Game of the Napoleonic Peninsular war, Spain 1812. Using Sharp practice in 28mm.
Organized, using terrain and models and nominally umpired by David Maltman.
AAR by David Maltman.
Players
French : Chris Caves.
Guerilla group GC : Leslie.
Guerilla group BD : Ian Anderson.
British : David Maltman.
A 4 way non cooperative Sharp practice game.
A fertile plain in southern Spain at the foot of some mountains to the North and a semi arid desert to the south. Here sits the church of Saint Sebastian and a village. The are fields and orchards dotted around the plain.
The church of Saint Sebastian has some golden items brought back by St Sebastian from the new world many years ago. They have been on display for many years with not a sole even attempting to steal them.
A road runs between the British and French armies, going past the church and through the village. It goes over the stream via a bridge.
Into this idyll the thieving French have come looking to steal the treasures. The British and 2 Guerilla groups have got wind of this through their various spy networks and have assembled hasty forces to stop the French from succeeding.
The 4 factions.
1. The French.
They are stealing the treasure to pay their troops as the British intercepted their payroll train and their troops are on the edge of revolt.
They start of surrounding the church with a wagon which has the treasure loaded.
They need to get the treasure off the table at their deployment point marker (F).
This is the largest of the companies as they are likely to get attacked by the other 3 players right from the start. The most rounded army in terms of Line infantry, Light infantry and cavalry.
2. The British.
Their deployment point (B) is on the opposite side of the table from that of the French.
Arthur Wellesley wants to give the treasure to the real King of Spain to get him to be more active in the Peninsular war against the French puppet king.
The second largest faction, mostly light infantry, British 95th Rifles and Portuguese Cacadores Atriadores ( more rifles ) and a unit of line infantry.
3. First Guerrilla group Perro Malo ( Bad Dog ).
Lead by Perro Malo Sanchez. A nasty piece of work. His group dislikes everyone who is not them. He just wants the treasure for himself.
He particularly dislikes Christina Buen Gato de la Rosa because their 2 groups operate in the same area. Also he killed Christinas father so their is a blood feud between the 2 groups. If there is nothing directly between Perro and Christina units he will automatically move or fire at that unit.
Deploy from the mountains in the North, point BD. Force of Guerrilla Skirmishers, a light artillery unit and a special unit, the Gonzales Brothers, think a marksman, a fast efficient, consistent loader, camouflage experts who operate independently of the SP cards.
4. Second Guerrilla group Buen gato ( Good Cat ).
Lead by Christina Buen gato de la Rosa. A pious, young woman, think Teresa Moreno in Sharp. She wants the treasure to return it to the church so it can be hidden until the end of the war.
She particularly dislikes Perro Malo Sanchez because he killed her father so there is a blood feud between the 2 groups. If there is nothing directly between Perro and Christinas units she will automatically move or fire at that unit.
Deploy from the plains in the South, point GC. Force of Guerrilla Skirmishers, a light artillery unit and a light cavalry unit.
There is a 5th fighting unit. A bear has wandered down from the mountains, probably due to the Bad Dog guerrillas operations. It has taken up residence on the river and will attack anyone who gets too close. Can be driven off with 3 points of shock can be killed with 3 kills.
Victory conditions :
• 1 point for every point of force morale remaining.
• 4 points for moving the treasure to your deployment point.
• 2 points if you have control of the wagon on the table at the end of the game.
• 3 points for killing the leader ( number 1 ) of an enemy faction.
• 1 points for killing any non leader ( number 2+ ) of an enemy faction.
• 1 point for enemy every unit you cause to leave the table.
Highest cumulative points at the end of play decides the winner.
Field of Battle :
How it played out.
The pretty little Spanish town of St Sebastian before the battle. The French have just pinched the treasure and are about to abscond.
French cavalry lead the wagon to the west, infantry fan out all round to protect.
The 95th rifles fire at the French line infantry and force them to withdraw.
The Guerilla leader Bad dog deployed along with the Gonzalles brothers who shoot at the French cavalry killing one of them and adding a point of shock.
.
The cavalry unit is assembled from the survivors of other, not so lucky, light cavalry units. Rated them as Hussars, no penalty for their adhoc nature as these guys are the survivors so they are either good or lucky, both fine traits when making war.
BD skirmishers fire on French skirmishers. Bad dog himself has come out to take lots of shock the smaller unit to the right.
French Grenadiers try to charge the 95th rifles, but fail to reach them by a few inches. Not a healthy place to stop with 2 units of the 95th rifles at close range to them.
The bear gets close to the GC skirmishers so they shoot a it and drive it off.
The 95th activate and fire at point blank at the Grenadiers, they cause some casualties but with disappointing dice throws the grenadiers are still standing.
A second unit of the 95th deploys through the first unit and fire point blank. Another kill and their officer gets wounded, losing one of his command levels.
Both sides can barely see each other with the amount of smoke between them.
The British line infantry deploy and move up to the wall on the French line infantry in the field.
GC skirmishers and fire at the French Voltigers across the river, causing 2 casualties.The light infantry cross the river coming to reinforce them and cover the wagon.
GC cavalry deploy and head north to try and intercept the French cavalry. they have gone so far away that they are barely visible.
The GC artillery deploy and get of a shot at the French infantry.
Causing this line infantry unit to scurry into a house for cover.
The bear then moves close to a GC skirmish unit and gives them a good mauling killing 2 and only taking 1 hit.
The good cats leader Christina Buen gato de la Rosa is only inches and one guerilla away from being bear fodder.The Gonzalles brothers keep up their fire on the French cavalry.
While Bad dog removes more shock from this skirmish unit to allow them to keep up fire on the French skirmishers.
On the upper right a unit of guerillas comes out from between 2 of the large rocky outcrops to try and intercept the wagon.
The BD artillery unit deployed, going in the direction to get a line on the French cavalry / wagon but due to bad dice were left wandering ineffectively in the desert behind a huge rocky outcrop. This is them after 2 moves, only a few inches from the deployment point.
At that point time was up. The French won by benefit of having possession of the treasure.
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Photos curtesy of the Editor.
