On Sunday, three club members tried out 'In the Grand Manner' Napoleonic rules.

Both sides fielded 3 regular battalion, 1 light infantry battalion, 1 cavalry brigade, and a battery of guns. Both sides had orders to take objectives on their opponents side of the field. The British, Spanish, Portugese force had to take one of two towns and the French had to knock the British off their ridge line.

The French had open fields in front of them and an uninterrupted approach to the towns so could have quickly occupied these objectives. The British had a fordable river to cross on their left and were screened from the French by a large hill.

Battle lines

The French

The French light infantry started behind the left hand town their, guns were sighted between both towns and the rest, the cavalry and infantry behind the large hill.

The Allies

Militia Spanish and veteran Highlanders in march column behind the stream, cacadores behind the woods, British line behind the centre hill, cavalry either side of the hill on the right and British guns sighted on this hill.

The battle started with a general advance by both sides. The French light infantry quickly took the left hand town, the cavalry swept forward and the infantry moved forward slowly in line. The Scottish and Spanish columns marched across the stream, but were slowed and were to find it difficult shaking out in front of the enemy. British infantry unwisely moved forward in the open, supporting the lights who were advancing on the centre town.

First blood went to the British artillery which sighted the French cavalry between the hill and town. The French lancers and dragoons were to feel this artillery fire through out the game and it was probably a deciding factor when both sides cavalry brigades engaged. This combat occurred early on in the game, in the valley between the two hills.

The British cavalry rolling 20 dice against 21 French came off worse in the first turn, but their moral held. The second turn the British and KGL light cavalry won and the French cavalry moral broke. 21 French cavalry had been reduced to 6 (5 to guns). British losses amounted to 7 out of 20 with over half on the smaller KGL cavalry regiment.

The cavalry rules are nice and bloody each side rolls buckets of dice. You need to score 6s to get a kill and you roll one dice per figure involved. Lancers and dragoons gain extra dice, though lancers lose dice after the first turn.

The cavalry battle decided the action now moved to the centre and left. The cacadores moved up to a hedge line in front of the centre town where they held. The British regulars which I unwisely moved in line across the open were pounded by the French artillery, but there moral held. I had contemplated hiding them on the reverse slope of a hill, but decided it would be better to support my light troops. British losses amounted to about 35-40%

The French at this point finally entered this town which was under artillery fire. When we stopped play we were still trying to work out how artillery could shell a town and troops in it.

The Battle on the Left

Bad manoeuvring on my part saw my troops shot to pieces, but amazingly the Spanish militia making their morale rolls easily each turn. The veteran Highlanders showing strain. As I attempted to attack from two sides all the defenders could fire out and in the first turn to good effect. Nearly 20% casualties inflicted on both my units. When I finally got to fire back it was to good effect. The veterans firing better than the defenders and the Spanish on par.

Spanish and highland losses both amounted to between 40-50%. French losses 25-30%.

The battle ended with a draw but with the British troops still attacking. The Spanish infantry would have almost definitely have broken next turn as possibly would have the Highlanders. The French light infantry may well have broken as well, but this would have left no-one in possession of this left hand town and the French guns could be moved into a position where they could start pounding the British. The British cavalry were fine and rested and I would have eventually thrown them in against the French line, but they would not be useful in assaulting the centre town.

We will be trying this rule set again, as after a slow start it picked up quickly considering none of the players had read the rules.