| ...A Bloody Day Indeed |
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Predictably enough the British occupied the town
with a blind, with another in rear support. The low
hills were held by a blind in extended order on the
reverse slope, with a further blind in reserve.
I deployed my infantry Divisions opposite the
center and the town, with my artillery and cavalry
deployed in the center. My right flank consisted
solely of a dummy blind. My plan was to throw
everything at Max’s right flank hoping to roll up
his position whilst my cavalry prevented him from
re-enforcing it or attacking me in the process.
I began the game by Mermet advancing towards
rapidly towards the British right flank and the
town. Max spotted me successfully and then
deployed Crauford’s Light Division in and around
the town to prevent me march moving any more.
He also managed to spot Ney moving the artillery
reserve to within cannister range of the town and
also Loison steadily advancing towards the town.
The next turns saw Max advancing a battery of
horse artillery and rifle armed skirmishers to the
crest of the hill along with his General preventing
me from march moving in the center.
He also managed to manoeuvre a unit of 95th
Rifles onto the flank of one of Mermet’s Battalions
causing a steady stream of casualties through the
remainder of the game. A second unit of 95th
Rifles tried to pick off a battery from my Grand
Battery only to suffer four three casualties from its
neighbours leaving it unable to shoot anymore.
Having massed a Grand Battery of 28 guns in
canister range infront of the town these caused
four casualties on the left ‘wing’ of the 52nd Light
Infantry, which was then assaulted by three
Battalions of 50th Ligne. The resulting combat saw
the 52nd pushed into the center but permanently
shaken. Crauford was also killed leading the
defence. The subsequent turn resulted in the
52nd withdrawing and the 1st Cacadores taking
their place. Fighting hard however, these were
defeated and recoiled. I moved the artillery onto
the other half of the town occupied by the right
‘wing’ of the 52nd Lt Inf. Max then assaulted the
50th Ligne in the town from the other half of the
BUA with the right wing of the 52nd Lt Inf. These
finally pushed the French out of the town but
Barclay, Crauford’s replacement was tragically
killed. The next turn however saw the town
assaulted by three Battalions 59th Ligne
eventually pushing out the 52nd Lt Inf.
In the center the 14th Light Dragoons under the
command of the utterly inept Slade had remained
inactive, hit time and time again by the
cautious/poor chip. They managed to opportunity
charge a French Battalion as it skirted the flank of
the town only to bounce off. The shaken light
cavalry regiment was then charged by a French
Battalion and forced to evade.
Max was taking a real pounding so far but
managed to throw a spanner in the works by the
advance of 3 coys of 95th Rifles and 3rd
Cacadores, which began to threaten Mermet’s left
flank forcing him to temporarily halt. The
command of the light Division had progressed
from an Able commander, to Solid, to a Poor one
as subsequent Generals were killed. This was to
have a massive effect on the game as the
Poor/Cautious chip now began to prevent the
shaken British troops from rallying. When the
town was assaulted by the 16 figure strong
Enniskilling’s I expected the worst. What infact
occurred was spectacular. Max made a really bad
decision by attacking in line with only one unit in
support. Not only were the 27th routed but the
three surrounding, and still shaken, British units
also turned tail and ran, including Slade’s cavalry,
which rode off.
In the center Max had begun to realize that I had
no plans to assault his position and had advanced
a horse battery to support the town. This was
forced to evade though as it was charge by a unit
of 3rd Hussars. I decided to assault the hill
position to fix the British troops which were
starting to drift across to shore up the
disintegrating right flank. Big mistake on my part.
I should have concentrated on rolling up his right
flank.
When Loison’s Division did assault the 1/11th
Foot, on the hills crest, remarkably they were
routed. Max therefore began to shore up the
center using his last formed reserve, Collins’s
Portuguese Brigade.
The Portuguese 1/23rd were made of stern stuff
and forced the three French Battalions to retreat
shaken after a firefight and then rolled sufficiently
high to follow up with a charge which shattered all
three sending them fleeing from the field.
Not to be outdone, the 1/11th Portuguese Line
attacked by two Battalions of 82nd Ligne, led by
Loison himself, got involved in a firefight which
again resulted in the French being shaken and
retiring. Luckily enough for me the Portuguese
roll for an impromptu charge failed but the next
turn their chip came out before I was able to
remove the shaken results and inevitably they
charged and routed the 82nd, killing Loison in the
process.
I lost another Battalion when its attack column was
enfiladed with cannister from a Horse artillery
battery and suffered four casualties.
My center was suffering greatly at the hands of
some localized, well co-ordinated and timely
impromptu assaults. However, my Hussars were
instrumental in preventing a large scale advance
by the British by the threat of opportunity
charges. They managed to force a couple of
enemy units into square but, lacking integral
artillery, were unable to do much about it.
Whilst this mess was occurring in the center on
the British right flank Max had got the 43rd
Monmouthshire Lt Inf moving with 3rd Cacadores,
95th Rifles and a horse battery in support. They
had already managed to stop the advance and had
forced two French Battalions to become
permanently shaken. It was looking really ugly for
my troops and I was forced to defend in line and
concentrate my massed battery on the 43rd.
In the center my attack had totally broken down
and Loison’s Division had only four units left!
These were largely pinned and in a dire situation.
At one point I even had to charge into bad going
with a unit of light cavalry in an attempt to free
things up. I was incredibly lucky in only bouncing
off. As the reserve artillery began to move to
support my battered center the game moved into
its final phase.
Max was beginning to discover how unwieldy
attacking in line can be, especially when their
Divisional commander kept getting hit by the
cautious/poor chip preventing any movement,
when the Light Division’s 43rd Lt Inf, 16 figures
strong, were hit in the flank, and rear, by French
columns and finally routed.
This tipped Max’s lost unit total to over 50% and
signaled the end of the game. It had been
incredibly hard fought and I had only needed to
lose one unit myself to hand Max the victory. Luck
and fortune in war had run both backwards and
forewords in this bloody affair.
The Brits, or rather more accurately the
Portuguese's, ability to defend in line, then
counterattack any shaken defeated enemy had
cost me dearly in casualties but Max’s bad
decision to commit his General’s and attack a town
in line had a massive effect upon the result. With
a decent General Beckwith’s Bde of the Light
Division may well have rolled up my flank.
A cracking game using LFS. Full of tension,
friction and those little incidents that make good
games great games.
More soon hopefully.
Max and I played perhaps the best game of LFS either of us has ever played last night, and
certainly the most bloody.
Set in the Peninsula in 1810 Max took command of the Anglo-Portuguese; Cole’s 4th Division (10
Btns, 7400 men, 2 batteries), Crauford’s Light Division (4 Btns, 8 Coys of Rifles, 3800 men, 1 battery)
and Slade’s 14th Light Dragoons (400 men) a total of some 11,600 men in three commands with a
dummy blind.
I took the role of Marshal Ney deploying VI Corps; Mermet’s Division (11 Btns, 7400 men, 1 battery)
Loison’s Division (13 Btns, 6800 men, 1 battery) and Lamotte’s 3rd Hussars (800 men) plus an
artillery reserve of two batteries, four commands plus a dummy blind.
The objective was to defeat the enemy, acheived by inflicting 50% losses in terms of permanently
shaken, routed, captured or destroyed units.
Max had a long range of low hills to defend with a small town (defence factor +2) of two 6” x 6”
squares, flanked by a walled enclosure and backed by a vineyard, protecting his right flank. A
formidable position. See below for table setup.
certainly the most bloody.
Set in the Peninsula in 1810 Max took command of the Anglo-Portuguese; Cole’s 4th Division (10
Btns, 7400 men, 2 batteries), Crauford’s Light Division (4 Btns, 8 Coys of Rifles, 3800 men, 1 battery)
and Slade’s 14th Light Dragoons (400 men) a total of some 11,600 men in three commands with a
dummy blind.
I took the role of Marshal Ney deploying VI Corps; Mermet’s Division (11 Btns, 7400 men, 1 battery)
Loison’s Division (13 Btns, 6800 men, 1 battery) and Lamotte’s 3rd Hussars (800 men) plus an
artillery reserve of two batteries, four commands plus a dummy blind.
The objective was to defeat the enemy, acheived by inflicting 50% losses in terms of permanently
shaken, routed, captured or destroyed units.
Max had a long range of low hills to defend with a small town (defence factor +2) of two 6” x 6”
squares, flanked by a walled enclosure and backed by a vineyard, protecting his right flank. A
formidable position. See below for table setup.
Anglo-Portuguese
French
