Talavera - Casa de Salinas 1809

With the completion of the British 3rd Division, all the forces required to play Casa de Salinas are mustered so I thought you might like to see my first attempt at putting the table together.

I have scaled the area to fit with the 1" to 50 paces ground scale, so we have a battle area of 1.5 x 1 miles or six feet by four. My table is nine feet by five so I have taken a foot off at the British home edge where Anson's cavalry will arrive.

In time I will reproduce the scenario with the full six feet, but I am keen to try out some ideas and get things played so we will go with the reduced  table as mapped below.

This is what my translation looks like, with the Casa on the right flank of 3rd Division's deployment area and where Wellesley will be viewing the French advance from the tower at the farm. My tower is a little taller in scale than the original seen above and you might recognise it from another game!

Note the ground is marginally higher from French deployment corner and the wooded area, but not so as to have any influence on the battle.

So now the table is ready, I just need to make final adjustments to the orbats and scenario notes before Tom and I get together to play the first game of the Talavera campaign.

The view from the British home edge, with two roads leading to the Talavera position and the dry stream bed

The view from the French edge with the River Tagus behind the view point

The view from Anson's cavalry entry area over the farm land to the edge of the coppiced woodland

Next up, the 1st Battalion Badajoz Regiment of Infantry