Peninsular encounter. Back to gaming at NBHW.

So two Fridays ago, for the first time since March, it was back to NBHW for face to face wargaming.

Obviously new rules and regulations were in place due to Corvid19, those imposed by the village hall we play at and those we have self imposed. Our games are now limited to four players plus an umpire max and dice and tape measures are not shared. Also we are limiting those who set up and pack away the games as well as leaving our miniatures boxed after games for at least 72 hrs. So with all this in place it was back to gaming.

The game was a Peninsular War encounter scenario between French and Spanish forces. It was set up using the points system from the Albion Triumphant One supplement to Black Powder and played using the 2nd Edition of these rules. Each force was 600 points and by god were we rusty with remembering the rules, even having to look up some of the really basic stuff.

The battle field from the Spanish end.

There were four objectives worth victory points, the crossroads just outside the near village, the centre farm, the far village and the wooded area to the right.

The French deployed all their forces on their right flank, one large infantry brigade with attached foot battery and one large cavalry brigade.

I had command of two brigades of Spanish infantry with a mixture of line and militia battalions and a half battery of artillery each. These were positioned with one brigade defending the near village and the second on the road to advance on the farm. My co commander had a cavalry brigade, which he split with the heavy component positioned on our left flank facing the only open country on the board, while the hussars went on our far right. His other command was a large militia brigade plus half battery which formed to the right of the near village.

Even with upgrades removing the "wavering" special stat from the Spanish units this still left everyone except the militia as "unreliable" meaning they would need to role less than the commander's SR to execute an order, so six or less on two D6 then, what could go wrong!

Militia to the right and my brigades in the village.

The French invaders move off.

To nobody's surprise it was incredibly difficult getting the Spanish to move and the French stole a march and occupied the centre farm before my assault brigade had even got halfway there. Things didn't go much better for the cavalry, of either side, with only the Polish lancers moving anywhere.

Unsurprisingly the French reached the farm first.

Using the new re-role method for C-in-C's  finally got the Spanish heavy cavalry moving, a blunder, making then charge three moves forward straight into the clutches of the Polish lancers who in a series of charges and follow through moves, plus much better dice rolls than us Spanish players could muster, soon broke the Spanish cavalry brigade. This meant the only moves our hussars made on the right flank were backwards.

In the centre I finally got my "Irish" battalions forward and into line, just in time for the forward battalion to get shaken due to some very accurate fire from the defending French. Never mind, these pulled back through the supporting battalion which then charged the farm walls. After two rounds of melee though they to pulled back, shaken. so another broken brigade, two out of three battalions shaken.

Spanish "Irish" prepare to try and attack.

The assault going in.

To the right the militia finally got going too, as militia they weren't "unreliable". They were soon pushing on through the woods in the hopes of catching the French unawares and maybe reaching the far village, if not just capturing the wooded area. Unfortunately the leftmost battalions were caught in enfilade by French units in the farmyard and took casualties while the reduced movement through the woods gave the French time to move more infantry across to the edge of the woods to meet them.

Militia advancing through the woods.

So with the left of the militia brigade taking fire as it moved through the woods the right pressed on across the open ground, only to be met by the rest of the French cavalry, who also finally passed a command role or two, with the inevitable result (we may have got some rules wrong at this point). So a third Spanish brigade broken out of four, game over and a French win.

What did we learn from this game? Well we really need to go back and brush up on the rules again and also how hard it is to get anything done when you need a roll of six or less on two D6!

It was great to get back to gaming again though and nice to see all the figures my colleague had completed during lock down get a run out.

As usual many more photographs in the clubs Facebook Album.

Tony.