Sharp Practice solo game 2- The Battle for Huerto de Rosso

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

 Before the battle starts , each side dices for Force Morale,it is equal at 10 each

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 104^th 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 95^th 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 51^st

'ooray! 17th Leger in high spirits

Zoot alors!”

The 51^st 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 71^st Highland regiment of foot open fire on the skirmisher Voltigeurs. 3 kills -one group breaks.

The brown smoke indicates first fire, the black smoke = unloaded, white smoke indicates uncontrolled fire.

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 51^st 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 17^th 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

95^th 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

17^th 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.