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.

Action at Quiberon Bay

Today’s game was set in 1795 and based loosely on the disasterous attempt to establish a Royalist base at Carnac at the northern end of Quiberon Bay. In the original expedition the four British infantry battalions failed to cross the Channel due to bad weather, but in this expedition a significant British force of eight  battalions plus a force of marines and sailors from the fleet supported a small emigre force four battalions and a gun in a beach landing somewhere in the bay.

The map of the table is as below, with the starting positions of the French Republican forces shown in blue and the landing places of the British/emigre forces shown in red (the emigre troops landed on the extreme left, the British infantry in the two centre locations and the naval troops with the two arrows on the right.

The Republicans had heard from their spies that an attempt to land was to be expected and as the game began the French hussars picketed the shore line, although a heavy fog prevented them from seeing the approaching boats (the fog would lift on a die score of 4+).

The boats hit the shore just as the fog began to lift and the battalions disembarked.

The French pickets raised the alarm  and the Republicans were called to arms.

While the British and emigre forces formed up on the beach the Republicans came forward more quickly than anticipated and a difficult fight developed in front of the emigre landings where two attacks from the cavalry were repulsed before a proper line could be established.

At the British landing point things did not go well with two battalions sent packing. Only the intervention of two battalions of guards in the second wave brought some stability.

An attack in the flank of one of the guard battalions threatened to turn the tide again, but by a miracle of dice rolling the guards repulsed the attack.

Then conjunction with the emigre troops they pushed back the Republicans and things looked grim for the Republican cause.

But the naval contingent, despite the efforts of the gunners and the marines, failed to make any headway against the Republican left. 

When the naval contingent gave way, four fresh Republican battalions were free to operate against the British flank and the line was rolled back on the emigre forces. An evacuation was the only option, but no one will ever know the number that got away…because we called the game there.

With the loss of the American Revolution and the disasters of Dunkirk and Hondschoote, this was the last straw. The British military had fallen to its lowest point. Questions were asked in the house and there were calls for the Government to resign. The only positive to come out of the whole debacle was that the Duke of York undertook a series of reforms that would transform the army and turn its fortunes around.

A Little Action on the Spanish Coast

Today we played a game to make use of my recently completed flatboats (joined by a couple of boats from another player)...an idea I have had for quite a while. The game was played with five British commanders playing against the Spanish controlled by me and one other player. All the Spanish responses were programmed. Here are the details of the game.

Narrative 

It is 1803 and a Spanish flotilla has been raiding British shipping from a harbour on the Atlantic coast. The Admiralty has ordered that the Spanish threat is to be eliminated.

Three attempts by the Navy to enter the harbour have failed because of its narrow entrance and a well positioned shore battery. A combined operation is planned with the Army tasked with capture the battery from the land side and destroy the guns so that the Navy can enter the harbour and destroy the Spanish ships.

A spy was put ashore and he returned with this map. 

The spy  made the following observations:

• There are only two possible landing points – North Beach and South Beach. 
• Some militia supported by artillery is posted in and around the fishing village on South Beach
• A camp was spotted in the rear of the battery, but he could not get close enough to determine the strength or type of troops.
• In the town further inland he found the taverns filled with a mix of militia and regulars.
• In the camps near the town he identified the standards of as many as six different regiments (Spanish regiments consist of between one and three battalions)
• Cavalry and artillery are also present

Horse Guards, expecting to face resistance from as many as 20 Spanish battalions, has committed a significant land force to the venture

British Details

The Navy will put you ashore and your objective is to capture the fort and destroy the guns. Each player commands a brigade as below:

The British Force

• 1st Brigade - 2 Line battalions plus a company of 60th Rifles
• 2nd Brigade - 3 Line battalions plus a company of 60th Rifles
• 3rd Brigade  - 3 line battalions 
• 4th Brigade - 3 line battalions plus a company of 60th Rifles
• Mixed Brigade - Naval landing party, Marines, 1 company of 60th Rifles, 6lb field gun

Command Chips

Each player starts with the same number of command chips as the number of units in his brigade. Command chips allow him to assign actions to units.  Before the game starts he rolls 1xD6:

• 1 or 2 = Receive one additional command chip
• 3,4 or 5 = Receive two additional command chips
• 6 = Receive three additional command chips

Boat Movement

All boat Movement is starts from the corner of the table os the respective beach areas. Each move of a boat roll 1xD6:

• 1,2 = 200mm
• 3,4,5 = 250mm
• 6 = 300mm

Spanish Force

In the fishing village

• 4 militia battalions – in position one either side and one behind the village
• 1 battalion of light infantry - in position at the junction of the road and the track to North Beach
• 1 gun – in position between the village and the ridge

Cannot react until fired on or if British troops are within 100mm of the shore.

This force will attempt to defend against the landing, but if the number of British units landed exceeds their own strength, or as soon as any British unit that has landed on North Beach passes through the gap in the hills, the defenders will abandon the low ground and head for the ridge.

Camp near the Fort 

• Texas Tercio 
• 1 Line infantry regiment of 3 battalions
• Cavalry Regiment

Cannot react until first shot fired. This force will take one full move to form up the move immediately after being alerted and will move to support to the support of the force in the fishing village.


Camp near the town

• 3 infantry regiments, each of three battalions
• 1 cavalry regiment
• 2 guns

Will dice for each regiment to form to react after Camp near fort activates:  1,2,3 one turn to form, 4,5,6 two turns to form

This force will attempt to hold the ridge and will not pass beyond the ridge except to pursue the enemy. Its whereabouts will be concealed from the British until line of sight is established.

The Rules

The Game

The  British chose to land the First and Second Brigade on North Beach and the other two brigades and the navy on the South Beach. There were not enough boats to brings more than three brigades ashore in the first wave, so they chose to land First brigade as the second wave on North Beach while Third Brigade would form the second wave in Beach.

And so the action began.

The British Third Brigade and the Naval force head for the South beach...

... while the Second brigade lands on North Beach.

With the British Second Brigade passing through the gap  that carries the track from the North Beach, the militia began to withdraw from the fishing village.

As soon as the boat guns fired, the a Spanish troops on the ridge beside the shore battery were alerted and formed up. Soon after the troops in the distant village were called to arms.

As the British formed two battalions of Spanish regulars came down off the ridge and opened fire, inflicting some loss on one of the battalions.

The British soon counterattacked, with the Marines striking the left flank of the Spanish force, while a line battalion attacked the right. The left collapsed quickly, but the right held on for longer...

...but it didn’t last long before it too was driven off.

With the Spanish forced back to the ridge, the British Third Brigade and the Navy troops were free to advance.

Opposite the British First and Second Brigades regiment of Spanish dragoons charged. The British decided to receive the charge in line and their volley disrupted the cavalry, but the troopers crashed into the line all the same. A desperate fight ensured and against all odds the cavalry prevailed. The British infantry scattered to the wind, but the dragoons were spent and withdrew to rally.

The British fourth brigade finally lands...

...and approaches (top left in the image below)

The Naval force approached closed in on the weakened defenders of the shore battery and after a short fight carried the position.

Even though the battery had fallen the Spanish attacked vigorously. The fight swayed too and fro. The Spanish had some success, but even their best troops were lower rated than the British and the British lines held.

Having destroyed the shot battery the army began to withdraw under the cover of a frigate the army.

In the end while the British did manage to destroy the shore battery, they took heavy losses, with six of their thirteen battalions driven from the field, presumably they routed back to the boats, and another three were in a poor state.

But it was a fun day, enjoyed by all.