La Guerre de Vendée 1793

 Today's game at Barrys place was arranged by Rick and featured his small, but beautifully formed, Republican French collection as they battled against the anti government rebellion in the Vendee region of western France. 

A bit of background, courtesy of Wikipedia -

The War in the Vendée (French: Guerre de Vendée) was a counter-revolutionary insurrection that took place in the Vendée region of France from 1793 to 1796, during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loire in western France. Initially, the revolt was similar to the 14th-century Jacquerie peasant uprising, but the Vendée quickly became counter-revolutionary and Royalist. The revolt was comparable to the Chouannerie, which took place concurrently (1794–1800) in the area north of the Loire.

While elsewhere in France the revolts against the levée en masse were repressed, an insurgent territory, called the Vendée militaire by historians, formed south of the Loire-Inférieure (Brittany), south-west of Maine-et-Loire (Anjou), north of Vendée and north-west of Deux-Sèvres (Poitou). Gradually referred to as the "Vendeans", the insurgents established in April a "Catholic and Royal Army" which won a succession of victories in the spring and summer of 1793. The rebels briefly overran the towns of Fontenay-le-Comte, Thouars, Saumur and Angers, but were halted at the Battle of Nantes.

During the autumn, the arrival of the Army of Mainz as reinforcements restored the advantage to the Republican camp, which in October seized Cholet, the most important city controlled by the Vendeans. After this defeat, the bulk of the Vendée forces crossed the Loire and marched to Normandy in a desperate attempt to take a port to obtain the help of the British and the Armée des Émigrés. Pushed back to Granville, the Vendée army was finally destroyed in December at Mans and Savenay. From the winter of 1793 to the spring of 1794, during the Reign of Terror, violent repression was put in place by the Republican forces. In the cities, and in particular in Nantes and Angers, around 15,000 people were shot, drowned or guillotined on the orders of the représentants en mission and Revolutionary Military Commissions, while in the countryside about 20,000 to 50,000 civilians were massacred by the infernal columns, who set fire to many towns and villages.

The repression provoked a resurgence of the rebellion and in December 1794 the Republicans began negotiations which led between February and May 1795 to the signing of peace treaties with the various Vendée leaders, thus bringing about the end of the "first Vendée war". A "second Vendée war" broke out shortly afterwards, in June 1795, after the start of the Quiberon expedition. The uprising quickly ran out of steam and the last Vendée leaders submitted or were executed between January and July 1796. The Vendée still experienced last and brief uprisings with a third war in 1799, a fourth in 1815 and a fifth in 1832, but they were on a much smaller scale. The number of victims is estimated at 200,000 dead, including approximately 170,000 for the inhabitants of the military Vendée, i.e. between 20 and 25% of the population of the insurgent territory.

Our game featured four French players - Paul, Chris, John and me - against three Vendeans - Barry, Mark and Nick, The Vendee forces were not large, but they were able to appear as if by magic behind or inside any adjacent piece of terrain, fire at the Republican forces and (usually) evade again back into the terrain before the government troops could react. They had the characteristic of "fanatics" giving them a plus one dice in combat, whilst our troops were all classed as "raw", with the exception of our cavalry (Chris and I had one unit each) and the artillery that was attached to Paul's command. Our aim was to progress across the Vendee countryside, checking buildings, interrogating the local populace and sometimes sending them back to the local town, to the tender mercies of this character:

Jean-Baptiste Carrier 16 March 1756 – 16 December 1794) was a French Revolutionary and politician most notable for his actions in the War in the Vendée during the Reign of Terror. While under orders to suppress a Royalist counter-revolution, he commanded the execution of 4,000 civilians, mainly priests, women and children in Nantes, some by drowning in the river Loire, which Carrier described as "the National Bathtub." After the fall of the Robespierre government, Carrier was tried for war crimes by the Revolutionary Tribunal, found guilty, and executed.

In 1793, Carrier was sent to Nantes as a representative on mission under orders from the National Convention. He established a revolutionary tribunal in Nantes and formed a unit of troops called the Legion of Marat, in order to suppress the revolt of anti-revolutionists and dispose quickly of prisoners in the jails. The trials were soon discontinued, and the victims were sent to the guillotine, shot, or executed in another way.

In a twenty-page letter to his fellow republicans, Carrier promised not to leave a single counter-revolutionary or monopolist (hoarders or aristocratic landowners) at large in Nantes His action was endorsed by the Committee of Public Safety. In the following days Carrier put large numbers of prisoners aboard vessels with trap doors for bottoms and sank them in the Loire River. These executions included priests and nuns, as well as women and children. They were known as the Drownings at Nantes. Some alleged that Carrier ordered young male and female prisoners be tied together naked before the drownings, a method which was called a "republican marriage", but this accusation was later found to be a rumor started by counter-revolutionaries.

Apparently, according to Rick, the trick with the barges was known to Carrier as "vertical deportation"!

The main aim of our mission was to track down and detain the leader of the rebels :

François Athanase de Charette de la Contrie 2 May 1763 – 29 March 1796) was a French military officer and politician. He served in the French Navy during the American Revolutionary War and was one of the leaders of the War in the Vendée against the French Revolutionary Army

Well, that is quite a lot of background blurb - now for an equally long-winded montage of images from the game - I think around 80 in total - half mine, the other half from our close-up specialist, John!

Two views of the table before the action commenced. The Republican forces started at this end of the table (we did have the choice to have one command start at the other end but saw no advantage in having one command isolated on its own!)

In town, Jean-Baptiste Carrier was already hard at work, dispatching enemies of La Revolution!

Have you seen this man?!

John's force was first to arrive - and were immediately confronted by rebels!

His commander interrogating a local paysan.

The first batch of rebels, having shot at John, retire to cover again

As Paul arrived on turn two and began to investigate a local farm, another bunch of Vendee militia sprang an ambush

The Republican troops took two casualties

John's force searching a farm and arresting the leader of the local agricultural union after his answers failed to satisfy their commander - a tumbrel was sent from town to transport the two suspects back for an appointment with mademoiselle Guillotine!

On around turn five, Rick allowed me to arrive, with Chris immediately to my rear - a fortunate activation of 6 meant my cavalry moved at time and a half - 600mm - down the road, with infantry in "infernal columns" following on behind.

Thanks to John covering the field to our left, we had an uneventful arrival, with no Vendean ambushes!

Paul had encountered some rebels in the farm to the bottom left above, but they faded away as the bulk of the Republican troops arrived

As the government troops advanced, they searched each building they arrived at - here, Paul's men were surprised by Marks rebels, and this unit was very roughly handled, quitting the field as a result!

My cavalry officer interrogating a local shepherd - who is the leader of the rebels in this area?

A solid line of Republican troops advance, scouring the countryside for signs of the rebels and their notorious leader

Another house search, another ambush! This time, Paul's men were able to drive their attackers off with loss, thanks to timely support from their guns.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, Johns troops had arrived at le boulangerie to interrogate the local baker, as they had learned the infamous Charette was supplied daily with fresh baguettes from this very site - "Oi, my son, I want a word with you!"

 In the midst of the interrogation, however, the rebels launched an ambush in the Republicans flank - 8 dice to 4, needing a 5 or 6 for a hit. Miraculously, the raw government troops bested their attackers and drove them off with a 2 - 1 victory - Vive La Republique!

Back in the town square, John's officer shared the latest intelligence with Carrier - and handed over the baker for a chat! Apparently, the fresh bread for the rebel leader is handed to the local Curee to deliver....

Who is that pair, heading off down the road to the left?

Seems to be the Curee and an as yet unidentified IC1 female.

Bonjour, monsieur le Curee - I would like a little chat with you - and your charming companion!

Further along the road, Chris's cavalry pulled up a passing tinker - we just have a couple of questions, won't hold you up too long - nec minute, he is heading for an appointment with M. Carrier!

In the centre, my cavalry had taken a pounding from rebel muskets and were not long for the game. Another rebel ambush from the marsh land in the top centre did no damage to my infantry, however.

The Republican troops had now cleared about two thirds of the area of operations

Leaving burning rebel buildings in their wake!

But the rebels still had some fight in them, and sprang another ambush

My brave Paris boys flung them back, however!

Another wood, another ambush - this time, a brief glimpse was caught of the fugitive Charette amongst the attackers!

But despite the desperate gamble of leading the attack in person, my Republican troops once again repulsed the ambushers (this was the third unsuccessful attack by Nick - in the first and second, against John, he rolled 8 dice to 4 and contrived to lose. In the third fight he had 5 dice to my 2 - I rolled two sixes, and he only managed a single five!)

This attack was more or less the last hurrah for the rebels, and they dispersed. 

Charette remained at large, and free to continue his scurrilous activities for a few more years!

That was a really enjoyable game and worked very well - Rick put a lot of time and effort into the scenario and setting up the table, and it all worked a treat - at least from the Republics point of view! The Vendee rebels were unlucky - they had three ambushes where with even average luck, they should have overwhelmed their enemy - and they lost all three!

Finally, I also picked this up from Nick, who kindly purchased it on my behalf recently (he gets a small discount with the online trader selling it) Five more tanks to join the Red Army, including the all-important T34/76 (three of them, plus a KV1 and another IS II!), plus a few crews to man them.  This will give me something to do in the long winter evenings after work!

And finally, finally - here are some more random close ups of the figures in today's game, courtesy of John!

This figure is actually mine - I put two of them into the town before Rick arrived, as a joke - halfway through the game, I told him they were agents of the Republic and had been observing the Curee and the baker for several weeks!

I forgot to mention that during the interview on the road, Chris noticed that the lady accompanying the clergyman was actually quite a bit older than previously thought - it turned out, she was, in fact, Madame Charette, la mere of the rebel leader. Needless to say, both she and the priest were sent under escort back to M. Carrier in the town.....

__________ FIN __________