Another First Carlist War Game

Today's game was a First Carlist War battle.

Because this needed to be a morning game only, so that a different game could be played in the afternoon, I kept the scenario simple. A combined British Auxiliary Legion (BAL) and French Foreign Legion (FFL) force is charged with clearing a Carlist force out of the monastery of Juan de la Carretera that dominates the road to Bilboa. 

The BAL and FFL force consisted of:

   2 battalions BAL infantry (Raw)

   1 battalion Royal Marines (trained)

   1 field battery (raw)

   1 rocket battery (trained)

   1 squadron of BAL lancers (raw)

   4 battalions FFL infantry (trained)

   1 mountain battery (trained)

   1 squadron of Polish lancers (trained)

   2 battalions of Spanish line infantry (raw)

   2 battalions of  provincial militia (raw)

The Carlists occupied the Monastery with:

   4 battalions of infantry (trained)

   1 field battery (trained)

A Carlist Relief force was approaching, consisting of:

   2 battalions of infantry (one trained and one raw)

   1 mountain gun (raw) 

   1 squadron of Ontorio Hussars (trained)

   3 squadrons of lancers (raw)

The monastery stood on a low hill while another higher hill rose to the east. A rough sketch of the terrain (North up) is below.

The Carlists Deploy in the Monastery

The BAL and FFL deploy

The fight was pretty straight forward. The Spanish moved to intercept the relief force while the BAL and FFL move to take the monastary. But the Carlists got the jump on their opponents and the Carlist cavalry dashed across the Spanish front. 

The FFL was forced to turn two battalions  and the Polish lancers to face right. The relief force infantry was getting the better of the Spanish infantry, but a charge by the Polish lancers turned the tide and drove off first off a battalion of Carlist infantry then broke through onto a Carlist cavalry unit, driving that off too.

The Polish Lancers Charge

But it all got too much for the French cavalry and they soon decided that they had had enough and quit the field, as did two of the Spanish battalions.

Two Spanish battalions face the Carlists relief infantry and artillery

Meantime a determined attack by two battalions of the FFL stormed the church yard, but a second attack failed to drive off the Carlist gun (although after continued round of fighting the gunners were driven off).

The FFL form up...

...advance...

...and attack the churchyard

An attempt by the Marines to take the western face of the monastery ended badly, as did all other attempts to to drive the FFL from the churchyard. 

The BAL attacks.

Then, with a need to end at lunch time, we called the result...as a draw, since neither side fully controlled the monastery.

The second game was ancient galleys. This was a bit of fun, but we struggled with a lack of knowledge of the rules. 

We had a fun time while parts of Auckland - not too far away from where we were playing - suffered from flash flooding after a sudden downpour.