Merida Campaign – Battle of Santa Amalia

Start of game

French launch a surprise attack on Santa Amalia

The battle was fought by 1^st Spanish and 37^th French corp

Both armies are full strength at the start of the game

 

1^st Spanish corps is in and around the town

2^nd Spanish corps will arrive at the start of move 1

3^rd Spanish corps will arrive at the start of move 5

 

37^th French corps enters table at start of move 1

38^th and 39^th corps both arrive at the start of move 5

 

13^th French Army – 10 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, 3 corps artillery

1^st Spanish Army – 11 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry brigade, 3 corps artillery

Battle of Santa Amalia – Move 12

The battle was fought by 1^st Spanish and 37^th French corps

The remainder of both armies arrived too late to play much part in the fighting

The French waited until all of their army had arrived before they attacked the town

However the loss of the town caused the Spanish to lose heart and they retreated

The French lost 3 infantry and 1 cavalry casualties (1300 men)

The Spanish lost 5 infantry, 2 artillery and 1 cavalry casualties (2300 men) and six brigades in rout

 

Comments

The first battle of the campaign was fought by the best corps of each army

1^st Spanish corps has four infantry, one cavalry and one artillery brigade

37^th French corps is the only Young Guard corps in southern Spain

 

This was an experiment to see if an encounter battle would work on the wargames table. 

The Spanish had one corps on the table at the start of the game

One Spanish corps would arrive, in column of march, at the start of move one

One Spanish corps would arrive, along the same road, at the start of move five

One French corps would arrive, fully deployed, at the start of move one

Two French corps would arrive, deployed in column of attack, at the start of move five

 

It looked good at the planning stage, but did not work on the table.

The Spanish were able to deploy, but at the rear of the town rather than in front

The French reinforcements arrived too late to take any real part in the battle.

 

It soon became obvious to the French that they could not wait for their whole army

If they did so they would run out of time, and would not be able to take the town

The Young Guard artillery were able to deploy within short range of the town

They inflicted 20% casualties on the garrison, and their infantry took the town with ease

The guard cavalry routed the Spanish artillery, but were in turn driven off by Spanish dragoons

 

The loss of the town had an immediate effect on the Spanish army

The town was held by two brigades from 1^st Spanish corps

The forward brigade took the artillery casualties

They were then routed by an infantry attack

The second brigade in the garrison joined the rout

 

The French cavalry now routed the nearby Spanish artillery

The gunners routed into their supporting infantry square

The rest of 1^st Spanish corps now joined the rout

 

2^nd and 3^rd Spanish corps played little part in the battle

Just as they reached their deployment areas the town fell

They came under threat from the two French corps cavalry and artillery

As they received their first casualties both Spanish corps retreated.

 

A pretty convincing, though not unexpected, victory for the French

If they could not win with the best of their three armies they would be in trouble.

 

Not so good for the Spanish.  

They lost the first battle with the best of their three armies

And indeed they lost the battle with the best corps in their entire army