The players were Colonel Simon Millar (Davout), Dave Brown (Gudin), Martin Gane (Friant), Colin Allen (King Frederick-William III), Dave Balfour (Schmettau), Julian Travis (Wartensleben) and John Rich (Blucher), with me as the Holy Roman Umpire ('Neither Holy, nor Roman and least of all an Umpire') and Mike Hickling providing the venue, scenery and inordinate quantity of troops (most of which were based and flagged by me and I painted roughly one-quarter of the Prussian army).
Clearly it was all down to the quality of the scenario-writing (
), but it remains one of the best, most finely-balanced games I've ever been involved in. Sadly I've lost all my photos of the three AB Figures Wargames Weekends, so all I've got are these photos I set up at one of Duncan McFarlane's photo-shoot days in Newark. The photos here show the historical situation at two stages of the battle around the village of Hassenhausen, rather than a recreation of our game:
Above: The village of Hassenhausen at 0930hrs. As the morning mist lifts, Davout and his staff, escorted by a squadron of the 1st Chasseurs, ride forward to assess the situation of Gudin's Division, just as Blucher launches a huge, yet foolhardy and unsupported cavalry assault on the squares of Petit's Brigade (12e & 21e de Ligne). In the distance, the Prussian infantry of Schemttau's Division (Schimonsky's and Alvensleben's Brigades) starts to deploy around the village of Taugwitz.
Above: As Petit's squares hold back the Prussian horsemen, the first battalions of Friant's Division arrive to stabilise the situation. However, yet more Prussian infantry are beginning to appear from the misty valley of the Lissbach; this is Wartensleben's Division (Renouard's and Wedell's Brigades).
The view from Spielberg, behind Blucher. The Queen's Dragoons, having already mounted two failed attacks, reform their lines as the Heising Cuirassiers have a crack at the squares. In the distance, the Prussian advance guard infantry (the massed Schutzen of Schmettau's Division, the Schack Grenadier Battalion and 2nd Battalion of the 33rd Alvensleben Regiment) skirmish with Gudin's Voltigeurs in the copse below Hassenhausen.
Above: The scene at 1030hrs. With Blucher's cavalry assault beaten off, Friant extends the French line to Gudin's right, as far as Spielberg (in the left foreground). Schmettau's Division is now fully engaged with Friant and Gudin and the bodies are beginning to pile up. Reinforcements arrive in the form of Prince Henry's Brigade of the Prince of Orange's Division.
Above: The view from behind Prince Henry's Brigade as Schmettau's Division assaults the French line between Hassenhausen and Spielberg. On the right, King Frederick-William III and his staff, escorted by the Gardes du Corps, move forward for a closer look. In the distance, Friant moves a regiment to extend his line further out to the right and Vialannes' cavalry also move to envelop the Prussian left flank.
Above: On the Prussian right flank, Wartensleben's Division is now fully engaged with Gudin around Hassenhausen as Prince William gather's all remaining cavalry regiments in an attempt to envelop Davout's left flank. However, Davout has moved Morand's freshly-arrived division to that sector and the Prussian cavalry once again runs into a mass of squares.
In the foreground, Renouard's Brigade from the Prince of Orange's Division moves up in support, but to little effect...
