Blenheim 2004
Wargaming the 300th Year Anniversary 
of
The Battle of Blenheim, August 13, 1704
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Select an army from the portraits list below for further details.
The Army of Captain General John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough.
The Imperial Army of Prince François  Eugène of Savoy 
The Army of Camille d'Hostun de la Baume, Duc de Tallard, Marshall of France
The Army of Prince Maximilian II Emanuel Wittelsbach
Elector of Bavaria
August 13, 2004 was the 300th anniversary of the battle of Blenheim (known to the Germans as Blindheim and to the French as 2nd Hochstedt - yes - there was a battle here the year before - though not quite so large). This project re-fought this battle as a Military Miniatures Wargame at the annual gaming convention ENFILADE hosted by NHMG. This is held every Memorial Day weekend in Washington State and this project was held at the Enfilade 2004 convention.

Read about Ramilles 2006

In preparation for this project, we prepared the game and rehearsed it over three separate 12 ft wargaming tables, utilizing 28mm miniatures. This site documents these preparations, list the information we have used to get here, and shows photos of the full size game as it was played.

This is a shot of a preliminary test game taken by David Mebust. It shows the intense action around Oberglau that in our game deviated slightly from history.

In the foreground can be seen the top of Marshall Tallard's coach as he attempts to pull back from the action slightly.
 

You can click on the image for a larger view

THE GAME PLAYED AT THE ENFILADE CONVENTION 2004





If you would like to follow along with the discussions, or even join in and opine, please JOIN THE YAHOO BLENHEIM 2004 E-MAIL GROUP The group is likely to be around for quite a while as we are already talking about Ramillies 2006.

The Game Table.

This is the projected game table, each square representing 1 square foot.

Click on the map for a full size image.
This is version 10 of the battlefield layout that we used for the game. Ideally, to be historical, we would need to arch the table across the front. When we first play tested the left flank, we did not have the town of Lutzingen on the small lower left add-on table, but as the game progressed historically, the Bavarians needed somewhere to fall back into - and that was the purpose of their deployment in front of that village.
The ground rises steadily from right to left - some 25 meters. As this gentle rise across the 7 km or so of the battlefield does not play any tactical role in the battle, it makes the terrain much easier if it is simply turned into a constant - and left flat along the length of the Nebel Brook. The gentle slopes up from either side of the Brook ( 5 meters overall) are not sufficient to hamper movement or give any movement bonuses or detriments and with 2 exceptions are for aesthetic purposes only. The exceptions are the hill on the left of the map which is a steeper hill, and the rise outside of Blindeim village which provided the "blind spot" for attacking troops to reform before assaulting the village.

 

THE ORDERS OF BATTLE
SEE PHOTOS OF THE WHOLE GAME PLAY TESTED HERE
Other Materiel Concerning the War of the Spanish Succession
Game Testing - Download the Rules
Go to the WSS Campaign Game
1st Hochstedt
Artillery Batteries
This site documents the attempt of my friends and I to wargame the Battle of Blenheim (2nd Hochstedt) in the year of its 300th Anniversary, 2004

The game was played on a 36 ft wargame table at the Pacific Northwest's Largest wargame convention, Enfilade. In order to prepare for this mammoth task we enlisted the help of wargaming friends from all over the world to assist in painting and preparing figures to represent all the battalions and squadrons, representing the 120,000 men or so that fought the battle on the Bavarian plains on the north bank of the Danube river, near the villages of Blindheim, Oberglau and Lutzingen on August 13, 1704.

The game was planed and gamed in various sections prior to the 2004 convention by breaking the game into three sections of 12 feet. We we developed our own set of fast play rules that capture the feel and flair for this colorful period. 

The rules have been posted on this site when this link is active.

The game was so successful, the site will be kept and plans are afoot to game other 300 year anniversary battles of The War of the Spanish Succession.

Wargamers interested in this period are also encouraged to try the following rules.


GåPå

Captain General

Warfare in the Age of Marlborough.

Warfare in the Age of Reason
   
Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Ian Croxall
Salem, Oregon. USA

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