Battle of Talavera - initial deployments

Below, a view looking west from over Talavera.  The Tagus River is in the foreground, and occupies one small corner of the battlefield.  A bridge goes over the river, leading east.  The Portina Brook empties into the Tagus, running west to east across most of the battlefield.  The Spanish army is in the foreground on both sides of the brook; the British are to the top left of the photo; and, the French are to the top right.

Below, the Spanish army positions at the start of the battle.  The Vanguard division is in the top right.  Three infantry divisions are in fieldworks north of the brook (on the French side of the stream).  Two more infantry divisions are behind them, south of the brook.  Two cavalry divisions sit south of the infantry.  It is a large force, but the troops are poor quality, and there is only a single Commander (in game terms) to control this unwieldy force.

Below, British positions at the start of the battle.  Three divisions hold the center of the field, two just south of the brook.  Wellesley is near the road so that he can maximize the use of the 2-for-1 road bonus when measuring command radius.

Below, British positions at the start of the battle.  Hill's division occupies the Cerro de Medellin, which will be a key fixture in the battle to come.  Payne's cavalry division lies south of the Cerro de Medellin.  This is the extreme left (west) of the Allied line of battle.

Below, French positions.  On the extreme French left (east) sits Milhaud's dragoon division.  The ground does not favor them with woods, orchards, the town of Talavera, and the fieldworks in front of them.

Below, French positions.  Just to the right of Milhaud is Sebastiani's IV Corps.  This is a relatively small corps, and contains only a single French infantry division.  The brigades are large, but one is green.  A small cavalry unit, and some German and Polish infantry round out the corps.  The French Leader (Jospeh/Jourdan) is right-center.  There is no road in this part of the battlefield to help facilitate command.

Below, French positions.  At the extreme French right is an additional dragoon division along with Victor's I Corps.  Victor's Corps is the fist of the French army and contains the best and largest divisions.

Not shown on the map are the Madrid Garrison.  They lie north of the battlefield and may enter play sometime mid-day.

Battle of Talavera - prelude

Rather than using the Napoleon's Battles scenario booklet for the order of battle and map, I used a handful of different resources.

The main order of battle came from Wikipedia.

I used a couple of sources for the map.  One is this interesting blog from Rafeal Pardo.  And another was this page from the British Battles web site.

I used an article from Wargames Illustrated, March 2005 (Number 210) to guide the level of experience for each of the brigades and batteries.

The final result became the order of battle I used.  You can find a Google Sheet with ready-to-use labels here.  A sample from the OOB is off to the left:  These are the labels for the British First Infantry Division under Sherbrooke.  It consists of three Units of Infantry, a Commander, and a battery of six-pound foot artillery.

Version 0.5 of the rules released!

The setting for the version 0.5 update of the rules was Talavera.  This version has a slight updated to combat resolution which makes outcomes more "push" rather than "destroy."  In brief, whoever scores the lower number of HITS in a combat is considered the loser, and both sides lose that number of stands.  (There is always a one-stand minimum loss, unless both players fail to score a single HIT.) The difference between the number of HITS is used to calculate a retreat distance.  Each difference creates 6" of retreat.

For example, if I score two HITS and my opponent scores five HITS, we'll each lose two stands (the lower of the two numbers), and as the player who scored fewer hits, I will have lost the combat.  The different in the number of HITS is three (five minus two), and so I will retreat 18" away from the enemy (3 x 6").

If a player is forced to retreat through other Units, they receive a Fatigue marker.  If a Unit is forced to retreat through impassable terrain or off of the table, it is eliminated.

You can find a link to this latest version of the rules at the Rules page.  Link is at the bottom of the blog, or you can find them here.

Battle of Quatre Bras after action report

We used the v0.4 version of the rules which makes close combat a bit more deadly.  There is less opportunity to retreat as a combat result, but it may be a little too deadly now.  Maybe a bit more tuning.

Dave and Brad played the French and drove hard up the main north-to-south road toward Quatres Bras.  The Guard Light Cavalry division led the way, clearing out most of the 2nd Netherland Division led by Perponcher.  This unfortunate division was entirely destroyed, nearly all by the GLC. The GLC finally burned itself out just east of Quatre Bras.  It has accumulated 7 fatigue markers, and the Iron Duke was able to disperse the unit with a well-timed king of clubs card.

However, by this point the Brunswickers had invested the crossroads and were fighting hand-to-hand with Kellerman's heavy cavalry.  Picton's division was keeping one of Reille's divisions pinned, and it looked like it would be a near-run thing.

The climax of the battle took place at 7pm when Reille got a little too close to the front lines, and a stray artillery shell left him wounded and dazed.  With the loss of his I Corps commander, Ney was too overburdened to control his army, and the French attack stalled, and then withered.  The French fell back from the crossroads just as two fresh British divisions arrived to secure the critical position.

The British - played by Marc and Cheatin' Bob - successfully traded space and troops for time, and were able to stop the French.

Battle of Quatre Bras

This weekend we'll be fighting the Battle of Quatre Bras.  The French, led by Marshall Ney, attack with Reille's II Corps and Kellerman's IIIC Corps.  Opposing them are a mix of forces from Britain, Hanover, Nassau, Brunswick, and the Netherlands led by the Prince of Orange and Wellington.

The view from the south of Quatre Bras looking north.  The cavalry of the II Corps is in the front to the right.  One of the divisions of the II Corps is next to it, and another is back with Ney. 

French far left.  The Guard Light Cavalry appears, but the terrain around Quatre Bras is heavily wooded.  How effective will they be? 

In the distance in the center of the picture the French see a brigade of the 2nd Netherlands Division guarding the approaches to Quatre Bras. 

The cavalry of the II Corps is not well-positioned.  A brigade of Nassau infantry sits behind the town. 

The overall situation.  Quatre Bras is the town at the crossroads in the deep center of the picture. 

The view from the southeast.  Note the streams and woods making an attack from this direction more easy to defend. 

The Iron Duke is on the hill on the left.  Nassau and Dutch infantry along with two batteries of Dutch artillery are all that stand between Ney and his objective. 

The Prince of Orange is near Quatre Bras. 

A brigade of Dutch cavalry are in the distance, approach Quatre Bras from the northwest.  They are just barely within the command radius of the Prince of Orange. 

Bird's-eye view of the opening moves in the battle.  French are to the top of the picture. 

The dense woods to the west of Quatre Bras.

Battle of Friedland photos from the final session

The rear of the French right.  Most of the troops have crossed the bridge over the Millstream near Posthenen.

The front of the French right.  Ney's Corps is pushing into Friedland, but was unable to clear any of the town before nightfall. 

Friedland is garrisoned by the Russian 1st (GUARDS) Division, and there is a Cossasck brigade heading through the town towards the French lines. 

The French left.  They managed to retake Heinrichsdorf, but have not made much progress beyond that.  The Guard Corps is behind Heinrichsdorf. 

The Russian right and the French left lined up many batteries in the center of the battlefield and exchanged shells for hours. 

The Russian right.  There are several strong cavalry formations between the stream and Friedland plus some remnants of Uvarov's cavalry on the far side of the stream near the copse of trees. 

The Russian right has relatively little infantry support at this point, but is strong in both artillery and cavalry. 

The Russian 1st Division holds Friedland. 

Platov and his Cossacks stream toward the Alle River and Friedland.

Birds-eye view of Friedland.  North is to the top of the photo.  The town is very well defended to the north of the Millstream, and the town itself has the Guards division. 

The hill in the center had 10-12 total batteries on it at one point.

Friedland final casualty report

The group finished the Battle of Friedland last night.  The Russians held onto the town of Friedland to earn a draw.  Bagration's wing was completely destroyed, but the 1st (Guards) Division, the remnants of the 14th Division, and the late-arriving Flying Corps under Platov managed to hold off a furious push by Ney's Corps.

Losses from the third and final session:

French
5 artillery batteries
3.000 cavalry
3,000 infantry

Russian
14 artillery batteries
4,000 cavalry
5,500 infantry

And total losses from all three sessions of the Battle of Friedland:

French
9 artillery batteries
11,000 cavalry
15,000 infantry

Russian
26 artillery batteries
16,500 cavalry
28,500 infantry

Lannes' Reserve Corps and Grouchy's Cavalry Corps were severely mauled.  Bagration's wing was annihilated.  The other Russian wing was also pretty beat-up, but the French could not exploit the situation to drive into Friedland before the dark of night.

I'll upload some pictures of the final dispositions of the troops tomorrow.