Home Brewed Flags - Spanish Cavalry

Since my newly arrived Spanish light cavalry units have standard bearers - which is extremely unusual for my Napoleonic cavalry - I've had to make an effort to find out a bit more about the subject.

After an amusing afternoon playing around with PaintShop Pro, I've produced a couple of original efforts. I am not overly thrilled by the quality, but I believe that the real things were about 85cm high - you may include or exclude the fringes as you wish - so at approximately 1/72 scale they should print up OK. If they are of interest, please feel free to download and use them, but bear in mind that they are pretty much guesswork. The first one bears the arms of Merida (a town in Estremadura) and the second the royal seal of Ferdinand VII.

If anyone wishes to come up with the genuine regimental standard of the Husares de Estremadura and the Cazadores Voluntarios de Espana then I'll be delighted to use those instead!

Just Like Christmas

Since it would be churlish to comment on the fact that it took Royal Mail’s guaranteed-next-day Special Delivery service two days to get the thing here, I shall simply state that I was very pleased to get a parcel this morning from Norfolk. Inside were all sorts of good things – converted Hinton Hunt models, the work of the esteemed Pete Bateman, and all for my Peninsular War armies.

There is something very pleasing about good conversions based on Hinton Hunt figures – I don’t have a great many, but they always feel like the sort of thing a proper wargames army should have (strong echoes of Peter Gilder), they bring a unique element and some welcome variety to the forces in The Cupboard, they provide troop types which otherwise would not be available and – especially if they are the work of someone with a lot more skill than I have – they are interesting and good to look at. Also, because this lot are individually converted, heads are all at slightly different angles and each figure is a character in his own right.

I’ve started basing and organising the new arrivals, and here’s some early results, which I’m very happy with. I have two new light cavalry units for the Spanish army, which fill a very prominent gap in the OOB. [Please note that my artificial light photos have started washing out red tones again – the paint is much brighter than this, and the reds are RED.] The horsemen in green are the Voluntarios de Espana, who, despite their name, are an old-established unit of regular Cazadores a Caballo. The other fellows are the Husares de Extremadura, formerly known as the Husares de Maria Luisa – I have no idea why they changed their name – maybe Maria Luisa lost them at cards. Both these units fought throughout the war, and they are presented here with hats which would fit any period from 1810 onwards. They have no flags yet, but I’m working on it.

There are also some cheerfully eccentric Spanish staff figures...

...and an interesting custom figure for General Von Neuenstein, who commanded a Confederation brigade in the Armée du Centre. Von Neuenstein is, authentically, wearing the uniform of a general officer of the Duchy of Baden – HH enthusiasts will spot that part of him may have been Russian in a previous existence!

Tomorrow, time permitting, there are some artillery and logistics items to sort out, so this is a particularly good parcel. Unpacking this lot has been just like Christmas...

More Spanish Thoughts - Milicias Urbanas

With thanks to everyone who offered comments and email advice following my last rambling post, I am pleased to report that I think I may have made some progress. Perhaps.

The first, and probably most significant, point is that my Spanish army is a fair size already, so any infantry I add to it is just organic expansion rather than any major change in the Grand Plan – or it may just be completing some missing bits from the Grand Plan.

I acquired the unpainted bicorne troops along the way – some NapoleoN, some Falcata, and I have access to more Falcatas if I need them. My 1812-style army currently has, I reckon, 11 battalions of troops which would not sit comfortably with any white-coated 1808 types.

So big idea No.1 was let’s paint up 11 or so battalions of bicornes, and then I can field an 1808 or an 1812 army by switching the line infantry. Cool, eh? This is very attractive, but has two downsides:

(1) I would need to get in a lot more bicorne soldiers to make up this amount – the project just grew arms and legs. A bit like building a second house to get rid of half a dozen bricks you found in the garden.

(2) There is the issue of inconsistency with the dating of the other Peninsular armies which I mentioned previously.

So, somewhat reluctantly, I have moved on to not-quite-so-big idea No.2. This is to identify units which might reasonably have been seen in bicornes in 1812, and add them to the army I already have. Further research indicates that the Milicias Urbanas might be just the boys. The JM Bueno picture at the top, admittedly, shows uniforms from 1808, but it seems these chaps looked like this for much of the war. There was a variety of uniforms for the various towns and cities, but all along this general style. We might debate how far from home some of these units might be deployed, but they certainly saw plenty of active service. The Milicias Urbanas of Ciudad Rodrigo, for example (and not unreasonably), were present at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (the French being the besiegers), and were dressed identically to the Madrid soldier pictured in the last post.

The Milicia Urbana are necessarily going to be poor quality troops, which frequently adds to their unpredictability and entertainment value on the tabletop, and they also seem to have had interesting flags. My current thinking, then, is that I have (or can easily scratch together) enough figures for about 4 battalions of MU, plus associated skirmishers, and thus I can run up an extra brigade for Morillo’s Division. If they only do garrison duties, that should still get them a few outings. I think I’ll go with this.

Strangely, for such a vague decision, I feel quite comforted. Having made a choice, I don’t actually have to do anything about it for a while. But at least the things I am not doing will be different things. I am reminded of the bit in Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf where the main character decides he will commit suicide, but that there is no rush – the decision is an end in itself...

Spanish Thoughts

1812 Spaniards in bicornes?

As ever, I find myself going about with a head full of plenty of half-formed ideas, but very little that is clear enough to do much about. It helps when a particular thread is hit simultaneously from two different directions – then there is an implication that a bit more focus is needed.

Napoleonic Spain is one such area at the moment. I had another friendly poke from Martin by email, asking me when the solo campaign is going to come out of the freezer and get moving again – which is a good question, pertinent, even, and I shall come back to this in a moment – and then I was doing some more clearing of the spares boxes and I came back to the old question of what am I ever going to do with my 1808-style Spanish infantry. Let’s have a look at this second bit first, just to be awkward.

I have a fair mound of unpainted Baylen-period Spaniards with nothing to do. Because my French and Anglo-Portuguese Peninsular armies are dressed for the later stages of the war (originally because of availability of figures, but now simply because that is what I have, and the momentum is established), it made sense to add Spanish forces from the same period, so my Spanish Nationalist line infantry have the post-1811 British style uniform. Blue jackets and shakos and all that. A sprinkling of white-clad chaps from 1808, in bicornes, in what was an old fashioned uniform even in 1808, would not sit well. They might look nice, but the anachronism would grate with me. Mind you, they would look nice...

This is how it always goes. This is not helped by the fact that my existing army contains a good proportion of milicias and voluntarios in round hats, not to mention guerrilleros, all of whom could be comfortably wheeled out at any date from 1808 onwards. Which, in turn, got me thinking that maybe I could make up some 1808 line units which could be combined with the irregulars to make an alternative Spanish army, for earlier in the war. Hmmm.

Mind you, they would have to fight Frenchies, some of whom are wearing distinctly 1812-style uniforms – I could just about live with that. But then, if they fought alongside the Brits, there are a good few of those who are straight from Waterloo, and that would be upsetting. Worst of all, I would have difficulty combining the two alternative Spanish armies into one big one for special occasions, which you can see would be a disappointment at a more childish level.

The alternative approach is to go back to studying the various books and bits and pieces and see if I can identify any units in bicornes which could justifiably be added to the existing 1811-12 army. JM Bueno’s Uniformes Espanoles de la Guerra de Independencia is always a treasure trove, and I turned up various odd militia units raised from colleges and academies who seem to have dressed in a rather outdated style, but they may be a bit rarefied. They might have been drinking clubs rather than regiments (no – I don’t mean it, I’m sure these guys fought like heroes).

The two Bueno pictures at the top of this post look more promising. The soldier on the left is from the Milicia Nacional Urbana de Madrid of 1812 – apparently, as soon as the French evacuated Madrid following the Battle of Salamanca, the local movers and shakers raised 8 battalions, no less, of these fine chaps, plus an attractive-looking unit of cavalry. Now you’re talking. Unfortunately, JJ Sanudo’s database of service records makes no mention of such a unit (or maybe I just missed it), so maybe they were disbanded, smartish, when Wellington went back to Portugal after Burgos. The jury is out on the Madrid boys – they are interesting, though.

The other soldier is from the line battalions of the Voluntarios Distinguidos of Cadiz. He is in parade dress, but apparently this unit was dressed like this throughout the war, and they have a very long and worthy record in Sanudo. They look good, too, eh? Sadly, they were, of course, rather stuck, not to mention besieged, in Cadiz, and would not be a convincing addition to an army in Castile. I am continuing to ponder the matter. There must have been other, similar, units which I could utilise.

The solo campaign. I have waffled on about how I was disappointed with some aspects of how the rules worked, and have been gently accused of putting the campaign on hold in a fit of petulance, which I would protest is only partly true. The campaign had reached an interesting phase, and I am determined to get back to it when the Autumn comes (which may mean when the lawns no longer need cutting). It would certainly be a pity to abandon it, and I have received an extra boost from the imminent arrival of some Spanish light cavalry (at last!), and a couple of new general figures, of which you will hear more. Admittedly, the acquisition of new toy soldiers does not make a very good reason to fire up the campaign again, but it all helps. Watch this space.

There you go – another entire blog post which doesn’t quite say anything.

My Peninsular War Armies - Spanish Nationalist

One outstanding gap in my occasional series of Team Photos is the Spanish Nationalist army. This picture has been long-promised, but has never appeared in a decent form because I am always waiting to fill some conspicuous vacancy or other.

Well, here they are - circa 1811 or thereabouts, as of today. I am still short of a few generals, a little cavalry and (of course) a few limbers, but not far off at all now.

The structure is based on two infantry divisions, each consisting of two brigades of regulars plus one of volunteers and militia. The cavalry is short of a couple of units, which are likely to end up as some form of variegated hussars (though they will probably be nominally cazadores or mounted grenadiers). To the right of the rather informal collection of cavalry you see a couple of brigades of full irregulars (and fine chaps they are).

This, then, gentlemen, is my Spanish army, and I would certainly not recommend anyone to smirk at them too lightly...

Coraceros

The refurbished Minifigs OPC cuirassiers are now repainted as the Coraceros Espanoles, and seem quite cheerful about the change of nationality after some 45 years being French. They will never be beautiful figures, but they are businesslike and will give the Spanish army some much-needed heavy horses. Since they don't have the trademark sticking-out horizontal tail, I think these are not Alberken, but they are definitely some form of 20mm Minifigs casting, and they are early enough to have horses that look like Hinton Hunt horses. The trumpeter is a broken cuirassier trooper with an arm-graft from a Kennington figure - not a prize nomination, but he will be fine.

Working with figures as old as this is interesting - the relative lack of detail in the castings, yet the satisfying vigour in the poses. It seems a little incongruous to have troops like these on the same table as Art Miniaturen and NapoleoN, but it works without problems. Like all well-behaved one-piece cavalry, these little chaps are determinedly holding their swords along the plane of the mould join, for reasons which are not aesthetic, but I was reluctant to try doing much bending and re-animating, since I have previous in the specialist field of breaking old figures.

Anyway, they are off to live in Spanish Nationalist Box File No.5, and will be ready for heroics when required.


The new pots are an improvement? Discuss...

My painting reminded me of my puzzlement over the new-generation pots from Citadel. Never mind the change of naming - I had only just got used to Snot Green and now they have got Miss Bentham's class at Beaconsfield Primary to rename the entire range during their lunch break. My real problem is I don't see how the new pots are an improvement. The old ones give you a nice little palette in the underside of the lid when you open them, the new ones don't - I am not sure how you are supposed to use these.

I'm not sure, but I think that some of the earliest of the new pots I bought had a thin tongue of plastic which clicked into place and held the pot open in a helpful manner, but none of the pots now seem to have this, so maybe I imagined it. I attempted to build a scaffold out of BlueTac to hold the pot with it's lid open wide, but the scaffold was several times the weight of the pot, and there was a close call when everything slipped and I nearly got crimson paint all over my desk, so I've abandoned that idea.

By the way, something weird seems to have happened to Blogger this morning - embedding pictures and so on uses different screens, and there is a lot less control. Not to worry - musn't grumble.

Solo Campaign - Action at Martin de Yeltes

The 11th Portuguese Cavalry watch as the French enter the valley

It took me a while to recover from the family goings-on at Christmas and set up the wargames table, but I have now fought the little conflict between the two advance guards. I shall publish the revised returns taking account of this action after the next map moves.

Since the battle was small, and used the table lengthwise, I used a modified version of CCN - replacing the Command Cards system with a dice-driven activation system which I have used before and which worked pretty well.

The Allies won rather easily, and there was a cameo appearance by a Major Sharpe of the 95th, who commanded a provisional brigade composed of detached light-company men of the Third Division. I was a bit embarrassed to mention this, but why not, after all?

Action at Martin de Yeltes – 30^th July 1812

The Allied advance guard, commanded by Maj.Gen Long, had been rather outmanoeuvred by a French force under Gen de Bde Pinoteau, having their right flank turned as the French crossed the little river Huebra.

Long had a brigade of King’s German Legion heavy dragoons and a brigade of Portuguese cavalry – all the cavalry being commanded by Lt.Col De Jonquières of the KGL (deputising for the wounded General Bock) – plus a provisional brigade of three “converged” battalions of light companies from the Third Division, commanded by a Major Sharpe (all right, calm down). In addition, Long had the services of Bull’s Troop, RHA. His force was near to the village of Martin de Yeltes when the French appeared on his right, around 10:30am.

Pinoteau had two battalions of the veteran 59eme Ligne, under their colonel, Nicolas Loverdo, and three regiments of cavalry – one of Chasseurs à Cheval, the Italian Dragoni Napoleone and the Lanciers de la Vistule. He also had a battery of horse artillery – that of Capt Faruse, from the artillery park of the Armeé de Portugal. His cavalry were brigaded under the command of Col. Lemoyne of the 14eme Chasseurs.

The French advanced in a businesslike column – lancers at the front, followed by the horse artillery, then the Dragoni, then Loverdo’s infantry and the Chasseurs bringing up the rear.

The 11^th Portuguese cavalry fell back in front of the French advance, and Pinoteau detached his Italian dragoons and his chasseurs to his left, to pursue them behind a small wooded ridge. Meanwhile the French infantry entered some woods on the right, with the intention of taking possession of the large farm at Santa Consuela Parlanchina.

The British light infantry took good advantage of their ability to move quickly, Major Sharpe leading two battalions into the enclosures at the farm and commencing a brisk fire fight with Loverdo’s infantry.

The French cavalry attack – which was approached with great confidence – proved to be a complete disaster. The Portuguese 11^th cavalry were joined by the 2^nd Dragoons of the KGL, and together they routed the two French units, suffering very little loss themselves. Around this time, Col Loverdo was severely wounded on the French right, and Pinoteau decided to withdraw. The fresh lancer unit were detailed to cover the retreat, but they themselves were very badly beaten by the 11^th Portuguese, and the French withdrawal became a panic. Long called off the pursuit – a move for which he was subsequently criticised – but he had won an excellent little victory.

The Rifles officer was Major Norman Sharpe, by the way.

De Jonquiere's KGL Dragoons

French advance

Dragoni Napoleone - did not impress

Lancers of the Vistula Legion

General View of the field at the start

A Thought for Today

Captain Faruse's horse battery

Pinoteau brings up his cavalry

Major Sharpe with the Light Bobs

Bull's Troop, RHA

The French take the initiative

Loverdo takes the 59eme into the woods

General view around midday

French cavalry attack the 11th Portuguese

Pinoteau watches in disbelief as his cavalry falter

Meanwhile in the woods...

Allied cavalry drive back the French

French cavalry beaten back with heavy loss

Double crossed-sabres mean that Loverdo is wounded

The Dragoni are just about still there

The Lancers cover the withdrawal...

...but not for long

OOBs

French Force – Gen de Bde Pierre Pinoteau

Infantry Bde – Col. Loverdo (59e)

59e Ligne [2 bns]

Cavalry Bde – Col. Lemoyne (14e Chasseurs)

14e Chasseurs à Cheval [3 sqns]

Dragoni Napoleone [3]

Lanciers de la Vistule [3]

Horse Artillery battery – Capt Faruse

Total force engaged 2475 men with 6 guns. Loss approx 200 infantry, 620 cavalry. Col. Loverdo was severely wounded during the firefight in the woods at Santa Consuela, and was taken prisoner.

Allied Force – Maj.Gen RB Long

Provisional Brigade – Maj. Sharpe (95^th)

3 bns of light infantry from Third Division

Cavalry Brigade – Lt.Col De Jonquières (KGL)

1^st Dragoons, KGL

2^nd ditto

1^st Portuguese Cavalry (Alcantara)

11^th ditto

Troop ‘A’, RHA – Maj. Bull

Total force engaged, approx 2300 men with 6 guns. Total loss 325 infantry, 90 cavalry.

Detail losses:

French – 2/59 (-1 block), 14e Chass, Drag Nap, Lanciers de la Vistule (-2 each)

Anglo-Portuguese – 1^st Ptgse Cav, 1^st & 2^nd Prov Lt Bns (-1 each)

Pickin’ & Scratchin’

eBay, the Spares Boxes and a Museum of Glue

Cuirassiers – maybe by Alberken – soon to have a nationality transplant

I recently won some French cuirassiers on eBay – Alberken/Minifigs 20mm OPC jobs – enough for a unit. A couple of points here in the interests of accuracy (after all, standards have to be maintained). Firstly, I am not really sure whether they are Alberken or Minifig 20 – I have read the debate about strict definitions a few times now, and sometimes I understand it, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes – like this week – I understand it but have forgotten what it says. They do not have horizontal, sticky-out tails on the horses, which suggests they are not Alberken (or not Minifig 20, perhaps?), but the horses are recognisably from the same gene pool as Hinton Hunt, so they must be pretty early Minifigs.

Secondly, since I am doing the Peninsular War (as in doing the Lambeth Walk), I already have all the cuirassiers I need – the bold 13eme, in fact. Well, the truth is that my search for suitable Spanish cavalry has become desperate enough for me to embrace the idea of recruiting the famed Coraceros Españoles. Previously I had dismissed this as something of a cop-out, but a quick study of the magnificent database of JJ Sañudo has convinced me that this was an active unit with a long and worthy war record in the relevant period. They look pretty much like French cuirassiers (most of their hardware was nicked from a French provisional regiment), but they wear red jackets with green facings. Easy peasy – this should be just a paint conversion – and my ex-eBay figures have little enough paint on them to enable me to paint over what is there. I need command figures, but the castings do not have carbines, which simplifies conversion work, so the officer will just be a trooper with a bit of extra silver paint. The trumpeter was manufactured last night. Razor saw and superglue on a broken spare figure turned his head a bit to one side and replaced his right arm with one from a spare Kennington trumpeter. The join is a little crude, to be honest, since the arms were of slightly different diameter, but some gloopy paint can hide a lot of misery. I even did a little botchy dowel jointing of the grafts with brass wire, so by the normal house standards this is almost over-engineered.

Coracero

A good wash and they’re ready for painting. However, since I’d built up a little momentum, I decided to revisit one of my plastic freezer boxes – this one is labelled Extra Chasseurs a Cheval. Inside are two batches of old Garrison line chasseurs, which are intended to be the raw material for the last two such units in my Grand Plan. I already have three regiments of chasseurs (13eme, 22eme and 26eme), but the theoretical OOB also includes the 14eme and 15eme (yes – I know) so I’ve sort of got used to the idea.

I got busy hacking flock and surplus glue off the chasseurs, checking the paint job and straightening swords and scabbards – no breakages – good so far, though I got bits of glue and stuff all over the place. It turns out that one of the batches is really pretty good – some minimal touching up and a couple of convincing command figure forgeries and they are good to go. The other batch, even after quite a lot of cleaning up,  really are not up to it. The paint job is not brilliant, and they appear to have been liberally coated with thick gloss varnish which has turned an amber colour – so a thorough strip is required. Also, close examination reveals that the horses for this batch are actually cuirassier horses, with the shabraques covered in thick cream paint. Since I have enough new, unpainted Garrison castings to make a full unit anyway, I decided to cut my losses and ditch the worse of the two old batches. I can make command figures by gluing chasseur heads onto Kennington line chevauxlegers, so I now have a detailed plan for my two proposed additional units, so that feels like progress of some sort.

I got quite interested, while I was hacking and scraping last night, with the variety of glues on display, and it got me thinking about glues in general. The figures I was working on have been fastened onto numerous generations of bases over the last 40 years or so, and the riders have been stuck back onto their horses at odd times with products ranging from Copydex to something like Uhu. The base glues included some thick, yellow slabs like barley sugar, and there were traces of Araldite, which is a sadistic thing to use to mount figures on cardboard bases.

Over the years my own favoured glues for use with toy soldiers have changed considerably. I started out using Araldite, I recall, but I was always terrified to try to heat it in case I melted the castings, so I did a lot of jobs which required 24 hours to set, with everything strapped together with wire clips and Plasticene girders. I briefly became attached(?) to Plastic Padding, which was pretty horrible stuff for small scale modelling, but had the big advantage that it set faster than Araldite.

Since then I have had occasional dalliances with the stringies, such as Uhu, which are useful for filling gaps and sticking non-flush surfaces, but almost impossible to make a neat job with. Nowadays I use two different consistencies of superglue, white PVA for base-gluing, and sometimes Serious Glue for fiddly jobs.

When I was a boy, my dad was a great glue enthusiast. We always had supplies of very earnest glues. I remember Durofix clear glue (which was like a less stringy version of Uhu), something called Croid, which had a more industrial relative named Croid Aero, which I think came in tins. There was also something very scary indeed which was in orange and blue tins (can’t remember the name), and it needed to be melted by placing the can in a pot of boiling water. It smelled like the old glue-pot stuff we used in school woodwork classes, so I guess it was derived from dead horses or similar. I’m sure modern glues are superior in many ways – a friend of mine who is a manufacturing biochemist says the best glues are American ones if you can get them, since the US is a lot more relaxed on the subject of eco-friendly solvents.

I also used to use Cascamite, a casein-based glue which you mixed with water, for joinery work. It was hard and strong if you could get it to set properly – much recommended by luthiers and the like.

Anyone remember Croid? It’s probably still on sale in B&Q, and I just haven’t noticed.

Spanish Milicias/Voluntarios

More recruits for the Spanish army - three more battalions of provincial troops, very nicely painted by Lee, ready to join with the extant Regimiento del Ribero to make a new brigade for Morillo's Division.

Here are the 1er Voluntarios de Aragon, the Voluntarios de Guadalajara and the provisional Regimiento de Cuenca (a mixture of the Cazadores de Cuenca and the militia of that town).

The castings are some more of what are likely to be very rare Falcatas - they are from my much delayed shipment of pre-production figures, and at present it looks as though full production isn't likely to happen. I quite like these little men, I have to say, whatever their pedigree, but those muskets have to be the thinnest and flimsiest yet seen on my wargames table. I have done some careful building-up of the muskets with superglue, but these guys will definitely be handled by the bases, and no mistake, and the mere fact that I have such impractical figures in use is pretty much a reflection of the fact that most of my gaming these days is solo, and casualties don't get removed. At least I'll know who to blame if they get damaged!

Solo Campaign - Weeks 27 & 28

A contemporary sketch of the landings at the Golf de Sant Jordi,

near Tortosa

A further two weeks have elapsed (slowly...) - the seaborne portion of the Spanish 3rd Army has landed safely at Tortosa, where Field Marshal Giron has assumed overall command, and united his army at Alcaniz. In theory, this constitutes a major threat to the French garrison at Zaragoza, but in fact he has no siege guns, so he may only ponder how to cross the Ebro in order to mask the place.

Detached, probing forces have come into contact on 30th July near Martin de Yeltes, on the River Huebra - I shall fight the battle next week and post the report here. I'll also publish a revised return and the up-to-date map at that point.

Week 27

Random Events and Strategic Notes

The Spanish Junta of Castile garrisons the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo with second-line troops, and Aigburth proposes to move towards Salamanca, to place an advance guard on the line of the River Huebra.

A force of 1800 civilian workmen is being sent in to repair the defences at Rodrigo.

On Monday 20^th, the British fleet transporting De Espana’s force was seen off the coast of Tarifa, and was fired on by French coastal batteries, but was well out of range. The French report the fleet as consisting of seven men-of-war, plus a great many merchant ships – possibly in excess of 50. Naval vessels recognised by the French included Inconsolable, Turbot and Sparta, all of which are known to be at Lisbon, and some of the ships are flying both British and Spanish flags.

[Rule amendment: The French are bringing up Garde Nationale and other auxiliary troops to man the fortresses in the North East – this is outside the scope of the original rules. A decision dice decrees that these troops may be used outside French territory, but – at present – only as garrison troops or to defend the frontier.]

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 5 and the French 4. The Allies opt to move first.

Moves

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – Sp B (España) are at sea, close to their destination port of Tortosa

2 – Picton (Force E) detaches a new force (H), consisting of the KGL dragoons and Otway’s Portuguese cavalry with three provisional battalions of light company troops and Bull’s Troop RHA...

3 – ...which force is ordered, under the temporary command of Maj.Gen Robert Long, to probe eastward to the line of the Huebra, between El Cubo and the area near Tamames.

4 – B (Graham) to continue to scout northwards into Orense

5 – New force of Spanish volunteers and militia (Sp J) to form new garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo (commander is General Hidalgo)

[Intelligence step -

• nothing new – minimal opposition to Long’s advance to the Huebra – French deserters in this area confirm that the army is dispirited and the withdrawal of Jourdan is seen as a betrayal.]

French (4 allowed)

1– D (Leberknoedel, with the Stralsund-Ruegen brigade) to march from Burgos to Valladolid.

2 – P (Martinelli’s brigade of Garde Nationale) to march from Tudela to Burgos (where Thiebault is to continue as governor). This is a difficult (brown) road, so the usual test is required:

2D3 = 5 +1 (Martinelli’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 5   - the march is completed, without problems

3 – R (Paquerette’s brigade of Garde Nationale) to march from Pamplona to Tudela (HQ of Armee du Nord remains at Pamplona)

4 – S (Normande’s brigade of Garde Nationale) to march from Bayonne to Pamplona  

[Intelligence step –

• No scouting orders, but Clauzel is aware that there are Allied units on the Huebra – his forces are not in a good enough state to take the offensive, and he is concerned for his hospitals at Salamanca and Alba de Tormes. He has written to both Marmont and the King to request support.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply – the movement of garrisons keeps the French supply route from Bayonne secure. French Force K is no longer demoralised.

A newly equipped (and painted) brigade of 4 battalions of Spanish volunteers (classed as militia in the CCN rules) is added to Morillo’s force (Sp C) at Alcaniz, but will not be available for combat for another week. The new units are Regimiento del Ribero (light infantry) and the volunteer regiments of 1er Aragon, Guadalajara and Cuenca. The brigade also has a new foot battery, manned by regulars. 

Contacts

Clauzel (Fr I) and Long (Ang-Port H) in Salamanca area – neither side wishes to attack at present.

Engineering at Ciudad Rodrigo (once again)

Aigburth and the Junta of Castilla have ordered the repair of the defences at Cuidad Rodrigo. A body of civilian workers is being organised (which will be equivalent to 2 bns) and will start work next week. In the meantime, the new garrison of volunteer and militia troops is put to work by the new governor, Hidalgo – they have 3 bns available. Each battalion present with the garrison rolls 1D6 each week, giving 3D6 – every 6 rolled adds 1 to the Fortress Value, which is currently 2 – aiming to be repaired to a full value of 6.  This week, the dice come up 6 2 2, so the Fortress Value is increased to 3. With the arrival of the labourers, 5D6 will be available from next week onwards.

Week 28

Random Events and Strategic Notes

Espana’s Portion of the Spanish 3^rd Army has now landed at Tortosa. One of the transport ships, the Bristol-owned Potentilla, ran aground outside the bay, but was refloated with no problems. The troops are in good shape – 15 horses became ill during the voyage and had to be shot, no other problems. Capt Thornycroft has been nominated for the Order of San Bernardino by the Supreme Junta.

Field Marshal Giron will now join the 3^rd Army, and will assume command on the East coast.

De Espana

Giron

Clauzel is still concerned that his army, while numerically appearing quite strong, has many men in hospital and many of the units are at low strength. He may require to re-organise his forces rapidly if Aigburth attacks him in the near future – this would have a good chance of demoralizing his troops. He is aware of Long’s force on the Huebra, and proposes to send a counter to this advance, to assess the strength of the Allies here. Again, he has written to Marmont and King Joseph for assistance.

The new Spanish volunteer brigade is now in the field with Morillo’s division at Alcaniz.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 4 and the French 4. Since they had the initiative last week, the Allies again opt to move first.

Moves

Allies (4 allowed)

1 – Sp B (España) now landed at Tortosa, are joined by MC Giron, who assues command...

2 – ...and Sp B is ordered to march from Tortosa to join Morillo at Alcaniz. This is a difficult (brown) road, and requires a test:

2D3 = 5 +2 (Giron’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - the march is completed, without problems

3 – B (Graham) to march northwards into Spain, from Braga to Orense. This is another difficult road, so a test is needed:

2D3 = 4 +2 (Graham’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 5   - the march is completed, without problems

4 – H (Long, at Salamanca) to scout the area.

[Intelligence step -

• Long’s cavalry find that the French around Salamanca are dispersed among the villages, but subsequently he finds himself confronted by Pinoteau’s covering force.]

French (4 allowed)

1 – New Garde Nationale force T (Momper) raised at Bayonne – 4000 men.

2 – New observing force H split from I (Clauzel) at Salamanca, to take position on the Huebra – cavalry plus 2 bns of (relatively undamaged) 59e Ligne plus a horse battery from the artillery reserve – this force commanded by Gen de Bde Pierre Pinoteau

3 – N (Marmont) to scout from Zamora towards Orense.

[Intelligence step –

• Marmont’s scouts report Graham’s force is in Orense, as expected – Marmont does not realise they have only just arrived.
• Reports of the Spanish disembarkation at Tortosa have reached Madrid – much alarm, since strength of the force is much exaggerated. King Joseph’s first reaction is to withdraw Marmont and Clauzel to Vittoria and Lodosa to avoid having their communications with France severed – Jourdan rolls a dice to talk him out of this, but there is a lot of concern that so many French regular troops are tied up in garrisons on the North coast. The French are always worried about the threat of the British navy.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply, and no-one is demoralised.

Contacts

Maj.Gen Robert Ballard Long

Gen de Bde Pierre Armand Pinoteau - he

didn't have a pointed head - this is

a photo of a portrait hanging on a wall

Pinoteau, with 2475 men, identifies that Long is detached from Aigburth’s and Picton’s main forces, and manages to turn the Allied right by crossing the Huebra at a ford near Cabrillas. The forces come into contact at Martin de Yeltes, around mid-morning on 30^th July. [The action will be reported once the battle has been fought.]

Engineering at Ciudad Rodrigo

The civilian working party is now in operation and, in addition to the garrison troops, this gives a total of 5D6 for the repair work. Each 6 rolled adds 1 to the Fortress Value, which is currently 3 – aiming to be repaired to a full value of 6.  This week, the dice come up 6 6 5 4 1, so the Fortress Value is increased to 5. General Hidalgo is delighted with progress (as he should be). 

Barba del Puerco - a Little More

Following yesterday's post about the skirmish at the bridge of Barba del Puerco, Gary very kindly sent me some photos he took when he visited the place a few years ago. Most illuminating - I took a view of the bridge from Google Earth, and I reproduce three of Gary's pictures here.

The French side would be on the upper right of the satellite view, and on the far side of the river in the photos. It is very obvious, and Gary confirms - having walked it! - that the valley side the French came up after crossing the Agueda is very steep and rocky indeed. They would not be coming up there with any kind of momentum.

Which leads me to wonder what on earth Ferey thought he was doing. If the objective was to grab the bridge and take the main advance guard by surprise up in the village overlooking the valley, then that might just have been successful, but it was not a position that could be held by anything apart from a herd of goats. If - as happened in the event - the Rifles turned out in time to catch the French on the hillside, it would not take much to roll them back down.