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The Vendée 1793-1794 : Wargaming in the Grand Manner (Part 1)
Fusilier Paul Crouch reports on an exciting game he played with his wargaming friends in Auckland recently. Read his article below, or go straight to the pictures of the game.
This
was certainly a wargame with a difference. Compiled and put together by
Rick Norris in Auckland, the setting was the Vendée in France, during
the turbulent times of the French Revolution.
The Vendeans were basically royalists who weren’t too happy with the ways of revolutionary France. So to bring these rebels under control, troops were despatched to quell their fervour.
But the Vendeans were fearsome. Their way of making war was to fight without order in small groups, sniping from behind cover, melting away, regrouping and doing it all over again. The troops sent to fight in the Vendée were totally unprepared for this kind of warfare:
“ They fight like madmen men heedless of death.”
The
landscape of the Vendée was covered in the famous bocage, a chess-board
of small fields and hedgerows, making any movement off the roads very
dangerous indeed, and lending itself to the hit and run tactics of the
Vendeans.
The eight players were each given a character, along with a briefing paper stating his objectives and some sketchy info of the goings-on in the area. This, of course, provided the backbone of the game. For the Armies of the Republic it caused no end of distrust and skulldugglery throughout the day. This "trust no-one" attitude caused them to lose sight of their true objectives on more than one occasion.
The character I was playing was Jean-Baptiste Carrier, a fine chap indeed. Now he was a bit of a rogue and saw the unrest as a chance to seize power and proclaim himself governor of the nearby town of La Roche-sur-Yon. So along with his band of fanatical followers, and of course the guillotine, he marched on the town.
The only problem was there were already Republican troops stationed there, and more on the way. So after bluffing his way into town Monsieur Carrier arrested the commander of these troops on suspicion of harbouring rebels.
This move almost caused a mini civil war to erupt, only to be stopped by the arrival of General Westermann, "the Butcher of the Vendée", on his way to pacify the rebels. He had to waste valuable time sorting out the squabbling rivals.
Meanwhile what was happening elsewhere?
Well, the Scarlet Pimpernel was attempting to escape to England, along with a mysterious accomplice or two. Hence the arrival of an English frigate off the coast, and a Royal Marine landing party .
The
windmill played a big part in the game. Windmills on the low hills of
the bocage were actually used to relay messages to outlying groups
of rebels by operating the sails according to a code of communications.
This was used to signal to the Vendean rebels in the game, depending on
how the sails were set.
We had a Republican officer desert his post and his command, and flee with his lady to the British to set sail to England.
The Vendeans fought with the ferocity they were famous for, and every hedgerow became a battleground slowing the advance of the Republican troops.
And what of John-Baptiste Carrier? Well, he was last seen drinking a glass of fine French red, telling stories of campaigns won and lost in far-pff lands to anyone who would listen.
Dedicated to the memory of Jim Shaw,
our great friend and ally:
"Jim, you would have loved this!"
