Sahagun

The Field of Battle

The French cavalry are caught in the town by British cavalry 

to the right and the bottom left hand corner. 

Over the weekend, we had the opportunity to play some of the new scenarios from the latest Command & Colours Napoleonics expansion Marshalls & Tacticians.  I was aided in this by my old enemy, the soldier of destiny himself, Lochlainn McHibernia-McEireanneach. A wild eyed poetic soul, McHibernia-McEireanneach has recently returned from a book tour of Chicago, Vienna and the sub continent. His most recent publication, "The New Gluten Free Cookbook and My Fight for Irish Freedom," has been reasonably successful.  

He joined me in playing the Sahagun scenario. I have been mildly obsessed with Sahagun for a while and I've struggled to make the scenario work.  Command & Colours Napoleonics simply does not shine without combined arms, so I was very interested to see how Richard Borg would approach this particular problem. 

The French player is presented with a choice - fight or run? 

In brief, if you don't want to read my previous ramblings on Sahagun (click linky) - it was a battle where the British cavalry launched a surprise attack on some French horse in barracks.  The French were almost surrounded and routed, but were prevented from being putting completely in the bag by some poor co-ordination on the part of the British. 

Richard Borg's take on this scenario puts the French in a situation where they need to either defeat the British cavalry or flee the field. Because it's a cavalry engagement, it's essentially a demolition derby of charge and counter charge. Richard has adapted the victory conditions somewhat so the French can score by getting troops off the board.  He also rates the French cavalry as 33% more effective than the British. 

A troops of the Light Dragoons about to do for some Chasseurs. 

We played this several times, three times in total I think and the French took it handily on each occasion.  I had hoped that Richard might have cracked the pure cavalry engagement, but I don't think he has. There is very little the British can do to try and prevent the French getting off the field and unless they can bring superior numbers to bear, they can't go toe to toe with the French horse. 

McHibernia-McEireanneach counting his victory points

I really wanted to like this scenario because I'm fascinated by the original battle and I love cavalry engagements, but to be honest, it's a bit of a lemon.  CCN while it is my favourite Napoleonic rule set, does combined arms well, but it struggles to cope with scenarios that don't have at least two arms present. 

French horse bolting for the river. 

I don't think we'll be giving this one a go again, which is a pity, because it's a fascinating engagement.  Fortunately we played some of the other scenarios from the new expansion and they were a different story.  

Sahagun 21st December 1808 - A Command & Colours: Napoleonics Scenario

This map was constructed using the Vassal Module

downloaded from ccnapoleonics.net

Historical Background

On a bitterly cold morning in December 1808, 400 men

of the 15th Light Dragoons (Hussars) shivered in their pelisses

outside the town of Sahagun after an arduous night march.

Their commander Lord Henry Paget was fuming as French

piquets had alerted the sleeping troopers of the 1st Provisional

Chasseurs a Cheval and the 8th Dragoons in the town.

The French befuddled by sleep and half blinded by snow had

decamped and were now formed up in the open ground to the

east of the town. Lord Paget had an unpalatable

decision to make, his other regiment, the 10th Light Dragoons under the

incompetant General Slade, was late and he now faced odds of

two to one.

With the element of surprise fast dissappearing and time running short

Lord Paget made a characteristically bold decision and ordered

a charge straight into the teeth of the enemy.

The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in

command. Can you change history?

Battle Notes

French Forces

Commander: General de Brigade Cesar Alexandre Debrelle

1 Command Card

- The French player draws two cards every turn until they have three cards in hand.

British Force

Commander: Lord Henry Paget

5 Command Cards

Move First

Victory

4 Victory Banners

Special Rules

1. The French Heavy Cavalry have three blocks rather than the usual four.

2. The French player begins the game with one card in hand and draws two cards

every turn until he has three cards.

3. The Banner on the river counts as a temporary victory banner for either side.

4. Gentlemen playing the above scenario may avail of the following additional rules,

though these are not to be indulged in when wives or servants are present.

Battle of Sahagun Drinking Game

1. Every time a player takes a victory banner, he must take a drink.

2. Every time a player loses a unit, he must take a drink.

3. Every time a General rolls for "risk", the owning player must take a drink.

4. If the British player plays Short of Supplies, the French player may negate it by downing his drink in one and saying "That Damn Fool Slade!"

5. If the French player plays First Strike, the British player may negate it by downing his drink in one and saying "Emsdorf and victory!"

Further thoughts on Sahagun

The 8th Dragoons - who were better boules players than they were cavalrymen

Long day today - though stripping the wallpaper in the games room is finally finished (many thanks to Mr E), the kitchen is ready for a cooker and the bathroom will be ready for tiling after the weekend. I also managed to achieve some other short term goals.

I spent a very pleasant evening in the pub last night, during which we playtested Donogh's Sacile scenario. I played it twice, beating Donogh 6-4 and being beaten 6-3 in turn by Marshall Du Gorman, that most dastardly of Napoleon's henchmen. It was a big scenario, but I think Donogh's adaptions for the Austrians were rather good and the balance is almost right. I believe the Austrian cavalry were a little better than he gave them credit for, but other than that he may have hit the nail on the head.

My Sahagun scenario took rather more work, though we managed to play it five times.

What was learned?

- Command & Colours: Napoleons mainly represents engagements at Divisional level and above. The British cavalry did not shine at this level of engagement, but did rather better at the lower level. I decided the way to reflect this was to reduce the number of blocks in some of the French units, making the French worse rather than the British better.

- Sahagun was a famous victory precisely because it was unlikely, a force of light cavalry taking on twice their numbers, half of whom are heavies. The trick is to slant the scenario in such a way that the British player has a chance of achieving his unlikely victory, but the French players hands aren't completely tied. This was difficult, but I think I've managed it.

- Because it's an entirely cavalry engagement, its very fast and is a rather crash-bang-wallop affair. As a result its well suited to The Command & Colours: Napoleonics - Sahagun Drinking Game.

The rules of the above are as follows.

Lose a unit, take a drink.

Kill a unit, take a drink.

If the British player plays Short of Supplies, the French player may negate it by downing his pint in one and saying "That Damn Fool Slade!"

If the French player plays First Strike, the British player may negate it by downing his pint in one and saying "Emsdorf and victory!"

Fortunately, for the gaming public, I should be able to put Sahagun before you shortly. I have downloaded the Vassal map editor and I should wrestle it into some sort of shape by tomorrow. Until then, Emsdorf and victory!

Sahagun

The rather magnificent Terence Alexander, playing Lord Uxbridge,

accompanied by the equally splendid Christopher Plummer, playing the Duke

The more astute reader will have noticed that both men are riding apple crates. It was this care and attention to the welfare of their horses (who are out of shot, putting their hooves up) that made them renowned military leaders guaranteed to give Frenchy a damn good thrashing in any weather. Curiously, Plummer - the Canadian is playing that most famous of Englishmen, who was actually Irish. Alexander who is playing Uxbridge, a cavalry officer who famously lost his leg at Waterloo, damn near lost his own leg while serving with the 27th lancers in Italy and walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

But, it is not Lord Uxbridge or Waterloo that concerns us at present - but Sahagun and plain old Henry Paget* as he was at the time. Sahagun is an interesting little action that took place during the retreat to Corunna. Sir John Moore was of the opinion that no good would be served by allowing Britain's only field army to be smashed by overwhelming numbers, but did not wish to retreat without striking some sort of a blow. With that object in mind, Paget was sent against Soult on a reconnaissance and led a cavalry brigade against the French occupied town of Sahagun. The plan was that a two pronged assault would result in the French being driven onto a blocking force. Sadly, the night march went wrong, as night marches so often do and the blocking force led by General Slade, described by Paget as "...that damned stupid fellow", was not in place in time and took no part in the action.

A brilliant charge by the 15th Hussars overthrew the French completely, taking 300 prisoners, but the lack of a blocking force prevented the whole French force being put in the bag.

The action is atmospherically described in Rumours of War, the sixth Mathew Hervey novel, byAllan Mallinson.

A picture of a possible setup (since abandoned),

taken for note taking purposes

I had been thinking about writing a Sahagun scenario for a while, mainly because I think its interesting and secondly, as I had been wondering whether C&C: Napoleonics could handle an all cavalry engagement. My first thought was for numbers, most C&C: Napoleonics scenarios involve about a dozen units a side, but I can't field that much cavalry. It would also led to a rather packed battlefield. Both sides fielded about eight hundred men, though half the British force (under that damned fool Slade) didn't make it to the field in time to help decide the matter.

I decided to field equal forces, as the French units are larger (four blocks to the British three) which would keep the disparity in numbers while ensuring the both sides had a sufficient number of manoeuvre units to keep things interesting. Also since, CCN classes dragoons as heavies the French will enjoy a superiority of weight, which translates to an additional die in melee.

I added three special rules for flavour

- firstly, the British player may negate any French played "First Strike" card by yelling "Emsdorf and Victory" before the French player rolls dice. The attack is canceled and the card replaced.

-secondly, the French player may negate a British played "Short of Supplies" card by saying "That damn fool Slade", before the British player has touched figures. The effect is canceled and the card replaced.

-thirdly, all infantry/artillery specific cards, Bombard, Fire and Hold, etc - may be played as Rally cards.

The first two rules are present because I love gimmicks, though they do reflect (in a manner of speaking) two incidents from the actual battle. The last is an attempt to model the swirling, chaotic nature of cavalry combat where momentum and address are vitally important, horsemen are scattered more easily than their infantry fellows and motivated officers can rally them to charge once again.

On the face of it, it seems pretty hopeless for the British - facing superior numbers, half of whom hit harder than they do. I may have to set up the scenario at the point of the charge to level the playing field, but I don't want to completely hamstring the French player either. There is of course, always the chance that Slade might show up - which could result in things becoming very sticky for the French.

I have tested this and various board layouts by playing around with the boxed game. This has the advantage of ensuring I don't use more pieces than the game allows, which would substantially limit outside playtesting possibilities. Thus far I haven't managed to produce anything other than a crushing victory for the French, even giving them a hand size of three compared the British five. Perhaps starting the battle from the point of the British approach might be more fruitful with the French player struggling to get his troops out of the town so as to bring his superior numbers to bear.

That said I haven't attempted a blind playtest yet - which is always the real test of a scenario. Putting two players who operate with none of the authors assumptions in front of a game is always an interesting experience. I might manage a playtest this week.

More thoughts on this when I have them dear readers.

*Nasty or impolite people might point out that he was a Lord at the time, but that unpleasant fact drives a coach and horses through my nicely composed sentence and may be ignored for the time being.