Skirmish at Andover

Following the French Victory at Salisbury Napoleon decided to bring up his own heavy cavalry whilst allowing Massena’s shattered force to retire. The plan was to push on to Andover with Murat, Ney and D’Hilliers. Upon scouting the town, I found that only Moore’s Division was in residence so declared a ‘contact’.

Under the campaign rules the defending player may decide to refuse battle and withdraw to the next town and this was what I expected Rob to do given the imbalance of forces. However, he declared that Moore’s (or what had been Moore’s) Division would fight a delaying action to cause attrition amongst the pursuers. The resulting table action was therefore small scale but turned out to be interesting and fun to play.

The initial table set-up.

The French force consisted of the Lancers, one unit of Cuirassiers and a Guard Horse Battery against the British Naval Battalion (in square), Dutch Foot Battery and a Company of Rifles. The square could move 3” per turn and the artillery could fire by prolong which meant moving 3” and firing at half effect. The game would end after 8 turns (when the main French body arrived) or if the Naval Battalion square managed to retire to the table edge.

The French cavalry immediately pushed forward and the 5th Lancers were the first to come under fire from the Dutch Foot Artillery.

Turn 2 and the Guard Horse Artillery had a very successful roll of the dice.

That completely levelled the crew of the Dutch Battery!

In retaliation the Rifles emerged from a small wood where they had been concealed to take pot shots at the enemy gunners but with little effect.

Egged on by the success of the gunners the 5th decided to try their luck against the Naval Battalion square. All went well until they received a point-blank volley that brought down 3 troopers and left them disordered.

As the Lancers withdrew to reform the Cuirassiers trotted up showing the sort of discipline that would prevent them from making the same mistake. But then...

Forward they came with the same result! I decided to give them a 1 in 6 chance of launching a charge and somehow they managed to do just that.

With the wind knocked out of the cavalry, the Naval Battalion slowly withdrew from the field.

These French losses could have serious implications later in the campaign.

The situation at the end of turn 8. The Naval Battalion have so far borne the brunt of the French invasion - where is Wellington?

The Naval Battalion and Rifles ended the game (after casualty recovery) with no losses, but the destruction of the Dutch Foot Battery will make a dent in the British OOB. For the French, the Lancers ended up with 9 figures and the Cuirassiers with 8 which is enough to make a difference to their effectiveness in any further battles.

Moore Fake News?

The Battle of Salisbury – The Game

Prior to the game, which of course was played solo, Rob and I wrote battle orders for our troops. I then played both sides staying as faithful as possible to the intent of each commander.

Rob's orders to Ponsonby were to overthrow the weaker French cavalry "while seeking to exploit any favourable opportunity to visit destruction upon them (the infantry)". The Union Brigade certainly weren't planning to be spectators in this battle.

D'Hilliers with the 5th Lancers found himself in a difficult situation with three times his numbers of enemy cavalry bearing down upon him. His own orders included the line "not to get drawn unnecessarily into melee with the enemy heavy horse" - sure, right!

Meanwhile Ney and Massena got their infantry moving forward to take Salisbury Hill.

With the 1st Royal Dragoons in the lead the Union Brigade pushed forward aggressively. So aggressively in fact that the Lancers turned tail and rode off in the general direction of Bournemouth. I gave the Lancers a 50:50 chance of standing and fighting or retiring, the next turn they failed this test again and left the field - so much for the newbies.

Following close behind the Royals the Greys dander was up and they had their beady eyes fixed on a French battery that had just deployed on a small hill to their front.

A frontal charge on a battery, what sort of madness is this?

Those men on the Grey horses must be drunk! One less battery in the French OOB.

No matter, Massena's lads take the objective and all they have to do now is hold it for the next five turns to win.

The situation at the end of turn 3. The French have taken Salisbury Hill but the British cavalry are in their rear.

In front of Salisbury Hill, the Naval Battalion were coming under pressure from the French skirmishers and artillery. Sadly a cannon ball connected with Moore as he tried to steady the ranks during a morale phase.

By now the Naval Battalion had also lost their Colonel and become disordered. They were definitely in a sticky situation and in need of help.

Hurrah for the Inniskillings! Seeing that the 9th Light Infantry had become disordered and were unable to form square, Ponsonby chose just the right moment to charge. The 9th were routed and lost their Eagle in the process (on a dice roll of 4,5 or 6).

With an unusual degree of control, the Inniskilling's managed to call off a pursuit that would have taken them dangerously close to the French squares. The 9th ran off but Massena managed to rally the remnants on the next (and final) turn. 

The situation at the end of turn 8. The French are clinging on to Salisbury Hill for a technical win. The units with a yellow outline are disordered.

The result was a rather unconvincing strategic victory for the French but a spectacular tactical victory for the British. Massena’s Division is all but finished as a fighting force and will probably have to be assigned to garrison duties.

Following the game, I allowed for the return to the ranks of some of the casualties. The British fallen were restored on a die roll of 3,4,5 or 6 and the French on a 5 or 6. This discrepancy was to allow for the fact that the British were operating on home ground and could receive some replacements from the regimental depots. To add insult to injury the Scots Greys, who had lost 4 troopers, were fully restored so that Ponsonby’s Heavy Cavalry Division is now back to full fighting strength!

The Battle of Salisbury – Scenario

Blessed with a calm sea and helped by the fact that Nelson was chasing his tail in the Caribbean, The Armee d’Angleterre was successfully transported to Bournemouth where it made an unopposed landing. The Emperor wasted no time in getting his troops on the move. Nansouty and Poniatowksi were immediately ordered to scout the road towards Southampton where they found Uxbridge with his cavalry Brigade. In the face of superior French forces Uxbridge sensibly withdrew.

Meanwhile D’Hilliers was scouting north with the 5^th Lancers towards Andover where he discovered Ponsonby and the British heavy cavalry supported by Moore with the Naval Battalion. D’Hilliers decided to wait at Salisbury whilst Ney and Massena moved their infantry divisions up in support. However, the British were not prepared to await the French advance and chose instead to attack them at Salisbury.

So, we have our first battle with an interesting mix of forces (which is exactly the sort of game I was hoping for). The British force is made up almost entirely of Heavy Cavalry whilst the French are all infantry except for the Lancers.

British OOB

Moore

Naval Battalion

1 x Dutch Foot Artillery

6 x Rifles

Ponsonby

Scots Greys

Inniskilling Dragoons

1st Royal Dragoons

1 x Horse Battery

French OOB

Ney

45th Line

Converged Grenadiers

1 x Line Foot Battery

6 x Skirmishers

Massena

105th Line

9th Light Infantry

1 x Line Foot Battery

6 x Skirmishers

D’Hilliers (Brigade)

5th Lancers

Although Rob is the strategic attacker the game is being played as an encounter battle. The objective for both sides is to take and hold Salisbury Hill by the end of turn 8.

5th Chevau Leger Lancers

The old 3rd Chevau Leger Lancers have been refitted and expanded and are now battle-ready as the 5th Chevau Leger Lancers. There is nothing quite as dashing on a wargames table as a unit of lancers and these ones do look quite spiffing with their newly issued, blue-faced uniforms.

I painted five of these from scratch (including the converted trumpeter) and the other seven were originally Don’s handiwork but now heavily reworked by me. The result is a bit of a mishmash of styles with no black lining but I’m more than happy with the finished look. The figures are:

11 x FN/118 Light Horse Lancer in crested helmet (mounted) charging

1 x FN/320 Light Horse Lancer (converted to trumpeter)

The 5th are currently on patrol ‘somewhere in Wiltshire’.

Fake News?

There are rumours (unsubstantiated) that the French have advanced as far as Wiltshire...

The War of Words

Both sides have been cranking up their propaganda machines as the French make a landing at Bournemouth.

Not sure who will win the misinformation war?