An NBS experience in the works

['Ol Fezziwig]

Situe:

It is 9 PM, July 15th, 1808. The Spanish General Castanos and the 3rd and 4th Divisions of his Army of Andalusia are encamped several kilometers west of Andujar, the town itself safely nestled behind the Rio Guadalquivir. To the southeast, south of the Guadalquivir in the town of Villanueva, rests his 2nd Division. Further yet to the east, the large 1st Division, under the aggressive General Reding, is also south of the Guadalquivir, encamped between the Mangibiar Ferry crossing and a tricky ford, nearly due south of the dusty crossroads town of Bailen, which lies at the gateway to La Carolina and Madrid to the north.
Other forces may also be at his disposal: smaller detachments of varying reliability roam amongst the mountainous flanks to harry the beleaguered French along their flanks, and possibly, rear.
Or, enraged guerrillas may also appear suddenly to extract revenge for French atrocities or simply slow them down along the perilous routes they must travel between the far-flung towns of Andalusia.

Opposing Castanos is the French General DuPont, fresh from his sacking of Cordoba. In Andujar, behind the safety of the Guadalquivir and its sole crossing for kilometers-a bridge anchored by a redoubt on its western end-he has the 1st division of his 2nd Corps of the Gironde, his corps artillery and cavalry division. Lined up on the main roads and alleys of Andujar is his waggon train with which he intends to transport his spoils from Cordoba to the north and east.

Nearly a day’s march away, to the east, protecting the southern approaches to Bailen at the Rentillas crossroads north of the Rio Guadiel, is the 2nd division of the COG, less one brigade which monitors the Guadalquivir crossings at Mangibiar and the ford to the south. In Bailen itself, the 2nd Corps of Observation, in reality a weak division, holds the vital town, though short a brigade which is attached to the 1st of the 2nd COG in Andujar. A heavy Cuirassier brigade rounds out the French force in Bailen.

Your task, as Castanos, is to drive the French out of Andujar, out of Bailen, out of Andalusia completely. Your force, while outnumbering the French also carries less experience into battle. Your positional advantages need to be quickly exploited to bring superior force on outlying dispersed French forces to make them fight-and lose-as smaller detachments rather than a unified whole. General Reding, befitting his aggressive nature, may expand his command to allow a more coordinated attack than would otherwise be possible so far from General Castanos’ guidance. You must also look to liberate the booty the French are insisting on carrying eastwards, further proof of their perfidious aims in Spain.

The French aims are simple: send their heavily loaded waggon train to La Carolina, hold Bailen and damage the Army of Andalusia enough to remove it as a threat for the foreseeable future. Your forces, while outnumbered, outclass the Spanish for the most part, have more-and more flexible-artillery, better cavalry and better defensive terrain available for defense when the Spanish choose to deploy for battle. Do not make the mistake of underestimating your foe, as they are quite able to give your force a bloody nose…or worse.

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

Components:
Counters: the expected high-quality and functional counters that are the hallmark of MMPs The Gamer's line of games. Clear, concise and uncluttered with 'graphics' of dubious merit. Clip at your own leisure...

Rules: Adding the inhospitable cllimes of Spain adds rules showing just how inhospitable it really was. With little in the way of weight, they add lots of flavour to this dry, arid land. Siesta, anyone?

Map:here's where things get interesting...
Noone will be able to accuse designer Anders Fager of not thinking outside the box-the map quite resmbles a drunken number "7" that has spun and landed smack dab on its forehead. Fully eight (8!!) feet along the west to east axis and another four feet from the tip of the east axis to the southern reach of the map.

a peek:
http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@872.b7WZdEmGHUp.10@.ee6d34a/2490

Now, before you table-space-challenged imediately write this off, let me say, I, too, am TSC'ed and managed to play this on a pair of tables. The counter density is low and only one to three maps, perhaps four, will have units on them at any one time. Remember, too, that this game recreates the four day Bailen campaign, not a single day of battle like many others. The strategic, operational and tactical implications of this far-flung battleground are magnified by the breadth of the contested area.

Even so, some map sections may well be on the whole, transit maps, as your forces strain to reach a distant objective or close with your fleeing foe. AND, the open end of the "7" is not completely out of play, either. Off-map tracks allow a measure (for the Spanish mainly) of operational maneuver/flanking without the burden of depicting these areas as maps.

The terrain is rugged, and the maps give a good feel for that ruggedness though you don't have to endure the blistering heat to play on them.

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

the proposed cover art:

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@429.d6qadaqJIHa.0@.ee6d34a/3836

 

[Keith Todd]

the proposed cover art:

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@429.d6qadaqJIHa.0@.ee6d34a/3836

A little further down is a blue one.

 

[Keith Todd]

Anders and crew really do have some exciting battles coming up in the next few games.

Salamanca sounds very interesting.

Keith

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

As the sun rises, the 3rd and 4th Spanish divisions march towards the redoubt protecting the bridge over the Guadalquivir before Andujar. Despite the relative inexperience of the troops, they nicely execute a pincer attack on the redoubt brushing against the banks of the Guadalquivir on their way to the redoubt. French artillery is unable to disrupt these moves, and the battery in the redoubt faces an unpleasant choice between firing on one or the other division on either flank OR dueling with the Spanish battery in its front.

Choosing to fire on the 3rd Division's infantry, its fire has little effect. For now, it matters little as the first assault-coming from the 4th Division on the opposite flank-is repulsed, though the defenders are shaken in the process. The defenders-hard-pressed on both flanks-manage to hold their own. Unfortunately, the weight of the attacks coupled with persistent artillery fire disorganises them. This is noticed by General Jones, who throws his last reserve brigade into the redoubt, taking no time to deploy from March Column on the way. Clambering over the redoubt's walls, the Spanish brigade manages to eject the French defenders, while also causing the loss of the entire French artillery battery within the redoubt. Despite their success, the San Juan brigade itself routs from the redoubt, leaving it unoccupied.

The French decline to reoccupy the redoubt, what with two Spanish divisions nearby and the French defenders shaken by the relative ease with which the redoubt fell; it is barely past 600 AM! They occupy good defensive terrain here in Andujar, anyway; uphill just beyond the exit of the bridge-let the Spanish TRY to rush into Andujar! March column, uphill into the teeth of two artillery batteries and a stolid French line...they shall not pass!

The battle here grinds to a halt, which suits the French for the time being; the Loot waggons have taken a inordinate amount of time to load-but one is filled! So long as General DuPont insists on carting his spoils back to La Carolina, they must buy the time for the ponderous train to be loaded and started moving before they can quit Andujar...officers!...

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

As the battle raging for the Andujar redoubt recedes, the Spanish 2nd Division begins to act upon its orders to proceed to, and capture, the Rentillas crossroads. A march of little over 18 kilometers awaits them...

General Reding's 1st Division also receives their orders to quit their cantonment and to proceed west and north to also capture the Rentillas crossroads, which lies nearly due south of Bailen.

The crossroads is lightly held by two brigades of 2-COG and their artillery, with the remaining brigade posted around the Mangibiar ferry to monitor Reding's division. Word is sent of Reding's approach to the ferry, and then, of his march westwards...

Outside Andujar, General Castanos, seeing the disorganisation of the French maintained by the artillery of 4 Division, now in the redoubt, orders his two divisions to cross the bridge and capture Andujar while the French are reeling.
Carefully, the Spanish cross the bridge and carve out a bridgehead. The French pull back into Andujar hoping the order to pull out of Andujar comes quickly-if not for those d@mned waggons!

The urgency of the situation apparently only now dawns on the men loading the waggons, as quickly three more are loaded in short order. The timing cannot be better as confusion spreads through the ranks-the cavalry inexplicably moving from their position east of Andujar, where they were to lead the move to Bailen, move south of Andujar but a small example. DuPont is able to get matters in hand rapidly, however, as he gets his rabble moving east, including the confused cavalry. A half-hearted rearguard action quickly turns into a move out of Andujar as the crazed Spaniards pillage the bounty left behind by the French. Fully half their waggon train is destroyed as the Spaniards engage in an orgy of destruction.

General Castanos enters Andujar to cheers and scenes of soldierly excess as he quickly attempts to reform his units for the pursuit of the French in the open countryside. Burdened by the weight of their avarice, they remain still, within grasp of the vengeful Spaniards...

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

the affair at Rentillas...

Through the gathering heat of the Andalusian day, the Spanish 2nd Division marches towards its objective north of the Guadalquivir. It is a stout position they must take, when they take their first squinting glimpses at it; the French have chosen their positions well. Behind a stream and uphill they wait, quickly releasing skirmishers when the Spanish are sighted approaching. A dust cloud to the south heralds the approach of the last French brigade of Vedel’s command, hustling up from Mangibiar and filing in to the rear in reserve prior to the assaults.

The Spanish shake themselves into line and move on the French, pushing in their skirmishers as they ford the small stream. French artillery is moved forward and opens a galling fire on the Spanish left; taken with the disorder inflicted by the persistent skirmish fire and the effects of crossing the stream on their lines, the left-most Spanish brigade breaks and routs, compromising the Spanish battle line. The French manage to beat back the first assault, hurling another brigade back across the stream in disorder. At this point, General Coupigny has seen enough and calls off the fruitless assault; his division repairs to the southwest to regroup.

There they are found shortly by the arriving 1st Division, who are heading to assault the same formidable French position. The larger 1st division deploys and begins to bombard the French positions, their heavy guns quickly making short work of the lighter French guns, forcing the last battery to withdraw lest it be destroyed, allowing then to move on to firing on the French infantry. Seeing some success with his artillery preparations, General Reding swings his division to the south, while his longer lines allow him to also pin the French right in place. This allows him to cross the stream, the terrain allowing him to regroup before moving further up the hill to the assault. In the midst of his move, General Reding orders the 2nd Division to join on his left, freeing up his entire division to concentrate from the south while the
2nd takes over the pinning attack on the left.

General Vedel watches with concern as the previously routed Spanish division again takes up the assault in concert with the newly arrived Spanish force. He will have to trust in the fortitude of his men and their fine defensive positions to hurl back the more numerous Spanish attackers. Anxiously, he notes the position of his reserve, should the need arise. With the air around them a whistling fury, the Spanish are upon them once more!

The outnumbered French now waver as they are bludgeoned by two Spanish divisions. Initially, the French hold; reserves are called forward to extend the line, when without warning, both flank brigades rout under the relentless onslaught, triggering a vicious response from the Spanish cavalry, who decimate one of the unfortunate French brigades on their retreat north. Another cavalry charge prises open the last bastion of the surrounded French resistance atop the hill near the casa de Rentillas, riding down the remaining French artillery and breaking the back of the French resistance. As the last of the French resistance melts into the Andalusian hills, the victorious Spanish consolidate upon their dearly won ground preparing for their move north to Bailen.

General Vedel, however, has other plans. Furious at his command’s rout, he orders them into not one, not two, but three fruitless attacks to retake the crossroads, further reducing his count of effectives each time. His officers implore him to retreat north on Bailen, but he will hear none of that! At least not until his last brigade breaks and routs deep into the hills, leaving him with no force to command, no choice but retreat. The road to Bailen lies open…


To the west, DuPont hurries-as best he can with the waggons in tow-inexorably on Bailen. General Castanos manages to get 3rd and 4th Divisions in pursuit fairly rapidly, but the French have a good 2 hour lead on them. Matters are not helped when both divisions alternate stopping to rest their weary divisions on the road east of Andujar. The French, if ever so slowly, will win the race to Bailen. It is there the battle will be decided, not to the west of the town, as both forces stagger either into Bailen itself (the French) or to the hills to the west (Spanish) as night blessedly falls.

..early morning, June 17th, as he strolls about yesterday’s battlefield, General Reding is shot by a presumed-dead French soldier, hitting his head upon the hard Andalusian ground. His pulse feeble, he is quickly rushed to the rear as the French soldier is no longer presumed dead, though the fate of the Spanish general himself will remain in doubt…

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

It comes to Bailen...

As dark slowly encroaches the countryside, the gathering armies scatter about their respective positions, preparing for the coming battle of the morrow.

The French, having won the race to Bailen-with help from Reding's column halting twice due to the oppressive heat on its march north-desperately juggle their battered forces to meet the two-pronged Spanish threat. Short of artillery, the work will be close and of a personal nature. Only the skirmish companies and cavalry will be able to keep the Spaniards at arm's length, though they will have to deal with the Spanish superiority in cannon. Once-if-the Spanish force in the pickets, the ligne brigades will have to hold the enemy at bay. With the fall of night, stragglers are received back into the line, plans for the defense hammered out and sent along to the appropriate commanders-and that d@mned waggon train prepared to move at dawn's first light...

General Castanos, for his part, arrays his forces to the west and sends word to General Reding's replacement to come up in the south. He is bolstered by the return news that General Reding has recovered sufficiently to resume his command for tomorrow's action. That is good, as he can now keep close watch on the timid Pena and his 4th Division, who have been dragging their feet thus far in the campaign. At least General Jones is present here, even if his division is somewhat in tatters from previous action.

Knowing he outnumbers the French and has an apparent superiority in cannon lends an air of confidence in the outcome...if he could only rely on his peasants to maintain their discipline, he would almost feel outright assured of the outcome. Let them sleep for now, and set them on their tasks at dawn...

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

The Battle of Bailen, pt I

Dawn breaks, finding the Spanish energetically moving into position. General la Pena surprisingly has his division up early and moving industriously, they wend their way to the northeast heights to pressure Barbou's thinly spread line to the west of Bailen. With Jones' 3rd Division frontally pinning Barbou, Castanos hopes to induce the French to retreat or destroy them in place. He cares not, which choice they make...

General Reding has the two divisions under his command shaking out into line to the south of Bailen; his 1st Division to the right, 2nd to the left. French cavalry appears on his right observing his moves amongst the olive groves and brush, watching carefully for any openings. Artillery is brought forward under scattered French cannon fire, the few skirmishers available sent forward to hinder further fire.

The Spanish artillery begins the work of softening up the French line; evidence of disorder can be seen. The general order to advance is given! Despite the absence of General Gobert (rumor has it he was found dallying with a senorita and murdered by her enraged father...) the French push back the first rush by the Spanish, causing General Reding to rethink his plans. He calls for a withdrawal while he reconsiders his position.

To the northwest of Reding, la Pena sends his division forward, not waiting for the oddly inactive 3rd Division to occupy the French front. The results are predictable as Barbou screens his front and turns on the Spanish 4th division, sending them streaming back amongst the Andalusian highlands. Castanos, watching the fiasco, rides quickly to his retreating unit and attempts to rally the fleeing rabble.

Seeing the flight of 4 Division, Jones finally makes ready, bringing his guns up to prepare for his attacks. making inroads on the French brigade in his front, Jones is pleased to see them replaced by a fresh brigade: he is into the French reserve! Now, once la Pena reforms, they will both attack and drive the French before them!

This however takes time...time which allows the French to recover and remove their precious few guns to the rear to be saved for the decisive moment. Unbeknownst to the Spanish, the battered remnants of Vedel somehow slipped through their lines overnight and staggered into Bailen. Posted to the north of town for rest and recovery by DuPont, they have recovered to the fullest point they can. Numbering only a couple hundred effectives, they none-the-less are an additional standing reserve....if only a last resort.

The French watch the Spanish mill about, ducking their artillery fire as the Spanish officers try to reform their men for the next advance. The French are heartened to see the waggon train trundle off to the north, towards La Carolina-they need only give the waggons a decent head start....

Sounds of gun and cannon fire sound ominously from the west. La Pena has gotten his division on the move once more. Seeing the 4th appear on their left, 3rd Division moves forward pushing back the French line towards Bailen. Movement of forces from within Bailen stabilises the French line and lengthens their line to the northwest, meeting the 4th once more. The lines collide and once more the French stand firm, if reduced a bit once more.

The Spanish of the 4th, once more, take to the hills, unwilling to press the French beyond the merest of efforts. Castanos, blind with rage, threatens to relieve la Pena on the spot unless he gets his division back on the attack. Jones, while this is going on, has to withdraw his battered division which was unable to reconsitute fully overnight. Nearly wrecked, his division, while pushing back the French, simply does not have the strength to go further. Reluctantly, they withdraw, even as Bailen seemed within their grasp...

...rumors fly of Cruz-Murgeon's approach from the mountains to the north, though as of yet, no evidence of his approach is evident...

 

['Ol Fezziwig]

The Battle of Bailen pt dos

Reformed for a fresh assault, General Reding sets his force in motion. He hopes to drink from the fountain in the center of Bailen during the high heat of midday, with the French at his heel. His men move on the southern outskirts once more, brushing aside French skirmishers and cavalry alike. Halting there, the 1st Division swings from his left into the western end of Bailen driving the French before him. The Spaniards have entered Bailen!

This event triggers a slow withdrawal into the town by the French, who warily note clouds of dust to the north coming from the mountain road. The dawning realisation that cloud is made by Spanish forces, not a relief column coming from La Carolina, sparks the beginnings of the French rout. With La Pena once again probing from the northwest and Reding's two divisions pushing sharply from the south and west, DuPont, deciding the waggons have head start enough, issues his orders for the retreat.

But for his cavalry contingent, once again inexplicably trotting off for an unfathomable reason to the east, DuPont's command starts the long march to Carolina. Brushing aside Cruz-Murgeon's attempt to halt them in the pass northeast of Bailen the French march on, leaving a small but tenacious rear guard behind.

In Bailen, Castanos' troops exult in their victory, though Castanos now wants to destroy the French whilst he still has them disorganised and on the move. Hurriedly he issues orders to Reding and La Pena to follow the French and bring them to battle, stopping only upon their destruction. Jones, too battered to lend weight to their efforts, is ordered to hold in Bailen.

Though badly blooded, The French are not yet defeated and remain a skillful foe; brash rushes by the pursuing Spaniards are harshly repelled before they move on to the next defensive position where they once more await the Spanish attacks. Slowly the main column moves north, following in the wake of that damnable waggon train; the rear guard must hold!