Peninsular War - First Action

My Spanish and French napoleonics made their first outing into the field with this all Warrior Miniatures outing - the battle of San Ignacio Bridge.  The scenario is made up and depicts a rear guard stand by elements of the retreating Spanish army, that occurs on a river crossing at the small village of San Ignacio. The fast flowing river can only be crossed by the bridge and via a ford further up stream. A Spanish force consisting of five battalions of infantry, three regiments of cavalry and two artillery batteries is deployed along the home bank of the river, apart from the town itself, which is defended by the Spanish Regiment Muerte:

San Ignacio:

The French in pursuit are not far behind arriving on the field with a cavalry and artillery heavy force and a mix of line, light and grenadier infantry.

Te action begins on the left, with a French assault against San Ignacio by two battalions of infantry, supported by artillery:

The Spanish defenders in the town fight hard causing heavy casualties amongst the French and forcing them back several times. The Spanish move a second battalion up to the bridge to reinforce the defenders:

But, the weight of the French attack eventually sees the defence of the town crumble and the reinforcements thrown back across the river:

The French attack pulls in more Spanish reserves and the Spanish heavy cavalry and additional infantry begin to move forwards:

The Spanish Cuirassiers counter attack over the bridge in an attempt to throw back the French infantry, however, the French form a square and the attack is thwarted.

The Spanish heavies pull back over the river.


Meanwhile over on the French right flank an attempt is made to force the ford, which is more lightly defended:

Again the French attack is blunted by Spanish infantry. However, the French reform and supported by cavalry and artillery a second reinforced attack forces back the Spanish:

The remaining Spanish reserves are rapidly deployed to bolster the defence of the ford as the battle sways to and fro. The French so far fail to cross the river:

Back on the French left flank a combined infantry and cavalry assault begins over the bridge at San Ignacio:

French horse artillery provide close support:

The attack is met by volleys from the Spanish defenders:

However, the French infantry storm over the bridge and the Spanish infantry break and rout off the field:

The french have secured the town and captured the bridge, but they badly bruised French infantry have little time to enjoy success as they are swept away by a Spanish dragoons:

The French try again, sending a regiment of dragoons headlong over the bridge, but they are attacked on two flanks by Spanish heavy cavalry and wiped out:

The Spanish cling on to their hold of the river crossings, but casualties are mounting.

Back on the right flank a renewed French assault finally breaks the Spanish infantry when French cavalry smash one of the Spanish battalions:

It looks as though the Spanish left is about to collapse, but a timely charge by the Spanish Hussars sees off the French cavalry and checks the French infantry, who are forced into square formation:

Meanwhile over on the left, the French commit their reserve, guard grenadiers and a second dragoon regiment. This, along with artillery fire, depletes the remaining Spanish defending the bridge:

A French victory is secured when the gallant Spanish hussars are cut down by musket fire from the squares. They break and the Spanish left flank collapses:

The Spanish capitulate, having fought hard and bought precious time for the retreating army. The French pursuit is blunted too. However, the French are victorious on this occasion.

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More Austrians

I have added another two Ros/Warrior battalions to my force, as well as a unit of Minifigs S Range Jaegers:

Apology to those who comment

I do hope that readers who take the time to comment do not feel that I am being rude bynot responding. For some reason I am no longer receiving email notifications when comments are posted. This means i stumble upon them by chance when I am looking at my blog.  I am trying to work out how to switch notifications back on!

Makings of an Austrian Army

As part of my interest in Ros 25mm Napoleonics I have amassed a large number of Ros Austrian line infantry. I have around 60 of them. Ros never produced any Austrian command, artillery or cavalry, so for some time I have been pondering what to do with them. I did consider using Minifigs S Range alternatives, but collecting enough would be difficult and expensive.  My dabblings with Warrior Miniatures gave me some inspiration, so I ordered a number of sets of command figures. Here is the result; Ros Austrian line with Warrior command.:

I think they work quite well together and I am in the process of creating a small Austrian Army, with six similar battalions, some Minifigs Jagers and Warrior cavalry.

Airfix & Battle Cry - Cedar Mountain

I thought it was time to dig out my old Airfix ACW troops and have a go at one of the Battle Cry scenarios; I picked the battle of Cedar Mountain:

The scenario has the Federal forces groping forwards against what they believe to be a smaller CSA force; however, coming through the forest is a significant reinforcement led by A.P. Hill. This is the battle as set out on the table:

Things started off well for the Federal forces, successfully attacking in the centre and their right flank, sweeping away a CSA battery and infantry:

A brisk firefight slows down the Federal assault in the centre:

And on the CSA left the Federal troops are halted:

The Federal troops rally and after a second assault the CSA centre collapses, with the destruction of a battery and an infantry unit. The rebel centre is wide open:

Only the Texans remain in the centre, grimly holding on to a small settlement:

The tide then turns in favour of the rebels as Hill's troops come up to fill the void in the centre:

The Texans join in the advance and things look good for the CSA:

Hill's troops advance against the Federals holding the high ground, but two batteries of blue coated gunners destroy the advancing rebels:

At the same time Federal infantry firing into thr flank see off the Texans. Suddenly the tide has turned and it is now 5 - 4 to the Federal side; needing 6 points to win.

The Federal win comes with a dashing cavalry charge, supported by infantry over on the right Federal right flank:

The end comes quickly, with the CSA taking too many casualties and it is a 6 - 4 win to the Yankees!

The final positions:

This was a really enjoyable game. I thought the CSA would easily win by sheer weight of numbers, but the bold Federal attacks (and some lucky cards and dice!) saw them quickly gain victory. The battle took about an hour to play.

Arnhem Battle Report - Memoir '44

Domestic matters and travels have delayed my reporting of this battle; however. today I managed to finish it off, and what an epic struggle it turned out to be!

With 10 tanks, lots of artillery and infantry, I fully expected the Germans to romp through the paratroopers positions. On this basis most of the German early moves and activation points were used up moving and fighting with tanks. However; after a few moves it was clear that tanks were not at all effective in close combat in built up areas and they paid a heavy price.

First blood went to the paratroopers when a Panzer IV attempted to rush the bridge:

And an attempt to rush the drop zone was beaten off by the defending British:

Armour attacking in the centre towards Oosterbeek also came to grief:

A German combined artillery, tank and infantry assault on Arnhem town had more success and part of the town near the bridge fell to the Germans:

However, counter attacks by the paratroopers cleared the German infantry out of the town and accounted for another German tank:

The paratroopers were back in control of the north side of the bridge:

Meanwhile over in the area of Oosterbeek German artillery and infantry attacks allowed the Germans to gain a foothold, cutting off the paratroopers link to the bridge:

In the next turn the British abandoned the drop zone and moved reinforcements towards Oosterbeek; a brisk firefight removed some SS troops out of the woods:

On their next turn, having suffered more casualties from the German artillery fire, the paratroopers counter attacked the Germans that had captured part of Oosterbeek, quickly regaining the east of the village.

The Germans then made an all out effort to take Arnhem and capture the bridge. A combined attack from the North and South sides saw the Germans at last in possession of the key terrain, the bridge itself:

During the next couple of moves the battle raged in the town of Arnhem around the bridge.  The German attack was destroyed and the paratroopers reoccupied the Bridge.

At this point, with three tanks destroyed along with five infantry units the German exhaustion point had been reached. Suddenly on the cusp of being defeated the British managed to steal an 8 - 5 victory. The final positions had the British just in control of the Bridge, strongly holding Oosterbeek and the drop zone was no mans land: