1300 HOURS ALLIED PHASES
Fire Phase
Both brigades of Maucune's divsiion are disordered by fire from the two brigades of Alten's light division, Picton's 1st brigade, and the horse artillery battery.
Pursuit Phase
(1): Long's light dragoon brigade, with Picton attached, is moved into combat contact with Maucune's disordered 1st brigade, which failed to form square (being disordered, there was only a 40% chance of forming an emergency square from a column formation).
(2): Brenier then decided to move Boyer's dragoons (who had a react marker) into combat contact with Long's brigade, using the following reasoning:
- Without Boyer's cavalry in the combat, the combat modifiers would be Allied
"+ 7" ("+5" British light cavalry versus other, plus "+2" for Picton's combat modifier)
versus French "-7" ("-4 "for French light infantry versus other, plus "-3" for being
disordered). Since this would give the Allies an automatic victory ("8" versus "3',
a difference of "5" with the worst Allied and best French modified rolls), Boyer's
necessary to give the French any chance. With Boyer, the "versus other"
situation does not exist, and the combat modifiers are Allied "+3" ("+ 1 "for
British light cavalry in line formation, plus "+2" for Picton's combat modifier)
versus French "-3" ("-1" for French light infantry in column formation, "-3" for
being disordered, plus "+ 1 " for numbers, having eight bases to three British
bases.).
On the face of it, using Boyer doesn't really doesn't really help that much. Since there are more infantry than cavalry bases the disordered infantry still provides the French combat modifiers. I would still expect the French to lose, but it is closer, and, as you can never tell what the dice will do, give General Brenier the benefit of the doubt for this decision.
(3) The Allied modified roll exceeds the French modified roll by "4", so Maucune's 1st brigade loses 4 casualties (its rout number of "4"), and is routed to the rear. Boyer's cavalry bounces disordered from the combat as this is required of cavalry that fails to rout or eliminate an enemy unit during a combat round. Long's brigade takes one casualty for winning a combat and moves one inch forward to occupy the previous French position.
(4) Checking for recall, British light cavalry has a response number of "6", plus "+2" as Picton, the attached general, is of excellent quality, and the recall modifier for British cavalry of "-4" equals "4". A "5" is rolled, so Long is out of control and, disordered and with Picton still attached, (as he must be), is moved into combat contact with the nearest enemy combat unit to its front, which just happens to be Maucune's 2nd brigade.
(5) The French infantry fail to form square. This gives a combat with an Allied combat modifier of "+4" to a French combat modifier of "-7" (remember, both sides are disordered in this combat). The French infantry again takes 4 hits, is routed, and Long's brigade takes a loss for winning a combat and occupies the French position. As the British cavalry entered this combat disordered, no recall attempt is made, and movement ends.
1330 HOURS FRENCH PHASES
Movement Step
Soult's cavalry, with Soult attached, is moved into combat contact with Long's disordered cavalry.
Fire Phase:
Alten's 1st brigade gets 2 hits when firing on Soult's cavalry, disordering them.
Combat Phase:
With both sides disordered, the combat modifiers are Allied "0" to French "-1 ". The Allied modified roll exceeds the French one by "6", but, since the route number for French cavalry is "3", Soult's cavalry brigade takes "Y' hits and is routed to the rear. The Allied player rolls a "6" when checking for General Soult's survival, so he gets away, but must accompany his routing cavalrymen. Long's brigade takes another loss for winning a combat, and moves forward to occupy the French position. No recall check is made as the cavalry unit entered the combat disordered.
Battle of Villa Costa 1812 Napoleon's Battles Scenario
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