Spanish Mini-Campaign 2: The Second Battle of Gelsa

A couple of campaign turns saw Vidal and I shifting troops about the map in anticipation of another battle. This wasn't long in coming as I had decided that I needed to retake Gelsa. To do this, I had combined two Battlegroups into one 4-point Battlegroup. This, I hoped, would be enough to push Vidal's 1-point Battlegroup back across the river. We ran through the unit selection procedure and was I in for a shock. Unfortunately, a 4:1 advantage in Battlegroup size does not necessarily translate into a 4:1 number advantage on the battlefield. More times than not, there will be a significant advantage for the larger group but there are always anomalies. Of this I was fully aware... I just didn't need it to happen here.

The opposing forces turned out to be fairly close in size... 17 French to 15 British. And Vidal's force received the benefit of an extra Level III Big Man. Oh Boy! This wasn't gonna be as easy as I first thought.

The scenario was to be a Fighting Withdrawal and because of the importance of this river crossing (smack in the middle of the river defense lines), all post-battle effects would be doubled (this was the result of an effects card I drew as part of the French unit selection procedure). Six points of support went to the French, as the attackers, and three to the British. I chose an Exploring Officer, as this allowed me to deploy an extra Fixed Secondary Deployment Point, and deploy from my DPs an extra 3 inches. Force Morales both came out at 9. I mentioned casually that it might be a quick game with both forces starting at 9 (we had no idea how accurate that would prove to be!).

[note: most of my photos of the game came out out-of-focus... probably the wine Vidal was plying me with]

I was feeling fairly confident and after Vidal immediately deployed a unit of Portuguese cacadores in the small wooded area on my right flank, I plonked out a small two-group formation of French Ligne. The intention was to blast the cacadores with an initial volley at close range and cause some Force Morale checks. Alas, the result was quite disappointing and the cacadores maintained their position. 

Across the field, Vidal chuckled softly as he deployed three (yes, three!) groups of 95th rifles and two of British light infantry, manning the hedges along the road. The former are the bane of my existence in this campaign and seeing all three appear at once was quite a blow to my personal morale. They loosed a few volleys at my French line infantry facing the cacadores and promptly wounded the formation commander. Force Morale dropped to 8.

Meanwhile, Spanish dragoons appeared on the scene, led by a Level III Big Man! Wait... what? They trundled toward the French infantry, waiting for an opportunity. And the opportunity came quickly. Because the French had loosed its first volley, subsequent firing would be uncontrolled and they proceeded to send a second fire at the cacadores. This, of course, left them unloaded and it was at this point the Spanish cavalry surged forward at the gallop and slammed into the weakened French (the infantry formation had taken a number of hits from the British rifles). The infantry group contacted by the Spanish cavalry promptly folded and fled. Force Morale was down to 4 and little had yet been accomplished. I deemed it prudent to withdraw in the face of such a solid defensive position and the game was called.

Not much to learn from this one... except perhaps to always expect British rifles...ugh! 

And so Gesla was held by the British... but not for long! Turns 9 & 10 of the first campaign year saw the French move back at Gesla and this time, facing superior odds, the British opted to retreat back across the river. Thus, the 1812 campaigning season is over with neither French nor British holding enough Victory Points to end the campaign. So, on to 1813...

ImagiNations: Nordstrum (a Xmas special)

Over the last few months, as son #1 was in Norway with NATO, I've been beavering away at a new ImagiNations army to add to the collection. Michael had some years ago concocted a new state for our ImagiNation world but the painting had not gotten off the ground. He had tried a few test figures but his real skills lie in the world of silly spaceships and tiny blobs of metal (oftentimes referred to as micro-armour). The figures he had tested were Front Rank Napoleonic Spanish, from an earlier ill-fated plan of mine to build up the white menace from the Peninsula campaigns. Because the Spanish uniforms are bit anachronistic for the Napoleonic period, Michael decided to use them for his ImagiNations army... Nordstrum. 

The Nordstrum elevator pitch...

Nordstrum is a fanatically secular state, governed by the FolksParlament, at the head which sits Chancellor Karl Gustav Gustavsson. The Chancellorship is an elected position and is beholden to the whims of the people in the form of the annually elected FolksParlament. The small but professional army mirrors the state, wherein advancement is based on merit and service, rather than birth and preferment. The common soldier fights for his family, his regiment, and his country (God has little, if anything, to do with it). Nordstrum is notorious for staying out of the common disputes amongst its more pious and monarchic neighbours, while preferring to promote its overseas trading interests.

Thus, while Michael was tramping the wilds of Norway, I put paint to brush for his Xmas present and completed the first brigade of the Nordstrum army.

Two infantry battalions, one cavalry regiment, and a heavy artillery battery. There will also be a 12-figure light infantry addition to the brigade. The plan is to eventually have three such brigades in the army, each with a distinctive brigade facing colour (in this case, red). I was hesitant, at first, to follow Michael's instructions to have the infantry in charcoal grey coats. It wasn't a technical issue (painting and shading black/grey is pretty much the same as any other colour); rather it was an aesthetic concern. But once completed, I was quite pleased with the result.

Each brigade will have a small cavalry contingent. For these, I chose a lighter grey for the uniforms (mainly because I needed a break from the darker charcoal grey), with the brigade red facing colour.

The heavy artillery battery in blue coats. While perusing the Front Rank website, I couldn't not pass by the 24 lb guns without adding them to the cart.

The infantry battalions each have a 6 lb battalion gun section and are considered standard-sized units in Black Powder.