Busaco

Busaco, the calm before the storm

The chaps came over last week and we got a game of Command & Colours Napoleonics in. It was our first time trying the Overlord rules and rather than using any of the variants used based on Ancients, we used the Overlord for Memoir '44 and adapted them as we went along.

The chaps look over the field of battle,

From left to right Minion for Hire, General Du Gorman, Savage, Mr E & BRO

A brutal and licentious soldiery

The Battle of Busaco in 1810 was in many ways what could be considered a typical Wellingtonian battle. The Duke was retreating from the French after the fall of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida. The Duke hid his army behind a hill while the French under Marshall Massena pelted it with columns. The columns made some progress until they were driven back by a British counter-attack. Ney hearing gunfire and assuming the attack had been a success, battered his troops to pieces in another attack and eventually the exhausted French withdrew.

You can read a proper account here.

Our game didn't quite work out like that

The French push forward on the right

French push forward on the left

The French attack on the left withers under an Allied counter attack

Mr E looks away in disgust as his counter attack falls apart

The Frogs mull over their assault while General Du Gourmand (Massena) turns to drink for inspiration

Mr E (Pack) turns to BRO (Wellington) for help with his disintegrating right

But to no avail, Savage with a typically Gallic gesture appeals to

General Du Gourmand for cards on the right

Savage pauses to put the boot into the British right

With the British right crushed and the left driven in, the redcoats slink away leaving the field to the Frog eaters

We played the Busaco scenario from the CCNapoleonics website. This is essentially the two scenarios from the basic book stuck together to form a whole. It was a lengthier process then we expected taking about two hours playing time, but it didn't flag at any point and the players were all engaged.

My main concern was a desire to test out a new wrinkle in the command rules. Most of the C&C games have a "taking the initiative" mechanic which involves rolling a die and moving a unit of the type indicated on the die. I have experimented with a rule which allows a player who does not play a card to activate a unit attached to or adjacent to a Leader. This seems to work well and it did mean that the players were thinking very carefully about where to put their Leaders.

I had anticipated adding a rule allowing each Leader to "lend" an activation to an ADC figure, but the players felt that in a six player game this was an additional complication that took more time than the added value warranted. After watching them play, I agree.

The score line of 7-13 was rather harsh on the British as a few lucky cavalry charges allowed them to pick off several weakened units while screening or withdrawing their own one or two strength units. The general feeling was that the scenario was relatively balanced and the game was closer than the score line indicated. However, I am going to have to work on some bespoke hills and sharpish if we're going to play it at Gaelcon.