Campaign
Map on 22 October 1813
The French attack on Lugo is to prevent
Wellington counter attacking Corunna.
The attack cannot be delayed, so 8th corps will attack at
daybreak, and be supported by the reserve cavalry and artillery at midday.
The
battle of Lugo
This photo shows the situation at 1400.
The British have reinforced the Spanish
garrison of Lugo with an additional British brigade. The Portuguese brigade is in reserve behind
the town.
The remainder of 3rd corps are
deployed to cover the bridge (out of sight at the bottom of the photo.
8th French corps are moving down
towards the bridge. Two infantry
brigades have been detached to screen the town.
French reserve are advancing towards the bridge
from the right.
The battle is about to be decided by a cavalry
melee. British dragoons are moving
forward to slow down the French reserve.
They will soon come under artillery fire from the reserve, lose 10%
casualties and be shaken. They will then
be charged by the lancer brigade of 8th corps. When they rout they will take the highland
square with them.
Picton will hold the town until night and then
retreat towards Santiago.
Campaign
Notes
It has always been difficult to balance the two
allied armies in Spain with their French opponents. The British and French are pretty well equal
in ability. The Spanish regular and
irregular troops are the problem.
In the south there is a Spanish army supported
by nine militia brigades. In the north
it is a British/Portuguese army also supported by nine Spanish militia
brigades.
In the north there are five French corps
against the four British. One of the
French corps is a reserve entirely composed of conscript troops, even the
cavalry and artillery.
The infantry are used to garrison the French
depots, the cavalry and artillery as an army reserve. They can be used to protect the lines of
supply, or as a battle reserve. In this
game it was the latter.
If the French were allowed to attack with both
3rd corps and the reserve it would be a very uneven wargame. So 3rd corps had to attack at the
start of the game, the reserve would not arrive until move 5. It would therefore be at least move 7 or 8
before they would be able to join the attack.
There are only 12 moves in the game, so their arrival would have to be
carefully planned.
The reserve would arrive on the table directly
behind 3rd corps. However if
they simply advanced behind them, it would be impossible to bring them into
action before the end of the game. 3rd
corps would block their advance, and might even rout back into them.
Lugo is a fortified town, and providing it is
adequately garrisoned would prove difficult to take. Picton put a British infantry brigade in to
support the Spanish militia, and even left his Portuguese brigade in reserve
behind the town. So a direct attack was
not an attractive option.
The French plan was to screen the town with two
brigades, and take the bridge over the river Mineo with the rest of the
corps. The reserve would support the
attack on the bridge. 3rd
corps would advance directly towards the town, and then swing left towards the
bridge. This would leave an open area
along the river for the reserve to advance.
The British artillery opened the battle by
hitting the leading French infantry brigade.
They made their morale, but the attack would now be led by a weak
brigade.
8th corps gunners evened the odds by
hitting the highland square near the bridge.
They also made their morale, but would be a less reliable support for
the cavalry and artillery.
But the decisive action was when the reserve
artillery hit the British dragoons.
They also made their morale, but were disordered. The lancers from 8th corps
charged, and the dragoons were unable to counter charge because they were
disordered. It looked like an easy
French win. The Lancers rolled 2D6,
with plus 3 combat factors. Anything
more than a total of 8 would be sufficient to put the British cavalry out of
the game. The French (me) rolled a
total of 3 with 2D6. This resulted in
both brigades being shaken and each losing 10% casualties. Jan was well pleased
However her joy turned to despair during the
next move. Both brigades had to test
their morale for being shaken. The
lancers rolled 5 and rallied to disordered.
The dragoons rolled 1 and routed.
The nearby highland brigade had to dice because of the rout, they rolled
2 and also routed.
All of this happened during move 9, and whilst
the French were still out of range of the town. The British withdrew but held the town. However it had to be abandoned during the
night, or risk the garrison being forced to surrender.
An interesting and enjoyable game, for both
players. Neither made any
mistakes. Both had good, and bad, luck
with the dice. The reserve made the
difference. Although they played little
part in the battle, they made it impossible for the British to continue a
second day after the loss of two brigades, including their only cavalry.
Also an interesting problem for
Wellington. With the loss of both
Corunna and Lugo, holding Santiago is now critical. Another defeat will almost certainly mean he
will have to retreat into Portugal.
Having been away from home for a fortnight, I’ve only just caught up with events.
ReplyDeleteThe campaign seems to be developing nicely, with the British being in danger of being pushed out of that part of Spain. Having recently visited Vigo (which is where the KGL were evacuated from during Sir John Moore’s withdrawal from A Coruna), it struck me that it would have been an interesting place to defend as it was quite heavily fortified.
Looking forward to seeing how this campaign developed.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you again
I know that you enjoy cruising, and I immediately thought of you when I heard about the cruise ship in Japan. I know you don't usually venture so far. But what a terrible, and frightening, experience for poor folk who were looking forward to a relaxing holiday.
We have never visited the north of Spain, though I would like to explore the Corunna campaign. No reason to miss it out, just have not got around to it yet.
I hope that you don't look at the campaign map,or table top, terrain too close. I have no idea what any of the towns or cities actually look like. And we don't even have the port on the table!!
I was hoping that Wellington would do well in this campaign, and drive the French back towards France. I don't really want to take the campaign into Portugal. But I may have to.
Typical of the campaign that it seems to have a mind of its own
best regards
Paul