Battle of Vittoria - 21 June 1813 - refight 17 Feb 2024

 A trip to Oxford in February was the excuse Mark S needed to gather the players for Vittoria, 21st June 1813.  Mark and I took command of the French, Chris and Crispin took the Brits.  

The British objective was to take key villages and the heights of Puebla, several river crossings and stop the French evacuating their baggage.  The French had to hold on long enough for the baggage to get away and generally slow the Brits down.

Here's the map.  

I took the French at the top of the map against Chris' forces, Mark's forces were to take on Crispin's two columns coming from the North.  

This was the battlefield as set up - my job was to hold the heights of Pueblo and the hill top middle.  Mark was in charge of stopping the river crossings and guarding the baggage.

Here's our deployment:

French South - bit of a grainy photo

French South West - French my troops facing Chris's Brits in the foreground 

The French South west looking North - Mark is contemplating Crispin's Brits arrival on the board edge in front of him.

The French defending the North Middle - yup, I can't see them either - must be camouflaged!  Actually, I think that they were held till the approaching British trigger movement.

The French defending the North East

Turns 1 - 4 saw the British, Portuguese & Spaniards deploy more and more troops.  Move 5 pics - Chris (in the foreground) sent his light division (I think I saw Sharpe there) into the woods and started sniping.

Same part of the game, looking at 90 degrees to above pic - Chris pushes onto the hill.

One move later....

Chris forms a formidable line and grinds down my French

The battle on the hill goes slowly for Chris as I stubbornly resist, whilst going slowly backwards....

Crispin's advance goes well, with too few French to defend all the river crossings.  The French column in the foreground rushes to shore up the line.

Turn 7

My French continue to battle for the hill.

In the middle, Chris's Brits, loads of skirmishers and Heavy Cavalry support in attendance, charge me off the objective hill and then repel my attempts to retake it.

In the middle, the Brits cross the river and head for the baggage.

Turn 8

By turn 8 the French baggage train has left at high speed (with the payroll) and the British surge everywhere.

My northern French (or ate least the remnant) are now cut off, but continue to battle on.

As ever it was a great game.  In the end the British destroyed the French, but in game terms did not get enough objectives to win.  The French also managed to rescue the baggage and payroll, so the surviving French will all get a pay-rise.  

My thanks go to Mark for arranging the game and being an excellent comrade in arms, to Chris & Crispin for a fun day's fighting.

BBB, as ever, worked well in that we handled this big battle without too much brain strain!

Well worth a replay at some point..... 

Vimiero - August 1808 - refight 8 Nov 2023

 This week saw Mike and I get his Anglo-Portugal army out to take on my French at Vimiero.  

The British have to hold the village of that name and keep the road to it from Port Nova free of French.  Wellesley's task is to cover British troops landing at Port Nova, so has deployed on a ridge from the sea to Vimiero.  The French are deployed on the ridge facing Vimiero, whilst expecting a flank attack on the British left to arrive soon (decided by a couple of dice rolls).

The scenario map below shows the start positions.

Here are the troops at the start of the game.

British holding Vimiero

French holding their ridge.....   waiting for the flank march.  As the flank march did not happen till turn 3, we rattled through the early stages of the battle as neither Mike nor I wanted to move, Mike's forces on the western ridge started moving slowly.  Combat was restricted to some cannon fire to/from Vimiero.

It then gt a bit "fast and furious" once the flank march came on.  I tried a daring cavalry strike for the road whilst massing my troops for the assault on Vimiero itself.  Mike was not rolling as well as he needed to, so the Brits were not holding the French off.

My cavalry strike did not get to the objective in time, but my assault on Vimiero managed to get a toehold in Vimiero on my last turn.  Mike then riposted with an assault to drive me off and win the game.  Sadly he rolled too low in the assault and thus bounced off, leaving me in possession of what was by now a very battered village.

Glorious French artillery, supporting the final French push

The end of the game, French hold Vimiero for a draw.

Wider view - Vimiero in the middle, battered Portuguese troops behind.

All in all it was a great game.  It was really nice to get my French out and very satisfying to do better than history.  

The flank march definitely adds to the excitement of the game, as neither side knows when it will actually turn up.  Of the three infantry units on the march, only two managed to take part in combat.  

We managed to set up, play and pack up in just over 3 hours, probably helped by our decision to not move for the the first 3 turns but trade artillery fire and banter....