Battle of Alquèzar - 14 May 1813

The guest general duly arrived today, and, with appropriate ceremony, the battle of Alquèzar took place after lunch (how civilised is that?).

The action was loosely based on the published GMT scenario for Vauchamps, though for the purposes of today's game it was set in Spain. On the face of it, it looked as though the French troops might be a little short of numbers to attack successfully, but I felt that the fragility of the Spanish defenders, and the disadvantage at which they have to fight when they require to manoeuvre, might compensate for this.

The first French attack on the village was repulsed - quite a bloodbath - at which point the Spanish army was ahead by 7 Victory Points to 4 (9 needed for the win), but after some switching of his reserves to his right flank D'Armagnac made a second attack which went rather better. During the wait for this second attack, the Spanish general was panicked into making a couple of unwise (as it turned out) forays with his light cavalry, and lost General Morillo (wounded and captured) and sufficient additional troops to turn the day. The French won 9-7. From the jaws of victory, etc.

The game went well - once again, the artillery of both sides was disappointingly ineffective, and the Spanish line infantry's poor ability to sustain effective musket fire when advancing was a handicap.

We used a cut-down version of C&CN, without the Command Cards, and the game lasted a little over 2 hours. My thanks to Matthew for his invigorating company and his participation - excellent fun.

Here are some photos from the action - the OOBs are in my post from the other day.

The combined voltigeurs from Leberknödel's Pommeranian brigade 

Things getting a little hot for the regiments of Leon and La Union

The Pommeranians were running out of men at this point

The French organised a second attack with fresh troops, but it took a while to develop.

The "Tulips" - the Grenadier battalion "Zum Alten Greif" - Scruby figures...

One of the Pommeranian light cavalry units did great damage to the Spanish horse...

...and here they are, doing it

This Spanish foot battery never hit a thing all day. Not a bloody thing.