War in the Peninsular

With stormy weather threatening our city again, we gathered for our regular Sunday game. This time it was a Peninsular War action with the 21 French battalions supported by four regiments of dragoons and eight batteries attacking an allied army of seven British, six Portuguese and nine Spanish infantry battalions,  three small units of British light dragoons, two regiments of Spanish dragoons and six batteries (four batteries and two Spanish).

I had planned to pull together a game based on Albuera, but real world pressures of the last week conspired against me and instead I pulled a scenario together at the last moment. The terrain was simply set up with a significant town in the centre of the table with two long ridges either side. The Allied army set up first with the Portuguese in and to the immediate left of the town, with one battalion on the churchyard. The Spanish were on the left flank and the British the right.

The French deployed with two brigades against the British and one opposite the town.

The French right brigade made a bee line for the churchyard while the centre made straight for the British, hoping to draw them into a fight on the ridge while the remaining brigade turned the British right.

Meanwhile the Spanish, with no French directly in front of them, moved to turn the French right flank, but the fact than half of their infantry was rated raw made their progress slow, although in their colourful uniforms they looked rather smart.

The first attempt at break into the churchyard was repulsed and while the French tried to reform for a fresh attack they were attacked by some British light dragoons. The cavalry drove off one battalion before being stopped by a French square. 

In the French centre a battalion fell on the flank of a Portuguese battalion and destroyed it, before pushing on against the unit of rifles occupying one of the houses in the village.

The French in front of the churchyard recovered and tried in vain to storm it again.

In the French centre the British came forward in an attack. The resulting combats swayed too and fro with neither side gaining an advantage.

The French dragoons tried to drive off the Spanish dragoons, but were driven back themselves.

Things were turned badly for the French in the centre and right and soon they would collapse, but on their left the third French brigade finally got into the fight seriously damaging the British force. The French cavalry swung around the flank, smashing two batteries.

 

The Spanish and Portuguese forces, with no enemy in front of them, closed in around the town and with with two of the French brigades destroyed, victory went to the allies. 

And with that we left sunny Spain and went back into the rain and wind.