The
Second Battle-Couchet’s Gambit- the Battle of Huerto de Rosso
The second battle takes place in map square 24, which contains”
wooded hills” and is within 10 miles of the British held town of Segurilla. The terrain on the table is rolled on a chart. The table is divided into 6 zones and each zone has its terrain diced for. Opponents take turns placing the terrain. All three northerly zones are hills with the Southern zones
rolling a farm and two orchards. “Where additional forests or woods are present,
roll 3D6 discarding any 1’s rolled. Any rolls of 2 to 6 indicate that one large
wooded or forested Area is present” Therefore, the orchard areas are
represented as one large wood. As I don't have an opponent I diced for the orienatation of each piece of terrain
as I constructed the table. and so there is one large “open wooded” area
containing several small pockets of more dense forest. The open wooded areas I
judge to be broken ground and soft cover, the dense forest “heavy going” and
also soft cover. Foes are visible up to 18” in the open wood and 3” in the
forest.
Couchet wants a decisive battle! He wants to put paid to Prendergast
for once and for all, he declares “flank attack”. In this mode the defender
gets to choose which end of the table to defend. Prendergast chooses the western
end, where sits the farm of Huerto de Rosso. Couchet dices to see which edge he
comes in from
Huerto de Rosso is a very defendable position and the
engineers waste no time in building a barricade atop the hill to the North of
the farm.
 | ||||
| the farm of Huerto de Rosso |
Turn 1 Nobby Nobs and the rifles take position behind the
hedge
 |
| ends turn 1 |
Bombardier Codpiddle deploys his cannon atop the small hill,
in the centre of the barricade.
 |
| ends turn 2 |
Turn 2 Le Boit deploys 104th de
Ligne in the woods
Turn 3 La Roux deploys on the left flank of
Le Boit and Noir deploys in a skirmish screen in front of both units
Couchet deploys, Canard arrives with the 12 pdr
Turn 4=The 95th open fire on the skirmishers, 1 kill, 1 shock.
 |
| Nobby's fate, deader than a nail |
The return fire from the skirmishers is devastating!
5 kills and 3 shock, the 95th rout. Even worse, Nobby cops a
packet.
British Force Morale down 1
Couchet really is a rotter! He didn’t have a horse before the last
encounter! He must have “found” it in
the farm.
Codpiddle
fires on the 17 leger. ...
 | |
| ends turn 4 |
...with good effect! Couchets man are taking shock! In Sharp Practice, troops fire 1 less d6 for every two points of shock.17th Leger are down 5 d6 of fire.
Turn 5
Canard deploys the 12 pdr in middle of the line.
McPherson moves up to the hedge.
La Roux moves up to the edge of the forest
Couchet obliques to his right to open a space for the gun.  | ||
| Michel le Roux and his grenadiers |
 |
| ends turn 5 |
3 flags triggers moving Random Event-Step out lads! The leger move an additional 5
inches leaving them in a very exposed position. The next draw is crucial!!
Couchet comes out of the hat first!
The Leger open their first fire giving them a bonus, 5 kills on the 51st
 | ||||||
| 'ooray! 17th Leger in high spirits |
Zoot alors!”
The 51st wipe the smiles from the French faces
with their heavy return fire - 4 kills 14 shock
Couchet’s unit withdraws twice
Codpiddle reloads
Turn 7
The 71st Highland regiment of foot open fire on
the skirmisher Voltigeurs. 3 kills -one group breaks. |
| the 61st are taking another pounding, will they hold? |
Codpiddle fires cannister into the leger, Couchet’s leger suffer two
push backs. Force Morale holds. Canard opens fire on Prendergast’s unit causing
a push back, Force Morale holds For the British also.
The battle reaches a crucial point, maybe a pivotal moment.
Both Couchet and Prendergast’s units are on the point of breaking. Le Boit’s
ligne is drawn from the hat. What to do? The British, although heavily mauled
are in a strong position. It might be prudent at this point for the French to
commence an orderly withdrawal …Couchet ponders for moment…. “avancer et
tirer mes braves!
Le Boit shoots at the dandies, one group is forced to
withdraw
Turn 8-Red flag blue flag tiffin
Turn 9
The 51st fire at the leger, with little effect,
shock reduces their fire power to 7 dice. Three flags! Random Event a thick
cloud of acrid smoke forms in front of the Dandies.
-1 to all shooting.
Turn 10
Codpiddle fires into 17th Leger, one group breaks
and runs. French Force Morale down 1
British FM=8 French FM=7
Prendergast and Scrote rally off 5 shock, will it be enough?
Noir’s Voltigeurs emerge from the forest at a run and take
up position on the right flank of
the highland regiment.
They fail to get a
single hit, but, wait! What’s this? Three flags! Random Event F8 “Three rounds
a bloody minute” 1 kill and 1 shock, enough to make the nearest group withdraw.
La Roux uses 2 flags to deliver a crashing volley into
McPhersons men. More are driven back.
Turn 11
Noirs Voltigeurs are first out of the hat and their fire
into the flank of the Scots causes double shock and forces a group to break. FM
down 1
Le Boit’s ligne fire at the highlanders, 2 more groups
break,
McPherson routs with them. British Force Morale drops to 3
Noir uses a flag to fire again into the highlanders, the
last group breaks and runs, Force Moral drops to 1
Turn 12
McPherson stops running away and moves to join Prendergast.
Noirs skirmishers fire into the Dandies, they break and rout
and what’s left of the British force routs with them. Couchet’s gambit has paid
off, another French victory
Post Battle Sequence
British 24 casualties. Dr Peeps is a capable, energetic man,
but he can’t heal everyone
Dandies 2 dead 6 wounded
Highlanders 4 dead
95th 1 dead 1 wounded Nobbs has expired
A replacement is found in the ranks Private Tolerance Burke,
swiftly promoted corporal
French 13 casualties, no physic to help here
Voltigeurs 2 dead 2 wounded
17th Leger 2 dead 2 wounded
104 th Ligne 1 wounded
Couchet still has the initiative. He has the option to play the
cavalry screening card which will give him another chance to restore his
wounded, but will also allow Prendergast to do the same.
Points to consider
How could the British lose? British regular troops have
first fire bonus and can use controlled fire, and are in a very strong
defensive position, all they had to do was stand firm and deliver “3 rounds a
minute”
The Riflemen were demolished by the Voltigeurs. 14 hits from
14 dice followed by 5x 6’s and 3x 5’s from 14 dice is remarkable luck indeed.
This incredible volley also killed Nobby Nobbs and reduced the British to 4
leaders and I think maybe, this was the biggest factor in deciding the battle.
With 5 chits versus 4 “in the bag”, the French had a greater chance of being
drawn and could therefore keep the pressure on.
As shock builds on each unit, it reduces its ability to fire
or move. The British had to spend a lot of their time removing shock in order
to function and so were never going to deliver.
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