Scots Covenanter Forlorn Hopes and foot officers

For King and Parliament has rules for “Forlorn Hopes”, small bodies of shot told off to hod davancwe positions or difficult terrain; Each would have 2 bases of 2 figures. 

Single bases could also be used to indicate “attached shot” use by some Horse regiments. 

The singly mounted officers can be used to represent foot Colonels or “Gallant Gentlemen”. 

Never let spare figures go to waste – especially for a Scot!  🙂

Major General Holburn’s Regiment of Foote

My second new regiment of Scots Covenanter Foote.

With the bright blue and yellow accents, they almost look like they could be TYW Swedes!

Looking for new “shades of grey”, I used Delta CC “Rain” for the coats of this regiment. 
Buff colored belts maintain the blue/yellow theme… 

as does the flag. 

Old Glory 25/28 mm figures once again; not much opportunity for Tartan on these particular figures. Must be Lowlanders!

 

Scenario for Rio Gevora, February 19, 1811

    A week from today we’ll be playing the Battle of Rio Gevora (or Battle of the Gebora), which took place in February 1811. With Massena’s army mired in front of the Lines of Torres Vedras defending Lisbon, Marshal Soult moved his Army of the South from Andalusia into Estremadura, besieging the Fortress of Badajoz. A large Spanish army under the Marquis de Romana was sent to raise the siege. La Romana, however, fell ill and died before the maneuver could be carried out, and command fell to the less capable General Medizabal. The Spanish Army camped on the heights of San Cristóbal, but neglected to follow the advice of Wellington to entrench their position. Soult ignored the force, proceeding with the siege of Badajoz. Heavy rains made the rivers swollen and difficult to cross. As they subsided, Soult dispatched a force under Marshal Mortier to cross the Guadiana river at night, and then the Gevora. The French advanced at dawn. Dense fog concealed the French from the Spaniards until the French were only a mile away. The Spaniards were in their encampments, and had to form upo very hastily to meet the French Advance.

A good account of the Battle and its background is found here on Wikipedia

We will use Field of Battle rules, 3rd edition, with my Hand of Cards variant. The scenario is adapted from that by Michael Hopper, with minor changes to suit my tastes and collection. 

Overview of the table, French at the top, Spanish at the bottom of the picture

View from behind the Spanish lines

View from behind the French lines. 


2 regiments each of (recently painted Piano Wargames) Dragoons and Chasseurs hope to sweep around the Spanish right flank. 

The French infantry prepare to attack the Heights of San Cristobal. 

The recently crossed Rio Gevora is well to their rear. 

Special Rules:

Due to the fog, Artillery may not fire until the 3rd initiative. Spanish Infantry may not form square during the entire first turn. 

French:   19 units, 20 MP

Marechal Mortier  LD 12


Brigade Phillipon  LD 12

1 French Legere  DD8  CD 12

4 French Line  DD6  CD 10

Battery 6# Foot Artillery  DD6  CD 12


Brigade Brayer  LD  12+1

4 French Line DD6  CD 10

1 French Legere  DD8  CD 12

Battery 6# Foot Artillery  DD6  CD 12


Cavalry – General de Division Latour Maubourg  LD 10


Brigade Briche  LD  12

3 Hussars  DD8  CD 10


Brigade Bouvier  LD 12

2 Dragoons DD 6  CD 12

2 Chasseur a Cheval  DD6  CD 10


Spanish:  27 units, 27 MP

General Mendizabal  LD 10


Vanguard – General Espana  LD 8

2 Light Infantry  DD4  CD 10

3 Line Infantry  DD 4 CD 10

1 6# Foot Artillery  DD6  CD 10


1st Division – General Garcia  LD 10

1 Light Infantry  DD 4 CD 10

3 Line Infantry  DD6 CD 10

2 Militia Infantry  DD4  CD 8

1 6# Foot Artillery  DD6  CD 10


2nd Division – General Virues  LD 10

3 Line Infantry  DD 4 CD 10

2 Militia Infantry  DD 4 CD 8

1 Battery 6# Foot Artillery  DD6  CD 10


Brigade Madden  LD 10

1 Cazadore a Caballo DD4 CD 8

1 Garochista  DD4  CD 8

1 Granaderos a Caballo de Fernando IV  DD4  CD 8


Brigade Butron  LD 8

2 Heavy Cavalry  DD 4  CD 12

2 Dragoons  DD 4  CD 10

1 Hussar  DD4  CD 8

Another view of the bulk of the Battlefield. 

Sir John Grey’s Regiment of Foote

 Time to put down the Napoleonics for a bit, and finish up my ECW Scots Covenanter army…

The decision for a temporary change of gears was made easier by the realization that I had all but run  out of the bases I use for my Napoleonic Infantry and Cavalry!
Never fear, though, I placed an order with Litko to take advantage of their 25% off pre-black Friday sale. 

I  used Delta CC “Roman Stucco” for the coats of this regiment.

This flag design is recorded as being one used by the regiment. Like the rest of my Scots, the figures are by Old Glory. 

The Spring 1813 Campaign-in-a-Day: Messages from the Front

 

Aides de Camp from the latest Piano Wargames Kickstarter, which ends  in less than 14 hours. 

GM Mike entered all the messages that were preserved in to a spreadsheet:

Over 100 messages that I had I typed up, took quite a while.
 
I did not get all the messages.  Unfortunately, Wittgenstein had thrown out the ones he had.
I am sure others did the same… and I noticed gaps, where i have replies but do not have the original message.
 
Still, very interesting and tells the story of the battle of what the Generals knew.
Some fog of war at its best.
  
I find it interesting if you filter on a commander like Wittgenstein, you can see when he received information; that is after a 10-15 min delay that I used to relay messages.  He found out that Blucher was under attack at  the Altenburg table around 12:01 (12:15), and that came from Yorck, not Blucher.  We kicked off at 11:30 am so it was about a half hour for Ney to get to the next table.  Same for Tormosov, about 20 min to get to his 1st table, Dresden, and then another 30 some minutes to get to Altenburg with a Transit town in between.   
 
Some commanders have no messages.  That is because they had Napoleon riding with them.
 
I numbered the messages by team.  you can see the Allies sent out twice as many messages vs the French over the 1st hour of the campaign.  (24 to 12).

The Allies messages go silent after 2:30 as either Wittgenstein was killed, or he had just assumed command of the Barclay troops and did not have time to continue to write messages.  Or he realized every Corps was locked in battle at that time.
 
I need to dig into more analysis, like compare these to the transit logs.