Napoleonic Command

For our first game of these rules we used Neals excellent collection of 15mm figures for a fictional Peninsular War game. The scenario was a simple encounter battle in which a strong French Division stumbled into the weak British light Division which includes Spanish units.

Neal and Tom took the French while Carl, with a bit of help from me, and Derek took the Allies. As two of us had read the rules through we were hoping things would go smoothly. As it turned out we didnt do too badly for a first attempt.

 The French-

The Spanish- 

The British- 

The French marching in column behind a ridge. 

On the opposite side of the table the Allies approach through a gap in the hills, the British leading the way.

The Light Division. 

The Spanish contingent.

The Allies wont the dice off and go first advancing through the gap.

The French advance with their Dragoons leading the way. As the cavalry mount the crest of the ridge both sides become aware of each others presence. 

 The Allies begin to form line of battle to face the enemy.

Columns of French infantry advance, screened by their cavalry. 

The British react by redeploying into line. 

Allied positions after redeployment is complete. 

Allied movement phase sees the Spaniards advance towards the ridge.

 The Allied threat to the French is assessed with one disorder placed on the Brigade.

The Brigade loses the initiative and must take steps to reduce the threat against it. 

 The Spanish threaten the French Dragoons assisted by part of the Light Division.

The French cavalry lose the initiative and as the threat level was double the Brigades cohesion the most threatened unit loses a base. The Brigade retreats to reduce the threat against it.

 The French deploy into attack columns.

 The Allies react by throwing out skirmishers.

 Threat is assessed against the British with a disorder point added but they retain the initiative.

French cavalry after their withdrawal .

The Spanish advance towards the crest of the ridge in the distance.

The British and French face each other, the French, having lost the initiative previously are limited in their options.

 French columns approach the crest of the ridge to support their wavering cavalry.

The French left begin to fear a charge bt the Light Division.

The 2 French Brigades on the right. 

An overall view of the French right facing the Spanish. 

Th Spanish prepare to assault. The Spanish infantry being conscripts should not have been allowed to deploy into line. This was the main error identified post game and would affect the threat assessment on the French.

As there was no French redeployment the Spanish cavalry charged and the French countercharged. 

 The Spanish won, perhaps as a result of the earlier error, and were pushed back losing a base

 French Dragoons legging it!

The left flank of the Light Division prepare to charge home into the French column. 

The French, having regrouped on the other flank prepare to put pressure on the Spanish. 

One of their units deploys into line as their firepower in that formation poses the greatest threat to the advancing Spanish troops. 

The French left forced into inactivity. 

The outnumbered French cavalry try  desperately to hold their Spanish counterparts.

The Light Division charge home. 

Once again the Spanish cavalry are victorious. The Dragoons retreat, again.

 The French lose this encounter and with it their initiative on the next turn.

At this point we ran out of time but the object of the exercise had been achieved. 

  We concluded that it would have been a better bet to have started out with a more straightforward battle to learn the rules with, a couple of lines facing each other across the table.

These are a promising set of rules and the plan is to keep using them on club nights using my 28mm figures. Once we are completely satisfied with the mechanics of the system and are a bit faster in using them we will have a Saturday game base at Corps level using Neals ever expanding band of Dwarves, er sorry, 15mm figures. Of course all of these games will be set in the main theatre of operations during the Napoleonic wars, the Peninsular.

Next weeks club game will be the first of the 28mm games.

 Thanks For Reading

Mick