Cordova Campaign – Day Four

12 September 1813 – Southern Spain – Day 4

French occupy El Carpio
13 French Army attack Muriano
14 French Army occupy El Carpio
15 French Army regroup at Espinar

Spanish defend Muriano
1 Spanish Army defend Muriano
2 Spanish Army retreat to Cordoba
3 Spanish Army regroup at Montilla

Battle of Muriano – Move 12

At nightfall the Spanish lose the northern section of the woods
In doing so they lose the battle

The French hold two objectives, the farm and the woods
The Spanish hold one objective, the hill

French have lost 5 infantry, 4 cavalry and 1 artillery casualties (2500 men)
Spanish have lost 13 infantry, 2 cavalry and 3 artillery casualties (5700 men)

There are 8 Spanish brigades in rout and 3 French

The French win the battle

Comments

A new order of battle had been introduced at the start of this campaign phase.
The Spanish outnumbered the French in infantry and artillery
The French outnumbered the Spanish in cavalry, and their infantry were better quality
After three games it was clear that the balance was not right, the Spanish were too strong

Unusually I changed the order of battle in the middle of the campaign phase
The Spanish would have 12 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry and 3 corps artillery
The French would have 9 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry and 3 artillery
The French infantry would be better quality

The game worked well, as it might be expected to for the first test game
However the dice were very uneven, so it is difficult to estimate how well the balance worked.

The French had to attack and to do so with fewer infantry brigades
They would have to find an advantage to have any chance of success
Both sides had the same number of cavalry and artillery, and both were the same quality
The French would have to take some risks to weaken the Spanish infantry

The French artillery deployed within range of the Spanish infantry and artillery.
This meant that the Spanish gunners could fire first, and they did so
They required six on 1D6 to cause casualties – they rolled one six
The French battery which received casualties failed their morale and routed
This was not a good start.

Fortunately for the rest of the game both sides received their share of 1 and 6
Usually at the worse possible time, with 1 for critical morale or combat tests
But being evenly divided the two armies it made for an interesting game

There are a maximum of 12 moves in each game
At the end of move 10 it looked like the result would be a draw
The French has the inn on the left, and the Spanish the hill on the right
Each side held half of the woods in the centre.
If the game ended there the Spanish would have won
However that roll of one I mentioned came at just the wrong time for Spanish
During move 11 there was a melee, both sides suffered casualties
The French rolled two and were Shaken, but held their half of the woods
The Spanish rolled one and routed, abandoning their half of the woods.

A very tense game, but also very enjoyable as these “close run things” are