Solo Campaign - Action at Arnedillo, Friday 21st August 1812

Action at Arnedillo, Friday 21^st August 1812

French forces (Gen de Bde Jean-Marcel-Auguste Paquerette)

17e Regiment Provisoir (111e, 114e & 115e bns Garde Nationale)

18e Regiment Provisoir (112e bn GN et 3/Garde du Tarn)

7/5e Art à Pied (Cpt Borrance)

Total:  3910 men, with 8 guns

Spanish forces (Don Iago Pacheco, “El Banquero”)

3600 irregulars from the Junta de Vizcaya, of whom approx. 280 are mounted.

Paquerette’s men are Garde Nationale soldiers from the Languedoc and Albi areas of France. Originally recruited to serve in their home region, to release front-line troops for the main field armies, these men were subsequently very bemused to be moved, first to Bayonne, then to serve in North-Eastern Spain. They have no battle experience, though they have acquired some skill in dealing with guerrilleros and policing hostile towns, and their morale is surprisingly good.

Pacheco has under his command a mixture of troops with a wide range of experience and enthusiasm – from seasoned resistance fighters to terrified conscripts. The Junta’s recruiting methods are pretty ruthless. His men are aware that the fairly open terrain does not suit their normal manner of fighting, but their contempt for the French prevents any undue pessimism, though the more experienced men are concerned about the French artillery.

Early on Friday morning, in a light drizzle, the French units pass through the village of Arnedillo, and march on towards the area of small hills around the (deserted) Convent of Nuestra Senora de Penalba, which has been stripped repeatedly by both sides over the last 4 years. A tributary of the River Cidacos rises near the village, the source being a long-established working for the extraction of building sand. The river is not deep, but very muddy, and it may only be crossed at the old Roman bridge.

[Because of the small numbers involved, the action will be played out end to end of the table. This renders the normal C&CN concepts of centre and flank sectors meaningless – thus the game will use C&CN combat mechanisms, but the Command Cards will not be used, activation being carried out by a dice-based system. These are fairly poorly trained troops – on both sides. None of the infantry is able to form square and – to avoid an unnecessary bloodbath – victory conditions are light – the French need to eliminate 5 units or officers to win, the Spaniards need to eliminate just 3. This could be a very short battle!

The French infantry are classed as militia, and are thus subject to triple retreats, though the artillery are trained regulars. The Spanish have the special guerrilla classification I use in C&CN – they may move 2 hexes and fight, and may move freely through woods and villages, but a single, uncancelled retreat will eliminate any unit.]

The French approach - you may see eagles and line troops, but these are Garde
Nationale troops (apart from the artillery), and they are scared out of their wits.
Paquerette is visible at the centre rear, framed in a dining chair...

Dust & sweat (1)...

Dust & sweat (2)

Foy seen in the sky above Arnedillo

The Action

The Spanish infantry took advantage of what cover and broken ground there was, and Paquerette marched his men forward in good order. The speed of deployment of the guerrilleros enabled them to bring a lot of units against the French advance, and an intensive firefight commenced, though the standard of shooting was not what we would expect from the line. The French rookies performed steadily, though a couple of battalions retired (with fairly light losses). The Spaniards (whose units are small – counting only 2 bases each) are invariable brittle in action, and soon there was a steady stream of the wounded and discouraged to the rear.

With militia and irregular troops, C&CN requires units to be clustered together for mutual support, and to have generals close at hand. Both generals did a decent job of bringing up fresh units to fill gaps and relieve battered ones. As ever with C&C related games, the ghost of Mr Borg was somewhere around, and once again we reached a stage where one further loss either way would decide the action.

At this point, Paquerette aspired to a little text-book C&CN, performing an attack with combined arms (artillery + infantry charge) as his men finally closed to within melee range of the enemy. It was a near thing – with 7 combat dice available, he was handicapped by the fact that militia (and the French classed as militia here) do not get to count “crossed sabres” in a melee, but he managed the single infantry hit required to eliminate a fifth Spanish unit and El Banquero withdrew without battling back.

Both commanders did quite well, but the French troops’ musketry was disappointingly ineffective early in the engagement. The Spaniards suffered a total of about 1200 losses – a great majority of which were runaways. The French had 100 killed, 280 missing, and about 400 wounded.

The rapidity of the Spanish movement, plus the lack of French mounted troops, allowed El Banquero to retire in reasonable order, without further harassment. The first shots were timed at around 9:30. The Spaniards had melted away, with most of their wounded, by 10:45.

Starting position, from the Spanish side

That's the way to do it - the terminal retreat flag can be ignored, given
enough support among the guerrilleros

El Banquero - first time in the field - he did OK

Don't get captured by these fellows - actually, one of them is a woman...?

The decisive attack of Combined Arms, which finished things...

...looks like plenty of dice, but the single blue symbol is what counted

Only here for the drink? - some kind of mirage on the horizon

Once again, my thanks to my staff photographer - Nick - for his customary idiosyncratic work.

Eggmuhl Giveaway - Results

I got a total of 13 expressions of interest, if I include a couple of strange pieces of related spam and a threat.

Pleased to announce that Gary Amos wins the battlefield guide (not entirely because of the blackmail attempt), and Bart Vetters wins the German-language version.

If these two gentlemen could contact me with postal addresses I'll get the books  to you.

You can email via the address on my Blogger profile or - and maybe better, since I fear that BtInternet may have screwed up my email accounts again - send a comment to this blog post which I won't publish.

Thanks to anyone who sent an "entry", and thanks to anyone who was interested enough to follow my humble adventures on the Danube.

Solo Campaign - Week 31

Our artist's impression of Arnedillo

My compliments to Francis, who pointed out that the map for week 30 had the wrong counter for Clauzel - should have been I, not H as shown. Francis, you really should get out more and, no, there is no prize.

This week we have two fights coming up between the Spaniards and the French, both near Soria. I hope to get them fought out next week.

Week 31

Random Events and Strategic Notes

The severe rain has ceased – ground conditions have returned to normal, though river levels are unseasonably high, and fords are unpredictable.

Giron’s enlarged and well-equipped Spanish army at Calatayud is causing the French great concern. He has no siege train (though Aigburth is going to bring forward the Anglo-Portuguese one from Ciudad Rodrigo), and is thus unable to do much about the fortress towns which dominate the supply routes from France, but he has enough troops to mask Burgos and possibly Pamplona, which would be a serious problem for the French. He also has more than enough capability to sweep the second-line French troops out of Tudela.

King Joseph is desperately concerned about this, and wants something done about the Spaniards very quickly. King Joseph’s estimate of Giron’s strength is wildly high, confused by the large numbers of Aragonese irregulars who are currently attached (but are very unlikely to be allowed to leave Aragon).

Aigburth and the Spanish high command have agreed that Giron should avoid conflict with the main French field armies, but should move on Tudela, Lodosa and Vittoria – occupation of these three areas will stop French supplies to Marmont, Clauzel and Joudan, regardless of the status of the fortresses at San Sebastian, Pamplona and Burgos.

Apparently you can get a Jourdan shirt too - tacky...

Joseph is aware of the risk, and intends to destroy Giron in battle before these moves take place.

Madrid is now occupied by the troops of the Junta de Castilla, and battalions of milicias urbanas are to be raised from the populace.

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 (Giron, at Calatayud) splits off most of his irregulars (new force Sp I), who will remain in Navarra…

2 – … and marches his main army into Soria

3 – D (Framlingham, with the Allied siege train), marches from Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca

4 – Sp E (Mira, around Ocana) marches into Madrid with some 5000 irregulars

5 – Plans are put in motion to raise a number (possibly 4) battalions of militia in Madrid – timescale uncertain…

[Intelligence step -

• No new information.] 

French (4 allowed)

1 – K (Jourdan/Joseph, at Aranda) splits off the siege train and the baggage train (with the Madrid ‘loot’) as new force U…

2 – … this new force U marches to the fortress at Burgos…

3 – … while force K marches from Aranda into Soria with 11700 men to attack Giron

4 – R (Paquerette’s brigade of about 4500 Garde Nationale) marches from Tudela into Soria, to attack the irregulars under “El Banquero” (Sp G) and prevent their joining with Giron

[Intelligence step –

• No new information.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply, nobody is Demoralised.

Contacts

On Friday 21^st August, Paquerette’s untried reservists meet the irregulars of El Banquero near the convent of Nostra Senora de Penalba, at Arnedillo, on the River Cidacos, Not far from Calahorra. Paquerette has 5 battalions of reservist infantry plus a battery of foot artillery. El Banquero has about 3800 light infantry from the Junta de Vizcaya, no artillery and a tiny force of cavalry. The field is hilly but fairly open, and Paquerette is optimistic…

Vinuesa

The following day, Marshal Jourdan, with Darmagnac’s large division of the Armee du Centre plus the cavalry of the Armee du Nord, makes a determined assault on Giron’s main army at Vinuesa, west of Soria. Giron is estimated to have 11 line battalions, 9 of voluntarios, 5 regiments of cavalry and about 18 guns in 4 batteries. Jourdan has 16 battalions (Confederation and Italians) and 5 units of cavalry, but is relatively weak in artillery – he has one Italian foot battery and one French horse battery – 14 guns in total. The Spanish force was surprised by the speed with which the attack developed, so their defensive position is improvised (with a few dice throws in there).

The customary map and army returns will appear once the actions at Arnedillo and Vinuesa have been fought.

Hooptedoodle #100 – The Price of Self-Respect?

I had sort of hoped that my 100^th Hooptedoodle might be a bit more festive than this, but I had a strange, rather disturbing day yesterday, and I’m still wondering about it. This is not intended as a whinge, nor a sad story of any kind, really, but it contains some elements which seem to be symptomatic of how society works nowadays, and that causes me some disquiet.

Once again, it involves the situation of my mother. My mum is elderly, and she is disabled. She had polio as a child, and – though she recovered – she now suffers from what has become known as Post-Polio Syndrome, which is paralysis caused by progressive degradation of the nerves which were affected by the polio all those years ago. It’s OK – it’s a fact of life, and my mum isn’t given to feeling sorry for herself, so we all just get on with it. To supplement what we can do for her directly, we have arranged for her to have a carer visit every day, and this works wonderfully well. The carer (let’s call her Paula) is a marvelous woman – before she retired, she helped to look after my late sister (who was mentally handicapped), and she and my mother became great friends. They have a private arrangement which works perfectly. Paula comes in for a couple of hours each day during the week, and an hour a day at weekends. Mum pays Paula for her time and her expertise, which is only right and proper. With additional visits and outings organized by the family, we try to ensure that my mum doesn’t lack for either care or interest, and we recently installed a stair lift in her house, which has proved to be a great thing, and has given her control of her own home again. So it works, but all of this obviously isn’t cheap. That’s how it is.

The local County Council did some valuable ergonomic and safety work – putting in grab handles and leveling door thresholds and generally making her house suitable for a wheelchair, and we were also notified that she might qualify for some financial assistance from the Council. So we were encouraged to apply for it – every little bit helps, as I’m sure my grandmother - or was it Tesco? - used to say.

My understanding of these things is not great, but it seems that, if a disabled person resides in a particular county, the local authority has some obligation to assist them, to ensure that their quality of life is acceptable. This may involve putting people in an institution or a home of some sort, or it may result in sending out care-workers and specialists employed by the authority to help these residents, or it might provide specialist equipment. Or, in these days of reduced budgets, there is a direct payment alternative, whereby the disabled person makes their own arrangements for care, in their own home, and the authority makes some financial contribution to help with this. This has a number of advantages, not least being that it is cheaper for the local authority and gives the client more independence. Excellent.

Yesterday my mum got a visit from the keeper of the Council’s purse strings, to sort out the details for a regular direct payment which had already been agreed in principle. Since I have Power of Attorney over my mother’s affairs, both financial and welfare-related, I was there with my official notebook.

The lady from the council (let’s call her Fiona) and I instantly recognized each other as trouble. She recognized me as an awkward beggar who might have the odd opinion, and I recognized her as one of a generation of people with degrees in political correctness and regulatory compliance who gradually took over the Human Resources world and made life frustrating in my last few years at work. These people are astonishing – in the unlikely event of their accidentally allowing something to happen, it will not be their fault, whatever it is.

Fiona told us the following:

1. An informal relationship between my mother and her friend is not good enough. Since their agreement requires that Paula is told when and where to work, a formal contract of employment is required. The Council’s legal people will advise us. 
2. If the Council is contributing to care costs, Paula is not allowed to be self-employed. The Council will even oversee her relationship with the tax authorities.
3. Further, she will have to replace her current professional certification with the new (post 2011) PVG registration (in compliance with the new Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme - this will cost her some £70), and the Council will not proceed with any agreement until they know what her new PVG number is.
4. Further, since she is now an employee, she should be entitled to holiday and sickness pay.
5. Further, since my mother will now be an employer, she will require to take out employer’s liability insurance (about £135 per annum) – the Council can advise. This will, naturally, require someone to come and completely check my mother’s house, its wiring, the state of the stairs, the lighting, the cable on the kettle, etc.
6. Further, a stand-alone bank account will have to be set up to record every penny spent on care – the Council will require a paper monthly statement from this account. They will also require a very detailed paper return of all care-related activities and expenditure – every month. How some of their poor old, demented clients handle this is a matter of interest.
7. Further, all payments to Paula must be made through the Council’s own direct salary system, which they will set up for us if we (which means I) go to their office to discuss it with them. I may not pay Paula by online transfer from a bank account of my own choice, which has been the arrangement to date.
8. Any decisions, changes or problems, and any debates about what Paula may or may not be asked to do must be referred to my mother’s Care Manager at the Council, whose decision will be final.
9. This whole wonderful edifice, by the way, is known as the county Centre for Inclusive Living’s “Independent Living Service”. At this point, I could feel a loud snort coming on. It begs a few serious questions about definitions of Independent, Service and even of Living.

I had a quick consultation with my mum, and with Paula, and I responded to Fiona-from-the-Council thus:

1. The proposed amount of financial aid is rather less than £50 a week. While this would be gratefully received, it represents approximately one-fifth of the total outlay on care that we already have in place, and to change everything in the way proposed is an extreme example of a tail wagging a dog. 
2. The relationship between these two ladies, who have been close friends for years, is very important, and it would be changed in a very unfortunate way by introducing any form of contract of employment – completely inappropriate. All the spin-offs from such a contract – insurance, holiday pay, external vetting and control of payments – are non-starters.
3. The degree of restriction, regulation and general interference, and the amount of administrative grunt, are unacceptable. These arrangements may well work perfectly for clients who are very hard up, or who require the use of agencies, but it does not fit with my mother’s situation.
4. Thank you for your time and for the offer, but we shall decline it. The money on offer is not worth the hassle and the bureaucratic oppression.

We did not tell her to stick it in her ear, but it was a close call. I believe that Fiona has never been rejected in this manner before, and she was very visibly shaken. She insisted on passing us the papers she had already completed, and she said to my mum that, if she changed her mind in the future, here were the details for reference.

My mum replied that, since she is 88, there isn’t really a lot of future for this to happen in.

I’m not sure how I feel about it. There is something in there about the value of self-respect, of independence, of freedom from bureaucratic control. I am convinced we are better off without the Council’s contribution, thank you very much, though I don’t expect that either they or that nice Mr Cameron will trouble to thank us for saving them some expense.