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Since I have failed to make it through Season 2 of Versailles, I am left hanging mid-machination. I offered up a game-pairing, but I wasn’t really being serious about it. I suggested you might experience, first hand, the joy of court intrigue by playing the board game Louis XIV. This is not a game I own nor have I even been in the same room with a copy. It is a German game that is no longer in print in its English version. As far as I can tell, the German version is also out of print. Not much of a suggestion for you or me.

Instead, I went to the user-made scenarios in Pike and Shot where a search through the download options did not disappoint. I found for myself an early battle of the Franco-Dutch War, the conflict that was coming to a head just as the show became unavailable to me. I downloaded the package for Day of Seneffe so as to pick up shortly after where Versailles had left off.

– The French prepare for battle

The Franco-Dutch War, lasting for six years in the mid-1670s, is neither fish nor fowl when it comes to wargaming. The conflict occurs after the Peace of Westphalia which brought the Thirty Years’ War to its conclusion. That milestone also marks the end of the out-of-the-box domain of Pike and Shot as well as the operational level games of the same period. At the same time, the Franco-Dutch War takes place too soon for wargaming, classified as part of the Horse and Musket era. AGEod, for example, leaves a 45 year gap with their engine, halting after their Thirty Years’ War leaves off and not resuming again until the year 1700 and the title Wars of Succession.

Oddly enough, I’ve stumbled across a notable exception. It has to do with a franchise that I’ve just never been interested in – the Warhammer line from Games Workshop. Although I am pretty sure I have a few PC titles (Total War) in my Steam library, this concept of a futuristic sci-fi high fantasy game just never quite appealed to me. It doesn’t help their cause that they’ve come down hard on the wrong side in the intellectual property conflicts.

But did you know that, some twenty years ago, Games Workshop had a line of historical gaming rules? I didn’t. And yet, they did. For reference, Amazon offers a copy of the out-of-print Warhammer Ancient Battles:English Civil War for a price commensurate with its scarcity. I also learned that they sold a supplement to the above, called Williamite Warfare, which covers exactly this post-English Civil War era.

I mention that because this war, and the Battle of Seneffe specifically, lacks the online resources (maps, battle descriptions, etc.) that I take for granted when it comes to the period’s wars. One exception is a website called Williamite Warfare which keeps alive the spirit of that Warhammer supplement and, as of four years ago, saw its owner working on a tabletop Battle of Seneffe scenario. Through that site, I found a lamentation about the lack of information on this battle (here). See also an exception that proves the rule, an illustrated analysis of Seneffe. That website, which provides data for a number of Pike and Shot battles, is an archive of an old Geocities website from the days of yore. The site is worth visiting if for no other reason than its 90s retro web stylings.

– Can you concentrate your force across difficult terrain to bring victory?

Pike and Shot has often been an exception to MY rule that I don’t like to play scenarios multiple times in order to “beat” them. Fact is, I often do play Pike and Shot in this way. One reason is the scenarios tend to be difficult making it necessary to try and to fail so as to learn the path to success. Secondly, it is rare that the key to these historical battles is a hidden surprise. Because these are known, if sometimes obscure, battles, reproducing history may require understanding that history before truly digging in.

In the case of Seneffe, I did first try the scenario with no background. This was an encounter between a smaller French army and a spread-out Dutch force. Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (often The Great Condé) determined that a quick strike at his disorganized enemies might win the day against their superior numbers. At first his instincts proved correct. As the day wore on and the more units engaged, however, the fight turned into a morass. After substantial losses on both sides, night fell upon a battlefield where none could claim victory – although both sides did. In the greater context, the battle produced no lasting advantage. The forces withdrew, reformed, and fought again.

In my first go around, I read the scenario instructions that victory was to be had by rapidly engaging the enemy. I therefore attempted to engage across the board at maximum speed. While my right flank hit first and achieved a quick victory (as was Condé’s experience), I also quickly fell behind as I began moving against Dutch positions on the high ground backed by artillery.

I lost. I figured I’d best read about the battle, study those above maps, and try again.

– Seneffe secured. On to the Priory!

Following that historical plan produced better results. I worked much harder to keep my “battles” in good order and, as a result, was slower to capture the town of Seneffe. As you might glean from the score in the above screenshot, by the time I accomplished this first goal (just before noon in the real battle’s timeline) I was already well on the way* to victory. My advantage was due to the lopsided fighting around the town but also to one other factor. The Dutch aggressively, ahistorically, and (ultimately) unsuccessfully engaged with their right flank.

This second time around, I was wary of Condé’s afternoon mistake. As described by John Lynn’s The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714 by way of Wikipedia, “Against the advice of his subordinates, [Condé] ordered a series of frontal assaults which led to heavy casualties on both sides with no concrete result.” I vowed not to do the same and instead concentrated on reforming my lines on good ground.

The Dutch AI, apparently, did not get the memo. I found myself subject to piecemeal assaults all across my front. Among its most futile were uncoordinated forays across the Samme river, easily ripped to pieces by my main force from good defensive positions. In the end, I was able to force the Dutch from the field without ever making an assault on their main body.

I have to think that the game engine has the ability to get this better. Unfortunately, I’ve not made much headway in my own attempts at modding these games, so I’m not the man to do it. Assuming you know your way around the engine, though, the task seems feasible. Give the Dutch enough intelligence to know that they are a) numerically superior and b) at an even bigger advantage if they can force the French to attack. A slightly smarter scenario would be both more challenging and more historically accurate.

*Some details for those unfamiliar with this game engine. In the upper left, the victory conditions are displayed for the player. Victory is achieved by routing 40% (in points) of the enemy, provided that you’ve also routed 25% more men of theirs than they have of yours. If the 40% threshold is crossed, but the battle is too close for victory, it is the first to see 60% of their force routed who loses. In the screenshot, I’m almost halfway there. I’ve routed 19% of my enemy, having lost a mere 3% of my own force. That’s a difficult gap to make back under almost any circumstance.