Solo Campaign - the Battle of Allariz

The Battle of Allariz, Friday 8th May 1812

Nicolas Guye (waving his hat) with the King's Guard at Allariz

Sir Thomas Graham, with the First and Seventh Divisions of the Allied army, plus the cavalry brigades of Von Bock (KGL Dragoons) and Col Otway (Portuguese), defended a position near the village of Allariz, close to the Portuguese border, on the road between Orense and Braga. He had a total of some 11500 men with 12 guns, and he also had available the support of a small Spanish force of good quality troops under the command of the Conde de Espana, a further 6000 men with 10 guns. Espana's troops were quartered some distance from Allariz, at Arabaldo on the River Minho, and had to march to the field to join the Anglo-Portuguese army.

In this campaign, whenever an Anglo-Portuguese force is to collaborate with a Spanish force in battle, a dice is thrown to test the level of co-ordination between the commanders. In this instance, given the distance travelled, it was determined that from the 7th turn onward, a dice would be thrown to test for the arrival of Espana. A throw of 6 would be successful arrival, and the position of arrival (left, centre, right) would also be diced for - thereafter Spanish units may be called onto the table in the requisite sector as Command Cards allowed - generals can arrive on the table attached to units.

The opposition included contingents from the Armee de Portugal (AdP), Armee du Centre (AdC) and Armee du Nord (AdN), all under the command of Marshal Marmont - a total of approximately 17850 men with 24 guns. The French were greatly superior in both cavalry and artillery. The forces met at approximately 10 o'clock, on a fine, clear morning.

[CCN stuff: Because this battle is large by normal CCN standards, I did away with the additional "converged" light battalions which I normally field for each brigade, and adopted the normal CCN rule that all light regiments on both sides are classed as LT (I usually classify French legere units as Line). Both armies had units depleted by previous campaign action - I combined the single remaining subunit of the British 51st Foot (W Yorks LI) with one of the KGL light battalions. The nature of the field can be seen in the pictures - each side received 6 cards, the French moved first, and victory was set at 9 Victory Banners. The Allies, initially, have 5 designated Leaders - Graham, Henry Campbell, Hope, Halkett, Von Bock - and the French 5 - Marmont, Foy, Guye, Montbrun, Maupoint]

Graham placed his army on a line of hills - the First Division with the artillery on his right, the Seventh Division on his left. The Portuguese cavalry was held behind his centre, the German dragoons on the right flank. Col Halkett with the 1st Lt Bn of the KGL was placed in an advanced position in a wood on the right.

Marmont had Guye's Spanish Divn, including King Joseph's Guard, on his left, with Foy's Divn of the Armee de Portugal on the right. He placed Maupoint's light cavalry on the left end of his line, and Curto's brigade of light cavalry on the right, while Montbrun had personal command of the heavy cavalry in the centre.

Aware that De Espana's Spanish force was on the way, Marmont commenced a very vigorous attack on the Allied left (including a Bayonet Charge Command Card). Chemineau's brigade took heavy losses in this attack [and after 3 turns they were 3-1 down on Victory Banners], but eventually pushed Hope's men off the ridge [making good use of Combined Arms attacks using infantry with horse artillery]. While this was proceeding, Von Bock got involved in a bloody and unnecessary fight with the French cavalry on the opposite flank. The French 5e Chevauxlegers-Lanciers [who may not have existed in May 1812?] performed very poorly, and were resoundingly defeated in a single charge, but the two light units of the Duchy of Stralsund-Ruegen rescued the situation for the French, and after a long and fierce struggle they eliminated the KGL dragoons - Von Bock was mortally wounded during this action.

As the Allied left gave way, Montbrun attacked their centre with the bulk of the cavalry - this started badly, as the 13e Cuirassiers were shattered by fire from MacDonald's Troop of RHA, but the 25e Dragons, supported by Curto's light cavalry, routed Otway's Portuguese horse and swept round behind the end of the line of the Allied First Division. At this point, very belatedly, the Allies finally managed to roll a 6 to cue the Spanish reinforcements, and it transpired that De Espana's men would appear from behind Graham's right flank. Sadly, it was all too late - none of the Spanish troops made it onto the table before the French gained the requisite 9th Victory Banner, to give them a decisive win by 9-5. The Allied First Division, with the single exception of the 24th Foot, were never seriously engaged, neither were Guye's French Division, who opposed them - the action was decided elswhere. 

Graham, with no cavalry left, was left to withdraw as best he could - because of the disparity in cavalry strength, and the decisive result, the Allies were not allowed the customary "battlefield recovery" step, which allows a proportion of lost "blocks" to return to the ranks, so some of Graham's units were completely destroyed in the battle.

OOBs

French Army - Marshal Auguste Viesse de Marmont

Division Foy (AdP)

            Bde Chemineau: 6e Leger & 69e Ligne (5 Bns)

            Bde Desgraviers: 39e & 76e Ligne (4 Bns)

            3/2e Art a Cheval (Capt Guerrier)

            6/4e Art a Pied (Capt Braty)

Division Guye (AdC)

            Bde Merlin: King Joseph's Guard (5 Bns)

            Bde Casapalacios: 1e Leger (Castille), 2e Ligne (Toledo), Royal-Etranger (4 Bns)

            Guard Horse Battery (Capt Desert)

Division Montbrun (AdP)

            Bde Boyer: 15e & 25e Dragons (4 Sqns)

            Bde Curto: 3e Hussards & 22e Chasseurs a Cheval (6 Sqns)

            Bde Vial: 13e & 26e Chasseurs a Cheval (6 Sqns)

            5/5e Art a Cheval (Capt Graillat)

Division Maupoint (AdN)

            Bde ??: 13e Cuirassiers, 5e Chevauxlegers-Lanciers (6 Sqns)

            Bde Kleinwinkel: 1e & 2e Chev-Leg (Stralsund-Ruegen)

Total casualties - approx 1000 infantry, 600 cavalry.

Allied Army - Lt.Gen Sir Thomas Graham

First Division (Maj.Gen H Campbell)

            H Campbell's Bde: 1/Coldstream & 1/3rd Ft Gds

            Blantyre's Bde: 2/24th, 1/42nd, 2/58th & 1/79th

            Von Low's Bde: 1st, 2nd & 5th Line Bns, KGL

            Gardner's Battery, RA

Seventh Division (Lt.Gen Sir John Hope)

            Halkett's Bde: 1st & 2nd Lt Bns KGL & Brunswick-Oels Jaegers

            Von Bernewitz's Bde: 51st & 68th & Chasseurs-Britanniques

            McDonald's Troop, RHA

Cavalry (Maj.Gen Von Bock)

            Von Bock's Bde: 1st & 2nd Dragoons, KGL

            Otway's Bde: 1st & 11th Portuguese Cavalry

Total casualties - approx 2800 infantry, 1300 cavalry, 5 guns lost.


The pictures, as last time, owe much to my son Nick's efforts - any good shots here are almost certainly his:

General view of the battlefield at the outset, French on the right

French left flank - the lancers were very poor

French centre and right - Foy's boys at the far end

The French position seen from their right flank

Forlorn Hope? - Sir John with the Seventh Divn

The heavy end of the Allied line - the First Divn on the right

Marmont in the farmyard

French horse artillery contributed well to the attacks

Colin Halkett in the woods with the KGL Lights

Chemineau's brigade go in with the bayonet

Brunswickers in action

KGL Line Infantry

58th (Rutlandshire) and 79th (Camerons)

King Joseph's Guard Horse Artillery

The beginning of the end - the French roll up the Allied left

3eme Hussards mean business

The Result - not a big help for Wellington?

     

Magnetic Spaniards - and beyond....?

 

The Sideways Spaniards

Some months ago, I suddenly realised the usefulness of magnetic sheet for storing figures safely. The Cupboard had run out of space, and I decided to rehouse my artillery and support vehicles in A4 box files, lined with steel paper - much like everyone else does, in fact. My units are all based with rigid plywood or MDF, and applying self-adhesive mag sheet to the undersides was a lot easier than I had expected. So I now have 6 boxes full of guns and limbers and pontoon trains and wagons and all that stuff, and the magnets stick so powerfully that on occasion (and it makes me a little faint to think of it) I have shown off by slowly standing the odd box file vertical, so show that the pieces stay firmly attached. I have, I hasten to add, laid them flat again before the applause died away.

I have been very pleased with this exciting new departure (for me - I don't get out much), and, as The Cupboard determinedly continues to shrink, I have come to accept that I need to adopt the same approach for some other units, to free up more space. Next in the queue, I decided, is my Spanish Nationalist army, so I bought smart blue files for them from Tesco, ordered up some mag sheet and steel paper from the most excellent Trevor at Magnetic Displays, and spent an interesting evening preparing the files and applying the mag sheet to the subunit bases. And in the files they go. Excellent.

Now, of course, this requires me to separate the (sub)unit bases from the sabots on which they normally live, and it suddenly became very obvious that if I put a steel paper patch on each sabot, and re-painted them with baseboard green, my newly-magnetic Spaniards would sit very firmly thereupon when they came out of the boxes to fight. So another evening with ruler, pencil and scissors followed, and - by 'Eck - it works!

I was a bit worried that even a thin coat of baseboard paint would weaken the magnetic pull, but it is still fine. I was going to publish a picture of all the units standing on edge on their sabots but I chickened out. It does work, though - trust me – there is a single unit at a near-vertical angle in the photo.

And the point of this further step with the sabots? The point, gentlemen, is that I am a noted dropper of wargame soldiers. It may be the hated varifocals, it may be temporary changes in the Earth's gravitational pull, it is most likely connected with dementia in some form, but I live in constant dread of subunits sliding off their sabots because I have momentarily lost my artificial horizon. As the collection get older and more valuable, and as my own ability to repair or replace them decays, so cruel Nature has me always a little anxious about accidental damage on the battlefield - or on the floor not far from the battlefield. The magnets look like they could be the answer. Certainly I could still drop an entire unit in one go - I haven't thought of a solution for that one other than not playing with them - but with magnetized bases on a steel-paper-coated sabot they are very reassuringly solid.

Downsides? Not much, really - the mag sheet is 0.55mm thick, so the units stand just that much taller, but the bases are a mixture of 2mm and 3mm anyway, so I can't really notice - expecially since I am quite a lot taller than the troops, and tend rather to look down on them (so to speak). This is all so successful that I have now started pondering whether I should treat all the rest of my units the same way. The chaps who are still living in The Cupboard would be much easier to handle safely, and it would be possible to put them in prepared box files (or whatever) if I need to transport them - a facility I have never had before. There is the further problem that I have nowhere to transport them to, but that is a detail, and I might have some friends one day. You never know.

The real thing to think about is the cost and the labour involved. It also occurs to me that I have no idea how permanent the magnetic properties of the sheet are, or - more seriously, perhaps - what is the life expectancy of the self-adhesive coating. It would be a sad thing to invest a lot of time and beer money in converting my entire collection, and then find that the pads all dropped off as the adhesive perished. I could, of course, glue them back in place....

Stop it.

I'll continue to ponder this. There seem to be a lot of advantages, but I'll weigh it up. At present, not yet having worked out the cost, I am gently enthusiastic.

To end with something of a digression, my young son and I have a long-standing private joke about the Sideways People - this stems from a display that used to be in our local IKEA store, which had kitchen tables and desks and similar mounted on the wall, 90 degrees from the vertical, with dishes, cutlery, computers and so on attached to match. Our theory is that the Sideways People come in at night, and live their strange, 90-degrees-out-of-phase lives in IKEA when no-one else is around, though how they could pour milk into the cereal bowls has always been a puzzle. Anyway, my new enthusiasm for magnetic sheet enters into the Sideways People fantasy - in theory, it would be possible to fight a small battle on the fridge door, for example. Not sure I'll rush to try it, but the Sideways People themselves might see this as a further advantage. 

Hooptedoodle #54 - Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead

I have, in the past, made the occasional utterance about time lost to the antivirus software from McAfee which I pay for as part of my agreement with my Internet Service Provider.

Things have got so bad recently that I started having a look at a few of the support discussion threads for McAfee, and it seems that - though the originators swear it is now fixed - things went pear-shaped after an upgrade last September. All over the known world, McAfee's customers are becoming more and more stressed. At the start of this week, it took eight minutes for me to open a Word document which I had typed up and saved the previous day - McAfee was checking it. At various times in the day, even when I am not online, the desktop computer's fan has been switching on and - there it is - McAfee is suddenly using 90% of available CPU. No-one knows why, not even McAfee. On Tuesday we had a minor family problem and I had to find some things out and get stuff arranged quickly - no go. McAfee wouldn't let me do anything. It was busy.

The final straw was when I found a suggestion from a member of a support team on one of the discussion threads, which suggested that the person writing in with the problem should think about buying a more powerful computer, so they could live with the demands of their AV software.

As Descartes used to say at breakfast, "Un oeuf is enough". I am, as it happens, planning to upgrade my desktop machine in a month or two, but it certainly isn't going to be because McAfee forces me to do so. So I have uninstalled McAfee - it didn't go willingly, but it is gone. I am now paying for a licence which I am not using, but to hell with it. I have installed Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free, and which appears to work nicely and quietly in the background without drama. It did a full system scan yesterday in a little over 2 hours, which compares favourably with McAfee's recent record of 8 hours. When the new machine comes, I intend to put McA back in place, but I will remember that there is an alternative if I need it. In the meantime, I can get on with things and smile a little smug smile to myself.

There is a description of computer malware on one of the support sites I was reading, and part of it says:

"A virus's primary function is to take control of the computer's operating system and deny user access to communications and application software"

Seems strangely familiar - normally you don't have to pay for a licence for it, though. All together, now, please join in...

Viva Villaran - we need more heroes

Castillo las Cuevas, Cebolleros

As it happens, this is all Vive l'Empereur's fault. He suggested that I get some convincing photos of me doing a real siege in the back yard, to satisfy the non-believers and the realism prophets out there of my credentials and great wisdom. I thought it would be a great joke, ho-ho, to fake some pictures of something like the earthworks at Vicksburg and claim it was me.

The intended joke, and anything else I can think up, vanishes without trace - pales into invisibilty - compared with this, which I just came across by accident. If you haven't seen it before, I recommend you have a look. This is the solitary work of one Serafin Villaran, a welder from Burgos, who decided in 1977 to build a castle for himself, at Cebolleros, near Burgos. He died in 1998, before it was complete, but his family worked to finish it, and it has become a major tourist attraction locally.

What a monument. What an outrageous, heroic, bloody wonderful monstrosity. Apart from the size, the labour, the humbling devotion, the in-your-face refusal to conform to any known style of historical architecture, the whole thing has a delightfully unhinged quality which I just love.

Some thoughts, in no particular order:

(1) Wow.

(2) I want one.

(3) How did he get planning permission to build it?

(4) What are archeologists two thousand years from now going to make of it? 

Wanted: Time Machine - a Whiff of Foy's 10th Law

Following on from yesterday's posting on the Solo Campaign, and with particular reference to the second week of my Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, I received a comment which bothered me a little more than I would have expected. For a start, it was something of a put-down - informative in a way which is clearly intended to demonstrate the superiority of the informer rather than to provide help. For another thing, it was anonymous, which I don't care for either, so I didn't publish it. So there.

I am reminded of my old Hooptedoodle note about Foy's Tenth Law, which you can find here if you are interested.

To clarify a point, I am aware that a siege was a complicated process, involving a series of formal, defined steps, a lot of science and received methodology, a load of back-breaking labour and in incredible amount of bravery. I'm certainly not an expert, but I've read enough to understand roughly how it worked. My nameless correspondent felt that my reducing something as "immense" as a siege to a series of "stupid dice rolls and a look-up table" was trivialising an "important and dingified" [sic?] aspect of warfare in a way which he considered to be pathetic. My own irritation is probably at least partly due to my recognising some truth in this(!), but sadly he did not go on to explain how I could have done a more satisfactory job of fitting open-ended sieges into a map campaign with a weekly order-cycle. If you're still out there, my friend, I'd be pleased to hear more.

All wargames are by definition artificial and unrealistic to an extent - a favourite hobbyhorse of mine - otherwise we would not survive them. What we really need, for complete realism, is to be transported back to the actual event and take part in it. I haven't any good ideas how to do that, either, but if Mr Anonymous has, I hope he will take the trouble to stand right on the top of the Great Breach during the height of the action.  

Solo Campaign - Week 16 - CRUNCH!

Well, Sod's Law raises its ugly head yet again. Just when I'm a bit short of time, this week in the campaign throws up two battles, one divisional-sized one at Malpartida, near Almeida, and one of rather more than twice that size at Allariz, south of Orense. Not sure just when I'll get these games played, but it should be within a week or two - I'll publish the updated army returns and a new map when the battles are done.

In the meantime, the Mathematical Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo has undergone its second week, and the French are making a real mess of the fortress. It proves, once again, that all the science in the world is not as useful as lucky dice. 

I haven't written up a narrative summary of Week 16, since it just means writing everything twice (not to mention reading it twice). Here's the nuts-&-bolts report, in exactly the form that I promised not to publish them. 

Old Bridge at Allariz

Week 16

Random Events

None.

Housekeeping

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

As a result of Br.Gen Silveira being sent with the Brunswick hussars to Almeida, temporary command of the fortress garrison at Elvas devolves to Col. De Souza of the Abrantes militia (rating 0).  

Moves

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – Sp D (Maceta, at Talavera) marches to Toledo.

2 – A (Wellington, at Braga) rests his force after the march from Orense.

3 – F (Framlingham, at Elvas) detaches a new force, H, consisting of the Brunswick Hussars under the command of Br.Gen Silveira (rating 1) of the Portuguese service ...

4 – ...and sends them to join Von Alten at Almeida. The first leg of this journey is over a difficult road to Abrantes, the march therefore requires a test:

2D3 = 4 +1 (Silveira’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 4   - the march is completed, but the force arrives tired in Almeida (which means they will suffer a deduction of 1 die in any combat).

Church Parade - the militia at Almeida - not a good turnout

5 – The Tomar battalion of Portuguese militia, plus a regular Portuguese Artillery howitzer battery are detached from the garrison of Almeida (Group F), and join Von Alten’s Group C, in the countryside near Almeida.

You mean go out there and face the French?
(Gunner - 4th Portuguese Artillery)

[Intelligence step –

• no scouting orders]

French (4 allowed)

1 – O (Clauzel) advances into Portugal, from Ciudad Rodrigo (which he may pass through, since the fort is under siege) to Almeida, where he attacks the Anglo-Portuguese Groups C and H (Karl Von Alten)

2 – N (Marmont) marches 1 step from Lugo to Orense. Since this is a difficult road (they are all difficult around here), a test is required:

2D3 = 4 +3 (Marmont’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - the march is completed without problems.

Marmont then attacks Graham’s force (B, and possibly Sp B).

3 – C (D’Orsay’s bde of Bonet’s Divn, Armee du Nord), march from Valladolid to Salamanca.

[Intelligence step -

• no scouting orders]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. No-one is Demoralised.

Contacts

(1) The siege of Ciudad Rodrigo enters its second week.

The medieval chapel on the Malpartida battlefield

(2) Karl Von Alten, with the Anglo-Portuguese Light Division and the 1^st Hussars of the KGL, and now augmented by the Brunswick-Oels Hussars (under Col. Ernst von Schrader – this unit is classed as Tired), the Tomar battalion of Portuguese militia and a Portuguese howitzer battery (these last two units seconded from the Almeida garrison), defends a position on the Almeida road, south of the settlement of Malpartida, within a mile or two of the Portuguese border, but inside Portugal. This position is chosen primarily for political reasons (since he can call on Portuguese militia support, though in the event the dice decree that he receives only a single battalion). The region is high, virtually treeless, and he has a position on a ridge overlooking a small river – so small that it will not appear on the battlefield. A large quarry, dating back to Roman times, is a feature of the field. Von Alten has a total of about 5000 infantry (including 3 battalions of riflemen), 600 cavalry and 12 guns available.

The quarry where they got the stone for the old chapel - might

just get to use CCN's rules for a quarry - always wondered why they were there

He is opposed by Bertrand Clauzel’s Division of the Armee de Portugal, supported by Picquet’s dragoon brigade and two batteries from the reserve artillery of the Armee de Portugal. Altogether 10 battalions of infantry and some 5 squadrons of dragoons (including the formidable 6eme, who recently wrecked Le Marchant’s British heavy brigade), but some of these are understrength, and his force is estimated at 6200 infantry, 400 cavalry and 24 guns, all of heavier calibre than the Allied artillery.

The advanced guards are in contact at dawn on Saturday 9^th May – the Battle of Malpartida, as it will become known, is critically important – if Von Alten loses, Almeida is immediately vulnerable and the road to Lisbon is threatened. Clauzel has the chance to place his army between the besieged town of Ciudad Rodrigo and any relieving force sent by Wellington from Braga.

(3) Marmont’s northern force, advancing from Lugo, is in contact with Graham near Orense. The original agreement between Wellington and the Spanish army was that the town of Orense was to be defended, but Graham has abandoned Orense to the French and adopted a defensive position closer to the Portuguese border, near the village of Allariz.

In this campaign, whenever a Spanish force is required to support an Anglo-Portuguese one, a dice is rolled to check the level of co-ordination. The rule is:

4+           No problems – full co-ordination

3              Spanish force arrives late – 1D6 each turn – 5 or 6 they arrive

2              Spanish force arrives late – 1D6 each turn – 6 they arrive

1              Spanish force does not arrive

In this case the dice came up 2, so the Conde de Espana’s little army, which was quartered around Arabaldo on the River Minho, expecting to be ordered to defend Orense, will take a little while to reach the field. One imagines a little tension between Graham and the Conde, since Graham has retreated almost to the border – I had considered making the Spanish force demoralised, with some deduction from their combat effectiveness, but decided against it on the grounds that an outnumbered Graham has little enough going for him already – I may change my mind again, of course.

Marmont’s army consists of Foy’s Divn and about ¾ of the cavalry of the Armee de Portugal, Guye’s Divn of the Armee du Centre (King Joseph’s Guard and a brigade of Joseph’s Spanish line troops), plus the entire cavalry of the Armee du Nord – about 5 regiments including the 13e Cuirassiers. His total force is estimated at about 17850 men with 24 guns. He has a considerable superiority in cavalry.

Graham, without De Espana, has the Allied First and Seventh Divns, plus the cavalry brigades of Von Bock (KGL dragoons) and Otway (Portuguese). Total is about 11500 men with 12 guns.

De Espana has about 6000 men, of whom a proportion are voluntarios (classed as militia), and 2 batteries, which between them have 10 guns.

The battle of Allariz takes place on Friday 8^th May.

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (Week 2)

Bombardment phase: Spanish now have a Garrison Value (GV) of 4, thus roll 4D6 - they come up 6 3 2 1 – the 6 reduces the attackers' Battering Value (BV) by 1, but there are no 5s, so no losses from the besiegers’ Assault Value (AV).

Simultaneously, the French battering guns (BV = 5) roll 5D6 – 6 6 5 3 3 (once again, the French siege batteries are good/lucky) – each 6 deducts one from the defenders’ Fortress Value (FV, the strength of the place itself), and the 5 deducts one from their Garrison Value (GV).

Removing the losses, next week’s figures will be FV = 2, GV = 3 (total = 5) for the Spanish, while AV = 7, BV = 4 for the French. The walls are not looking good – a storm is becoming a distinct possibility, but the French – confident that they have another week before the Allies can interrupt them with any kind of relieving effort – decide to continue bombardment for a further week. They do, however, summon the fortress to surrender. One of Marshal Jourdan’s aides, Col. Alfonse-Maurice-Louis Merveilleux, is sent on 10^th May under a flag of truce with a letter from Jourdan for the governor, General Hermogenes Reixas, requesting that he lower the Spanish flag within one hour. Merveilleux is returned, unharmed, but trussed up with rope, with a dead chicken hanging around his neck. Despite this additional provocation, no storm is attempted.

Casualties for the week: Spanish defenders have lost 1/4 of their GV, so have lost 1/10 x 1/4 of the remaining 2320 men engaged, which is 58 men killed and wounded. Again, loss in combat effectiveness is proportionately far higher, and the walls of the town are in a sorry state. French besiegers suffered no deduction from their AV, so their strength is unchanged at 16330. This does not mean, of course, that no-one was hurt – it simply means that returns from hospital and so forth cancel out any new losses.

Solo Campaign - Weeks 14 & 15

Ciudad Rodrigo

Week 14

Random Events

Everything calm in the British Parliament this week.

Maj Gen RB Long has arrived to take command of the heavy cavalry brigade previously commanded by Le Marchant.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 6, French 6 – since they moved first last week, French elect to do so again.

Moves

French (6 allowed)

1 – Group H (Clauzel, with 6700 men of AdP) to march from Zamora to Salamanca

2 – Group M (D’Armagnac, with 6400 of AdC) to do the same

3 – Group K (Marshal Jourdan, with 11200 from AdP and AdC) to march from Avila to Salamanca

4 – Group K to scout into Ciudad Rodrigo area

5 – Groups H & M to merge with K, all under command of Jourdan.

[Intelligence step -

• Jourdan learns only that there are Allied forces in the area around Ciudad Rodrigo, and the gunners at Rodrigo itself fired at his cavalry patrol!]

Allies (6 allowed)

1 – C (Von Alten, at Ciudad Rodrigo) retreats into Portugal, at Almeida.

2 – Sp D (Maceta, at Ciudad Rodrigo) must dice to see if he will enter Portugal with Von Alten, in contradiction of his orders from the Junta de Castilla. In fact, he rolls a 2, which means he will follow his orders (Maceta is rated 2), so his force separates from the British and marches south to Caceres.

3 – A (Wellington, at Lugo) orders a march to join Cotton at Orense. This involves a difficult (brown) road, so requires a test

2D3 = 4 +3 (Wellington’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - the march is completed without problems.

4 – Group E (Cotton) now merges with A.

[Intelligence step –

• no scouting orders]

 

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. No-one is Demoralised.

Contacts

None.

Narrative

Joined by the forces from Zamora under Clauzel and D’Armagnac, Jourdan enters Salamanca, his total strength now being 25300 men, including the siege train and engineers of the Armee de Portugal.

Karl Von Alten, with the Anglo-Portuguese Light Division, retires into Portugal – to Almeida – to avoid confrontation with this much larger force. Maceta, with the Spanish force from the Junta de Castilla attached to Von Alten, is prevented from entering Portugal by his orders, and thus separates from the British, in spite of their requests that he should not do so, and retires southwards to Caceres.

The Spanish garrison at Rodrigo, under General Hermogenes Reixas, are now unprotected, and expect to be attacked very soon.

Wellington, with the Anglo-Portuguese main army marches south over difficult roads without problem, joining Cotton’s troops at Orense.

Maj.Gen Long has now arrived to take over Le Marchant’s heavy brigade. 

Week 15

Random Events

Change in rule – test will be made on British Parliament around 15^th of each month, rather than weekly as at present.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 5, French 7 –French elect to move first.

Moves

French (7 allowed)

1 – K (Jourdan, at Salamanca) advances to Ciudad Rodrigo...

2 – ...where a new Group O is split off, consisting of Clauzel’s Divn of the Armee de Portugal, with Picquet’s dragoon brigade and 2 batteries from the reserve artillery, a total of 6600 men with 24 guns

3 – K commences siege operations against Rodrigo

4 – N (Marmont) marches 1 step from Leon to Lugo. Since this is a difficult road, a test is required

2D3 = 5 +3 (Marmont’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 7   - the march is completed without problems.

5 – C (D’Orsay’s bde of Bonet’s Divn, Armee du Nord), march from Sahagun to Valladolid.

[Intelligence step -

• no scouting orders]

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – Sp D (Maceta, at Caceres) marches to Talavera.

2 – A (Wellington, at Orense) scouts into Braga...

3 – ...and into Lugo.

4 – Finding a large French force at Lugo, he divides Group A, splitting off a new Group B, under Lt Gen Sir Thomas Graham, comprising the First & Seventh Divns, with Bock’s KGL dragoon bde and Otway’s Portuguese cavalry – a total of 11530 men with 12 guns. This force, together with Sp B (Espana) will remain at Orense...

5 – while the remainder of Wellington’s Group A march south into Braga. Again, this is a difficult road, so a test is needed:

2D3 = 2(!) +3 (Wellington’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 4   - the march is completed, but the army is Tired, and must rest at Braga.

[Intelligence step –

• A (Wellington) gets a Detailed Report on Marmont’s force at Lugo, helped by information from civilian spies – he is aware of both strength and composition]

Supplies and Demoralisation

Note: By abandoning Sahagun, the French give up the right to route supplies from France through that Area, so all such supplies now come through Burgos. All units are in supply. No-one is Demoralised.

Contacts

The French force under Marshal Jourdan commences siege operations against Ciudad Rodrigo.

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (Week 1)

Initial Fortress Value (FV) is 6 – which is also the max size of the garrison. Reixas (commander, rating 2) has 1 line battalion plus 2 of militia, plus 3 batteries of 8 guns each, one of these batteries being of militia calibre. Counting ½ each for the militia – Garrison Value (GV) is 4½ - say 5 - and since Reixas is officially rated as 2 (Good), add 1, giving 6.

Attackers – Jourdan’s force consists of 34 combat units, of which 4 are cavalry and count ½ each; this gives a total of 32. Dividing by 4 gives Jourdan an Assault Value (AV) of 8, plus 1 since Jourdan rates as 2 (Good). The French siege train has 5 batteries of heavy guns, so the Battering Value (BV) = 5.

So, at the outset, Spanish defenders have FV = 6, GV = 6, French besiegers have AV = 9, BV = 5.

Bombardment phase: Spanish have GV of 6, thus roll 6D6 - they come up 5 5 4 3 2 1 – no 6s, so no damage is done to the attackers' BV, but the two 5s cause a deduction of 2 from the attacking troops’ AV

Simultaneously, the French battering guns (BV = 5) roll 5D6 – 6 6 5 5 2 (remarkable shooting) – each 6 deducts one from the fortress (FV), and each 5 deducts one from the garrison (GV).

Removing the losses, next week’s figures will be FV = 4, GV = 4 (total = 8) for the Spanish, while AV = 7, BV = 5 for the French. The French do not bother asking the fortress to surrender, since their AV of 7 is not promising for a storm against the defenders’ (FV + GV) = 8. No storm.

Casualties for the week: Spanish defenders have lost 2/6 of their GV, so have lost 1/10 x 1/3 of the 2400 men engaged, which is 80 men. Loss in combat effectiveness is proportionately much higher. French besiegers have lost 2/9 of their AV, so have lost 1/10 x 2/9 of the 16700 men engaged, which is 370 killed/wounded.

Narrative

Jourdan has divided his army – Clauzel has a covering force, while the remainder have now started the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. Brisk fire from the garrison coupled with the unhygienic conditions in the trenches have caused the French fairly high casualties, but the French siege guns have performed extremely well, doing much damage to the fortress and the morale of the garrison.

Marmont has moved his army to Lugo, where he can now threaten Wellington from the north, with the option of marching to La Coruna and threatening the Allied supply base at Vigo. Wellington has a very accurate idea of Marmont’s strength and movements, and has detached Thomas Graham with the Anglo-Portuguese First and Seventh Divisions, with the cavalry brigades of Otway and Von Bock. Graham is to hold position at Orense, with support from the Conde de Espana’s Spanish army.

Wellington marched the rest of his force south to Braga. Once again, the roads were difficult, but the army did not fare well [awful dice] – the march was completed in good enough order, but Wellington’s force are tired and must rest for a week.

Col D’Orsay, with a brigade from Bonet’s Division of the Armee du Nord, has moved from Sahagun to Valladolid. This has implications for the routing of French supplies from Bayonne, which must now all come through Burgos.

Maceta’s Castillan army has orders to return to Toledo, and has reached Talavera.