Solo Campaign - Ambuscade near Olias - 31st March 1812

The larger-than-life Ximenez brings his loyal troops to meet the accursed French - my thanks to Iain, who did the super paint job on the leader 

The scenario is the most basic imaginable - a French force in column of march has to pass through a defile in a forest. Spanish irregular forces are concealed in the trees, and their presence is unknown until they choose to attack. Maucune's column marched onto the table in an organised manner, light infantry followed by artillery followed by the line battalions, with light infantry bringing up the rear.

I used Commands & Colors:Napoleonics rules, as usual, but - since all the action was to take place in the centre of the field - I abandoned the use of the Command Cards. I had considered just retaining the Tactical (as opposed to Field Sector) Cards, but felt this might give an unbalanced game. My solution was to require each side to roll 2D3 at the start of each turn - that gave the number of units they could give orders to this turn. Since there was virtually no cavalry involved, squares were not really a consideration, but the idea was that forming square would require that side to give up one of their activation dice - yes, this is excessive - deducting one from the total might have been better. Whatever, this battle involved a great many Spanish guerrilleros, who are not allowed to do anything as formal as deploying into square.

The Spanish irregulars are handled by my own tweaks to CCN - guerrilla infantry may move 2 hexes and battle, and built-up or forest hexes have no effect on their movement. They may move into a forest hex and battle immediately. They do not count crossed sabres in melee, and they are deployed in small units of 2 blocks/stands each. A single uncancelled retreat will eliminate a unit at any time - this is critical - so it is important to keep them well supported, keep generals with them, move them out of the firing line as soon as they take losses and become marginal.

Maucune's column, headed for Aranjuez, was attacked by a force of irregulars under Don Antonio Ximenez, "El Gigante", the clothes-horse of the Junta de Castilla. The Spaniards probably opened fire too early, but Ximenez was keen to get the action under way while the bulk of the French force were still some distance away. The French artillery caused some panic among the leading units on the Spanish left, even though they did not cause a great many casualties, and a couple of these units were eliminated straight away, Don Jorge Maxwell, one of the leaders, being killed in these first exchanges.

It cost the French a great many killed and wounded - the 15e Ligne being particularly badly damaged - but eventually they managed to penetrate into the woods on both sides of the road, and after that it was merely a matter of time before the Spanish force gave way. Handling the guerrilla bands is interesting - they are very mobile, and have a big advantage in rough terrain, but are also very brittle. A single hit will reduce such a unit to a state in which they cannot harm anyone in a wood (for example), because the terrain effect cancels out the only remaining combat dice, and a further hit to themselves will eliminate them and gain another Victory Banner for the enemy. Thus it was constantly necessary to retire worn units and bring up fresh ones. Six Victory Banners were required for a win, and the French had an extra one available if they pushed through the defile to the far end. In the event they didn't need to push that far - they won 6-2 on eliminated units after about an hour, and Ximenez withdrew, his little army melting away into the forest.

OOBs

French Force - Gen de Divn Baron Maucune's division, Armee de Portugal - approx 7800 men - 8 guns
Brigade d'Arnauld - 15e & 66e Ligne (5 Bns) + combined tirailleur bn
Brigade Montfort - 82e & 86e Ligne (4 Bns) + combined tirailleur bn
11/8e Artillerie a Pied (Capt Genta)

Loss - approx 2600

Spanish Force - Don Antonio Ximenez, army of the Junta de Castilla - approx 4350 men - 3 guns
10 small "battalions" of irregular infantry, brigaded under Don Jorge Maxwell (k) and Don Xavier Gento
Small irregular cavalry unit
Volunteer artillery battery of 3 x 4pdr guns

Loss - approx 3200 - mostly missing

Maucune's column marches serenely into the woods

It's amazing what you don't see when you aren't looking for it...

What lies in wait on one side of the road

...and there's more of the beggars in reserve

After heavy loss to musketry, the French set about clearing the woods

Almost the end - by this stage, most of the guerrilleros had thought of somewhere else they would rather be

Solo Campaign - Weeks 9 & 10

Week 09

Wellington now has his new supply depot at Vigo in operation, and supply trains are reaching him at Lugo. He has also been reinforced by replacements and hospital returns to the tune of 5080 men, and a couple of replacement guns for those lost by Gardner’s battery at Benavente.

The Allied Siege Train has moved into the fortress at Elvas, and Karl von Alten has marched the Light Division over the rough roads from Elvas to Abrantes. If these had not been elite troops, they would have struggled to complete the march.

A large force of Spanish irregulars under Ximenez moved from the Ocana area to Toledo, where they threaten the supply route from Madrid towards Talavera and Badajoz. Maucune, who is still supplied by the Army of the South through Zafra and Badajoz, is ordered to deal with Ximenez, and has moved his Division to Talavera.

Week 10

Clauzel, unaware that Cotton’s force has failed in its march to Orense and returned to Zamora, marches north from Salamanca, aiming to join up with Marmont at Leon. The two forces engage at the so-called Action at Peñausende (reported in previous posting), and Cotton, misjudging his enemy’s strength, makes an attack which fails, partly due to poor co-ordination of a plan which is in any case too complicated, but also because the Allied artillery and cavalry are massively out-performed by the French. Cotton withdraws in good order, still having a substantial superiority in cavalry (numbers, if not quality...)

Cotton will be forced to spend next week retreating over rough roads into Orense, and his force is Tired to begin with...

An outbreak of fever among the French garrison at Burgos has some 400 men in hospital.

Maucune’s Divn advanced from Talavera into the Toledo area to deal with the force of Spanish irregular troops commanded by Ximenez, but the Spaniards retired into Ocana, a move which Maucune – having no cavalry at all – was unable to prevent.

Solo Campaign - Action at Peñausende

Weeks 9 and 10 of the solo Peninsular War campaign are now up to date, and have duly produced a division-sized battle, which I fought out yesterday. Notes on the current state and position of the armies will appear shortly, but I propose to cut down the level of detail in these weekly summaries - they are tedious reading, even to me!

In the meantime, here's an account of...

Action at Peñausende (Fri 27th Mar 1812)

General view of the Allied starting position, from their left flank. Portuguese at this end.

Unaware that General Cotton’s march over the hills to Orense had been aborted because of the weather, Clauzel was ordered to bring his force up from Salamanca to Zamora, the intention being to join with Marmont at Leon. This march caused some disquiet in his division, since it would take them across the battlefield of Corrales, the scene of their recent defeat at the hands of España’s little Spanish army. In fact, they did not get that far - patrols from Cavrois’ dragoons came upon Allied cavalry near Mayalde in the evening of 25th March, and it became clear that these troops were part of a larger body, though the only details established were the presence of two Portuguese cavalry units.

Cotton also had little knowledge of the force which was approaching him. Marching south toward the Arroyo de San Cristobal, his advanced guard came into contact with French troops near Peñausende on the 26th, and he decided to attack on the following morning. The area is hilly, with wooded areas. Cotton, with Clinton’s Sixth Division plus the cavalry brigades of Otway (Portuguese) and Le Marchant (British dragoons), had approximately 10,200 men, with 12 guns, and his scouts advised him that this gave him a significant numerical advantage. In reality, Clauzel had rather less than 8000 men, but the presence of part of the reserve artillery of the Armee de Portugal gave him a total of 24 guns, all of heavier calibre than the Allied artillery.

French position, from their right

Clauzel placed Berlier’s brigade of infantry in some woods on his right flank – a strong position [though perilously close to the table edge!], put the combined voltigeur companies of the Division in to the little town of Peñausende, and placed the brigade of Pinoteau (who had now arrived to replace the discredited Barbot) in the rear of the town. His two cavalry regiments were held in the rear, Picquet’s 6e Dragons being on the extreme left. His three foot batteries were all well sited on prominent ground.

Hinde's Brigade - chosen to make the main attack

Cotton’s plan was to demonstrate against the French right with Rezende’s Portuguese, thus preventing Clauzel from reinforcing his centre from this area, and to drive the main, central attack in through and past the town. Le Marchant’s heavy dragoons supported the extreme right.

French light troops hold the town at the outset

The assault started well – the 2nd (Queen’s) and 1/36th from Hinde’s brigade took advantage of the woods extending up to the workshops and sheds on the northern edge of the town, and made a vigorous assault on the town itself – the fighting there continued for about 45 minutes, but the French voltigeurs were driven out in fine style. Elsewhere, the Allied effort faltered badly. The French artillery – severely criticised for its poor performance at Corrales – produced a devastating weight of fire, the Portuguese advance was halted and twice driven back, and Bull’s troop of the RHA was outranged and outmatched – the horse gunners were silenced.

Le Marchant's ill-fated Heavy Brigade

The French left - Pinoteau's brigade and the 6e Dragons - Clauzel is on the white horse

The Allied effort in the centre did not develop – the capture of the built-up area proved to be of little value in the absence of a concerted advance by Hulse’s brigade, which spent a lot of valuable time dressing lines and forming up, waiting for the Portuguese demonstration on their left which never came.

Picquet's Charge! - 6e Dragons put paid to Le Marchant's second regiment

Though the Allies had more casualties from artillery fire, the situation was something of a stalemate until Cotton sent Le Marchant’s brigade of cavalry forward to threaten the French left. This produced a remarkable response from the French. Picquet’s single dragoon regiment advanced to meet Le Marchant, badly mauled his two regiments on the low hill to the west of the town, and scattered the fugitive survivors, cutting down Le Marchant himself in the process. Sweeping on, Picquet’s men forced the 32nd Foot into a square which was subsequently broken and destroyed when Clauzel force-marched a battalion of the 50e Ligne to support Picquet.

The infantry firefight develops in the centre - the Allied attack was so under-developed that the French came looking for them

At this point the Allies had lost what little momentum they had developed, were outflanked on their right and bogged down elsewhere – apart from losses to the 27e Ligne as a result of a fire-fight near the town, the French were unshaken. Cotton, realistically, withdrew at around 4pm, his Portuguese cavalry covering the retreat.

Orders of Battle

Anglo-Portuguese Army (part) – Lt Gen Sir Stapleton Cotton

6th Division – Maj Gen Henry Clinton:
Hulse’s Bde – 1/11th, 2/53rd & 1/61st Foot, plus converged light cos with 1 coy 5/60th Rifles
Col Hinde’s Bde – 2nd, 1/32nd & 1/36th Foot, plus converged light cos
Conde de Rezende’s Bde – 8th & 12th Portuguese (2 Bns each), 9th Cacadores
Greene’s battery, RA

Cavalry:
Le Marchant’s Bde – 3rd Dragoons, 5th Dragoon Gds
Col Otway’s Bde – 1st & 11th Portuguese Cavalry
Bull’s Troop, RHA

Total loss: 1200 infantry, 480 cavalry

French force (from Armée de Portugal ) – Gen de Divn Bertrand Clauzel

2nd Divn:
Berlier’s Bde – 25e Leger (3 Bns), 27e Ligne (2) plus battalion of voltigeurs
Pinoteau’s Bde – 50e Ligne (3), 59e Ligne (2) plus battalion of voltigeurs
15/3e Art à Pied

Cavalry:
Picquet’s Bde – 6e & 11e Dragons

Attached Reserve artillery:
10/3e & 19/3e Art à Pied

Total loss: 800 infantry, 120 cavalry

[The action was played out with standard CCN rules – 5 command cards each, Allies moved first, 7 Victory Banners for the win]

Aftermath: Cotton obliged to retreat over the hills to Orense, which manoeuvre had been abandoned two weeks earlier as a result of wintry weather. The loss to his army was not disastrous, and Cotton extracted his force with some skill, but there is severe criticism of poor decision making and general timidity of the attacks. Wellington’s political situation will suffer further as a result of the action, which is unfortunate since the combat was something of an accident, Wellington himself was not present, his appointed subordinate commander conducted himself reasonably well and the army is not mortally damaged. When news of this episode reaches London, there will once again be a clamour for Wellington to be replaced. Sir Henry Paget is widely tipped as his successor.

[Game went well – the Victory conditions should probably have been set higher – Allies lost 7-3 on Victory Banners, but their position was far from hopeless at this point. My thanks to Kieran and Nick for helping out with the battle – total time elapsed was a little under 3 hours, which is very good considering that Kieran was new to the rules and needed some instruction as we went along.]

Solo Campaign - Week 8

Wellington's Logistics Train in trouble on the retreat from Benavente

Week 08

Random Events

Nothing new. There was a scare about a potential typhus outbreak in the French force at Burgos, but it came to nothing.  

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 5, French 4 – Allies elect to move first.

Moves

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – A (Wellington) holds position at Lugo, to allow the troops to rest – Group is still Out of Supply, and thus is not allowed monthly reinforcement phase, but they lose their Tired status – since still Demoralised (see last week), this Group will again require to be tested for desertion and sickness (see below)...

2 – Sp B (Espana) marches over the rough road from Zamora to Orense, this requires a test...

2D3 = 4 +2 (Espana’s rating) -1 (winter conditions) -1 (brown road) = 4    - this result means that the Group completes the march but is Tired

3 – E (Cotton) also marches over the rough road from Zamora to Orense, test is as follows:

2D3 = 2 +2 (Cotton’s rating) -1 (winter conditions) -1 (brown road) = 2   - this result means that the Group has to abandon the march, and is Demoralised (see below for sickness & desertion)

4 – Fortress of Elvas is garrisoned with a force (F) of 4000 Portuguese militia with artillery

5 – Fortress of Almeida is garrisoned with a force (G) of 4000 Portuguese militia with artillery

[Intelligence step –

• Nothing new – no scouting orders]

 

French (4 allowed)

1 – H (Clauzel, with his own Divn, Piquet’s dragoons and the reserve artillery) marches 1 step from Valladolid to Salamanca

 [Intelligence step -

• No scouting orders]

Supplies and Demoralisation

Anglo-Portuguese Group A (Wellington, at Lugo) is Demoralised since he is Out of Supply until Week 09.

Demoralisation tests result in a block/base being lost to sickness and desertion for the following units:

2/24^th Ft, 2/58^th Ft, Combined Lt Coys of Blantyre’s Bde, 1^st Line Bn KGL, 74^th Ft, 1/88^th Ft, 1/9^th Ptgse, 2/21^st Ptgse, 2^nd Lt Bn KGL, 51^st Ft, 1^st Dgns KGL, 2^nd Dgns KGL. Wellington’s force thus lost a further 1935 infantry and 240 cavalry.

Anglo-Portuguese Group E (Cotton) was forced to abandon the march through the hills to Orense, and as a consequence are Demoralised. Losses through desertion and sickness are relatively light – 1 block/base lost by each of 1/8^th Ptgse, 2/12^th Ptgse, 11^th Ptgse cavalry – a total of 400 infantry, 120 cavalry.

This is the weekend nearest to 15^th March, so potential replacements and troops returning to duty from hospitals are rolled for:

Spanish Group B (Espana) gained no extra troops.

French Group N (Marmont) gained blocks/bases as follows:

2/69e (+2), 1e Leg Esp (Castilla), 1/2e Esp (Toledo), 2/2e Esp (Toledo), Regt Royal-Etranger (+1 each), 1/3e Italien (+2), 2/3e Italien, 1/5e Italien, 2/5e Italien, Lanciers de la Vistule (+1 each) – total addition is 2200 infantry, 120 cavalry.

French Group H (Clauzel) – 3/25e Leger and 2/50e each +1 = +400 infantry

French Group S (Jourdan) – 1/2e Nassau, 2/2e Nassau and Regt de Francfort each +1 = +600 infantry

Contacts

None

Narrative

Resting at Lugo after their defeat at Benavente and the harsh retreat over the hills in difficult winter conditions, Wellington’s force, being in very short supply until wagons could reach them from the new depot at Vigo, lost a further 2175 men to sickness and desertion. To make matters worse, since they were Out of Supply, they were not in a position to receive the monthly intake of recoveries and replacements.

The Spanish 3^rd Army (Espana) and Cotton (with the Allied 6^th Division and about half the Anglo-Portuguese cavalry) had a very severe march from Zamora to Orense, through bad weather on poor roads. Espana’s men made it with some difficulty (arriving Tired), but Cotton’s force were forced to abandon the march and return to Zamora, arriving demoralised and lucky to lose only 520 men on the road – the Portuguese troops were most badly affected. Cotton’s force was unable to receive any recoveries or replacements for the month, as a result of being demoralised and disordered on the march.

Clauzel, with his own division of the Armee de Portugal plus a brigade of dragoons, advanced across the Duero from Valladolid to Salamanca, thus cutting the Allied forces under Espana and Cotton off from Ciudad Rodrigo.

The French army received replacement troops and returns from hospital as follows:

Marmont (at Leon) – 2200 infantry, 120 cavalry

Clauzel (now at Salamanca) – 400 infantry

Jourdan (at Madrid) – 600 infantry

There are rumours that Wellington may be recalled to Britain, and replaced – a number of successors have been mentioned. As official 2-i-c, Beresford would expect to assume command, but there is talk of Sir Henry Paget...

A suggestion that Marmont be created Prince de Benavente for his victory was not well received by the Emperor – his exact words are not recorded, but something to the effect that he might be able to overlook one of Marmont’s past errors in consequence of this isolated success...

Solo Campaign - Week 7

In short supply in Wellington's army

[Hard-tack biscuit, in Army (L) and Navy (R) styles]

After all the fighting last week, this has been mostly a week of rest for the French, and of marching on very short rations for Wellington's force heading towards Lugo.

Week 07

Random Events

Nothing new. There will be some mutterings in the British Parliament, but nothing official.  

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 7, French 7 – since French had initiative in last week, they continue to have it – they choose to allow Allies to move first.

Moves

Allies (7 allowed)

1 – A (Wellington) completes retreat over rough roads to Lugo after defeat at Benavente. This requires a test:

2D3 = 4 +3 (Wellington’s rating -1 (army is tired) -1 (winter conditions) -1 (brown road) = 4    - this result means that the army completes the march but is Tired  - since the Army is already Tired it becomes Demoralised (see below)...

2 – having marched away from his supply route through Zamora, Wellington is now Out of Supply. One Order this week is to arrange for the Navy to ship supplies to Vigo....

3 – ...and one is for a new Supply Base to be set up at Vigo. [It will be 2 weeks – Week 09 – before supplies start to arrive by this route. This means that Force A will be Out of Supply in Week 8 also, and since this is the second such week, the Group will be Demoralised again next week.

4 – Sp B (Espana) marches from Salamanca to Zamora

5 – Similarly Ang-Port E (Cotton) makes the same march

6 – Sp D (Maceta, at Avila) rests

 [Intelligence step –

• Nothing new – no scouting orders]

 

French (7 allowed)

1 – N (Marmont) holds position at Leon, allowing Tired troops to recover

2 – L (Montfort’s brigade, at Talavera) marches 1 step to Caceres...

3 – ...and Group L is joined to K, at Caceres, all under Maucune.

4 – S (Jourdan, at Madrid) rests – thus Neuenstein’s brigade recovers.

[Intelligence step -

• No scouting orders]

Supplies and Demoralisation

Anglo-Portuguese Group A (Wellington, at Lugo) is Out of Supply until Week 09. This will cause Demoralisation next week, but the force is Demoralised this week already because of rough retreat after Benavente.

Demoralisation tests result in a further block/base being lost to sickness and desertion for the following units:

1/Coldstream Gds, 1/79^th Ft, 1/88^th Ft, Combined Lt Coys of Wallace’s Bde, 2/83^rd Ft, 2/9^th Ptgse, 1/21^st Ptgse, 2/21^st Ptgse, 11^th LD, 14^th LD, 16^th LD, 1^st Dgns KGL, 2^nd Dgns KGL, and Gardiner’s battery RA abandoned their remaining guns.

Wellington’s force thus lost a further 1500 infantry, 550 cavalry and 2 guns on the retreat, and demoralisation will continue next week..

Contacts

None

Narrative

Wellington’s defeated force suffered further during the retreat over the poor roads to Lugo. The cavalry and the artillery did particularly badly – many horses lost – and desertion, sickness and men becoming separated from their units and falling behind resulted in a further 2050 men lost in total. Gardiner’s battery, attached to the First Divn, were already in poor shape after Benavente, and had to abandon their 2 remaining guns on the road. Third Divn is temporarily commanded by Col. Wallace of the 88^th Foot in Picton’s absence – Picton has a shell splinter in his shoulder, and is expected to be fit in a few weeks. Portuguese brigade in the Third Divn and KGL brigade in the First Divn are now very much reduced in strength.

The commands of Espana (Spanish troops) and Cotton (Anglo-Portuguese 6^th Divn + much of the cavalry) marched from Salamance to Zamora, the intention being to support Wellington at Lugo.

Wellington’s force is temporarily Out of Supply, and the Navy has been ordered to ship supplies to Vigo, which becomes new Supply Base. Wellington will not receive supplies by this new arrangement until Week 9, so will continue to be Demoralised next week.

French army mostly recovering from previous exertions, though Maucune’s Divn at Caceres has called in its detached brigade and is now combined to full strength.

Solo Campaign - Battle of Benavente – 28th February 1812

It took a few days to get round to fighting this battle, so I've fallen behind the real-time calendar, not that it matters, and in any case I should be able to make up time during non-fighting weeks.

[Preamble – rules and suchlike. Even with detached forces, for this action the French army would require over 40 leaders and units in a conventional CCN game, and the Allies not much less. It is clear (to me, anyway) that such a game would be unplayable, so I used my own Grand Tactical tweaked version of CCN – first time in anger. It worked well enough, though initially it feels conceptually strange, and there are still points to be cleared up concerning the use of artillery batteries attached to infantry or cavalry brigades. Nothing arose which could not be decided as I went along, though I took a couple of notes for possible future changes – again, details only. In this amended form, the big differences in the game are that the “units” in the game become brigades, and there is no musketry fire – the game scale is reduced (increased?) to the point where musketry becomes part of melee combat. The only “ranged combat” is thus artillery fire, and the effect is greatly reduced, with batteries smaller and ranges reduced to fit the ground scale.

5 Command Cards each side, French move first throughout, 8 Victory Banners for the win.]

Narrative: Wellington, having left the Sixth Divn and much of his cavalry to cover the crossings on the Duero, marched the remainder of his army into the Leon area, to threaten Marmont’s flank and his communications through Burgos. Marmont, still with his hand forced by orders from Paris to take an aggressive stance rather than leave Castile, moved to intercept the Anglo-Portuguese army. He also left behind part of his force, under Clauzel, to cover the Duero. The pickets of the two armies made contact on the road from Salamanca to Leon, some miles north of Benavente, during the night of 27th February.

In the early morning of the 28th, Marmont found that the Allies had a fairly strong defensive position near the village of Villa Quejida, with their left flank in woods, on the bank of the (unfordable) River Esla.

Marmont had Foy’s Division from the Armee de Portugal, part of D’Armagnac’s Division from the Armee du Centre (comprising Chasse’s German brigade and St Paul’s Italians) and Guye’s Division, also from the Armee du Centre (comprising Merlin’s brigade of King Joseph’s Guard and Casapalacios’ brigade of King Joseph’s Spanish line troops). His cavalry was organised into 4 strong brigades under Montbrun, the heavy cavalry brigades commended by Pierre Boyer and Treillard, and the light by Maupoint and Curto.

Wellington, inferior in both cavalry and artillery, took a reverse slope position on the hill which dominated the area, with the Foot Guards brigade placed on an outlying hill on the right, with the artillery of the First Division. The centre was held by the brigades of Blantyre and Low from First Division, and by Halkett’s and Bernewitz’ brigades from Seventh Divn, these last two brigades being his only available designated light infantry. The lower ground near the river was held by Picton’s Third Division. The two small cavalry brigades were placed in the rear of the right flank (Anson’s light dragoons) and the centre (Bock’s KGL dragoons).

The fighting was hectic and possession of the ridge swung back and forth a few times, but the story of the battle is simply told; Marmont made early use of a Bayonet Charge Command card, and made a massive attack in the centre. The Italian brigade suffered severe losses and broke fairly quickly, but Foy’s two brigades forced their way onto the higher ground. General Picton himself brought Palmeirim’s Portuguese brigade up, after they had been delayed by Command card difficulties, and succeeded in pushing Foy’s troops back. At this point Foy received a bayonet wound in his thigh while leading the 6eme Leger, of Chemineau’s brigade, and was taken to the rear.

By this stage, the Allied infantry on the ridge were exhausted, and Foy’s men took a measure of revenge for the loss of their leader, rallying and regaining the ridge. A critical moment came when the valiant Portuguese finally gave way, Picton being seriously wounded as he attempted to rally them. On the Allied right, things were also going badly, as the Foot Guards, though in square, were broken by Treillard’s heavy cavalry, led with great courage and extraordinarily lucky dice rolls by Montbrun (in his new “Lasalle” guise). Treillard’s men, encouraged (not to say surprised) by this success, rushed on to press home a Bonus Combat (as defined in CCN), swept away Anson’s light dragoons and overran Gardiner’s foot battery. With the loss of Picton, the French now had a margin in Victory Banners of 9-4, and the day was won, the margin being officially Decisive.

OOBs

French Army – Marshal Auguste Marmont, Duc de Raguse

Gen de Divn MS Foy (w)
Brigade Chemineau – 6e leger & 69e ligne (5 bns in total)
Brigade Desgraviers – 39e & 76e Ligne (4 bns)
1 horse battery
1 foot battery

Gen de Divn D’Armagnac
Brigade Chasse – Regt de Prusse, 3e Berg, 4e Hesse-Darmstadt (4 bns)
Brigade St Paul (Italians) – 2e leger, 3e & 5e ligne (5 bns)
1 Italian foot battery

Gen de Divn N Guye
Brigade Merlin (King’s Guard) – Grenadiers, Fusiliers & Voltigeurs (5 bns)
Brigade Casapacios (Spanish) – Castilla, Toledo, Royal Etranger (4 bns)
1 horse battery (King’s Guard)

Gen de Divn Montbrun
Brigade Boyer – 15e & 25 Dragons
Brigade Curto – 3e Hussards, 13e, 22e & 26e Chasseurs a Cheval
Brigade Treillard – 13e Cuirassiers, 4e Dgns, Dragoni Napoleone, Vistula Lancers
Brigade Maupoint – 1st & 2nd Pommerian ChevauxLegers, 5e Chev-Lanciers
1 horse battery

Total 28240 men with 34 guns – loss approx 6040 men and 2 guns

Allied Army – Earl of Wellington

First Divn (Sir Thomas Graham)
Henry Campbell’s brigade – Coldstream & 3rd Foot Guards
Blantyre’s brigade – 2/24th, 1/42nd, 2/58th & 1/79th Foot
Von Low’s brigade – 1st, 2nd & 5th Bns KGL
1 foot battery

Third Divn (Sir Thomas Picton (w))
Wallace’s brigade – 1/45th, 74th & 88th Foot
John Campbell’s brigade – 2/5th, 2/83rd & 94th Foot
Palmeirim’s (Portuguese) bde – 9th & 21st Regts (2 bns each) & 11th Cacadores
1 foot battery

Seventh Divn (part) (Sir John Hope)
Halkett’s brigade – 1st & 2nd Light bns, KGL & Brunswick-Oels jaegers
Bernewitz’s brigade – 51st & 68th Foot & Chasseurs Britanniques
1 horse battery

Cavalry (George Anson)
Anson’s brigade – 11th, 14th & 16th Light Dgns
Von Bock’s brigade – 1st & 2nd dragoons, KGL

Total 23300 men with 18 guns – loss approx 7490 men and 4 guns

Both armies heavily disorganised by the action – Allies retreated towards Lugo (which is a rough road) – French remained on the field to look after their wounded and reorganise. The Allied retreat may give rise to Demoralisation, since the roads are bad, weather is still wintery, and the army is defeated and tired to start with. Will assess this in next week’s returns.

Allied position at the start, seen from their right

...and the French, from their left

Nicolas Guye, with King Joseph's Guard - the small brigades took a bit of getting used to 

Foy leads the main attack in the centre

The French attack, seen from behind the Allied position

The French move quickly to seize the initiative, thanks to favourable Command cards

Montbrun sets about the British Foot Guards on the hillock

The Allies' last hope - Picton brings in the Portuguese brigade (right side of picture)

Ouch! - MS Foy is wounded - still brings tears to my eyes thinking of it

Solo Campaign - Action at San Rafael, 27th Feb 1812

Von Neuenstein's Frankfort and Baden units calmly await the storm

General de Brigade Von Neuenstein was sent to deal with an irregular Spanish force under the command of Don Alfonso Maceta – “El Achaparrado” – which was attacking supply trains and couriers in the mountains to the north of Madrid. Von Neuenstein’s own brigade consisted of 5 battalions of troops from the Confederation of the Rhine – professional, experienced soldiers, but a long way from home and increasingly convinced that this was not their war. They were augmented by a very smart new battery of (French) horse artillery from the Madrid garrison. Von Neuenstein marched his men up into the mountains, somewhat concerned about their lack of spirit, and hoping that the inexperienced artillery would perform well if called upon to fight. The French force numbered about 4300 infantry, with the 6 guns of the horse battery.

Maceta’s men had also been on the road for a while, having marched from the Avila area. They were a mixed force, militia and volunteer units and groups of irregular partisan infantry from Avila. The total was 4700, approximately, and Maceta was not impressed when the artillery support promised by the Junta de Castilla turned out to be a half-battery of extraordinarily old and fragile-looking cannon, apparently borrowed from a museum. Better than no artillery at all, but there was no means of moving them once they had been brought into action.

The forces met in the late morning of Thursday 27th February, in a deep and rugged valley near the monastery and village of San Rafael. The unusual terrain generated some special scenario rules – a number of impassable hills were defined, but also some “severe” hills, denoted by double-height blocks and mostly topped with trees – these hills could be entered only by guerrilla infantry and the voltigeur battalion of the French brigade.

[Spanish move first, normal CCN rules, 5 Command cards in each hand, 4 Victory flags needed for a win.]

Very early, the French played a Grande Manoeuvre card and moved 4 units forward quickly, the intention being to gain a toehold in the hills and woods adjacent to the Spanish position. This did not go particularly well, since the Spanish responded with a Bayonet Charge card, which enabled them also to rush 4 infantry units forward, and also to fight with a bonus dice. Von Neuenstein’s troops on the left were caught in the open and suffered badly – the 1st Bn of the Nassauers and the combined voltigeur unit were both broken and routed, and the 2nd Bn of the Nassau unit only avoided a complete collapse of the left by taking possession of the monastery and its outbuildings.

The Spanish militia units, Maceta at their head, now showed commendable élan in the centre, committing to a bold frontal assault on the French force. This had a measure of success at first, and the Frankfurt regiment suffered considerable casualties and recoiled. Neuenstein brought up the two battalions of the 4th Baden regiment and the horse battery, and the Spanish militia and their supporting irregular bands were pushed back and broken. At the same time, a rather half-hearted attack on the monastery was stopped by the Nassauers’ disciplined fire, and the Spanish force retired, the triple-retreat rule for militia units pushing them back quickly, though their previously unengaged cavalry served to cover the retreat well. The antique guns, sadly, were abandoned.

The melee combat at the end of the action was of a very confused nature, the broken terrain and the many twisting paths appear to have caused many men to be separated from their units. The victory for the French was marginal, there was no pursuit by the victors, and many of the missing and wounded on both sides returned to the ranks during the night. On a Victory Flag count, the French won 4-3, and losses were surprisingly light considering the severity of the fighting and the very aggressive tactics of the Spanish commander. The game took about 50 minutes, representing a little over 3 hours fighting. Von Neuenstein conducted himself with great valour and calmness, fighting in the ranks with the Frankfurt unit, striving heroically to rally them when they finally broke, and then taking command of his own Badeners to win the day.

OOBs

French (from l’Armée du Centre)

Genl de Bde Von Neuenstein with his own brigade of D’Armagnac’s Divn
2nd Nassau (2 Bns), Regt de Francfort (1) & 4th Baden (2)
Masset’s battery of horse artillery (attached)

Total 4300 men with 6 x 6pdr guns

Spanish

Don Alfonso Maceta with a mixed force of militia units, volunteers and irregular partidas, with a half battery of irregular artillery provided by the Junta de Castilla

Total 4700 men, including 350 irregular cavalry, with 3 guns

The French lost 1050 men killed and wounded, from the Nassau and Frankfort units, and from the brigade’s voltigeur battalion, which last was pretty much destroyed.

The Spanish, by the time runaways and detached stragglers had rejoined, were reported to have lost only around 800 men, though Neuenstein claimed that the Spanish losses were at least 2000 men. The Confederation troops took a number of standards – mostly informal flags abandoned by the irregulars, and captured 3 very dilapidated 4pdr guns.

General view at the outset, French on the right hand side

The artillery unit provided by the Junta was not what had been hoped for...

1st Bn of the Nassauers caught in the open by the quick Spanish attack

The 2nd Bn, more sensibly deployed next to the monks' vegetable plot

Capt Masset's horse artillery unit

The Spanish attack runs out of momentum while the Frankfurters run out of men...

General view of the Spanish attack

Solo Campaign - Week 5 & part of Week 6

Two weeks' manoeuvring and I have two battles to fight - one big'un, one tiddler. I'll insert the batreps when I've fought them. This post has now been edited to include a photo of the map - the map shows the position around 27th of the month - before resolution of combats.

Week 05

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 4, French 3(!), so Allies have initiative. From this week, modification to rules requires a specific Order for scouting of adjacent Areas to take place, apart from Spanish irregulars, who will always scout without orders.

Moves

Allies (4 allowed)

1 – A (Wellington) at Salamanca divides to split off new Group E (Cotton – with Sixth Division and Le Marchant’s and Otway’s (Ptgse) cavalry bdes)

2 – A (Wellington) marches 1 step from Salamanca to Zamora...

3 – ...and forced-marches from Zamora to Leon, which requires a test:

2D3 = 6 +3 (Wellington’s rating) -1 (forced march) -1 (winter conditions) = 7     which is OK – great marching!

4 – Sp B (Espana) marches from Zamora to Salamanca, to reinforce E

 [Intelligence step –

• Nothing – no scouting orders]

French (3 allowed)

1 – N (Marmont) holds position at Valladolid – order to hold position allows tired troops in Foy’s Divn to recover

2 – N (Marmont) sends scouting patrols from Valladolid into Leon

3 – S (Joseph/Jourdan) at Madrid scout area of Avila

 [Intelligence step -

• Br A (Wellington) and Fr N (Marmont) both have cavalry – thus Marmont receives Fragmentary Report – he is aware that there are now enemy forces at Leon, but has few details
• Fr S (Joseph/Jourdan) at Madrid has no cavalry – Sp D at Avila has irregular infantry and some cavalry, so French have No Information about forces in Avila, other than the fact that Spanish mounted guerrilleros have been seen there]

Supplies

No supply problems, all LoC open and defended.

Contacts

None.

Random Events

None.

Narrative

Detaching Cotton with a division of infantry and two cavalry brigades to cover the Duero crossings, and reinforcing them with Espana’s Spanish force, Wellington force-marches the remainder of his army through Zamora to Leon, threatening Marmont’s right flank and (by a potential move through Sahagun) his rear and his line of supply through Burgos.

Joseph is concerned that sending so many troops to reinforce Marmont at Valladolid has left the Madrid area vulnerable to attacks by the irregular troops of the Junta de Castilla, who have forces at both Avila and Ocana. He is short of cavalry, and spies sent into Avila have not reported back – perhaps they are roasting over a fire somewhere. The separate irregular Spanish forces may not join together, but will share intelligence, and all Spanish irregulars always have good information about neigbouring areas.

Foy’s infantry (with Marmont at Valladolid) have recovered from their fast tour of Central Spain.

You want the artillery up where?

Week 06

Random Events

French again get interference from Paris – once again an instruction that the army needs to be more aggressive, this applying to the most obvious critical area (“dice if in doubt which one” – can’t believe the Emperor really said stuff like that?). Marmont’s situation in Valladolid is pretty much self-evidently the hot spot. Since he is not sure what force is in Leon, he would prefer not to attack at present, but needs a test to ignore the instruction. The test requires him to add his rating (3) to 2D3. A total of 7 or better and he can choose to ignore the instruction – 6 or less and he has to comply.

In fact he throws 3, so the total of 6 means he has to attack if he can.   

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 5, French 7, so French have initiative and choose to move first.

Moves

French (7 allowed)

1 – N (Marmont) splits off new Group H (Clauzel – with his own division, Picquet’s dragoon bde and the reserve arty) – this group is to hold the bridges on the Duero at Toro (Valladolid)

2 – N (Marmont) takes the rest of his army from Valladolid to attack the allied force in Leon. [Intelligence step -

• Marmont is aware that there is a major Allied force at Leon, but underestimates strength]

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – A (Wellington) at Leon also underestimates opposing force, so opts to stand firm – specific Order allows selection of ground

2 – Sp D (mixed irregular force under Don Alfonso Maceta – “El Achaparrado) moves from Avila into Madrid Area to attack French Group S

[Intelligence step –

• Nothing new – no scouting orders]

Supplies

No supply problems, all LoC open and defended.

Contacts

Two.

(1) French Group N (Marmont), with a total of 28240 men, marches along the only good road from Valladolid to Leon, passing through Benavente. On the night of Thursday 27^th February the French army camps around Benavente, while Wellington, with 23300 men, is camped in the area around Villamandos, with his advanced outposts at Villaquejida. Shortly after daybeak, the Allied army takes a defensive position in an area of rolling hills to the south-east of the little village of Villaquejida. Their left flank is on thick woods on the bank of the River Esla, which is not fordable. The so-called Battle of Benavente takes place on Friday 28^th, the weather is cold but dry and there is a slight mist, which disappears as the sun comes up.

(2) Spanish Group D (Maceta) have established themselves in the mountains near Guadarrama, where they are causing havoc for French communications and supply trains. Marshal Jourdan sends the Badener, General Von Neuenstein, up into the mountains to deal with this problem. Neuenstein’s brigade is all German – the 2^nd Nassau, Regt de Frankfort and the 4^th Baden – a total of 5 battalions plus a small unit of the converged voltigeur companies. He also has a battery of French horse artillery from the Madrid reserve – all told, some 4300 men with 6 guns. Maceta has around 4700 – including a few cavalry – plus a volunteer company of foot artillery. The Spanish troops are well suited to the rocky terrain, but they include a number of units of infantry supplied by the local partidas who have little experience of formal combat.

The troops meet in very hilly ground near San Rafael around midday on Thursday 27^th. There is some snow, but not enough to hinder movement.

Narrative

Reports for the actions at Benavente and San Rafael will appear as soon as they have been fought. The Benavente combat appears to be too large for normal CCN rules, so will use the Grand Tactical variant.

Solo Campaign – Questions from the Floor

I received a couple of emails about my solo Peninsular War campaign, in particular one from Francis (who, alarmingly, is thinking of maybe basing a solo campaign of his own on what I am doing), which asked some very perceptive questions, and reminded me that a few things here are maybe not obvious to anyone other than myself, and there are quite a few things I hadn’t thought of!

The main questions were:

(1) Are there some strategies at work here, or are the armies just blundering about the map, making it up from move to move?

(2) How do the Intelligence rules work?

(3) Is this really a solo game, or are you scripting it to keep it interesting?

(4) What happens when Groups meet in one of the Areas?

First thing to own up to is that, since this is a solo effort, and a new activity for me, I am going to massage it a little if I need to, to keep things reasonable and make it worth continuing. Some of the rules are evolving (which means that if they are not working I will drop them or change them on the fly).

Here’s an attempt to answer Francis’ questions – the photo of the map in the previous post might help make sense of all this.

(1) Strategies

The starting position was loosely derived from the actual historical situation in January 1812 – I took a number of liberties to avoid being forced down the acting-out-strict-history route, such as handing Ciudad Rodrigo to the Allies, and I limited the campaign area on the map to keep the thing playable in terms of the available troops in The Cupboard and the amount which my poor old brain can cope with. I am beginning to regret putting Galicia (top left corner) out of bounds, since it may be the only way for the French to provide any threat at all against Portugal – I may reconsider this...

Strategy, both initial and developing, is mostly a question of looking at the map, considering any standing orders, how much each commander knows of the true position (and this bit isn’t working brilliantly), what they would be likely to do, and throwing dice to choose between options where necessary. I also have a vague collection of random Events which can affect things, and the most useful innovation has been occasionally to ask someone else what they think. Naturally I usually ignore the input, but it is a useful sounding board! If all else fails, of course, I shall make it all up on the spot – why else would anyone play a solo campaign?

The chief strategy for both armies is really to destroy the enemy army – there are some technicalities like capturing Lisbon or getting the French out of Castilla, but the reality is that the French will not get anywhere near Lisbon unless something pretty awful happens to the Allied army, and the only way the French will pull out of Castilla is if they become too weak to hold it. The border forts are a major obstacle – the French objective at the start was to get Wellington to spread his forces too thinly (e.g. siege at Badajoz and a separate force in the Salamanca area), and destroy the bits in detail – this requires the French to optimise the grouping of their own forces, without leaving the key supply route from France (and now Sevilla) unprotected.

The French plan has not been helped by their unsuccessfully attacking Espana at Zamora – an action which was not at all necessary.

Wellington’s strategy initially was to do something about Badajoz, attack any French army which is small enough to make a likely prospect, and attempt to cut the supply through Pamplona and Burgos and Valladolid. Groups without supply risk the dreaded Demoralisation, which can melt away an army through desertion and sickness, particularly in mountainous (non-fertile) areas, and particularly in winter. Also, Groups which are not In Supply do not get their monthly injection of reinforcements and replacements.

After 4 weeks, with some cajoling from Paris, Marmont has now fallen back to the line of the Duero near Valladolid, taken in reinforcements from outlying parts of his Armee de Portugal and the Armee du Centre, and has his supply route from Bayonne protected. After his defeat at Corrales, his original plan was to fall back to Burgos, but the pursuit has been less vigorous than he expected and the reinforcement has been quicker than it might have been. He now has something like parity of numbers with Wellington's army. Wellington can only feasibly cross the Duero at Toro, a position which the French have well defended. There is a lesser road across country to Tordesillas, but I have assumed it would not be practicable in February – it’s Toro or nothing.

Wellington might have done well to attack the retreating Marmont at Salamanca before the French supports were available, and before Marmont crossed the Duero. He did not because of a dice throw, and also (partly) because I was a bit concerned the campaign would be over in a few weeks! As things stand after 4 weeks, he will not risk attacking Marmont in his current position - he has no superiority of numbers now, and the river is a major obstacle. He could make some movement to his left, through Zamora to Leon, but this would remove or weaken the force separating Marmont from Ciudad Rodrigo and the Portuguese border. Or Wellington could move to his right, through Avila, threatening Madrid, but the roads are not good, and the French could cover that with some ease.

Wellington is some 5 weeks march from his supply base at Lisbon – an unfavourable Event could screw up his supplies very badly – and he is thinking of falling back to Almeida and Abrantes, where he would be close enough to the border to react to any initiative the French might take, and where he presents a threat to Badajoz, and wait for better weather (Spring starts in April!).

Yes, it is a bit vague – I agree.

(2) Intelligence

The answer to “how does this work?” might currently be “not as well as I hoped”. There are a couple of the random Events which influence this – captured orders, the activities of spies and partisans – but mostly I have lifted the Scouting & Intelligence rules from Battle Cries, the unpublished campaign system for Battle Cry. I have recently tweaked this yet again – rather than talk around it, here is the current version from my draft rules:

8.0 Scouting & Intelligence

This is an optional addition to the rules. Groups on the map will be aware of each other to varying degrees. When they need to know who is near them, their knowledge will be based on reports which may be of 4 types:

8.1 Types of Reports: There are four types of intelligence reports (No Information, Fragmentary, Partial, and Detailed) that can be obtained by scouting and other information gathering.

8.1.1 No Information: The Group is unaware of the enemy’s presence.

8.1.2 Fragmentary Report: The report merely indicates the presence of an enemy and, if D6 > 3, the identity of one (screening) unit – dice for which. Overall details of Group strength, name of commander and type of troops are not known.

8.1.3 Partial Report: Report reveals presence of enemy, and reports the strength as [2D3]/4 of true strength. Also identity of one (screening) unit – dice for which. No details of commander.

8.1.4 Detailed Report: Accurate estimate of enemy strength, plus the name of the commander.

8.2 Effectiveness of Intelligence: Only Areas that are connected by roads can be scouted by Combat Groups. The following five sources provide (or influence) intelligence reports on enemy movements. In the event that more than one Report can be given on an Area, the most informative report will be employed.

8.2.1 Combat Groups with No Cavalry and with no Irregular Infantry: The Combat Group gets a Fragmentary Report on adjacent Areas.

8.2.2 Combat Groups with Cavalry or Irregular Infantry: The Combat Group gets a Partial Report on all adjacent Areas unless the Area has enemy cavalry or irregulars located in it. In that case a Fragmentary Report is issued in its place.

8.2.3 Cavalry Combat Groups (including scouting patrols): all-Cavalry Combat Groups get a Detailed Report on all adjacent Areas unless the Area has enemy cavalry in it. In that case a Partial Report is issued instead. In addition, a Partial Report is issued for all Areas that are two Steps away, unless that Area has enemy cavalry in it. In that case a Fragmentary Report is issued instead.

8.2.4 Civilian Sympathies: Because of the anti-French stance of local citizens and partisans, the Allied/Spanish side always gets Reports enhanced by one status level (thus a Fragmentary Report is upgraded to Partial, etc), while French Groups in “brown” Areas have their Reports degraded by one level (a Fragmentary Report becomes No Information).

8.2.5 Naval Patrols: In addition to land-based scouting, the British Navy can obtain a Fragmentary Report on any Area which is a Port.

(3) Scripting or not

I think I’ve probably answered this – it is amusing to add extra details to the narrative of why something happened, though it shouldn’t distort anything. If the survival of the campaign requires a bit of distortion, however, I’ll probably go for it...

(4) Inside Areas

To keep the game simple, the Areas on the map are big – they may be named after a city which is contained in them, but there’s a whole pile of countryside in there too. It’s also necessary for me to remember that the map is merely a representation – however it looks, there is no land between the Areas, and the roads simply show how the Areas are connected.  Areas are roughly classed as rugged or not (brown or green), which will influence the terrain on any battlefield, but the main job when contacts occur is to get a detailed map out and see what is what. I have modern maps, but the most valuable resource is the reproduction of the contemporary map from Foy’s Histoire de la Guerre de la Peninsule sous Napoleon (1827) – this map is also reproduced, in sections, in Napoleon’s War in Spain by Henri Lachouque, and probably elsewhere.

The old map shows the roads as they were at the time, especially the river crossings. A bit of reasoning will identify suitable battlefields, and the trusty dice will clarify areas of doubt! Oman – or any other military appraisal – also provides invaluable analysis of the geography, and there’s a pile of useful stuff in Marmont’s memoirs and Wellington’s Despatches, so I get a lot of fun reading out of this aspect, which, now I think about it, might not work so well with an opponent, unless an umpire did the study and the set-up!