Black Powder: Napoleonic War - Peninsular

[nikharwood]

This was a battle fought on Friday with SteveJ: we used Black Powder: which Steve has played a bit at his club & I've played solo. Pre-scrap preparation involved Steve baggsying the Brits; I set up the table as a Spanish version of the "Crimea River" scenario in the BP rulebook: essentially, the French are occupying a couple of redoubts on top of a brace of hills - British objective is to take the guns...

All figures are mine & are all Pendraken. We got into the spirit of BP by naming our commanders appropriately. Oh - and by drinking beer (me) and by having a laugh (both); we also talked a fair amount of Balrogs as we always do (it's code... )

Deployment:
Aerial view - French lines at bottom of pic:



You can see here the layout: French on two hills with artillery dug-in to redoubts; there is an Inn with fields to their front left & an enclosed large field to their front right; there are a few copses and a forest to extreme British right who are deployed on the far side of the (muddy) river.

View from the French left:


And from French right:


The British lines - under the command of the various:
The Right Honourable Sir Percy Fanshawe and his Light Infantry, with attached dragoons and RHA.
The Earl of Bristol and his Line Infantry.
The Duke of Dunster and his Line Infantry with attached RHA.
Lord Ponsonby and his Light Dragoons.
Duke of Wellington.


(note: we talked so much we took very few pics...and didn't take any notes...and my memory's not what it was  )

Early phases:
With the British taking the first turn and advancing purposefully towards the French lines, there was a good discussion on tactics in defence: the sensible approach being, of course, to hold steady and wait for the advancing troops to approach...but I have the wargaming attention-span of a small winged insect: and therefore started sending my French forwards in response to the threatening advance - most notably the Light Dragoons to my left:



From the British point of view:


Over on the right both British and French forces vied for advantageous positions - this the view from behind the French columns:


Mid-game:
On the left some decisive closing fire saw off the French Chasseurs, much to the delight of Lord Ponsonby:


The advantage was pressed by the Light Infantry who swiftly pushed through the fields & occupied the Inn to commanding effect - eventually forcing the French infantry to retire under fire to protect the guns from the marauding Light Dragoons:


Meanwhile, over on the French right flank the battle ebbed and flowed: cavalry charging & countercharging proved an interesting scrap - indecisive largely, but the inability of the French to shift the Light Dragoons stymied the plan to take the flank - the infantry were unable to press home any advantage as well and, faced by the Horse Artillery, were sufficiently overwhelmed by the collective firepower:




End-game:
With the French suffering losses and unable to stem the advance of the redcoats, the Commandant reluctantly ordered the retreat, surrendering the guns to the British.


Notes:
A great game - and really useful to fight with Black Powder against Steve: this highlighted for me that it is easy, when mostly gaming solo, to miss / misinterpret rules in a singular reading perspective.

We both really enjoyed BP and felt that it gave an excellent game - particularly when fought in the right spirit & with a good nod to historical methodology & tactics. It also looked top-notch playing this in 10mm...very appealling visually while retaining good movement potential on a 6x4ish table.

Good stuff - and yet another enjoyable evening with Steve who remains a scholar & a gentleman and is a great player to bung dice at with.

[Steve J]

Thanks for the write up Nik. It was a great evening as usual and we really did have an enjoyable game of BP, with pizzas and ice cream served by his lovely kids and the obligitory talking Balrogs.

In 10mm it looked great and we both agreed that you got the feel of large blocks of infantry moving across the battlefield, something that I feel is missing when playing it with 28mm. Also the rules felt right and provided a very entertaining game with you really getting the idea of why you have to protect your flanks etc from massed cavalry and the like.

Giving the commanders silly names added to the fun which is what it should all be about. Nik is also a gentleman and scholar and we never fail to have a great game. I enjoyed it so much I'm looking forward to being able to get some Naps and AWI forces in the near future.

Steve J.

[Nosher]

Good looking stuff and report again Nik

You're making it increasingly harder for me to part with my BP rulebook... its been unplayed since purchase, maybe I should dig it out again and plan a game to see what happens.

[nikharwood]

Thanks nosher mate 

I'd encourage you to give it another look - and bung some dice at it...it grows on you with play...