Make for Salamanca !

 On Tuesday, Steve and I decided it was time for a big Peninsula Napoleonic game and what had grabbed my attention was the campaign being fought by the Perry Twins and friends in Nottingham and reported on their Facebook page.  It is so inspirational, that I shamelessly decided to nick their game set on the edge of Salamanca - I hope they can forgive this poor imitation of their game but imitation is etc etc !

The outskirts of Salamanca have been fortified by the French brigade based their.  A division of French troops is expected soon as two British forces are known to be heading this way !

Yes, the French division is marching to the city but hot on their heels are the British and a second division across the river too - here is their advance guard, a light cavalry brigade, at the water's edge.

And they are not alone - two brigades of British infantry with field guns now arrive

The Royal Horse artillery immediately go into action and hit a French column

and just behind the marching French division another British infantry brigade with supporting hussars. The British pursuit is fast, too fast for the liking of the French commanders.

Following up on the success of the RHA battery, the light cavalry charge across the river and hit the disordered French column

 

The column breaks and flees the field, giving the Brunswick lancers the opportunity to charge a French battery in the flank - and they break too !

 

The lancers then retire back across the river to rejoin the brigade - all very controlled !

The city, however, is heavily defended

A British infantry brigade has charged the French line defending the left of the line, as other French infantry form square faced by British hussars

French infantry try to stem the British advance from the east

Infantry from the city deploy outside near the river bank

The British left flank is threatened by French light cavalry so the guns have been turned to counter this threat

and the front infantry battalion does the same and fires a volley

disordering the enemy light cavalry

They retire disordered so the guns move towards them to deliver another round

A British brigade is sent forward to the right of the ford

Whilst Hussars and a horse battery move forward on the right now the French infantry have gone

Here's another view of the British right flank showing the threatened charge off the French light cavalry

The Portuguese light cavalry link up with the hussars - there is still no sign of the Portuguese infantry brigade !

The attack across the river continues, watched by the newly arrived heavy cavalry brigade

The guns continue to pummel the French defenders across the water

as the British infantry advance on Salamanca from the East, French dragoons break from the action

The French commander is now penned in !

By this stage, the game was up, the French relief force destroyed and the French commander forced to batten down the hatches within the city with just a brigade of foot left plus the guns in the earthworks.

Interesting game with a different outcome to the Perry one.

All figures from my collection this time.

GERMANTOWN

 Last Friday, our Writtle Independent Gamers group fought a 28mm refight of Germantown

The British camp is on the right. The 2nd Light Battalion and 40th Foot are on and behind the hill on the left of the picture.

British artillery on the high ground I front of the camp

British infantry outside of the village at the crossroads

American militia approach in column out on the British right

As attacks go in against the village

A better view of the camp !

The British are having to swing round to counter the American advances from the north and east

The 2nd Light Infantry supported by a gun

 The British retreat back towards the camp

after weight of fire forced them of the high ground

The Americans smash their way through the Main Street

American artillery is finding a way through the fence line to envelope the British left flank

By shear weight of numbers, the Americans managed to overcome the British !

Writtle Independent Gamers : March game - Big Chain of Command

 Its been a long time ! Six months to be exact. What with a prostate operation followed by catching Covid whist recuperating, blogging kind off fell off the map for me.

But lets try again.

Last year a group of us mostly retired gamers decided we could fit in week day games as well as our regular Sunday games at Essex Warriors, so WIG was born and we are now into our eighth month of existence.

The March game was devised by Stefan if I recall correctly and was a multi-player Eastern Front WWII Chain of Command game.

Here are some of the pictures taken on the day

The Germans will attack from the left.

There are several key crossing points that the Soviets are keen to "blow" before German armour can get across

View from the Soviet side.

German infantry deploy and adopt "overwatch", out on their left flank

and artillery is set up, also on the same part of the battlefield

a STuG makes an appearance on the road on the German start line

Soviet artillery has deployed in front of the bridge on the Russian left flank

Soviet infantry enter one of the rustic buildings next to the central bridge

as a truck scuttles across, moving rapidly

followed by a tank which takes aim at the STuG

More Soviet infantry are lining the fences, exchanging fire with German troops in and around two of the cottages

Two more Soviet units contest the area near the right hand bridge

The Germans are trying to get around the church but Soviet infantry in the woods see them and open fire

Now German infantry appear on their extreme right flank, making use of the woods as cover

View from behind the German position at this stage of the battle

A furious firefight has developed out on the Soviet right flank where the Germans are trying to outflank and use their superior numbers

Backed up by the artillery

The truck has arrived at the left hand bridge and sappers emerge and commence laying explosives  

They manage to blow the bridge thus blocking off this end of the battlefield

Leaving an infantry squad over on the other side to swim for safety !

With the Soviet right grimly hanging on, it all came down to the fight in the centre and here the Soviets had a definite advantage. Every German attack was halted in its tracks with large numbers of casualties. The German morale collapsed and a clear victory given to the Soviets, who could blow up the other bridges at their leisure.

We had three players a side, each with a force and their own morale tracker and it all went perfectly well. Big CoC works for us !!!