Solo Campaign - Weeks 17 & 18

Continued ill-fortune for the Allies - highlights of the two weeks are that Ciudad Rodrigo has been stormed and taken by the French and Wellington has been relieved of command by the British Parliament (though he won't know this for a week or two).

 

Marshal Jourdan receives a hostile reception from

Spanish prisoners at Ciudad Rodrigo

Week 17

Random Events

None.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 6, French 5 – Allies elect to move first.

Lt.Col Beckwith has returned to field command of the 1/95^th Rifles, replacing Lt.Col Barnard, who was seriously wounded and captured at Malpartida. He will assume command of the 1^st Brigade of the Light Division, under Karl von Alten.

This being the middle weekend of the month, all missing blocks are diced for (except those for the garrisons of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, who are under sieged and blockaded, respectively). [Campaign rules note – in future campaigns, blocks diced for should be those missing 1 month earlier, to avoid the situation where fresh losses from a recent battle may be returned to the ranks within a week]

French reinforcements and returns: +1 block – Franzburg Jaegers, 3/15e, 4/82e, 2e Leg Ital, 1/6e Leg, 1^st Castilla LI, 1/25e Leg, 1/27e, 3/50e, Pinoteau’s combined tirailleurs, 15e Dragons, 13e Cuir, 11/8e Art a Pied

+2 blocks – 2/5e Ital, 2/76e, 1/50e, 2/59e

Total French increase = 3600 men

Allied reinforcements and returns: +1 block – 2/83^rd, 11 Cac, 1/32^nd, 1/8^th Ptgse, 1/Cold FG, 1/3^rd FG, 2/24^th, 2/58^th, 1/79^th, 2/KGL Line, 2^nd KGL Lt Bn, 68^th, Ch-Br, 1/43^rd, 2/95^th, Blantyre’s light battalion, 3 Dr, 5 DG, 2 KGL Dgns, 11^th Ptgse Cav, Elige’s, Gardiner’s and Ross’ batteries, Avila Vol Art

+2 blocks – 51^st, 1/95^th, 11LD, 1 KGL Dgns, 1^st Ptgse Cav

Total Allied increase = 5200 men

Spanish Army now has the Division of Pablo Morillo available at Tortosa – 6 battalions of regulars plus a foot battery at Tortosa, freshly equipped and uniformed. Total strength 4000 men.

Moves

Allies (6 allowed)

1 – H (Brunswick Hussars) merged into C (K Von Alten, at Almeida)

2 – ...and augmented Group C retreats to Abrantes

3 – B (Graham, at Orense) retires to Braga – army is Tired after Battle of Allariz, and the road to Braga is difficult, so a test is required

2D3 = 3 +2 (Graham’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 4   - the march is completed, but the force arrives tired in Abrantes.

4 – Sp B (Espana, at Orense) also marches to Braga – test for difficult road:

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

5 – Allies close down supply base at Vigo. Wellington’s force will be supplied from Porto.

6 – New Sp C (Morillo) formed at Tortosa.

[Intelligence step –

• no scouting orders]

French (5 allowed)

1 – O (Clauzel) holds position and sets up “masking” blockade of fortress of Almeida.

2 – N (Marmont) rests his army at Orense.

 [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 third week.

(2) The fortress at Almeida is now blockaded – it is not under formal siege, but the roads from Braga and Abrantes are closed.

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (Week 3)

Bombardment phase: Spanish now have a Garrison Value (GV) of 3, thus roll 3D6 - they come up 4 2 1 – no hits on either the besiegers’ Battering Value (BV) or their Assault Value (AV).

Simultaneously, the French battering guns (BV = 4) roll 4D6 – 6 4 3 2 – the 6 deducts one from the defenders’ Fortress Value (FV, the strength of the place itself), but there are no 5s, so no losses to the Garrison Value (GV).

Removing the losses, next week’s figures will be FV = 1, GV = 3 (total = 4) for the Spanish, while AV = 7, BV = 4 for the French. The walls continue to deteriorate under bombardment – again, the French opt to wait another week before attempting a storm. They have a strong superiority in numbers, but last week’s incident with the flag of truce and the dead chicken has confirmed that the garrison are prepared to fight to the last man, and there is a chance that the citizens may also contribute to the defence – either of these would add extra dice to the resistance to a storm.

Casualties for the week: Spanish defenders have suffered no loss in GV, so still have 2260 men, and the French besiegers suffered no deduction from their AV, so their strength is unchanged at 16330.

Week 18

Random Events

News of the defeats at Allariz and Malpartida, plus the expectation of the imminent fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, has reached Westminster, and a vote in the House scheduled. Opinion is currently 3:2 against Wellington, so a vote is required if a single D6 comes up 5 or 6 – it does, so the vote itself will play 3D6 vs 2D6 to reflect the balance of opinion.

If the pro-Wellington lobby get less than half of their opponents’ total, a further motion to call the British Army home from the Peninsular will be scheduled for the following week.

Otherwise, if pro-Wellington vote is less than anti-Wellington, he will be relieved of command of the army in the Peninsular with immediate effect, and a successor appointed.

The vote took place 20^th May:

Pro-Wellington:    4 + 3 = 7                Anti-Wellington:     5 + 4 + 1 = 10

With effect from 21^st May, Wellington is to be recalled to Britain, Sir Thomas Graham, as senior British officer in the Peninsula, will take temporary command until a permanent replacement C-in-C arrives. The army will remain in Portugal for the time being. In practice, since Wellington will be unaware of the ruling, he remains in charge until 1^st June.

Housekeeping

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

The Hon George Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie, has arrived to take command of the Allied 7^th Divn [previous commander, Sir John Hope, was only present as the result of an administrative error, since technically he outranks everyone else in the Peninsula!]

Spanish Army now has the Division of Pablo Morillo – 6 battalions plus a foot battery at Tortosa, freshly equipped and uniformed. Total strength 4000 men.

Moves

 

French (7 allowed)

1 – New Groups P, Q & R (National Guard units) are mobilised at Bayonne and Pau...

2 – ...P (3500 National Guardsmen under GdB Martinelli) march from Bayonne to Pamplona, where they relieve the garrison

3 – ...Q (3500 National Guardsmen under GdB Dujour) march from Pau to Jaca, where they relieve the garrison

4 – ...R (4000 National Guardsmen under GdB Paquerette) are placed in training at Bayonne

5 – E (Abbé) leaves the HQ of the Armee du Nord at Pamplona, and marches to Lodosa

6 – GdB Lacharrue travels from Pau to Jaca, where he takes command of Group G...

7 – ...G (Lacharrue) marches from Jaca to Roncal – this is a difficult road, so a test is required:

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

[Intelligence step -

• no scouting orders]

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – Groups A & B merge as A under Wellington at Braga, and new Group E is detached – Sixth Divn, under Clinton, with Anson’s light cavalry bde...

2 – ...and E (Clinton) is ordered from Braga to Porto, which is a bad road, so a test is required:

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

3 – Sp C (Morillo) march from Tortosa to Alcaniz – test required

2D3 = 5 +2 (Morillo’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - no problems

4 – C (Karl von Alten) rest at Abrantes

[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 fourth week.

(2) The fortress at Almeida is blockaded by the French – roads from Braga and Abrantes are closed.

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (Week 4)

Bombardment phase: Spanish now have a Garrison Value (GV) of 3, thus roll 3D6 - they come up 5 4 4 – the 5 scores one hit on the besiegers’ Assault Value (AV); no loss to the Battering Value (BV).

Simultaneously, the French battering guns (BV = 4) roll 4D6 – 5 3 3 2 – the 5 deducts one from the defenders’ Garrison Value (GV); no loss to the Fortress Value (FV).

Removing the losses, the figures become FV = 1, GV = 2 (total = 3) for the Spanish defenders, and AV = 6, BV = 4 for the French. Jourdan, the commander of the besieging forces, decides to storm the walls on the night of Saturday 23^rd May 1812.

During the week leading up to the storm, the Spanish have lost 1/3 of GV, which represents

1/10 x 1/3 of the 2260 men involved = 75 men, leaving 2185. The French have lost 1/7 of their remaining AV, and thus have lost 1/10 x 1/7 of the 16330 men employed = 233 men, leaving 16097.

The Storm of Ciudad Rodrigo

Under the inspirational leadership of General Reixas, the Spanish garrison qualify for the additional Suicide Dice – being prepared to fight to the last man. The citizens are heartily sick of being under siege, and there are, in any case, few able-bodied men of suitable age who have not already been called up to the militia – thus there is no addditional Agustina Dice available to the defence.

Jourdan uses the full force at his disposal for the attack (he has the choice to use only part of his AV, to keep losses down). According to my (newly revised) algorithmic system:

the Defenders’ Storm Strength, DSS =  FV + GV + 1D6 + the Suicide Dice = 3 + 4 + 1 = 8

the Attackers’ Storm Strength, ASS = AV + 1D6 = 6 + 4 = 10

Since ASS > DSS, the fortress falls. In the storm itself, the French lose 0.25 x DSS (= 2) from AV, so their final AV is 4. Thus they have lost 1/3 of their available AV, representing losses of 1/10 x 1/3 of the available 16097 men = 537 killed and wounded. Remaining strength is thus 15560.

The Spanish defenders lose 0.5 x ASS (= 5) from GV, so their final GV is -1. Thus they have lost 4/3 of their GV, and loss in killed in wounded in the storm is 1/10 x 4/3 of the 2185 men available = 292. The surviving 1893 are taken prisoner.

Total losses during the siege are thus

Week	Spanish	French
1	80	370
2	58	0
3	0	0
4	75	233
Storm	292	537
Captured	1893	0
Total	2398	1140

The Spanish force (Combat Group A on the map) is destroyed. The French have suffered a loss of 6 bases, which are deducted (at random) from the following infantry units:

Maucune’s Divn – 5/66e, 5/82e & 1/86e.

Darmagnac’s Divn – 2/4^th Baden, 1/4^th Hesse Darmstadt, 1/3^rd Italian Line. 

Solo Campaign - Excremento Profundo

 

Spencer Perceval - recently assassinated Prime Minister

no longer available to defend Wellington

Weeks 17 and 18 of my solo Peninsular campaign are in the process of being written up. Without wishing to give away the exciting bits of the plot, let it be said only that the continued run of bad results for the Allied Army has eventually resulted in a motion being tabled to remove Wellington from command. Despite the extraordinary alarm and distraction provided by the assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, just a week earlier, a vote in the British Parliament on 20^th May 1812 gave a substantial majority in favour of Wellington's removal. A further motion that the British Army be withdrawn from Portugal was defeated, however.

With immediate effect, Sir Thomas Graham, as senior British officer with the army will assume temporary command of the British and Hanoverian forces, until a permanent commander is selected and appointed. Here is a list, in seniority order, of the prominent candidates – some are unavailable through duties in remote parts of the Empire, many are in dubious physical health, some are plainly unsuitable for a major field command.

The successful candidate may be any of these, or may be someone else – the army works in mysterious ways. I have discounted the Duke of York himself from being seriously considered for the job. With all due appreciation of previous comments on this subject (most of which are reflected in the list) I would be very interested in any further nominations, applications(!) or comments.

Name	Age @ May 1812	Rank / date	Rating (1=poor, 3=good)	Current job	Comments
John Pitt, Lord Chatham	56	General, 1801	1	Governor of Jersey	Well connected politically, commanded army in Walcheren
Sir Banestre Tarleton	58	General, 1812	3	Governor of Berwick	Hero(?) of AWI, was strongly fancied to command in the Peninsula in 1809, but Wellington was preferred. Prominent Whig
Sir Eyre Coote	50	Lt.Genl, 1801	2	Governor of Jamaica	Another AWI veteran, unpopular
Sir David Baird	55	Lt.Genl, 1805	3		Highly rated, aggressive commander – was badly wounded at Corunna – health uncertain
Sir John Hope, Earl of Hopetoun	47	Lt.Genl, 1808	2	Military Governor of Ireland	Poor health – recently served in Peninsula
Sir Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge	44	Lt.Genl, 1808	3		Commanded cavalry under Moore with distinction – was unable to serve with Wellington because of family difficulties (having eloped with Wellington’s sister-in-law)
Sir John Stuart, Count of Maida	53	Lt.Genl, 1808	2	Governor of Grenada	Victor of Maida, but overall lack of experience and not rated highly – health not good.
Sir Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch	64	Lt.Genl, 1810	2	in Portugal	Competent commander, but (again) has repeating health problems
Sir John Murray	44	Lt.Genl, 1812	1		Very poor reputation – unable to follow orders
Sir Rowland Hill	50	Lt.Genl, 1812	2		Should be in Portugal, but he’s not in my campaign army(!). Wellington regarded him as the best of his subordinates
William Carr Beresford	44	Lt.Genl, 1812	2	Commander,  Portuguese Army	Wellington’s official deputy in the PW, because of his local rank. Good administrator but hesitant, ineffective battlefield commander.

Spanish Army - Getting There

Since I made a decision to finish off my Peninsular War armies (or at least give them a finite scope), and start on the ECW before I disappear down the microscope, the effort to get things tidied up has kept spawning new subprojects and the flow of finished Napoleonic soldiers has actually increased. Strange but true.


There's always this faint anxiety that figures which are available at this moment will soon cease to be so, and thus a lot of feverish haste to get stuff finished off while the chance is there.


My Spanish army has always been something of a poor relation, not least because of the traditional lack of 1812-period figures on the market, and I have been working of late to get it up to a useful size. I'm very pleased to have a new division of line infantry ready. They will have to wait a day or two to get their flags, but otherwise they are finished and on the new-issue magnetised bases. Here are 4 line regiments - those of Leon, Bailen, 2nd Mallorca and La Union - and 2 light units - Voluntarios de la Victoria and Legion Extremena.


They also have an artillery battery in the pipeline, and I have some generals and ADCs on order from Falcata (just can't get the Staff these days) - things are shaping up nicely. My original plan for a Spanish force was just a wishful fancy, given the lack of suitable figures, and it's a real satisfaction to see the guys varnished and based and ready.


Since you can never have enough of a good thing, I've also ordered up some more voluntarios/milicias from Falcata's extending range, but the real shortage is cavalry - I have to get some cavalry. There was always a shortage of horses, so the cavalry brigades were small, but I do need more.


Falcata make some very nice 1808-period cavalry in bicornes, and I would love to have some yellow-coated dragoons on my tabletop, but they are not really correct for the later PW. Most of the units around by then seem to have been composites - squadrons from here and there, mostly provincial, variously called grenadiers, cazadores, perseguidores and mostly with shabby hussar-style affectations, as far as I can see.


Research isn't easy - until JM Bueno's lovely Uniformes Espanoles de la Guerra de Independencia, most reference works on the Spanish army took the easy option, and trotted out the 1806 regulations, with contemporary prints of Romana's Division and the works of Dighton and a few others. Things are a lot better now for the infantry of 1811-14, but the cavalry from that period is still pretty poorly understood.

 

Anyway - this is my version of Pablo Morillo's Division of 1812-13. A few educated guesses (or half-educated), and a pinch of wargamer's licence where it suits, but I'm pleased with them. The rank-and-file are Minifigs S-Range SN1s, the command figures are conversions from Art Miniaturen Belgians, and from Portuguese castings by NapoleoN and Kennington.

Solo Campaign - The Quarries of Malpartida

On Saturday 9th May 1812, Maj.Gen Karl, Graf von Alten - a Hanoverian in the British service, fought a defensive action at Malpartida, between the Portuguese-Spanish border and the fortress of Almeida. His little army consisted of his own Light Division - an elite force which had not thus far been involved in combat in the 1812 campaign - with support from a brigade of light cavalry, plus a battalion of militia and a howitzer battery seconded from the Almeida garrison. His force totalled some 5700 men, with 12 guns. The cavalry commander was his brother, Viktor, and one of the cavalry regiments, the Brunswick-Oels Hussars, had ridden a remarkable distance from Elvas to join him, but - since the cavalry played no part in the day's business - we shall not mention them again.

 

Initial situation, French on the left

His opponent was Bertrand Clauzel, with his own (2nd) Division of the Armee de Portugal, plus a brigade of dragoons and two batteries from the reserve of the AdP. Since these troops had already been involved in some of the heaviest fighting, Clauzel was forced to assemble some small units into provisional units to give them a useful combat capability. In all, Clauzel had rather more than 6600 men, with 24 guns.

[Though I gave serious thought to using some different rules for ths action, I used CCN again. 5 cards each, French to move first, 6 Victory Banners to decide matters.]

Von Alten took advantage of two ancient quarries (of Sant Iago and San Rafael) near the village - his troops were laid out with painstaking care, with riflemen in the two quarries, a horse artillery unit between them and reserves in support (notably the 43rd Foot). Vandeleur's brigade was placed on the left flank, an area where woods and the village would ensure a difficult assault for the French. Overlapping fields of fire were carefully worked out, and a frontal attack against the area around the quarry pits would be a hazardous undertaking indeed, across an open, stony area.

Clauzel placed Berlier's veteran brigade opposite the quarries, and Pinoteau's (formerly Barbot's) brigade on the right, where they were prepared for a long, difficult day, attempting to root Vandeleur's men out of the woods around Malpartida itself.

The action produced a quick and rather surprising result, in a game lasting a little over an hour. Clauzel opened with a Bombard card, which gave his artillery (heavier, longer-ranged and more numerous than the Allied) a further bonus, and in the first turn reduced the two Allied batteries to a very weak state. Von Alten's defence was not looking as strong as it had, but he prepared for the French to come on "in the same old way".

They did not disappoint him - on Turn 2, Clauzel played a Grande Manoeuvre card, and sent Berlier's troops in against the quarries. They covered the open ground quickly - a Grande Manoeuvre lets the troops get there quickly, but they have to wait until next turn to fight. The Allies, of course, let them have everything they had available (which wasn't helped by very poor cards for the Centre sector) - Berlier took some losses, as expected, and the 2/27e Ligne were driven back by rifle fire from San Rafael, but the remainder of the attacking force had reached the British lines in far better shape than Von Alten might have hoped for.

Then things happened very quickly - the 43rd Foot were routed and eliminated, the 3/95th Rifles were reduced, in their quarry, to a single "block" (at which strength they were unable to fight back), the 1/95th, in their own quarry, were driven out very easily, failing disastrously to re-take the position, Col Barnard, the brigade commander, was critically wounded, and men from the 25e Leger overran the remnants of Ross's Troop of the horse artillery. In desperation, Von Alten brought up the Thomar battalion of Portuguese militia - previously untried, and there only as emergency secondments from garrison duties at Almeida - and - unbelievably - they defeated the exhausted veterans of the 1/25e Leger and took back the Sant Iago quarry. But it was all in vain, the sixth Victory Banner was on the table. The cavalry, the complicated operations around Malpartida were completely irrelevant - a preliminary artillery bombardment and a rather crude frontal charge carried the day.

Von Alten withdrew his men, placed Vandeleur and the cavalry as a rearguard, and headed off towards Abrantes. Clauzel's next task was to mask the fortress at Almeida, so the Light Division were left to retire without further harrassment. Riflemen in quarries? - piff! French won 6-1.

OOBs

French Force - Gen de Divn Bertrand Clauzel

Second Divn, Armee de Portugal (Clauzel)

            Brigade Berlier: 25e Leger & 27e Ligne (5 Bns)

            Brigade Pinoteau: 50e & 59e Ligne (4 Bns)

Brigade Picquet: 6e & 11e Dragons (4 Sqns)

15/3e Art a Pied (Capt Pajot)

10/3e Art a Pied (Capt Dyvincourt)

19/3e Art a Pied (Capt Gariel)

Losses - approx 800 men k/w

Allied Force - Maj.Gen Karl, Graf Von Alten

Light Division (K von Alten)

            Barnard's brigade: 1/43rd, 1/95th, 3/95th, 1st Cacadores

            Vandeleur's brigade: 1/52nd, 2/95th, 3rd Cacadores

Troop 'I', RHA (Maj Ross)

Cavalry (Maj.Gen V von Alten): 1st Hussars KGL, Brunswick Hussars

Attached (from Almeida garrison): Thomar militia & howitzer battery (4th Ptgse Art)

Losses - approx 1600 men k/w/t, 10 guns destroyed or taken, Col Barnard gravely wounded and captured.

Von Alten's "Hornet's Nest" - Ha!

 

3/95th in the quarry of Sant Iago

 

Opening bombardment - pretty much ruined the Allied batteries

 

Grande Manoeuvre charge by Berlier - crude but effective

  

...and suddenly the hornets had gone

  

Unlikely heroes - the Thomar militia briefly won back one of the quarries,
though it didn't affect the outcome

Hooptedoodle #55 - An Unfamiliar Bug

Just another from my occasional series of dumb observations on Nature. We've had a little excitement last week since we've had siskins on the garden nut feeders, which is very unusual here in the Land of Mud, but today I saw something I've just never seen before. Here he is - about 3mm across, round and very flat, with some little spidery legs at the front. He was walking on the curtains in our attic. Anyone ever seen anything like this before? - it is suggested that it may be some kind of tick - I really wouldn't know.

If these are commonplace, and everyone knows what they are - if there are likely to be specimens living in my navel, for example - then I shall express amused surprise and move lightly on, having learned something, but it's certainly not anything I've seen before.

In case anyone is anxious, we released it carefully and gently in the garden, of course, so I certainly hope it's not dangerous...

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.