War in the Peninsula, 17 May, 2015

Another day, another reenactment of musket warfare in Spain. This time I drove the brave Frenchmen against Dave's dastardly British invaders. In this battle, the British army was occupying a town and the Emperor himself had declared that I would evict them at bayonet-point. Far be it from me to deny the Emperor...

We decided the 'river' would be in drought season and count as a stream. The fords were considered open ground.

An area of crop fields blocked off vision between the two armies on one flank, and a forest and the stream inhibited movement on the other. The centre of the field was mostly open ground.

French Deployment. Note the infamous 'Ghost' infantry division (too much to paint, never enough time...)

The French lineup. I fielded two divisions of infantry, and one 'elite' infantry division representing Young Guards. I also had a dragoon division and a light cavalry division, comprised of hussars. The 'Ghosts' would give me much grief as punishment for not having got around to painting them. As they say in Spain, c'est la vie...

The British deployment. Mostly infantry.

The British, looking pretty formidable as a defensive force. The infantry divisions plus a cavalry division of mostly heavy dragoons, and another brigade of light dragoons in reserve.

The view upstream, from the French commander's position.

The French army. The Hussars make a quick pilgrimage to the abbey on their way to the battle.

First turn: The British army advances cautiously, the right flank taking up firing positions at the edge of the farmland.

The British army began by advancing cautiously, Dave not wanting to get into a stoush too quickly.

First turn: Artillery deploying on the British left flank.

French first turn: If in doubt, attack. The hussars on the ridge storm the British artillery position as the rest of the left flank pours into the bottleneck between the stream and the forest. 

I, on the other hand, took the opposite approach. The Hussars were in range of the artillery on the British right flank so off they went, with one infantry division and the guards right behind. I hoped that if I rushed in early I'd avoid getting my troops caught in the bottleneck between the forest on my left and the river.

What were Hussars made for if not to Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!????

Cannon to the left of them, cannon to the right of them, &c.

The Charge of the Hussars saw off the British artillery and the flank started to turn.

The Hussars managed to scare off the artillery on the flank, and three French divisions lined up to face off against the British infantry.

British turn 2: The cavalry division storms into the centre of the French lines.

Not to be outdone, the British cavalry smashed into the French divisions, giving me a bit of a surprise.

A slightly unexpected turn of events...

British turn 2: Second Division continues to advance up the left flank, taking cover behind the crop fields.

The British infantry go stationary. Probably a good time to form square...

The British infantry on the right go stationary in the face of impending cavalry charges.

The British dragoons crash through the French lines, routing on infantry brigade and chasing them off the table, and routing one dragoon brigade.

Sadly, the combat in the centre of the field did not go well for the French. One dragoon brigade routed and fled to the rear. Both infantry brigades in the combat also lost and were forced back, one routing which was pursued off the board by the KGL dragoons who broke through. Fortunately, the British heavy dragoons were routed as they contacted another unit of French dragoons who was them off. All up a quick but bloody combat.

Those KGL dragoons are looking mighty isolated right now...

Things going better for the French on this flank...

The Hussars get a little bit too excited and head for the hills, or in this case the trees.

I foolishly charged the Hussars into combat without recovering from disorder first and was rewarded by having them fail their morale and rout. They disappeared into the forest and didn't come out for the rest of the game. Curses!

The French Guard division starts rolling up the flank.

Fortunately for me, the Guards were faring better than the cavalry, seeing off the British infantry and starting to push the flank back.

The Scots Greys threaten the horse artillery after seeing off the French dragoons.

At this stage the French right flank was looking in pretty bad shape but I hoped I could pull together long enough to clean up the British right.

When charged by Scots Greys, keep calm and carry on...

The Scots Greys charging into my horse artillery didn't do much to excite me but I should have had more faith in the boys, as they happily saw off the charging cavalry, blasting the brigade to pieces without breaking a sweat. Vive l'Empereur, indeed.

Finishing moves: The French counter-attack the Light Dragoons.

Seeking revenge, I dispatched some of the remaining dragoons and 2nd division infantry to clean up the KGL dragoons who had ruthlessly butchered my infantry earlier. In hindsight this was probably a waste of resources but I felt better for it at the time. That's the main thing, right?

The French finish off the KGL dragoons

The French infantry continue their assault against the British line. 

The French barrage against the British lines continued on the left flank, but paid for every inch of ground taken.

Piling on: Every man available charges the British.

The British were falling back but they certainly weren't giving up. Dave was cleverly using the terrain to his advantage and I couldn't get around the flank, blocked by a forest on one flank and the town on the other, with a hill in the middle breaking up my advance.

British troops holding a ridge in front of the town

Getting over the hill was to prove a challenge. Dave's boys didn't want to give up the ridge.

The British right flank falls back in the face of overwhelming French numbers

The French left begins to roll up the British line

Dave managed to rally his heavy dragoons, who were hiding behind his lines, and then mace at me with a cavalry charge using them and the reserve light dragoons. I saw off both units, but it was more casualties that the French army couldn't really afford at this point.

The French manage to push the British off the ridge and advance toward the town

Finally I managed to knock the British off the ridge and Dave started to reform his lines behind the hill.

Close combat! The final push into the town. The British put up their best defence

One brigade of the Guards had flunked a morale roll and routed earlier, and the rest of my troops were running out of hit points. The Young Guards charged the Coldstream Guards, and in a flurry of sixes the two units finished each other off.

The 42nd Highlanders hold position on the British left.

The French advance begins to falter...

In every good wargame, there's usually one dice roll where it all goes really right or really wrong. For me, I think it was here. I charged the remaining Hussars along with an infantry brigade into the British infantry on the hill, thinking I'd be able to clean them up. No luck. I did no hits, and suffered some losses in return, causing both my own units to fall back. I just didn't have enough warm bodies to fill the gap. If only I had one more infantry brigade!

The British counter-attack

This gave Dave an opportunity to bring up some reinforcements from his 2nd division which had been camping out in the crop fields, and was still in good shape.

British 2nd Division cleans up the remainder of the French right flank

And sadly, I had run out of men, while Dave still had a good division to hold the town. We attacked in the same old way and they beat us in the same old way. Gosh and darn! Better luck next time, I hope.