Wargaming Orthez

Introduction

Many wargamers tend to neglect the closing stages of the Peninsular campaign, concentrating on the major battles prior to Vittoria. Yet the actions fought by Soult after his retreat across the Pyrennes offer many interesting opportunities for games.

Orthez is such an example where Wellington must attack an enemy equal in numbers but on a ridge that would have made an ideal British defensive position.

The Story So Far

The war in Spain had been lost at Vittoria and Napoleon's armies, broken and weary, had returned to France. Soult was given the task of reshaping this rabble into an effective field force to take on the Allies. So successful was he that a counterattack into Spain almost succeeded, being narrowly defeated at the battle of Pamplona.

Map of Orthez Area

For several months after Wellington entered France, the two armies faced off around the town of Bayonne. A rapid crossing of the river to the west forced Soult to fall back on the ridges around Orthez. Soult was now deprived of two divisions of infantry and all of his heavy cavalry by Napoleon fighting in the north.

The Battlefield

The battle centres on a long ridge running roughly west from Orthez and is split by several steep sided spurs on the Allied side. The rear of the ridge slopes gently away towards the next ridge line. The valley sides are too steep to climb and the only access to the main ridge is along the lines of the spurs. The valley floors are marshy and impassable to all but light order infantry.

The plain on which the Allies will arrive is pockmarked with small woods and hedged fields - in fact it reminded many of the British troops of home. There is a large wood on the extreme right of the French line opposite the hamlet of St. Boies. The left of the French army rests on the town of Orthez and the river crossing there.

The river - Gave de Pau - cuts across the Southeast corner of the battlefield, and although it is fordable at many places within five miles of Orthez, there is only this one bridge.

Game Map

French Scenario and Order of Battle

Soult had some 36,000 men with 3,000 Chasseurs and 45 guns at his disposal. With this force he must deny the Allied army the ridge that commands the town of Orthez. His intelligence reports indicate that a large force has crossed the river and is heading for his primary position, but a substantial amount of the Allied army is still on the other side of the river.

Your deployment is thus:

Reille occupies the extreme right of the line opposite St. Boies. He has sent one btn with the Chasseurs to occupy the village whilst the main force is held on the ridge.

3 btns first class
3 btns second class
2 btns skirmishers
2 squadrons Chasseurs
1 foot battery
1 horse battery attached to the Chasseurs D'Erlon to the left of Reille and occupies the centre of the ridge. He has sent all his light infantry onto the valley floor immediately to his front.

3 btns first class
5 btns trained infantry
1 btn skirmishers
1 foot battery

Clausel has 1 btn occupying Orthez, the rest are to the left of D'Erlon on the ridge.

2 btns first class
2 btns second class
1 btn skirmishers (at three quarter strength)
2 squadrons Chasseurs
1 foot battery

Notes on the French forces:

I made the overall morale of the French low to reflect both the influx of new conscripts, after Napoleon drew off the veterans for his fight in the North, and the unsteadiness of the troops after so many defeats and retreats in recent months.

In number terms the French have the edge in infantry but are equal for artillery. They are of course heavily outmatched in cavalry (Soult sent most of his Chasseurs on scouting duties several days before the battle). However they are the defenders of a strong position.

There will not be enough room for the French to deploy all of their troops on the table in the allotted areas (shaded areas on the map), and thus may keep some units in reserve off table. There are no movement penalties for the rear of the ridge and units in reserve may arrive at any time behind their deployment area.

Allied Scenario and Order of Battle

The Allies have managed to convince Soult that most of their army is still on the far side of the river. In fact, a third of the army is moving against Orthez undetected to the East led by General 'Daddy' Hill. The main attack will be led by Beresford against St. Boies whilst Picton will attack up the spur to the west of Orthez. The Light Division will act as reserve.

Their deployment is thus:

Beresford in the woods opposite St. Boies

3 btns elite troops
4 btns veteran troops
8 coys of skirmishers (3 to be rifle armed)
1 foot battery

Picton to the right of Beresford around some Roman ruins. Will only move forward on the throwing of a double 6 before move 6, thereafter he is not restricted.

2 btns elite class (members of the Light Division)
2 btns veteran
3 btns first class (1 to be with the Light Division)
9 coys skirmishers (4 to be rifle armed) - 4 coys to be part of the Light Division
3 foot batteries
2 regiments elite Light Cavalry

Hill will appear on move 10 plus 1D6 to the East of Orthez on the French side of the river.

2 btns elite class
2 btns first class
2 regiments elite Light Cavalry
1 RHA battery

Game Conditions

There were several peculiarities to the battle which required certain rule modifications, namely;

i. Marshy ground in the valley bottoms is impassable to all horses (except staff)

ii. The valley sides are classed as steep but the valley heads are impassable

iii. There was some ground fog for the early part of the day and so all troops within 10 inches of the river cannot be seen for the first four moves unless within 6 inches.

iv. Hedges cannot be crossed except at gates and other gaps (make sure your fields are not totally enclosed!), hedges in this area are extremely dense and difficult to cross.

v. The game should last a maximum of 18 moves to reflect the short daylight time in February.

The Wargame

As in history, Beresford' s attack against St. Boies was immediately successful, the French not being able to offer much in the way of resistance against overwhelming numbers. Reille gave no support to the garrison and was content to let his artillery do all the work. However having cleared the village the attack by the Allies along the spur was halted by the combined artillery and musketry from the French lines. Again just as actually happened Beresford was forced back to await support from Picton.

Picton's force did not co-ordinate very well with that of Beresford, the two attacks being quite disjointed. Thus the penalty to get Beresford moving worked quite well with only his artillery playing any significant role for the first six moves. Once underway he quickly swept away the token cavalry sent against him by Clausel, and managed to destroy a French infantry battalion in the pursuit. However, rather than attack directly up the spur, Picton moved along the inner valley wall losing a lot of men from artillery and musketry. Eventually his attack also came to a halt.

Beresford was now reinforced by the Light Division (originally part of Picton's attack), and he renewed his assault on Reille. Once again the French artillery concentrated on his troops and he had to withdraw to the hamlet of St. Boies.

Hill now made his appearance and rapidly cleared all the French out of Orthez. But his assault on Clausel up on the ridge was no more successful than that of Picton.

Fortunately for the French the late arrival of Hill (he actually appeared on move 14 in the game - rather later than one hoped) marked the end of the game since the allotted 18 moves had expired. The game ended with the French battered but still in possession of the ridge and the Allies having lost a large proportion of two of their divisions.

In fact the game resembled the reality very closely, and was a much closer than the above account may suggest. The French are in a very strong position, but the fact that they cannot support their forward troops very quickly and their brittle morale do not give them the advantage one may think. The problem the Allies have is that they cannot co-ordinate the attacks on the two spurs. The arrival of Hil1 should give the French an unwelcome surprise and swing the game in the favour of the Allies provided he doesn't arrive too late.

The rules used for the game were "In The Grand Manner" first edition (with some "in club" amendments).

Very many thanks to the members of The Grimsby Wargames Society who played the roles of the various commanders.

Sources

The only account I had available was: WELLINGTON: THE CROSSING OF THE GAVES AND THE BATTLE OF ORTHEZ by Major Gen. F C Beatson CB (Tom Donovan Publishing)