The Battle of Talavera, The Attack on the Pajar Vegara Redoubt - Tiny Wars Played Indoors

The Spanish El Rey cavalry regiment sweep down on the German troops of Leval's division at the close of the battle for the Pajar Vegar redoubt.

Bill Slavin's adventures with the Battle of Talavera continues with his recreation of the Attack on the Pajar Vegara Redoubt scenario recreating the afternoon attack by General de Division Baron Jean Francois Leval's German Division on the redoubt, part of General Sebastiani's IV Corps and part of the 30,000 men destined to make the French afternoon attack of which this scenario was but a part of, designed to pin the Allies on that part of the line, whilst the main attack fell on the Allied centre.

You can read Bill's account of his refight in the link below.

Tiny Wars Played Indoors - Pajar Vegara Redoubt, Battle of Talavera

I had a lot of fun putting this particular little battle, within a much larger one, together and after reading Bill's account I found myself scanning back on the posts to see the first attempts to run this as a distinct scenario in its own right with the idea formulating in my mind that the battle itself could be split up into distinctive scenarios which resulted in those contained in the O'er the Hills Scenario book.

This map comes from my post covering Carolyn's and my visit to Talavera in 2019 with the numbered points showing where I took time to photograph the battlefield as it looks today, with Point 1 showing where we stood to take pictures of the modern day Pajar Vegara hill. 

The forces involved fought their very own little action with Brigadier Alexander Campbell's British brigade in support of General Portago's Spanish infantry Division tasked with holding this particular part of the line and backing up the British and Spanish guns ensconced in the hastily built redoubt to their front, dug in on a very insignificant little hill or mound in front of the French lines.

The French troops detailed for the attack on the Allied line in the afternoon of 28th July 1809. The French IV Corps were very much in a supporting pinning role to the main punch coming from Victor's 2nd Division part of his I Corps. 

As you can see from the map above, I took the pictures below from amid the positions of Campbell's British troops with the view across the field ahead scanning out to the small hill that is the Pajar Vegara today and then scanning left to photograph the ground over which the main French attack was pressed on that very hot afternoon in July 1809, with similar weather on the day we visited.

The ground behind the Pajar Vegara

 

The small hill seen from the Allied line on which the gun redoubt was built.
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2019/09/battles-and-actions-in-tagus-valley.html

My interpretation of the Pajar Vegara Redoubt back in 2015

The view out to the left over which the main French attack was made and with the British line to the left of picture.

It was way back in 2015 that I first play tested this little battle using Carnage & Glory and with Steve M. and Will taking the respective commands on that day, as their official portraits record and I've put a link below under the official regimental picture of the El Rey cavalry regiment if you want to have a look.

As with Bill's battle our games of this scenario have always produced a tense hard fought affair with the Germans occasionally battering their way into the redoubt defences, but usually ending up so battered in the attempt that like the historical action they are forced back, although achieving such a result is one up on Leval's men and so a French commander can congratulate himself on the achievement.

My interpretation of the El Rey Cavalry Regiment during our game back in 2015.
http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2015/12/talavera-attack-on-pajar-de-vergara.html

As always it was great fun reading Bill's account of the game and very interesting for me having written the set up for this game seeing how others have interpreted it.

The El Rey Cavalry Regiment charge home at the end of Bills refight of the Pajar Vegara Redoubt.

If you are interested in picking up a copy of O'er the Hills Peninsular War Scenario book, pdf copies are available from Stand to Games in the link with a picture of the front cover, at top right of the blog page.

Next up, I have some new model ships to show you that will be taking part in our two day refight of the Battle of Trafalgar later this month.

More anon

JJ

The Battle of Talavera, Dawn Attack, Part Two - Tiny Wars Played Indoors

Battle of Talavera, July 28th 1809, published by J. Jenkins, June 1st 1815 - Drawing by William Heath, Aquatint Engraving by T. Sutherland

Picking up from my link post from the start of this month, Bill Slavin has concluded his Talavera Dawn Attack game which if you haven't read yet is well worth a look as he and his friends produced a real toe to toe set-to that left both sides well and truly bruised and battered.

Tiny Wars Played Indoors - Talavera Dawn Attack, Part Two

Bill's work on building the necessary forces to play this big scenario has been repaid with a hum-dinger of a game and the spectacle of massed forces arrayed across his table as evidenced by one of his pictures below from the concluding part of this game.

I really enjoyed this AAR read and would recommend a look.

Well done Bill.

JJ

The Battle of Talavera - Tiny Wars Played Indoors

 

Mr Bill Slavin has picked up his series of games working through the scenario book O'er the Hills from where he left off with the French conducting a fighting retreat from Oporto to turning his attention to the series of games representing the fighting that characterised the Battle of Talavera, broken up into specific phases of the battle.

If you haven't seen Bill's renditions of these games in 1/72nd scale miniatures using Over the Hills Napoleonic Rules, then you can follow his series of games in the link below to my previous posts with links to each of Bill's games referred to;

JJ's Wargames - Tiny Wars Played Indoors

He started this series of games back in November last year when I was off on my travels, hence this has been my first opportunity to comment on his progress, which commenced with the rear-guard action fought at Casa de Salinas as General Sir Arthur Wellesley, shepherded the Spanish army of General Cuesta back into his line leaving a brigade to cover their withdrawal onto the position chosen to offer battle to Marshal Victor's French corps in hot pursuit.

https://standtogames.co.uk/shop/ols/products/oer-the-hills-rules

You can read account of his refight of the Casa de Salinas scenario in the link below;

Tiny Wars Played Indoors - Casa de Salinas

The next game, played in January, saw the action move on to Marshal Victor's famous and rather unique night-attack when he perceived an opportunity to unsettle and eject Wellesley from his strongest position on his chosen line atop the Cerro de Medellin on the night of July 27th 1809.

In this game, special rules to cover the confusion of moving troops at night play a big part in dictating the action and help demonstrate why these actions were so rare in the Napoleonic period, when controlling the movement and coordinating attacks of troops in darkness was so problematic.

Bill's table set up with the British occupying the Cerro de Medellin and the French attack group on the slopes ahead, readying to set off into the darkness.
Tiny Wars Played Indoors - Talavera Night Attack

The latest game played at the end of last month has progressed on to the set-piece French Dawn attack, that saw Victor, having been frustrated in not achieving the success in his night-time assault, turning to using the tried and trusted methods practiced by his Grand Armee veterans across the battlefields of Europe with an unbroken chain of success, namely the set-piece assault, heralded by a mass bombardment from his assembled Corps Grand Battery atop the Cerro de Cascajal, to soften the enemy lines up, before an advance by massed columns of French infantry preceded by a skirmish swarm, designed to overwhelm the last remains of enemy resistance, shocked and disordered by the effects of the pre-attack bombardment.

The scenario map for Dawn Attack, Talavera

This is a 'big battle scenario', even though just a fraction of the two sides forces are involved and Bill's table recaptures my own in its look, with the massed French columns on one side of the Portina Valley faced by Wellesley's lines of British and KGL redcoats.

Tiny Wars Payed Indoors - Dawn Attack, Battle of Talavera

I played this scenario several times prior to writing it up for O'er the Hills, using Carnage & Glory and Over the Hills rules and this fight always gave a nail biter struggle, with much 'tooing and frowing' backwards and forwards as the fighting flowed up and down the slopes on this part of the line, with the battle, as it should be in a Napoleonic fight, going to the side with the last group of fresh reserves to force the other side to lose heart and break off.

Steve M and myself played Dawn Attack, back in 2017 using Over the Hills and you can read the report of our test game here, together with previous posts covering the Talavera project in the link attached,
JJ's Wargames - Talavera

It would seem that Bill's refight has produced a similar situation, but I will leave it to you to read his account accompanied by his pictures of the game to show you what I mean.

In 2019, Carolyn and I walked the battlefield of Talavera in the wake of writing this scenario and I got to see the terrain recreated in the game as it looks today, and it really brought home the broken nature of the ground these troops were likely struggling across and the heat they were enduring whilst doing so, amidst the carnage and smoke of battle.

My view of the Cerro de Cascajal and the French positions in 2019 seen from Wellesley's line atop the Cerro de Medellin with the valley of the Portina stream in the low ground between.
JJ's Wargames - Battles and Actions in the Tagus Valley

Thank you Bill for a very entertaining series of games that has brought back lots of memories from a previous project and I'm looking forward to your next 'Part Two'.

Meanwhile, I'm joining family and friends to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, a long and ancient tradition in the UK to formerly recognise the accession of a new monarch to the throne, and one that marks the start of a new era.

No doubt we will be raising a glass or two to the new king, today when this post is published, 6th May 2023, so I shall sign off on this very historic day in the traditional manner for a loyal subject of his majesty, 'God Save the King'.

More anon.

JJ  

Vauban's Wars, Wargame Rules for Siege Warfare 1667 to 1815 - Eric Burgess

General Herrasti personally sighting one of the city's heavy guns during the French siege of Ciudad Rodrigo

Dionisio Alvarez Cueto

Last week I finally got a chance to play a set of rules, Vauban's War, I first became aware of back around 2014 when I was deep into my Talavera project and spotted a series of posts on Eric Burgess' blog, with a mind to using the 18mm Peninsular collection to try out some Peninsular War type sieges.

If you are interested in finding more resources about Vauban's War check out Eric Burgess' blog in the link below.
https://dinofbattle.blogspot.com/p/vaubans-wars.html

My wife Carolyn indulged me last Xmas by buying me a set for a present and they were put on my 'Must Play at Some Time' pile whilst I busied myself completing other projects focussed around Age of Sail ships and AWI Mohawk Indian collections.

Fortunately there is another 'rules magpie' in our club and an old friend, Chas, who also had a copy of the rules and was keen to give them a run and was happy to take point on organising a try out game, with him getting his head around how they work and importantly producing the required fortress walls, saps and other impedimenta that go along with horse & musket siege warfare; whilst I concentrated on my other stuff, but very happy to dig out my French and Spanish Napoleonic collection to put on a game at 'JJ's HQ', which we ran this week ably assisted by Vince who came over to give them a go as well.

The table you see below is our first attempt at playing with twelve battalions of French infantry, massed guns and sappers before their first parallel, as the Spanish garrison of four line, one grenadier and two militia battalions, glower out from their walls.

The rules themselves are based around the Piquet system of card driven activation and opposed die roll resolution using differing die types from d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 d12+1 and d20 with a base die reference point and moving up or down according to circumstance.

As you can imagine the system really does tick our box in terms of 'friction' with a well thought through plan coming unstuck on first contact with the enemy, represented by the card hands for each player or sequence deck of initially eleven cards, that generate specific events and actions through a turn of play, with each sequence deck played through representing three to four days of the siege.

Vauban's War is a quality product with cards that can be cut out for play or you can order prepared casino style playing cards, together with other game record cards and nicely produced core rules

To that initial hand are added another three cards of the player's choice through which they can attempt to modify the events with stuff they would like to achieve at some time during the three to four days, thus when the first saps are being dug, you are unlikely to want to have a 'Let's storm the breach' card in your hand as that would be a bit of a wasted opportunity.

The number of cards to be played each time is determined by an opposed die roll with the Fortress Governor and Besieging Commander rolling off and the winner having the option to play their cards first or second and with the difference in score determining how many cards will be played, by player one then by player two (red or blue as identified on the card decks).

In our case the French commander, probably Soult for 1811, me, was rolling a D10 and the Spanish Governor, Vince a D12, definitely General Herrasti as seen above, with the inactive player able to blast away should he want at incautious sappers and infantry moving about during card play.

A sample of the cards can be seen below and the presentation of the rules is glorious with full colour illustrations and well laid out explanations of how to set up a game of this type of siege warfare with a typical siege likely to play for somewhere between five to twenty siege turns, that could see several sorties and assaults, not to mention the work to dig parallels and saps, set up gun batteries, manage powder supplies, spies, food stocks and undermine the opposition morale as well as the odd wall or two.

In my own experience I found understanding the rules clearer by playing rather than reading, but that just might be my preferred learning style, but having done a bit of pre-game reading and then getting heads together with Chas to actually play seemed to make the rules clearer and before long Vince and I were rapidly advancing through the card play and working out our die changes with little reference to the rules or QRS, which speaks highly of the rules enabling unconscious-competence quite rapidly.

Examples of the Casino style playing cards for red and blue, garrison and besieger

As we were playing my mind was cast back several times to my 2019 holiday to Spain, touring across the country to visit key Peninsular War battle sites, and staying in the castle at Ciudad Rodrigo and standing before the walls of Badajoz gazing in awe at the scars of 18 and 24-pounder shot marks caused by Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese siege batteries.

The main gate and ditch at Ciudad Rodrigo 2019
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2019/07/ciudad-rodrigo-peninsular-war-tour-2019.html

The pictures from those visits combined with those of our game as it progressed hopefully captures how well the rules involved us in managing our siege battle, with the pictures illustrating the French advancing their saps on two flanks to create battering positions to clear the first lines of defenders back within their walls prior to advancing forward for the third parallel and the creation of the forward battering positions to hopefully start preparing a breach.

During this play Vince was building saps out to attempt to flank my own positions forcing me to commit reserve infantry to deal with his advancing out from the walls via his saps.

Meanwhile two Spanish spies were intercepted by my security details and promptly shot, whilst my own spy narrowly avoided capture, only to return to the city and successfully stir up insurrection within, lowering the morale a notch as the Governor was forced to send troops into the town to put down a popular revolt demanding him to hand the city over.

The mechanics of recording the state of both the garrison and besiegers is easily recorded on the status cards provided with the rules, together with a simple stat sheet that keeps a note of the quality of the various forces and as we blazed away at each other with cannon and the occasional musketry the various smoke puffs seen in the pictures recorded who had fired in the turn, requiring a reload card to prepare said guns for another round of firing, and the puffs removed but recorded for when the occasional powder check supply card turned up seeing a test or an outright reduction in the powder supply available for future action.

In addition each turn would see the garrison consume its limited food stocks, equally vulnerable to further consumption or despoiling by enemy action, and with little chance of resupply unless relieved by an approaching allied army, all modelled in the card play and with neither side entirely sure of the state of the other, providing yet more narrative and drama.

The imposing defences of Ciudad Rodrigo 2019
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2019/07/ciudad-rodrigo-peninsular-war-tour-2019.html

This post can only be a first impression and with not enough time to progress to attacking the walls directly with the big guns, an incomplete one, but I and we had seen enough to convince us that these are a very cleverly constructed set of rules that has us wanting to play more and had me ordering up a new set of cards and scanning options for a Vauban Wall collection to run my own games.

I can see that the initial collecting and building of the key terrain items is the main ask for playing Vauban, with the rules designed to work with any figure collection, providing infantry are grouped into units of four bases, double rank, in my case, or single rank, makes no odds, artillery men and guns, general officers and figures in pairs to represent sappers.

The rules lay out the basic requirements in terrain collection with most armies any player would already have suitable for use.

The scars of strikes from 18 and 24-pdr shot fired at the walls of Badajoz by Allied gunners during the siege of 1812, as pictured during my visit in 2019
https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2019/09/badajoz-french-siege-and-allied-first.html

I think Vauban's War is a cracking game and I'm really looking forward to playing again, but I know I will have to concentrate on finishing the other stuff first so will probably content myself with playing Chas and others until I can work on my own terrain.

With the advent of 3D printing and of course  Paper Terrain, the opportunity to build these kind of games has never been so possible and now there are a set of rules capable of generating a very playable system.

If these kinds of games are of interest, then have a go with Vauban Wars, as they really are a lot of fun and seem to me to capture what sieges in this period were all about.

Next up, more ships are building in JJ's Dockyard, and I visited a very historic castle in North Yorkshire during our trip away in March, plus adventures in Vassal land continue to delight. 

More anon

JJ

Assault River Crossing, Second Battle of Oporto 12th May 1809 - Tiny Wars Played Indoors

The Serra Convent overlooking the River Douro at Oporto from where British infantry led by the 3rd (Buffs) Foot crossed to occupy the Seminary on the cliffs above on the opposite bank and around which Sir Arthur Wellesley placed his gun batteries in support of them and other Allied troops crossing to attack the French under Marshal Soult who occupied the city, 12th May 1809

 

A few weeks ago, Bill Slavin sent me an email giving me the 'heads-up' on his next game in the series from O'er the Hills Scenario Book which I have been looking forward to with great anticipation following his post about how he had built his table to refight the Oporto Crossing.

Stand to Games - O'er the Hills, Early Peninsula War Scenarios pdf Version

This scenario playing follows the others Bill has been working through since he started his series of games with 'The Leopard's Debut, The Battle of Rolica, played back in December 2020.

I personally have really enjoyed seeing someone else translating this scenario book, designed to be played with the rule set Over the Hills, and Bill's games have brought back lots of memories of the original play tests Steve M and I did when I was working on putting the book together.

If you are new to the series of games then I have listed below the series of links here on JJ's that will take you to Bill's blog, Tiny Wars Played Indoors where you can see his AAR's for each of the games played so far.

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-leopards-debut-battle-of-rolica.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2021/02/vimeiro-hill-battle-of-vimeiro-1808.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2021/03/flank-attack-at-ventosa-battle-of.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2021/07/battle-of-corunna-elvina-ridge-tiny.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-march-on-oporto-part-one-retreat-to.html

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-march-on-oporto-part-two-rearguard.html

When writing the Oporto scenario, I was adapting an earlier game that we played with the computer moderated rules, Carnage & Glory and needed to make the game a much more easily translatable set up for most wargamers to be able to set up on the table.

The battle was fought over and around a deep cliff edged river gorge with the outskirts of the city of Oporto and the key stronghold of the Seminary, occupied by British troops, the main features of the terrain to be fought over once the battle commenced, following the discovery of the British troops by part of the French garrison.

Our Oporto Table from the original game set up.

Thus, to make this a more easily playable game I opted to leave the gorge out of the map, using the wargamers old friend, 'the dreaded edge of the table' to represent this imposing terrain feature with the possibility of British reinforcements arriving in the Seminary from said table edge together with supporting British artillery fire directed from it on to certain areas of the table representing the batteries of guns Wellesley set up in support of his assault crossing.

Of course Bill was having none of that and opted to go large by building his representation of the gorge, cliffs and wine barges carrying British troops to produce, in my humble opinion his best table yet, leaving me rather 'gobsmacked' at his ability to 'adapt adopt and improve' with a post detailing his build for others interested  in having a go.

Tiny Wars Played Indoors - Building Porto

Frankly, I never imagined anyone going this far with this scenario and was amazed at the ingenuity of this table, and Bill's post is well worth a look to see his ideas on how to put together a put up and take down version of this game.

So if that little preamble hasn't wetted your appetite to see how Bill's game turned out with the troops in battle array across his table, then move on and wait for my next post about something else, but I think a few of the pictures of the game below will prod your curiosity still further.

The game was quite remarkable and one I would not have expected after playing it several times and seeing others having a go with similar outcomes.

When writing a scenario based on an historical actions and constrained by certain known limitations you tend to end up working within a bell curve of outcome probabilities with the the extreme, but still possible, outcomes hopefully moved to the ends of the curve and with the more likely outcomes very much in its centre.

I think Bill's account of his game shows what happens when the game starts to explore the less likely extremes and also the historical peril that Marshal Soult and his corps faced once Wellesley had established a foot hold on the French side of the river, requiring bold and immediate response to stabilise the situation.

The fighting that followed in this game is a classic struggle to retain and regain initiative and made for a fascinating read.

So if you would like to know more then just follow the link below to Tiny Wars Played Indoors for the full details and more great pictures of the game as it unfolded.

Tiny Wars Played Indoors - Second Battle of Porto, 12th May 1809

Next up: Mr Steve and I have been battlefield walking with a trip back to the early English Civil War in Cornwall and the seat of the Prayer Book Rebellion in Devon, and I have a book review.

More anon 

JJ