The French Army of Spain are in retreat and an Allied force has caught their rear guard covering the entrance to a narrow valley with the main French army trapped if the Allies can reach it quickly.
The Allies plan is to push up one of it's Portuguese Divisions and pin the French's left while the British 1st Division push for the valley, whilst the British 2nd Division will attempt to outflank the French's right The Portuguese Reserve Division would follow the British 1st Div up the valley, when it arrives on turn 2 (We diced for where it arrived along our table edge).
The French plan was to stop the Allies reaching the valley entrance by pushing up along their entire line and hope night falls (or the club has to close!)
All figures are from my collection, and are a mix of manufacturers.
The British/ Portuguese initiative dice were woeful and the French got the drop on us for the entire game! Written orders were issued at the beginning of the game and were questioned as the game progressed.
Turn 1: The French pushed up their entire line and the Portuguese 2nd Division moved up, as did the British.
urn 2: The French won all the initiative dice, and were making it difficult for the Allies to manouver. The arrival of the Reserve Division was not favourable either, and was right into the fray! Allies Right flank, two Portuguese Divisions (3rd Div & Reserve Div). The Division on the left of the picture just marched on and was supposed to be our reserve! The French Dragoons Charge the Artillery and run it down after having it fire and miss!
3rd Portuguese Division, showing their initiative dice!
British Central Division (1st Div), made up of 2 Guards Battalions, 3 Scottish Elite Battalions. 2 Line Battalions and a Light Battalion. 3 skirmish units to their front. The French got to the farm and the cover of the stone walls
British Left Flank, 5 Line, 1 light, Heavy Dragoons and a hussar Regt., move up but are mirrored by the French Cavalry
French Centre moving up to occupy one of the objectives
The Portuguese (3rd Div) occupy one of the objectives, having now lost the Artillery and an Infantry Battalion from the first French Dragoon Charge, and now the second French Dragoon Regt. cause chaos within the Allies ranks. The Dragoons had no where to go now but had taken 2 kills and became staggered s one of the Portuguese battalions stood firm! The Allies Reserve Division, now completely on their own and was only 4 battalions big, so could not afford to lose any of it's units.
The mayhem of the two French Dragoons units have caused.
The centers clash, with the British getting the better of the melees (note the initiative dice).
The British left flank lost both it's cavalry unit, both killed outright by very poor British melee and very good French dice, but the so did the French, as they were chasing the retreating British Cavalry.
And there they are.....Bonjour!
The Allies were just starting to get a foothold in the center, but the lack of Cavalry now made the task very hard to achieve anything, as the French were now in the allies rear, and believe or not all the French Cavalry were still within command next turn as the French pressed the Flanks of the Cavalry less Allies. The allies would not achieve their objective as the French could see what was afoot and recalled units and rewrote orders to secure the center and force the Allies back off table.
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