Cuidad Real Campaign - Day 5

25 April 1813 – Southern Spain – Day 5

Spanish guerrilla activity has caused a collapse in the French supply system.   Marshal Suchet orders 13^th and 15^th armies to detach one of their cavalry brigades to secure their lines of supply.   14^th army, in the centre, will send both of their cavalry brigades to secure the main supply road from Albacete.

Despite the loss of half of their cavalry, 15^th French army are ordered to attack Almagro.

Battle of Almagro end of move 6

3^rd Spanish army occupy a strong position in front of Almagro.   They also outnumber the French in infantry brigades.   To mount an attack the French must first move through the mountains.

30^th Westphalian corps are ordered to pin 6^th Spanish corps, but not to attack.   29^th French corps, less their artillery, are ordered to attack 5^th Spanish corps. A strong reserve of both artillery batteries and two infantry brigades, are deployed in the centre, to support either wing.

Unable to attack both Spanish corps, the French concentrate on 5^th corps.  Supported by the reserve, 19th corps soon rout the Spanish left wing.

But it takes all morning, and there is not enough time left to redeploy and attack the town.   However the French have forced one Spanish corps to retreat, and are now clear of the mountains.

Comments

Despite their continued success the French are finding it difficult to inflict a decisive defeat on the Spanish.   The loss of so much of their cavalry to secure their lines of supply has put the French field army at a disadvantage.

The Spanish have more infantry and the same quantity of artillery.  The only French advantage is in cavalry.   To avoid unacceptable casualties the French must pin one of the Spanish flanks and attack the other with all of their artillery. 

The redeployed cavalry have at least secured the lines of supply.   There has been no guerrilla activity all day, and supplies are being moved forward to support the main field army.

Cuidad Real Campaign - Day 4

 

24 April 1813 – Southern Spain – Day 4

Guerrilla attack Tomelloso and Pozo.  

They also ambush and capture a convoy of three days supplies

 

13^th French army occupy Consuegra

2^nd Spanish army retreat to Malagon

 

14^th French army attack Cuidad Real

1^st Spanish army defend Cuidad Real

 

15^th French army redeploy to attack Almagro

3^rd Spanish army regroup at Almagro

 

Battle of Cuidad Real end of move 10

To reach the city the French must move through the pass (far right)

It will take at least 8 of the 12 moves to do so.

 

The Spanish deploy their artillery to cover the exit from the pass.  Any attempt to do so must result in heavy French casualties.

27^th French corps leads the French column.  They turn right and climb the hill into the northern valley.   They then move towards the city.   The Spanish reserve of one cavalry and two infantry brigades occupy the hill.

Meanwhile the French reserve of both artillery batteries and two infantry brigades move through the pass.   The leading battery deploys at the mouth of the pass, the second battery deploys on top of the southern hill. 

28^th Italian corps turn left and cross the hills into the southern valley.  However this takes them the rest of the day.

As soon as the French clear the pass the Spanish commander orders 1^st and 2^nd corps to withdraw to the city and the woods.   His reserve continue to hold the hill facing the river to cover this withdrawal.

There is only one combat in the whole day.   2^nd Spanish lancers charge the leading French battery as they deploy at the exit from the pass.   The gunners fire at close range (two “sixes”) and rout the Spanish cavalry.

The Spanish claim a victory because they hold the city at nightfall.

Comments

This was an unusual wargame.  

The Spanish outnumbered the French in infantry.  They also occupied an excellent defensive position in front of the city.   They deployed well forward, so that their artillery could cover the western exit from the pass.

Any attempt by the French to march through the pass would result in heavy casualties.  The head of the column would come under fire from both Spanish batteries.

It was decided to move the leading French corps over the hills on the north of the pass, and the second French corps the hills on the south.  A reserve of both French batteries would move through the pass, supported by two infantry brigades.   The leading battery would open fire as soon as they reached the exit.  The second battery would deploy on the southern hill.  They would engage the enemy whilst the two corps advanced either side of the pass.

The Spanish cavalry charged the leading French battery as they deployed at the mouth of the pass.  Had they charged home the French gunners would have routed back into the pass, disrupting the long column behind them.     This would have given the Spanish a real victory.

However the Spanish cavalry were routed, due to an exception dice throw.   2D6 were thrown to decide how effective the French artillery were.   Both came up six!

Despite this set back the French are doing extremely well in the set piece battles.  However their rear areas are under constant attack by the Spanish guerrillas.   And the loss of a convoy with sufficient supplies for three corps is a major loss.

Cuidad Real Campaign - Day 3

23 April 1813 – Southern Spain – Day 3

Spanish guerrilla continue to attack the French rear area, but are not having much success.   La Roda and Pozo come under attack again, but by different bands.   One is routed at La Roda with 30% casualties, the other is a draw and both sides lose 10% casualties.

13^th French army attack 2^nd Spanish army at Consuegra

Battle of Consuegra end of move 10

The Spanish occupy a walled town in the hilly region north of the river Guadiana.   The town is held by two infantry brigades, with the rest of the army deployed in and behind the nearby hills.

Taking such a position is a difficult task for 13^th French army.   Once more the artillery of both corps, plus two elite infantry brigades, are concentrated under the command of the army commander.

Each corps pins one flank, whilst the reserve moves into close artillery range of the town.   The aim is to reduce the garrison, and then attack with both infantry brigades.  Unfortunately the artillery fail to do much damage, and the garrison still hold at nightfall.

However they only do so by withdrawing their army behind the cover of the town.  The Spanish commander is aware that he could not fight a second day in such circumstances.  He orders his army to retreat under cover of darkness.

Comments

A third victory for the French, even though the Spanish still held the town at nightfall.  However it was a very costly one, particularly for the French cavalry.   The French have now achieved their initial objectives, but have failed to destroy the Spanish army.  And the French lines of communication are now under constant attack from guerrilla bands.

In all three battles the Spanish have managed to hold their town, usually by withdrawing their flanks as the French advance.   In the last two battles the very hilly terrain greatly favoured these Spanish tactics.   The French have had to use their cavalry against the Spanish gunners, and this has proved very costly.

The Spanish are now concentrated around the towns of Malagon, Cuidad Real and Almagro.   In this position they are easily supplied from the main depot at Cuidad Real.  

The French must now regroup and garrison the captured towns of Consuegra, Damiel and Valdepnas.   Before they can advance further west they must build up these new depots, resupply their corps and replace their battle casualties.   Meanwhile their rear area of La Roda, Albacete and Pozo are open to constant attack from the many guerrilla bands.

The longer the French delay the more their lines of supply come under attack, with the very real risk that they may have to send back infantry from the field army to support the depot garrisons.   Each day that they delay they must bring forward sufficient supplies to feed the six corps of the field army.  

The French commander is well aware that if he is to win this campaign he must find a balance between building up his weakened army, and risk running out of supplies.  

Finding a new owner for Large Napoleonic Collection

I am making progress in my latest project of finding a new home for my 18mm AB Napoleonic collection.   I am still at the planning and research part of the project, and in particular photographing the collection.

I have long recorded my 1813 campaign by photographing all of the many wargames.   I also have a weekly blog of our hill walking activities, and these have many photographs of each walk.   But I am no great photographer by any means, nor do I possess a camera of sufficient quality to photograph large quantities of 18mm figures.

I think the photographs I have taken give a reasonably good illustration of how the figures look on the wargames table.   But I am very aware that they do not give a good impression of the standard of painting.

When anyone mentions selling wargame figures the response is always based on “the standard of painting”.   How can I determine whether my standard is good, bad or reasonable?   The phase “a good wargame standard” is often used.  But my good wargame standard may be far below the prospective buyer.

So this week I have been trying to take clearer close up photographs.   On this blog you will see my initial results.  I hope that you will agree that they do at least show the detail?   I am a little concerned that they may show too much detail.    Given the size of these figures you, or at least I, could never see  them in such detail with the naked eye.   And that is how they will always be viewed.   Mostly they will be seen on the wargames table, which my earlier photographs do quite well.   Or you may pick them up and look closely.  But I doubt you will see much more details that in my earlier photographs of groups of 4-8 figures.

I have used a dice to reinforce the size of the figures, and to remind everyone that you will never actually see them this close unless you use a magnifying glass.   I just hope that showing so much detail does not detract from the actual impact of them with the naked eye.

I must now turn my attention to price, packing and postage.

Once more I am very grateful for all of the advice and encouragement I have received.   In particular to Lee Gramson, who has given me lots of good advice.   Many of you will know Lee from his blog “A figures painting therapy project”.   He is a prolific and gifted painter of many different scales.   I have followed his blog for quite a few years, and am fascinated by the wide range of projects he takes on.   Until recently most of them had the objective of wargaming, but once completed he seemed to lose interest and move on to the next project.   I was particularly interested to see that he seemed to be able to find buyers for the painted figures for the abandoned project.    He has also painted figures commercially for a few customers, and has now expanded to commercial painting full time – at least at present.

Lee was one of the first to write and offer assistance in the project, an offer I was quick to take up.   He suggested an asking price of twice the current cost of a casting.   At present AB are £0.80 for foot, £1.55 for mounted and £3.80 for a gun model.  It is a long time since I bought any wargame figures, and I was quite surprised they are so expensive.   But I would be very pleased to get £1.50 for foot, £3.00 for mounted and £7.00 for a gun model.   Slightly less than double the casting price, but more than I anticipated when I started the project.

Not sure how I will tackle packing.   My initial thoughts are to use plastic storage boxes which you can buy in all of the Chinese shops here in Spain for a couple of euros.   I will have to see what packing material is available, but I would probably prefer bubble wrap if I can find it.   In the past I have always removed figures from the stands, which helps to avoid damage and results in tight packing.  I am not sure that prospective buyers would be happy with this suggestion, and may well prefer them with the bases.

Finally I will have to find out the cost of postage from Spain.   I would hope to be able to offer them throughout Europe, and perhaps USA and Australia.   But that will depend on the cost of postage.

So plenty more research to do next week.   Hopefully within a couple of weeks I will have solved all of these problems and be able to offer them for sale.

Any thoughts or suggestions very welcome as always.