Combat at Aire - Part Two

Portuguese dragoons closing in on the embattled centre

To recap -  the Allied army under Wellington has pushed the French out of Spain. Marshall Soult has left a rearguard under Clausel to buy time for the evacuation of stores at Aire. The battle began with the allies crossing a fordable river to assault a French held ridge. The Portuguese infantry took the lead and smashed the French centre, which was looking very dicey until Savage stabilised the situation with his cavalry.

The Portuguese dragoons clatter through the smoke, crashing into the French chasseurs

...but they hesitate at the last moment (roll badly), laying themselves open to a counter charge (battle back) by the French cavalry. 

The French cavalry charge immediately on Savage's turn and leave the Portuguese teetering on the verge of destruction. This was quite an interesting exchange as both players became quite fixated on it, using Scout cards to keep both units in play and try and build a hand for the next push.

But the Portuguese have a sting in the tail and down General Harispe. 

It seems the poor chap will not live to rally to Bonaparte in 1815 after all. I notice in this picture that my modular river, while very modular and river like is not looking it's best, mainly because it keeps moving around. Perhaps if I attached felt to the bottom perhaps?

But vengence is swift...

...and terrible.

Reduced to half strength, the Chasseurs had better turn back and look to their rear.

In the meantime, the Dragoons have come back over the bridge to support the Neapolitans.

But a second squadron of the 7th Portuguese come across the bridge to dispute matters

The 17th French Dragoons take the Portuguese in the flank, while a confused battle rages amongst the squares and the Neapolitans in the centre

This was quite a tough battle in some ways as the Portuguese are not the best troops and they were caught in square. However, the Neapolitans are very, very bad and needed to hit the Portuguese while they were in square if they were to stand any chance of victory. Savage was getting desperate for cards to bring his infantry back into the line. 

And the Portuguese promptly scamper back over the bridge followed by the 17th

The 17th then "threes about" and head back to the centre, where it is getting very confusing

But General Du Gourmand has finally managed to get his British infantry moving - and they start to cross the river.

This was a key moment, General Du Gourmand had been trying to get his British troops moving and they were having none of it for the most part. They were quite content to fight the battle to the last Portuguese. Savage  had some good troops and could certainly dispute their crossing of the river. The problem was that if he was going to win - it would be in the centre. He would need to be either lucky or pray for sluggishness on Du Gourmand's part because he wouldn't be able to be in two places at once.

Savage prepares to recieve them.

The Kings Royal Halberdiers close in...

...and its all over. 

Sadly for Savage who put up a good show, one treads a narrow margin if one is hoping for Du Gourmand to make mistakes. Savage had done well, coming back from one point to four in the early stages of the battle. The result was five - six at the end, Du Gourmand knowing that pussyfooting about would do him no good and went straight for the jugular. 

A good game and definately one of the best scenarios in the Peninsular collection.

Combat at Aire - Part One

General Gorman surveys the field

The Combat at Aire is nobody's child - lacking the big name recognition of Salamanca or Vittoria. It was a rear guard action fought in Southern France after the battle of Orthez. The Allied army had pushed the French out of Spain and was carrying on north. Exhausted by the battle at Orthez, Wellington commissioned Rowland "Daddy" Hill with the task of taking two divisions, some cavalry and some horse artillery and "keepin' the skeer on'" in the words of Bedford Forest.  He was to keep the French running.

Capability Savage nurses an alcohol hand sanitizer and lager cocktail while pondering how he will see off Les Rosbifs.

General Clausel, Hill's counterpart, was tasked by his superior Marshall Soult with the unenviable job of preventing this from happening and thus allow the large quantity of stores that were present at Aire to be gotten away. Thus what occurred was a mirror image of the classical Peninsular battle. The French held the high ground and had to beat off the attacking British.

I have an idea...

Combat at Aire is one of the most balanced scenarios in the Command & Colours: Napoleonics canon with over fifty plays recorded on ccnapoleonic.net, the honours have been relatively even all along. I was interested to see how this would go as both players, General Du Gourmand and Capability Savage, are notoriously aggressive.

General Du Gourmand has another idea...

The problem facing the Allied player is that he has to advance across a river, albeit a fordable one, into the teeth of a strong French defence. This is complicated by the fact that his vanguard, which is already across the river, is made up of his weakest troops, the Portuguese.

The French player on the other hand, is in the position of having to defend against a numerically superior opponent with some very dodgy characters holding his line of retreat. He can strike the Portuguese, but will have to come down from his hill to do it, exposing himself to an attack by the rest of the Allied army.

...charge!

General Du Gourmand playing the good guys for a change, tackled the problem in typically bold fashion and not minding manoeuvres, just went straight at 'em. 

Gunfire ripples down the line as the Portuguese infantry drive the redcoated Swiss and 22iem Ligne from the field

The bold approach, which we should have expected, paid dividends when CS's troops were driven from the ridge. This gamble might or might not pay off - depending on whether CS had something decent in his hand which would allow him to put in a strong counter.

The 22ieme turn and flee from the "Fighting Cocks of the army" - the 7th Portuguese Foot.

Which he didn't and had to settle for a relatively anemic attack from unit in the centre. The Portuguese counterattacked and wiped one French battalion out entirely. Things were beginning to look rather lonely for the redcoated Swiss.

The Royal Horse Artillery move forward onto the bridge and add their fire to the Frenchmen's troubles, while in the centre the Portuguese drive the Swiss from the field.  Capability Savage usual luck and aggression were not in evidence as the dice turned against him.

Capability Savage cuts the deck as the Portuguese advance through the smoke, having almost completely crushed the French centre

General Du Gourmand played "Elan", a card which allows a random number of units to attack with a bonus, and used that to finish off the French infantry in the centre. The attack was too fast and too hard, leaving Savage too little time to put together a proper defence.

French chasseurs and infantry from the right move and take the victorious Portuguese in the flank, forcing them into square

The first glimmers of hope in what had begun to be a rather grim game for the French.

The Portuguese troops exhausted from the combat, fire blind volleys into the smoke while the Chasseurs manoeuvre adroitly, forcing the 7th Line into square.


This improved matters greatly for Savage as it took cards away from Du Gourmand's hand and limited his ability to support his success in the centre. If the Portuguese could be isolated, they would be easier pickings than the redcoats across the river.

Things are beginning to come unstuck for General Du Gourmand's plan as the French cavalry start to chip away at his squares

There was a crucial loss of momentum here as Du Gourmand struggled with his infantry in square, while Savage tackled the difficult task of supporting the cavalry success with infantry.

With his one remaining unpinned battalion of Portuguese he charges the Neapolitan militia at the rear of the French line.

As the Allied army advanced into France, the French had to rely on younger and younger conscripts and territorial units. I don't have anything suitable, but these units represented by Militia units in CCN terms, are probably the weakest units in the game.

I represent them with the historically inaccurate (for this battle at least), but very distinctive 7th Neapolitan Foot - a formation whose performance and disciplinary record was so appalling that its commander complained that it contained for prostitutes than soldiers.  Their white uniform with pink facings certainly stands out on a battlefield.

Who flee at the first smell of powder!

Predictably the Neapolitans scatter at the prick of the bayonet. However the second battalion are very low hanging fruit for the vengeful Portuguese.

Meanwhile over on the French left, Capability Savage recovering sufficient offensive spirit to charge the 17th Dragoons

Unfortunately, I forgot to properly photograph this French counterattack. What occurred was the French heavy cavalry, the 17th Dragoons, also with pink facings, charged across the river, wiping out the Royal Horse Artillery gun crew on the way and forcing another battalion of Portuguese into square.

Meanwhile battle still rages in the centre - French light infantry punish the Portuguese in the centre

With the successful Cavalry Charge on his left, Savage inched a light battalion into position to shoot up the 7th Foot in the centre. These caused more casualties, but failed to wipe out the gallant Portuguese.

The rampaging Chasseurs force another battalion of the 7th Infantry into square, prompting sighs of relief from the Neapolitans

But help is at hand, the 7th Portuguese Dragoons thunder through the smoke to dispute matter with the French chasseurs.

Things were looking bleak for Savage, three units down with the Allied Horse Artillery to show for it. However, he had forced three units into square, halving his opponent card pool and leaving them vulnerable to gunfire or musketry.

All that remained was for him to do it.