After a long retreat in winter through the mountains of North West Spain, Sir John Moore reaches the port of Corunna and waits for the Royal Navy. The two day delay allows Marshal Court to catch up with the retreating army and attack. Moore successfully evacuates his army, but dies in the battle to hold off the French. So much for history, how did we fare?
Mike chose to field his British army and I elected to give my French another outing. The scenario is by Matt Bradley and has the British holding a ridge which the French must take for victory. Here's the map:
I elected to use my main force to attack the objective villages of Piedralonga and Elvina (top two objectives) and pin the British at the bottom objective (on the San Christobal hill).
The start of the game - Elvina to the left and Piedralonga to the right. Note the use of the hand-towel as the Atlantic - so glad it wasn't pink!
French columns going in - Elvina
Piedralonga
and dismounted, as infantry. The dismounted dragoons (red token) have really not got their act together, only one unit has charged home and the British infantry are benefitting from a massive injection of tea!
After two successful battles in recent weeks, I have to admit I got a bit cocky. As ever, the BBB rules brought me back to the reality that the more units needing to co-ordinate, the more likely one or more is to go slow or just stop. The British moved forward at Piedralonga and got driven back up the hill, but it was more of a planned retreat than the rout I'd been hoping for.
French disorganised assault - not enough troops charging home. The British "D" rating for devastating volleys added just enough to their firepower to ensure my charges stopped or took casualties on the way in.
A little later in the game - the French have Elvina, however Piedralonga holds on for the Brits... just.
Next turn - the Brits have Elvina, but the Brits have pushed back into Piedralonga
Close up of French infantry, mostly warmly dressed in greatcoats to keep out the cold.
French 12pdrs - great until the Brits decided to keep the battle at just beyond long range!
To the left of Elvina - two evenly matched blocks of troops slug it out for this flank.
French final assault on Piedralonga - not starting in a good place, as all the French units are disrupted.
Massed French cavalry, waiting for the British to break... waiting... waiting...
Not really clear from the photos, but the British lost Elvina and got pushed off that part of the ridge. They did hang on to Piedralonga and stopped the French left hand move past Elvina. The French dragoons on the extreme left got wiped out, but the time taken to do this meant these British were unable to rejoin the battle.
As so often happens with BBB, it came down to the last move. The British retook Elvina and the French ended up at the bottom of the ridge. So, we ended with a British win, the rest of the army can evacuate and Soult has run out of troops.
A really enjoyable game and a lot of fun to get my troops on the table. The British held firm and managed to counter-attack in style. The French just ran out of steam and failed to make their numbers count. As expected, the Brits held the villages and that "D" rating gave them an edge. It was nice to see Mike's troops - there was one more battle in 2023 and I think we'll be in Spain for a while yet in the 2024 gaming season.
