The Battle of Maria de Huerva, 1809

 On Wednesday night I hosted the Zoom game I mentioned in my previous post. The Jolly Broom Man (he himself) commanded the Spanish troops, in his role of Mariscal de Campo Blake, and I was Général de Division Gabriel Suchet, commanding some part of the III Corps, not far from Zaragoza.

JBM sportingly volunteered to command the Spanish troops, and I believe that he had the advantage of a few extra units to compensate for the unpredictable behaviour of his men. I reproduce the game map below; if you do a quick unit count and find that JBM did not, in fact, get any extra units, then please keep quiet about it. I meant to give him some. You know how it is.

 The scenario is pretty much lifted intact from the Commands & Colors scenario book, with some tweaking of numbers. It is close to the historical situation, though, since my toy armies don't quite match that part of the Peninsular War, in that year, the types of units are correct, but the individual regiment names mostly are not. The French army, however, does include troops from the Vistula (lancers and line infantry) and the famous 13e Cuirassiers, who really were present.

Since JBM does not have a set of the C&CN cards, we used my Ramekin add-on, which has a dice-based activation system. One feature of the scenario was that each army had a reserve of three line battalions, off the table, at the end of the road. These reserve troops would arrive on the field when their commander rolled a double-one on the activation dice for the second time; a double-one is not normally a welcome event, but in this case the French victory was greatly helped by the fact that Suchet's reserve arrived a few turns before Blake's.

"Then tell him to march faster..."

 

The Centre of the Spanish position; Roca has the front line, Lazan the second, and Blake (with the yellow border to his base) is waving his hat somewhere to the rear

7 Victory Points was the requirement for a win.

 

Situation at the start, seen from behind the French right flank

 

From the other end of the table, we can see the French right flank rushing forward in the distance

 

In this game, yellow counters denote light infantry (of which the Spaniards had a lot), red counters are elite units (there was only one, a Spanish grenadier battalion) and white counters are losses. 3 white counters will eliminate an artillery battery; all other units require 4. Here GdB Robert attacks the ridge on the Spanish left, the Lanciers de la Vistule attempting to strike terror into the light infantry on the end of the line

 

This was quite a bloody little passage. Each side lost one unit, the Spaniards withdrew a little, but the French were stopped. Honours about even - the score quickly became 2-2

 

The Cazadores de Barbastro had 3 hits already, and were shifted out of the firing line

 

The Spanish right includes the elite grenadier battalion, and both of the light cavalry units

 

Back on the Spanish left, Bonavente brings forward the two battalions of the Regto de Ordenes Militares

 

...who form square and chase away the lancers, who are also looking a bit wrecked now

 

The square black counter indicates - you guessed! - that the unit on the left is in square

 

A repeated feature of this battle was the effective use of "Combined Arms" attacks, in which cavalry or infantry carry out melee attacks with support from their artillery

 

The French, having rather run out steam on the right, start to develop their left

 

Ordenes Militares push forward from the ridge, though they thought better of this idea shortly afterwards

 

General Wathier advances on the French left. There was some brisk action, the main effect of which was to render the cavalry of both armies useless for the rest of the day (where have I heard this story before...?)

 

GdD Musnier started to move his infantry in the centre to the right (he was hoping very earnestly for his reserve troops to arrive, they say)

 

The Spaniards, on the far side of the valley take a reverse-slope position to protect themselves from the French artillery

 

Tales of glory - suddenly the Spanish grenadiers rush forward, shouting and singing. They were last seen heading along the road toward the monastery - they never came back...

 

Everything rather static in the centre and on the Spanish left

 

 

Featured unit - General Robert with a battalion of (ex Eric Knowles) Hinton Hunts (with SHQ command figures)

 

 

Another featured unit - last time I fought this battle, about 5 years ago, the Vistula Lancers just about won the day by themselves. This time it didn't go so well. C'est la Guerre. (Old Les Higgins figures - I reckon I painted these in about 1973!)

 

Blake is still sending messages of encouragement to his troops

 

And now, for the first time, we see the French reserve troops arriving, next to the monastery

 

From the far end of the field, you can see them surging forward in the distance

 

While, in the centre, the 4e Vistule and a battalion of the 6e Léger advance, with support from the artillery on their left

 

The 4e Vistule go in, uphill, with artillery giving Combined Arms support from across the valley. It was enough; the Spaniards had fought well, Blake manoeuvred his formations with skill, some great work was done to rally exhausted units, and their reserves had now also arrived, but the VP score was 7-3, and Suchet had won the day. It was hard work, though. These Spaniards don't know when they are licked, I can tell you...

 

 

Zoom Game Tomorrow; Set-Up

 It's been a few weeks since I did anything at all which was wargame-related, so I'm pleased to be hosting a Zoom game tomorrow.

Napoleonic. Peninsular. Based on the published Commands & Colors scenario for Maria de Huerva.

 I played this game 5 years ago, and I think it went quite well, so here we go again.

 Suchet's French against Blake's Spanish. In the interests of keeping it at least a little competitive, I've given Blake's army a few extra units. Each army also has a small reserve of 3 battalions, which may appear during the action.

 

Very plain field; a couple of ridges, a road and the monastery of Santa Fe in the right foreground. The French army is on the right here

 

From the other end of the table, looking from behind the French right flank

 

Some random shots of the initial set-up. Yellow counters denote light infantry; red counters (if you see any) denote elite troops - I think there are some Spanish grenadiers, that's about it

 

This photo is for Ian, since it features some Hinton Hunt French line troops...

 

...and this one's for me, since I have a great affection for Spanish infantry in round hats!

Battle of Orthez - 27th Feb 1814 - C&C game

 On Wednesday I hosted a C&C miniatures game - the Battle of Orthez. The plan was to play this as a 4-handed game, but sadly Stryker was unable to join us, because of illness in his family, so Goya commanded all the Allies, and The Archduke and I had the French.

A crowded field - lots of troops, and rather busy terrain - the scenario was basically the "Epic" game taken from the C&C user site, scaled down a bit for troop numbers and physical size to fit my 17 x 9 hex table.

As ever, the game was enjoyable, though the action developed rather slower than usual, no doubt because of the complexity of the terrain, and we did not finish. The official Victory Point requirement for the win was 12 points (which included some points for possession of built-up areas and hills), and we were at 10-9 to the Allies at the point where we had to adjourn to get some dinner and allow Goya to get his train! In fairness (as ever), I think that if this had been the historical end to the action then Soult would have been obliged to retreat (again).

 

My camera was giving me some problems on Wednesday, so there are less photos than usual; here is the view from behind the French left flank, early on. The French army finds itself in an unfamiliar situation for the Peninsular War, defending a ridge position. The town of Orthez is top centre; the pale green counters on the edge of the board indicate where the French reserves may appear later - the bad news for the French is that the reserves are very poor conscripts, rated as "Militia" for C&C purposes, which means they are disadvantaged in melee combat, and potentially suffer triple retreats!

 

 

Here we are behind the French right (which was my view for the day). In the foreground is the village of St Boès, and beyond it the walled churchyard, where the 25ème Léger held out for most of the day

 

 

On the Allied right, two regiments of Light Dragoons (correct 1814-vintage chaps in shakoes, kindly supplied by Goya) splash through the fords across the river (Gave de Pau, which nowadays seems to have mysteriously become the River Ousse) and force some of Harispe's infantry into square. The French cavalry obligingly shifted out of the way and left the infantry to get on with it! This was a nasty affair - the fighting here reduced all the units involved to a poor state - the French cavalry did appear later to see off the Light Dragoons...

 

 

On their left, the Allies seemed intent on attacking through the woods, Viet-Cong style. I think some work on the C&C house rules is required for our next game here - otherwise I may be turning up with an army of elephants, for old times' sake

 

 

The Allies focused on Orthez and the churchyard, and their delay in attacking the centre gave the French time to develop their field artillery on the hills, which rather put paid to any major attack in that area subsequently

 

 

Harispe's boys working hard to hold Orthez - they lost part of it for a while, but took it back. The bridge over the river is blocked and may not be used, though the Allied artillery was a nuisance firing across the river

 

 

Rouget, in the centre of the French line, waiting for an attack which never came

 

 

After a prolonged struggle, the Allies took the churchyard - here the Brunswickers, from Walker's 7th Division, get the job of holding it

 

 

Near the end of the day, Taupin's Division, who as far as I recall never shot anyone, are still in position at St Boès, though they are no longer supporting the churchyard to their front. If the game had continued, things would probably have got more difficult for them

My thanks to Goya and the Archduke for their excellent company and the chat, for very kindly buying dinner (which was definitely not in the script!) and for making the trip for what was a terrific day.

 

Rules Observations

Some years ago (Oct 2018) I was disappointed in my attempt to produce a decent scenario for Eggmühl, since the C&C rules made it almost impossible for French troops to attack the big Austrian battalions in wooded country - the Austrians just shot them when they came in range. Subsequently I decided that the "Ranged Combat" effect of muskets needed some adjustment, and I added this to some experimental changes to introduce a dice-based activation system, replacing the Command Cards, to produce my own house-variant C&C game, Ramekin, which has served me well for a while now.

This week's game was excellent fun, but I fear that, in a fiddly terrain, one of the reasons we got a bit bogged down was exactly because ranged musketry was not effective enough, the game was dominated by artillery fire and melee combat (which is probably quite authentic for this battle) and the individual game turns were quite long.

I was left with a feeling that I would like to try the original C&C again - cards and all - and restore the Ranged Combat rules to their former strength. One feature of the original game is that the individual turns are short, but there are lots of them - I'd like to try that again. There is also a possibility that my rules have unwittingly pushed the game away from what the Real Guys would describe as "the true period flavour" [God help us].

Orthez: Setting Up a Game by Very Small Steps

 I've now assembled the battlefield, which may be fudged slightly to get the soldiers in. I had a great idea for representing the famous Vieux Pont, but alas I was outsmarted by the fact that the bits didn't fit together as I had hoped. Never mind - I did (briefly) consider some brave scratchbuilding with spare MDF and porridge, but wimped out.

The soldiers can stay in their Cupboard and boxes until the day before the game (the game is Wednesday), to keep the dust and the sunlight off them - I have a sketch map showing who goes where, so that shouldn't take long. My house may be a shambles, but my soldiers are immaculate.

 

An empty Commands & Colors battlefield is an odd sight; this is the view from the North East, the French will be defending the long edge on our right here. This is the 10'4" x 5' version of my battleboard

 

 

Here, on the French right flank, you see the village of St Boès and its church

 

 

View from behind the Allied left, with St Boès at this end and Orthez at the far end. You get extra points if you spotted a couple of spare pieces of Mothercare's interlocking Safeplay floor leaning against the radiator. My table is based on a substratum of these - good for stability and sound insulation (in case the people who live under the table are disturbed by the warfare)

 

 

The scenery will not win many awards - here is my cheap-and-cheerful impression of the iconic bridge at Orthez. The 4 arches have become 1, the central tower has moved to one end. It is still unuseable, though, since the bridge and the archway have been blocked up with masonry, and one of the arches has been mined (see if you can guess which one). You will observe that by 1814 France had sunk to a state where all the stonemasons had been sent away to fight in the war.