Back to In The Grand Manner !

Definitely not a quiet place to spend a holiday in Spain !

This small town sees all hell let loose as Steve Clarke's French march through it and take on my Anglo-Portuguese.

We diced to see where the opposing armies arrived. As stated above, the French came on in the village with the British on the road beside the shed half way along the board.

The empty battlefield ...

First on, French hussars

British hussars followed by the first of the Portuguese infantry

French infantry march through the village

The French cavalry get ahead and form into two lines

as do the British !

 

The inevitable cavalry clash ...

One squadron on each side has been charged forwards

French infantry in column move left through the village

The British hussars get the better of the first action and the French retire

Portuguese infantry deploy in column and line

Each sides second squadron of hussars now engage  as a French line moves up

More infantry arrive ...

With the second British squadron retreating, the French hussars continue in their pursuit but come up against a solid wall of Portuguese foot

The hussars "bounce" off the Portuguese infantry and return to lines

With the Portuguese in position,

a British brigade comes up in support with the reframed hussars on their flank

the French build up continues, as infantry advance beyond the bridge

calm before the storm ...

the French hussars are reformed

as the French advance continues

Rifles pick off a few enemy

the British brigade heads towards the river

  

Portuguese and British troops form up into attack columns

The French commander with two ADCs

and he is up against Picton by the look of things ...

Fire is exchanged

and then the British infantry charge

One Portuguese unit failed its morale test when asked to charge and retreat much to Picton's disgust

With colours streaming. the British go forwards

Portuguese and French columns clash besides the woods

French artillery and Cuirassiers are held up in the traffic jam in the village

One French column takes the bridge on their left

Here's a view of the big tussle, taken from behind the French lines

French officers urge their men on

The British force back the French infantry

British artillery only managed to fire twice because of the massed melees in front of them

A birds eye view at the peak of the battle

French units are forced to retreat 

The Cuirassiers are frustrated at being unable to deploy

As the British and Portuguese foot keep the pressure up, the retreating French are pinning and disrupting the units behind them

Portuguese troops attack a Swiss line just in front of the shed 

The French are now in some disarray, bottled up behind the bridge and being pushed back towards the village

Technically, both sides ended the game in possession of equal numbers of key positions on the battlefield (bridges, junctions, village) but the Anglo-Portuguese seemed to have had the better of it by successfully bottling up the French, preventing them from fully deploying.

The French retreats caused chaos for the units coming up behind.

All good fun with a pie and a pint at The Chequers at lunchtime !

Another game set for next week - British in India during The Raj, using a Table Top Teaser adapted for Sharp Practice