Over the Hills (play-test) - The Afternoon Attack, Talavera

" If this does not work, it is time to give up war!" 

Marshal Victor quoted before the afternoon attack at Talavera, 28th July 1809

Note whilst presenting this game I write about FS and FH which refers to Fatigue Strength, a number that shows the strength of units and formations and FH which are Fatigue Hits, caused by combat and shooting that degrades FS over time and causes units and formations to stop fighting.

So carrying on our series of games designed to find out what we can do with the rule-set "Over the Hills" (OTH) Steve M and I proceeded to this scenario recreating the main French attack on the Anglo-Spanish line on the afternoon of the 28th July 1809; when the might of Generals, Lapisse and Rey's two divisions supported by a forty-eight gun grand-battery and the 2nd Dragoon Division under General Latour Maubourg assaulted the centre of the British held pert of the line looking to completely unhinge the whole position and open the allies up to the combined French cavalry.

The view of the French lines from behind the British position, with the range sticks indicating the perimeter of our battle

The first two pictures illustrate the specific part of the battlefield we modelled this scenario on, and a view of the two armies which, at this point, is the biggest battle we have fought using OTH.

The massed battalions of French infantry arranged behind their grand-battery

This game would see the table groaning under the weight of thirty two battalions of French infantry, twenty battalions of British infantry, twelve squadrons of French and eight squadrons of British cavalry, not to mention the seven batteries of French and two batteries of British artillery, all crammed into a mile wide sector of the British line.

The two brigades of KGL line infantry hold the forward slope of the Cerro de Medellin with Donkin's Brigade in support nearest to camera

The scenario is modelled around the historical orders of battle and is set up to follow the original plans both sides committed to, allowing the three hours the battle took to resolve itself in reality.

The might of I and IV Corps infantry await their guns to fire and soften up the British line

Suddenly the French line of guns opened up a massed forty-five minute barrage

The games we are playing are designed to allow the full OTH rule system to come into play with, in this case, a three turn grand battery barrage to open the battle that caused a bit of concern among British ranks.

In one turn alone Steve caused 5 Fatigue Hits (FH) firing across the front, and probably accruing about 8 to 10 FH across the three turns, despite the British front rank units 'Going to Ground', simulating British troops lying down when subjected to French artillery bombardment.

The French gun fire fell silent as massed infantry columns passed through their lines to be met by fire from the British guns opposite

The columns of Rey's division closes on the Portina Stream

The thing about scenario design is that you envisage a model built around the actual events and then you start to see ways of adding or changing the design to create those key decision points or capture an element you hadn't considered until you see the thing unfolding in front of you, and this game proved no different.

As the columns advanced, the French guns in this sector limbered up to move forward to support the attack

With their guns withdrawn, the British throw forward a thick screen of light bobs to fend off the voltigeur screen 

This was a full blooded French attack on a British line with all the special rules for French and British troops used that OTH has to capture the way these particular armies fought. So our French columns were making full use of their 'Dancing Officers' and 'En Avant! A la Baionette!" rules whilst the British were coming back at them with their phlegmatic ''Steady Lads, Steady' and 'British Cheer' all designed to recreate the classic line versus column encounter.

The two sides light troops dispute the French advance

All along the line the skirmish battle was fully contested 

The scenario follows the three hour long fight for the centre ground of the British line and with a forty-five minute barrage starting at 14.00 it was not until around 16.00 that the first assaults by the front columns went in having been preceded by a whithering skirmish battle beforehand.

The 60th Rifle companies bolstered the British light bobs with long range accurate sniping of the French advance troops

As the two opposing lines draw near the British reserve line is moved up in close support

Not having fought a battle of this size we were both unsure how the fatigue effects would accrue across such a large number of units facing off against each other and although the units could and did rally off successive FH, the brigades and armies could not, and the evidence of the damage started to show as red and blue d6 used to record the losses to Fatigue Strength (FS), started to be discarded on to the table.

I was keen to keep an element of 'fog of war' by having the opposing record cards keeping track of both sides fatigue out of sight of each other thus keeping the effects of our fire on each other a matter of conjecture throughout until the effects started to show.

The 1/61st Foot of Cameron's Brigade move up to the edge of the olive groves in support of the skirmish screen

Despite the casualties (that little blue die) the French keep on coming

It is this fatigue modelling that for me makes OTH such a compelling set of rules for fighting these big set piece battles as that whittling away of each army's endurance adds another layer of battle simulation as each side attempts to cause the other to topple over first.

As in the real thing, you don't need to kill your way to a victory, simply destroy the other sides will to go on fighting, leaving them vulnerable to the reserves.

General Rey's division exchange one last round of skirmish fire as their columns prepare to charge

The British light bobs prepare to retire behind their supports

The fatigue element also forces the player commander to keep a larger perspective as it is easy to get involved in a particular battle within the larger battle, but it feels rather like a boxing match where multiple repeated hits eventually cause a knock down, with one and then another brigade dropping out of the fight, but with the eye on your own brigades similarly close to throwing in the towel.

The second line of French columns ready to take full advantage of any breakthrough

Six battalions led the first French assault

With the lines so close the British guns are safely withdrawn behind the reserve brigades

The crisis point of this battle came with the attack on Campbell's British Guards and Cameron's 1/61st and 2/83rd Foot when six battalions of French infantry charged home with the two Guards battalions and the 61st having to deal with two battalions of French each.

General Mackenzie oversees the deployment of his reserve 3rd Division

Charge! in goes Rey's division striking Campbell's Guards Brigade with Colonel Guards brigade, 2/24th Foot, 3rd Division, in support

The British line at crisis point as Sherbrooke's division comes under attack with the light battalions withdrawn behind the line

Needless to say British Guards are formidable in most sets of Napoleonic rules and if not I would query the rules, so Steve can be forgiven for having his fingers crossed as the 58me and 75me Ligne gave a cheer and charged forward with levelled bayonets only to be met by a thunderous volley that put 8 FS across the four French battalions in one crushing fire.

On the other end of the British line the KGL light bobs dispute the advance of the 16me Legere as French dragoons close on the extreme flank

Suddenly crashing volley fire erupts along the British line as the columns stagger under the impact

However Cameron's 61st Foot had a harder struggle taking hits as well as giving them and ending up in a three turn close combat that saw the British unit narrowly coming out on top but suffering enough FH to take the brigade over their FS allowance and cause them to have to retire from the battle, broken.

The aftermath of the British volley and charge with Belair's brigade broken and forced back behind the Portina

Not all one way traffic as Cameron's brigade is forced to withdraw broken after forcing back the French columns - note the British columns threading their way back into the reserve areas to regroup. Cotton brings up his Light Dragoons.

The retirement of Cameron's two battalions opened up a gap in the British centre that drew in the remaining reserves including the British light cavalry to prevent a serious incursion into the line, all this as both KGL brigades who bore the brunt of French artillery and a significant amount of skirmish fire found their brigade FS wobbling in single figures on 1d6 each, leaving them one combat away from breaking. 

In fact Steve didn't know it, but he could probably have just sat back and shot the KGL off the top of the Medellin without bothering to close on them.

That said I didn't know the parlous state of the French brigades that opposed them and that is what really makes this rule set such a compelling game - great fun!

The KGL brigades were just a few points from breaking as the French closed in - note the British guns deployed to help hold the French up as reserve units deploy to cover the KGL

Big games need to have an ordered way of keeping track of morale. The dice show remaining Fatigue Score (FS) on the various brigades with Cameron's already depleted and the British army FS using D10s with 72 points left from a start of over 100 FS

Sadly we had to end this test three turns short of the end and with a knife edge set up, so we turned to the pick up game rules to see how the two armies were faring in terms of victory points which at this stage with both sides having the wobbly brigades mentioned showed:

French having broken one British brigade 5 victory points
British having destroyed three French battalions (6 points), broken one French brigade (5 points) and breaking the most expensive in FS French brigades (10 points) showing a British total of 21 victory points, but with two KGL brigades each 3 FS away from braking and with French dragoons bearing down on them.

Likewise the French brigades and army were similarly monitored and their army FS at 69 points remaining with one brigade broken and two brigades on one d6 of FS left.

Despite the early finish we both felt that this scenario clearly has a lot to offer both French and British players with plenty of challenge for both sides and some extra optional additional rules that can be used to further enhance the historical narrative.

Both Steve and I had hours of fun slugging away at each other over the Portina Valley and the more we play OTH the more we are discovering and are enjoying the subtle mechanisms of the play.

So further play-tests to come with another couple of Talavera scenarios and then hopefully back to look at some of Sir Arthur Wellesley's earlier actions from 1808 and 1809.

Over the Hills (Play-test) - Pajar de Vergara, Talavera

This weekend, Steve M came over to the man-cave to help play-test one of a series of Peninsular War scenarios for the Over the Hills (OTH) rules we are working on.

JJ's Wargames - Over the Hills

As you will know if you read the reviews of our testing of OTH, together with the games we have played using them, we really like them, with their strong period feel, the ability to wargame in the 'Grand Manner' or not as your fancy takes you and the use of the concept of Fatigue to model the 'wear and tear' units suffer during a battle that better replicates the reasons why units stop doing what their player commanders want them to do in a more holistic way than just doing a simple casualty count.

The German Division on the approach with Potocki's Ploes moving out to their right flank in open order

Steve's Anglo-Spanish await the coming storm in line with the allied gunners making their final preparations

The Talavera 208 project took a lot of the focus for this year and was great fun to do and still has aspects that remain to be tied up before it is completely concluded; however with the games played and done it has released the time to look at other things, including playing some more OTH to fully appreciate what the rules can do.

General Alexander Campbell's 4th Division in support of the Spanish 3rd Division under General Portago

That looks a pretty solid line, or is it?

As you will know I really enjoy historical scenarios with as much detail relating to the actual battle that can be modelled without impinging on the fun of the game. OTH is a set of rules that seem well suited to that kind of game and so we are playing some old and some new scenarios to put that theory to the test.

The Nassau battalions form the German right flank with Chasse's two battalions of Dutch infantry next in line

As the German voltigeur screen breaks cover Steve moves the Spanish up to support the guns

So with the Talavera table in situ it seemed like a good place to start by running a few Talavera scenarios on the scale terrain and testing some ideas that might produce some fun games using Over the Hills.

The first sighting between the two forces

Baden infantry preceded by their voltigeur screen

So on Saturday, Steve and I got stuck into the attack on the Pajar Vergara Redoubt by Leval's German Division, trying out various strategies and ways to model the terrain and units to capture what that battle within a battle was all about.

Potocki's Poles move through the olive groves in open order to expedite their movement

Colonel Myers 7th Fusiliers and the 53rd Foot preceded by their light bobs move up with the Spanish line

As we played through two games of this scenarios with two very different results, I was taking a few pictures of the action as the three armies (Anglo-Spanish vs French Allies) sparred with each other on this particular flank of the British line.

A precipitous attack by the Baden brigade voltigeurs is flattened by allied canister - won't do that gain, note to self!!

With the guns in formidable form a gap opened in the German line - Where are the Poles when you need them?

One thing to say is that OTH copes very well with big battle scenarios and both Steve and I found ourselves getting through the phases of play quite easily with only pauses to check the occasional rule concept and to make scenario notes as we played. The fact that we played two versions of this battle speaks highly of the system.

Battle well and truly joined as the two lines screens engage each other

Myers light battalion with a company of rifles get stuck into Chasse's Dutch voltigeurs

The rules make lots of allowance for how you might have your figures based and arranged and I made no changes to my collection other than working out what my units were representing in terms of battalion and regiment strengths. You might also notice that my French commanders have little numbers on steel paper attached under the base as a simple quick method of rapidly identifying a particular commander and his associated troops so I could keep an eye on command ranges.

The British and Spanish general officers were much more obvious and needed no such addition. Like wise I continued with my practice of grouping my light companies and voltigeurs into detached battalions and these are easily accommodated under OTH.

Meanwhile on the other flank the Hesse voltiguers engage the Antequeran light infantry with the El Rey cavalry in close support

The allied guns pivot to pour on the hurt and that was about it for Leval's first attack - fairly historical in fact.

The other consideration for my collection is that we play big battles in 15/18mm and not in that other scale and so we were using our own version of the QRS or QRF with suitably changed movement rates and ranges to half those in the rule book to save our overworked, overheated and some might say feeble brains from having to convert each time.

We really like to include all the chrome and detail that Adrian and Quinton have built into OTH as optional for nerds like us who are happy to roll the extra dice to test for ragged volley fire in response to a charge and other great ideas like that.

Another game a few tweaks and those allied guns just cant resist having a blat yet again

This time General Leval plays a more cautious and considered approach, note those German guns unlimbering to left of picture and oh dear, that red marker seems to indicate the British guns are out of ammunition for a turn.

So play testing scenarios is something Steve and I have had a bit of practice at over the last five years playing with this collection of figures and after a while it becomes a bit of process where we play a set of ideas and then say, yes but what if we try this or that, always keeping the actual aims of the historical commanders and the issues they encountered front and centre of the design.

As the British cannon fall silent, the Anglo Spanish infantry are forced to take a hand, but those German guns might pose a problem

What did I say about those German guns and problems?

The battle over the Pajar redoubt is a good example where a demonstration-pinning attack through various mishaps ended up happening ahead of time in a way that it was never intended - 'C'est la guerre'.

So given a similar set of circumstances and the same troops under your command could you do any better that Messrs Leval, Portago and Campbell, and does this scenario model, present those issues and command choices in a fun and interesting way for both commands that allow you to test yourself against their bench mark?

And that in a nutshell is why we like to test, and note not one mention of the dread word 'balance' because we all know that no general went into a battle looking for balance, quite the opposite. The scenario player has long ditched the idea of points and balance in favour of fun and challenge, and who knows perhaps gaining an increased respect for the generals who had to do it for real.

Time to take full advantage of allied problems - in go the Dutch, en avant, Vive L'Empereur!!

Now what goes around, comes around. That green marker in front of the Polish infantry (extreme lower right of picture) indicates the Dutch horse guns have just run out of ammunition for a turn, Oh dear, how sad, never mind!!

As you can see from the pictures a right royal battle was had with honours even for both sides, gaining a win each but with a few tweaks and re-writes garnered from the day's fun. You might also notice the other Talavera forces still on the table adding a bit of the rest of the battle going on behind. These units will be wheeled out over the next few weeks testing other games for OTH before we move on from Talavera.

Still onwards and upwards - the Dutch carry the redoubt, with the Baden brigade hot on their heels to consolidate their hold.
Honours even.

If you are looking at getting into a set of Napoleonic rules then OTH is definitely a set to look at and both Steve and I had a lot of fun rolling those bones.