Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sahagun 21st December 1808 - A Command & Colours: Napoleonics Scenario


This map was constructed using the Vassal Module
downloaded from ccnapoleonics.net

Historical Background

On a bitterly cold morning in December 1808, 400 men
of the 15th Light Dragoons (Hussars) shivered in their pelisses
outside the town of Sahagun after an arduous night march.
Their commander Lord Henry Paget was fuming as French
piquets had alerted the sleeping troopers of the 1st Provisional
Chasseurs a Cheval and the 8th Dragoons in the town.

The French befuddled by sleep and half blinded by snow had
decamped and were now formed up in the open ground to the
east of the town. Lord Paget had an unpalatable
decision to make, his other regiment, the 10th Light Dragoons under the
incompetant General Slade, was late and he now faced odds of
two to one.

With the element of surprise fast dissappearing and time running short
Lord Paget made a characteristically bold decision and ordered
a charge straight into the teeth of the enemy.

The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in
command. Can you change history?


Battle Notes

French Forces
Commander: General de Brigade Cesar Alexandre Debrelle
1 Command Card
- The French player draws two cards every turn until they have three cards in hand.

British Force
Commander: Lord Henry Paget
5 Command Cards
Move First

Victory

4 Victory Banners

Special Rules

1. The French Heavy Cavalry have three blocks rather than the usual four.

2. The French player begins the game with one card in hand and draws two cards
every turn until he has three cards.

3. The Banner on the river counts as a temporary victory banner for either side.

4. Gentlemen playing the above scenario may avail of the following additional rules,
though these are not to be indulged in when wives or servants are present.

Battle of Sahagun Drinking Game

1. Every time a player takes a victory banner, he must take a drink.

2. Every time a player loses a unit, he must take a drink.

3. Every time a General rolls for "risk", the owning player must take a drink.

4. If the British player plays Short of Supplies, the French player may negate it by downing his drink in one and saying "That Damn Fool Slade!"

5. If the French player plays First Strike, the British player may negate it by downing his drink in one and saying "Emsdorf and victory!"

5 comments:

  1. Hi Conrad.
    The Battle of Sahagun Drinking Game. Too funny. I hope you've laminated your mapboard and cards...

    Regards,
    John

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  2. But what if it was a Prussian victory? Laughing.

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  3. Good point John, my brother in law and his friends did in my copy of Swashbuckler with miniatures game in just this sort of fashion many years ago!. Probably the only tavern mapboard that smelled like one :)

    Hopefully the players will reverse their chairs and sit astride prior to charging.

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  4. It was a copy of Strategy I from SPI that we "decorated" with stains back in the day. [Let's get loaded and play one of the least comprehensible games ever published.]
    General rule: Paper & cardboard components + alcohol = bad news.
    John

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  5. Ferryman - we drink responsibly, we never spill a drop. And as my good friend General Gorman put it "Any game whose rules are too complex to handle while plastered needs a good doing with a blue pencil."

    Mekelnborg - I have not yet read "Sahagun 1808 - The Prussian Victory by Peter Hofschröer", but I'm sure it's in the works!

    Ross - I had not thought of that, it reminds me of an article Arthur Harman wrote for the wargaming notes at the back an Osprey (it may have been the one on Balaklava) that suggested exactly that. All while draped with a tea towel as a pelisse.

    ReplyDelete