NEITHER UP NOR DOWN
◗ Philip Ball ◗ Helion & Company (2020) ◗ £35.00 ◗ 432 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN: 9781913118907 ◗ helion.co.uk
The British Army and the Flanders Campaign 1793-1795 is the subject of Number 49 in Helion’s From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 series. The title is a reference to the rhyme The Grand Old Duke ofYork; though that rhyme may have an earlier origin, it is thought to refer to the command of the British forces by King George’s second son, Frederick, Duke of York, in this campaign against the armies of the French Republic.
A carefully researched, detailed and very readable account of the campaign is accompanied by thirty-two maps showing the theatre of operations, fortresses in Flanders, the positions of French and Coalition armies at the start of the campaign and the battles from St Amand to Boxtel.
There are ten appendices: Allied Order of Battle Famars 23 May 1793; Coburg’s Disposition for the Attack on the Enemy Army at Caesar’s Camp; French Forces around Lille, 4 August 1793; Disposition of the Allied Army in Flanders 21 September 1793; Battle of Hondschoote; Allied Order of Battle – Tourcoing; British Casualty Returns – Tourcoing, 17-18 May 1794; French Armee du Nord 14 May 1794; Armee du Nord 1 September 1794, and
British Forces at Boxtel, 15 September 1794.
Fifty black and white plates, mainly reproductions of contemporary portraits, paintings of battle scenes and prints also illustrate the text. A five page bibliography and a five page index conclude the book.
The campaigns of the French Revolutionary wars have never been as popular with wargamers as those of the Napoleonic Wars, perhaps because the generals of the earlier campaigns are not as famous as Bonaparte, Kutusov, Wellington and Blucher; perhaps because of a perception that the Ancien Regime armies were old fashioned, inefficient and indifferently led, while those of the French Republic were enthusiastic but liable to dissolve into mutinous armed mobs in defeat; almost certainly because there was a scarcity of readily available information and appropriate figures.
It is perfectly possible to muster wargame armies in the smaller scales provided one is not pedantic about uniform details. In 6mm for example, Baccus offer French infantry and artillery in bicornes and figures from their American Revolutionary War range can be used to portray British, Austrian and Hanoverian troops and other Coalition forces. Pendraken offers 10mm French and Austrians for 1792-1797; again, figures from their American Revolutionary War can be used for the Coalition troops.
The contrasts between the tactics of Coalition and Republican forces, the volatile morale of the latter and frequent changes of commander when the unsuccessful are denounced as traitors, will make for interesting games and the unfamiliarity of the details of the numerous engagements will prevent players being unduly influenced by hindsight. Nor will players feel inhibited by the awareness that they are not military geniuses like Bonaparte or Wellington and will be most unlikely to emulate the achievements of the historical commanders they are impersonating!
This book certainly offers most of the information a wargamer would need to recreate the Flanders Campaign and refight the principal battles on the tabletop and is recommended to those seeking a change from Peninsular and Waterloo refights.