brigade himself.

Marechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta — I Corps France

Capable from the sources

Fought the battle he did not want on the ground he had chosen, held Froeschwiller until it was enveloped from three sides, and got what was left of the army away down the Reichshoffen road.

Commands the army, not this sector.

General de division Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot — 3 brigades
General de brigade Jean Pelle — 3 brigades
General de division Noel Raoult — 3 brigades
General de division Marie-Hippolyte de Lartigue — 3 brigades
General de division Xavier Hippolyte Leon Duhesme — 3 brigades

General de division Gustave-Antoine Conseil-Dumesnil — 1st Division, VII Corps France

Workmanlike from the sources

Rated Workmanlike: his division's conduct is on record, his own career is not.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.

General de division Charles-Frederic de Bonnemains — 2nd Reserve Cavalry Division (cuirassiers) France

Workmanlike from the sources

Sent four regiments in one after another over ground of hop poles, ditches and tree stumps as high as a man, against infantry that did not trouble to form square; the charges delayed V Corps by a few minutes and bought the infantry a respite. He charged on MacMahon's express order at the crisis, from a standing-ground the army had put him on and he had not chosen, and the day is no discredit to him.

No divisional echelon: he handles all 3 brigades himself.

Marechal de Mac-MahonArmy

Commands the army, not this sector.

General de division DucrotDivision

General de division BonnemainsDivision

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.

Germany30 battalions · 0 cavalry · 2 batteries

Bavarian 16 battalions · 1 battery — Prussian 12 battalions · 1 battery — Wuerttemberg 2 battalions

the 1st Bavarian DivisionMajor Kirring Bavarian

Orff's 2nd BrigadeGeneralmajor von Orff arrives turn 2

4th Bavarian Jaeger Battalion (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Large
2nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment (Crown Prince's) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeIts third battalion took a French eagle, its pole shot away, in the forest.
11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment (von der Tann) (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line Large

Dietl's 1st BrigadeGeneralmajor Dietl arrives turn 4

Bavarian Infantry Life-Guards Regiment (Leib-Regiment) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran LargeTwo of its battalions were fired on from the wood in their rear by their own side and fell back to the Saw Mill. Dietl restored the line with the third and the Jaegers.
2nd Bavarian Jaeger Battalion (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Large

the 4th Bavarian Division arrives turn 2Generalleutnant Friedrich Graf von Bothmer Bavarian

Thiereck's 7th BrigadeGeneralmajor Ritter von Thiereck

6th Bavarian Jaeger Battalion (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran LargeIt had occupied Langensoultzbach unopposed at eight in the morning and been stopped at the skirt of the wood three hundred paces short of the French.
9th Bavarian Infantry Regiment (Wrede) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large
5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment (Grand Duke of Hesse) (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line LargeTwo of its battalions held the Old Mill on the Sauer from nine in the morning. General Raoult was shot from his horse near this ground, at the head of the great ravine, and died of the wound.

the 9th Division, V CorpsGeneral der Infanterie Hugo Ewald von Kirchbach Prussian

Bothmer's 17th BrigadeOberst von Bothmer arrives turn 1

4th Posen Infantry Regiment Nr. 59 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeTwo of its battalions crossed the Sulzbach and stormed the shelter trenches and abattis at the point of the bayonet. The standard of the 3rd Zouaves was taken here. Colonel Eyl had two horses shot under him and led on wounded.

Voigts-Rhetz's 18th BrigadeGeneralmajor von Voigts-Rhetz arrives turn 2

2nd Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment Nr. 47 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large

the 22nd Division, XI CorpsMarechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta Prussian

Kontzki's 43rd BrigadeOberst von Kontzki arrives turn 4

2nd Thuringian Infantry Regiment Nr. 32 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line LargeComing up the Eberbach from Morsbronn, it reached toward the Froeschwiller-Reichshoffen high road - the French line of retreat.

Schkopp's 44th BrigadeGeneralmajor von Schkopp arrives turn 5

5th Thuringian Infantry Regiment Nr. 94 (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Large

the Wuerttemberg Field Division arrives turn 6Generalleutnant Hugo von Obernitz Wuerttemberg

Starkloff's 2nd BrigadeGeneralmajor von Starkloff

3rd Wuerttemberg Jaeger Battalion (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran LargeIts lieutenant-colonel, with his adjutant and some thirty sharpshooters, sounded the advance first on that side and was the first into Froeschwiller, through the park of the chateau.
2nd Wuerttemberg Infantry Regiment (1 bn) — 1 bn · Line Large

I and II Bavarian Corps arrives turn 2General der Infanterie Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann-Rathsamhausen Bavarian

Artillery

the Bavarian field batteries — four batteries, Bavarian 4-pounder and 6-pounder LargeTwenty-four of the sixty-six guns that fired west across the Sauer on Froeschwiller after four o'clock.

V Corps arrives turn 4Oberstleutnant Gustav Koehler Prussian

Artillery

Ohnesorge's and Gillern's batteries — two batteries, 4-pounder Krupp, advanced beyond the skirmish line LargeThey went forward of their own infantry to case range of the village, took four abandoned guns, and fired on nothing but Froeschwiller and the Reichshoffen road.

France24 battalions · 2 cavalry · 2 batteries

Raoult's 3rd Division

Lefebvre's brigadeGen de brigade Lefebvre arrives turn 1

48e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard
2e regiment de tirailleurs algeriens (turcos) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran Standard

Artillery arrives turn 1

the divisional batteries on the plateau — two batteries of rifled 4-pounders Large

Ducrot's 1st Division

Wolff's brigadeGen de brigade Wolff arrives turn 1

13e bataillon de chasseurs a pied (1 bn) — 1 bn · Veteran Standard
18e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard
96e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard

Postis du Houlbec's brigadeGen de brigade de Postis du Houlbec arrives turn 1

45e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (2 bns) — 2 bns · Line StandardTwo battalions only: the first was detached to Jaegerthal and held the valley on the extreme left.
1er regiment de zouaves (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran StandardIts second battalion made the last stand of the day, on the height north-east of Reichshoffen, covering the retreat through the town.

Conseil-Dumesnil's 1st Division, VII Corps

Maire's brigadeGen de brigade Maire arrives turn 1

47e regiment d'infanterie de ligne (3 bns) — 3 bns · Line Standard

Pelle's 2nd Division

the 2nd Brigadebrigadier unknown arrives turn 1

1er regiment de tirailleurs algeriens (turcos) (3 bns) — 3 bns · Veteran StandardIts bayonet charge at four o'clock was the last French counter-attack of the day, made after the artillery had gone and the cuirassiers were dispersed.

Bonnemains' 2nd Reserve Cavalry DivisionGeneral de division Xavier Hippolyte Leon Duhesme

Girard's brigadeGen de brigade Girard arrives turn 1

Girard's brigade — 1er and 4e Cuirassiers (8 sqns) — Veteran · heavy LargeThe 1st was checked by a ditch and driven off with great loss. The 4th rode more than a thousand paces to its left looking for a way in and was dispersed without reaching the enemy.

Brauer's brigadeGen de brigade de Brauer arrives turn 1

Brauer's brigade — 2e and 3e Cuirassiers (8 sqns) — Veteran · heavy LargeThe 2nd lost five officers killed, 129 men and 250 horses. The 3rd lost its colonel and, though only half of it came under fire, seven officers and seventy men.

I Corps arrives turn 3Marechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta

Artillery

the I Corps artillery reserve — four batteries of rifled 4-pounders and two of 12-pounders LargeOrdered up at three o'clock to establish itself north-west of Elsasshausen. It had time for two or three rounds a gun before eleven of its guns were taken. Vassart was mortally hit.

Ranks as the sources abbreviate them: Oberst Colonel (Oberst).

Odds: a: 30 battalions, 36 guns vs b: 24 battalions, 16 squadrons, 36 guns — near parity in battalions and in guns on the table, and the Germans closing from three sides with sixty-six more guns off the table behind them

Deployment — who sets up where, and from which turn

Deploying. First to deploy: France; then Germany. Engaged here: 17th Infantry Brigade (The 17th Brigade had been fighting its way up the eastern slope since the morning and was already in the French position.).

The zones as lettered on the map:

A Raoult's 2nd Brigade (Nicolas) — in Frœschwiller
B Lartigue's Remnant and Conseil-Dumesnil — Elsasshausen
C Ducrot's 1st Division — in the wood, behind abattis
D Bonnemains' Cuirassiers — in column behind the ridge
E Vassart — the I corps artillery reserve, in position
F Vassart — the rest of the reserve, enters here (enters across this edge)
G Bothmer's 17th Brigade — across the Sulzbach
H V Corps' Remaining Brigades — enter up from Wœrth (enters across this edge)
I The Bavarians — enter down the Soultzbach (enters across this edge)
J XI Corps and the Württembergers — past the Niederwald (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. A formation IN MARCH COLUMN is one column along the length of its zone, its head at the end it faces and each unit behind the last at your rules' marching distance — not massed at the front of the box. 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.

Germany

A 3rd Infantry Division · 2nd Brigade (General de brigade Henri Louis Nicolas Lefebvre) — at start faces east Deployed in and about Frœschwiller, the church and the walled château park held.
C 1st Infantry Division · 1st Brigade (General de brigade Charles Joseph Francois Wolff) — at start faces north Deployed in the wood on the refused left, behind abattis and shelter trenches, facing north.
C 1st Infantry Division · 2nd Brigade (General de brigade Louis Jules de Postis du Houlbec) — at start faces north Deployed in the wood behind Wolff's brigade, facing north.
B 1st Division, VII Corps · 2nd Brigade (General de brigade Louis Alexis Emile Maire) — at start faces east Deployed in and about Elsasshausen, facing east.
B 2nd Infantry Division · 2nd Brigade (commander unknown) — at start faces east Deployed behind Elsasshausen, the last of the central reserve.
D 2nd Reserve Cavalry Division (cuirassiers) (General de division Charles-Frederic de Bonnemains) — at start in march column faces east Deployed in column behind the ridge at the sources of the Eberbach, moved right during the morning to get out of the shellfire.
E I Corps · 3rd Infantry Division (General de division Noel Raoult) — at start faces east In battery on the plateau east of Frœschwiller.

France

G 9th Infantry Division · 17th Infantry Brigade (Oberst Alfred von Bothmer) — at start faces west On the table at start, across the Sulzbach on the eastern slope of the Frœschwiller heights.

Victory

French DecisiveAt the end of turn 8 the Germans hold Frœschwiller, and at some point in the game a German unit has cut the Reichshoffen road.
Allied DecisiveAt the end of turn 8 an unbroken French infantry unit holds Frœschwiller and the Reichshoffen road has not been cut.
MarginalThe Germans hold Frœschwiller at the end of turn 8 and the road was never cut, or the road was cut and the village still stands.

Special rules

The Bavarians: Both Bavarian arrivals are diced for as the arrival rule says, and a Bavarian unit may not advance beyond 6 in of its entry edge until a second Bavarian unit is on the table.
The guns beyond the table edge: Sixty-six guns, twenty-four of them Bavarian, are in action on the east bank of the Sauer, beyond the table edge behind the German line. Treat them as eleven batteries firing from that edge at anything within 60 in of it. They cannot be attacked, silenced or taken, they do not move, and they count for nothing at nightfall. The umpire fires them, or the German player does.
Frœschwiller: The village is a strongpoint: hard cover, an obstacle, no cavalry into it, and it may not be taken by fire alone. The church and the walled château park are held separately and each must be taken in its own right.
Bonnemains' charges: From turn 4, at the start of any French turn, the French player may send one cuirassier unit forward. It must charge the nearest German infantry within 30 in and may not be held back once declared. He may do this once a turn and not twice.
What the ground does to cavalry: Hop gardens, vineyards, orchards and the ground between them are strung with poles, wires, deep ditches and vine stumps cut off at a man's height. A cavalry unit that enters or crosses any of them, or charges across the open ground between them, loses its formation and may not charge again that turn. Infantry receiving a charge does not form square - it stands as it is and fires.
The Reichshoffen road: The road leaves the table on the Reichshoffen side. A German unit that ends a turn within 6 in of the road, unbroken and with no unbroken French unit within 6 in of it, has cut the line of retreat: note the turn, because the victory conditions count it.
Scraped trenches: French infantry deployed on a crest or a wood edge is behind scraped shelter trenches, and in the woods behind abattis as well: hard cover for men lying down, no obstacle to movement, and no protection to anyone standing up.

On the day, and how the result carries forward

marginal

French decisive	The village is taken and the road with it. What is caught on the Reichshoffen side is not a retreating army but a column of prisoners; I Corps does not reach Saverne, and Alsace goes with it. The chain ends here: Germany wins it decisively.
Marginal	Frœschwiller falls a little after five, in a street fight, and the wreck of the army goes down the Reichshoffen road under shellfire with its own burning convoys blocking the way. It is at Saverne by the next midday: beaten, and still an army. The chain ends here: the campaign is drawn.
Allied decisive	The light goes with the village still French. The Germans have the Sauer, the Niederwald and Morsbronn, and tomorrow they will have the rest; but tonight MacMahon holds the crest he chose, and the Army of the Rhine has not been broken in a day. The chain ends here: France wins 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 afternoon on the plateau: the envelopment of Froeschwiller from three sides, with the cuirassiers' last charges and the artillery reserve's two or three rounds a gun in the middle of it. The rest of the two Bavarian corps and of XI Corps is behind what is on the table. 29 units: 23 infantry units (54 battalions), 2 cavalry units, 4 batteries.

Left off the table

The 2nd and 3rd Bavarian Divisions and the 5th and 6th Brigades — Still coming up from Lembach and Ingolsheim; the leading brigades of each corps are what reached the plateau.
The 4th Cavalry Division — It was not used at all that day. Ordered to Gunstett at six in the evening, it arrived at half past nine.
Lespart's division of V Corps (French) — It came up from Bitsch and took a supporting position at Niederbronn to receive the wreck of I Corps; it was never in the battle.

Where this game departs from the record

Bonnemains' four cuirassier regiments are two units, by brigade — They went in one after another and the table wants them as the two blows they were, not four.
The Bavarians arrive from turn 2 by dice — The order recalling them at half past ten was a Prussian staff misdelivery, and von der Tann took four couriers from headquarters before he moved. Whether they come on early or late is the table's biggest uncertainty and it is an honest one.

Playing the Chain

carry each result forward

Engagement	French win	Marginal	Allied win
E1 Wœrth and the crossing of the Sauer	+2 Germany	0	+2 France
E2 Morsbronn and the French right	+2 Germany	0	+2 France
E3 Frœschwiller and the Bavarians	+3 Germany	0	+3 France

Germany leads by 4 or moreWœrth as it was, and worse: an army destroyed on the road as well as on the ridge

Within 1 pointThe ridge lost and the army saved — the day MacMahon actually had

France leads by 4 or moreThe Third Army held at the Sauer, and the campaign in Alsace still open

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 Sauer	Twenty feet wide, five deep, sunk between steep banks and swollen by the night's rain: not a river a game can ignore and not one that stops an army. Infantry waded it breast-high in half a dozen places; guns and horse needed the bridges, and the bridges had been broken.
The vineyards above Wœrth	Vineyards and hop gardens cover the whole face of the ridge: poles, wires, ditches and vine stumps cut off at a man's height. They are cover for infantry and they are death to horse.
Frœschwiller	The crowning feature of the position: the highest point of the plateau, the junction of every road off it, and the line of retreat running through the middle of it.

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

Weather, Light & Going

A storm broke over the bivouacs between ten and eleven the night before and rain fell in torrents; the Sauer was swollen and overflowing its banks in the morning, and the men on both sides lit fires of vine stakes at daylight to dry their clothes. The day itself was hot and clear, with the villages burning from mid-morning.

Orders of Battle

historical

Germany — The Third Army

E2/E3 · Wuerttemberg Field Division Generalleutnant Hugo von Obernitz

E3 · I Royal Bavarian Corps General der Infanterie Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann-Rathsamhausen

E3 · II Royal Bavarian Corps General der Infanterie Jakob von Hartmann

Wuerttemberg Reserve Cavalry Generalmajor Friedrich Graf von Scheler

4th Cavalry Division General der Kavallerie Prinz Albrecht von Preussen

Grand Ducal Baden Field Division Generalleutnant Gustav von Beyer

France — I Corps, the Army of the Rhine

E1/E2/E3 · I Corps Marechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta

E2/E3 · 1st Division, VII Corps General de division Gustave-Antoine Conseil-Dumesnil E2 D1st Division, VII Corps (Conseil-Dumesnil) turn 3

E3 · 2nd Reserve Cavalry Division (cuirassiers) General de division Charles-Frederic de Bonnemains E3 D at start

3rd Infantry Division, V Corps (Lespart) General de division Joseph Guyot de Lespart

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 Sauer valley is a string of villages, mills and farms, and drawn at their true size they would stop the flow of play every time a brigade came near one.

- 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 château, a walled farm or mill 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. - Fieldworks are drawn as lines with their own sign: the two breastworks on the slope above Wœrth, and the shelter trenches and abattis along the edge of the Frœschwiller Wald.

On each table:

- E1 · Wœrth and the crossing of the Sauer: villages Wœrth, Elsasshausen and Frœschwiller; strongpoints the church and the château at Frœschwiller; hamlet Spachbach; houses the mills and the Albrechtshäuserhof; landmarks Gunstett, Langensoultzbach, Gœrsdorf and Oberdorf-Spachbach (not fought over on this table), and the bridges. - E2 · Morsbronn and the French right: villages Morsbronn, Gunstett and Elsasshausen; strongpoints the Albrechtshäuserhof, the Bruch mill, and the church and château at Frœschwiller; hamlets Spachbach and Eberbach; landmarks Wœrth and Frœschwiller (not fought over on this table), Oberdorf-Spachbach and the bridges. - E3 · Frœschwiller and the Bavarians: villages Frœschwiller and Elsasshausen; strongpoints the church and the château; houses the two mills; landmarks Wœrth and Langensoultzbach (not fought over on this table).

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 château, a walled farm or mill 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.
Fieldworks are drawn as lines with their own sign: the two breastworks on the slope above Wœrth, and the shelter trenches and abattis along the edge of the Frœschwiller Wald.
E1 · Wœrth and the crossing of the Sauer: villages Wœrth, Elsasshausen and Frœschwiller; strongpoints the church and the château at Frœschwiller; hamlet Spachbach; houses the mills and the Albrechtshäuserhof; landmarks Gunstett, Langensoultzbach, Gœrsdorf and Oberdorf-Spachbach (not fought over on this table), and the bridges.
E2 · Morsbronn and the French right: villages Morsbronn, Gunstett and Elsasshausen; strongpoints the Albrechtshäuserhof, the Bruch mill, and the church and château at Frœschwiller; hamlets Spachbach and Eberbach; landmarks Wœrth and Frœschwiller (not fought over on this table), Oberdorf-Spachbach and the bridges.
E3 · Frœschwiller and the Bavarians: villages Frœschwiller and Elsasshausen; strongpoints the church and the château; houses the two mills; landmarks Wœrth and Langensoultzbach (not fought over on this table).

Myths & Corrections

"Reichshoffen." The charge everyone means was at Morsbronn, two miles away. Reichshoffen was where the telegraph office was, and the first reports went out from it; the name stuck to the wrong village and has never come off.
"The Prussians formed square." They did not — at Morsbronn or at Elsasshausen. The Official History records both times that the infantry received the cavalry "just as they stood and, without forming either battalion or rallying squares, in those formations which permitted of the greatest effect being obtained from their fire". By 1870 a breech-loading rifle at four hundred paces did what a square used to do. A game in which these charges meet squares has got the period wrong, and the cavalry rule here says so.
"The Bavarians hung back." Two different things are being run together. Hartmann's II Corps attacked at a quarter past eight and was recalled at half past ten by an order the Crown Prince had written for V Corps and a Prussian staff officer delivered to the wrong headquarters — army headquarters did not know there was an action at Langensoultzbach at all. Von der Tann's I Corps is the other story: he told a Prussian staff officer that "the Prussians want to sacrifice us Bavarians to spare themselves" and took four couriers from headquarters before he moved.
"MacMahon was surprised." He was not. He had known since the third that a German army was coming and had chosen his ground, broken the bridges and entrenched. What he did not expect was a battle that day — and neither did the man commanding the army that attacked him.
"The mitrailleuse did nothing." It did what it could do, which was to sweep a valley: the Official History records the ground between the two vine-clad spurs above Wœrth as swept by mitrailleuses and impassable in consequence. What it could not do was survive. It was the first thing the German gun line drove off the field, in the first minutes.
"XI Corps were Saxons." They were Hessians, Nassauers and Thuringians. The Saxons were with the Second Army, a hundred miles away.
Which account to believe about the cuirassiers. The Official History puts Bonnemains' charge after Elsasshausen had fallen; Bonnal, who was there, says flatly that the error is manifest — the squadrons could not have charged towards Wœrth if Elsasshausen were already held by German infantry — and argues the German account inverted the order of events to diminish a French counter-attack. This scenario follows Bonnal.
The Sauer: Drawn as a blue line it looks crossable anywhere at no cost, and then the German attack has no reason to take four hours.
The vineyards above Wœrth: Left off the map, the two cuirassier charges look like stupidity rather than what they were - brave regiments sent over ground nobody had looked at.
Frœschwiller: It was never stormed frontally. It was enveloped from three sides and then fought for in the streets.

Sources

[A] The Franco-German War 1870-1871, Prussian Great General Staff, trans. Capt. F. C. H. Clarke, First Part vol. I (London 1874) - the Woerth chapter, pp. 147-199, and Appendix XI, the order of battle of the German troops engaged — The clock, the ground, every German regiment with its colonel, the crossings, the two cavalry charges, the gun line
[A] General Henri Bonnal, Froeschwiller (Paris 1899) — The French side: the order of battle and its eight absences, 43,000 men with 107 guns and 24 mitrailleuses, the weather, the charges, regimental losses
[A] Geoffrey Wawro, The Franco-Prussian War (Cambridge 2003), ch. 5 — The Sauer's width and depth, the Bavarian command problem, the artillery-against-the-Chassepot argument, the German fire drill
[C] German Wikipedia, 'Schlacht bei Woerth' — Corroboration of timings and of the cuirassiers' losses
[C] French Wikipedia, 'Bataille de Froeschwiller-Woerth' and the order of battle of the Army of the Rhine — French brigadiers and regimental composition
[A] Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie - the articles 'Kirchbach, Hugo Graf von' and 'Bose, Julius von', via German Wikisource — Kirchbach's and Bose's careers; the identification of Montbary as the outpost commander whose ardour brought the battle on
[B] Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. (1911) - 'MacMahon, Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de', via Wikisource — The considered near-contemporary verdict on MacMahon as a soldier
[B] OpenStreetMap, and EU-DEM 25 m elevation — Every coordinate on the map that is not marked as placed by description

How well each muster is established

E1 Wœrth and the crossing of the Sauer — Regiments, brigades and their commanders follow the German Official History, which names every Prussian regiment's colonel; the French regiments follow the French order of battle. No battalion strength survives on either side, so every unit is fielded at its standard strength.
E2 Morsbronn and the French right — Regiments and brigadiers follow the German Official History and the French order of battle. The one recorded strength here is the cuirassier brigade's - over a thousand sabres - and its two regiments are sized from it.
E3 Frœschwiller and the Bavarians — The German regiments follow the Official History and the French the French order of battle, and the two agree on which formations were where. Bonnal and the Official History disagree on whether the cuirassiers charged before or after Elsasshausen fell; this scenario follows Bonnal, who was there.

Time, ground, and the bayonet decide.

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Made by a wargamer, for wargamers. A guide to the game, not a work of reference.

Wœrth–Frœschwiller, complete

Wœrth–Frœschwiller

The Situation

The Whole Battle

How this war was fought

The Engagements

Germany

France

Germany24 battalions · 1 cavalry · 3 batteries

the 10th DivisionGeneralleutnant Christoph von Schmidt

the 9th DivisionGeneralmajor Karl Gustav von Sandrart

V CorpsOberstleutnant Gustav Koehler

France19 battalions · 0 cavalry · 2 batteries

Raoult's 3rd Division

Pelle's 2nd Division

Germany

France

Germany

France

Germany26 battalions · 1 cavalry · 2 batteries

the 21st DivisionOberstleutnant Eckart Prussian

the 22nd DivisionGeneralleutnant Hermann von Gersdorff Prussian

the Wuerttemberg Field Division arrives turn 6Generalleutnant Hugo von Obernitz Wuerttemberg

XI CorpsOberst Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski Prussian

France15 battalions · 3 cavalry · 2 batteries

Lartigue's 4th Division

Conseil-Dumesnil's 1st Division, VII Corps arrives turn 3

Duhesme's Cavalry Division

Germany

France

Germany

France

Germany30 battalions · 0 cavalry · 2 batteries

the 1st Bavarian DivisionMajor Kirring Bavarian

the 4th Bavarian Division arrives turn 2Generalleutnant Friedrich Graf von Bothmer Bavarian

the 9th Division, V CorpsGeneral der Infanterie Hugo Ewald von Kirchbach Prussian

the 22nd Division, XI CorpsMarechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta Prussian

the Wuerttemberg Field Division arrives turn 6Generalleutnant Hugo von Obernitz Wuerttemberg

I and II Bavarian Corps arrives turn 2General der Infanterie Ludwig Freiherr von der Tann-Rathsamhausen Bavarian

V Corps arrives turn 4Oberstleutnant Gustav Koehler Prussian

France24 battalions · 2 cavalry · 2 batteries

Raoult's 3rd Division

Ducrot's 1st Division

Conseil-Dumesnil's 1st Division, VII Corps

Pelle's 2nd Division

Bonnemains' 2nd Reserve Cavalry DivisionGeneral de division Xavier Hippolyte Leon Duhesme

I Corps arrives turn 3Marechal Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta

Germany

France

Playing the Chain

The Ground

Weather, Light & Going

Orders of Battle

Germany — The Third Army

France — I Corps, the Army of the Rhine

Villages on the Table

Myths & Corrections

Sources

How well each muster is established

What follows it