Cordova Campaign – Battle of Muriano

 

 

Battle of Muriano – table at start of game

Both armies are full strength at the start of the game
Each army has three corps
The Spanish have 12 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry and 3 corps artillery
The French have 9 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry and 3 corps artillery
The French infantry are better quality, the cavalry and artillery the same quality

There are three game objectives
The farm on the left, the woods in the centre and the hill on the right
The Spanish occupy each objective with one corps

The French start the game on the table, but out of artillery range of the Spanish
One corps is allocated to attack each game objective
The CinC has taken command of one cavalry brigade between 37 and 38 corps
This will allow him to use it in support of either corps

 

End of move 12

The French plan is to pin the Spanish corps on the left
37 corps will only attack the hill if their artillery can weaken the enemy
38 corps will open the battle with their attack on the woods
39 corps will attack the farm when their infantry are in position

On the right the French gunners lost 10% casualties as they deployed
This meant they could not engage the enemy gunners
The French CinC led the guard grenadiers against the Spanish lancers
But lost the melee and was out of the game for 9 moves

In the centre the French attack was threatened by the Spanish lancers
They had to form one brigade into square to protect their flank
The attack on the woods was surprisingly a success
But only because the Spanish rolled a poor dice at the critical point

On the left the French had to wait for their infantry to cross the hill
But they quickly took the farm, and routed most of 2nd Spanish corps
But they were too far from the centre to affect the outcome there

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

Despite a poor start, the French managed to win the game
But it was largely due to luck, with good dice at the right time

The lower quality Spanish infantry was also critical
Their better quality troops were in the front line and performed well
But when they were routed their poor quality reserves usually went with them
They often rallied, but were too far in the rear to help in the final two moves

A really enjoyable game, particularly for me as the French player
After a terrible start the dice moved in my favour at the critical tests

Too soon to say how well the new order of battle will work out
The dice had too much influence to determine how well the balance worked