HITS Game Weekend of Jan 17-18

I so dislike command. . . but I'll do it.

I am taking on the role of Hiller because I'm such a selfless guy. My Austrian forces will mercilessly drive the French with impunity.

There's many an Austrian wife or mother who thanks you.

Since Mike can't make it, we'll have the game start at 20:00GMT. Everyone please try to get online 1/2 hour early so we can make sure everyone is set up, (newish players), and we can break into teams and have a pre-battle discussion.

Sunday's game will be played at 19:30 UK time and will be a rematch of the Vimerio scenario we fought in the campaign.

As it so happened the campaign scenario was about 90% accurate to the historical battle with almost historical forces and in the same location. Pipe Creek 3 map is used so you'll need that add-on pack.

The French are weaker than the British and have the burden of attack so to make the game more balanced we'll judge the French degree of success against how they performed historically. They were beaten quite comprehensively in the real battle so we're looking for something a bit better than that to let us call this a French win!

The British have advanced south from their skirmish with part of Delaborde's division at Rolica to find the coast road to Lisbon blocked by a large part of Junot's Corps at a small town called Vimerio. Lt-Gen Wellesley deploys his small army on a ridge just north-east of the town with his right pushed forwards to cover it and his left refused.

General Junot has chosen to attack, his men are keen to get at the English properly for the first time in Portugal and defending is not in their spirit!

Map is Pipe Creek 3 oriented correctly and a section of this looks a great deal like the original battlefield, so with a couple of sections closed off by boundary markers, we'll use it as it is.



The part we are using is between the two red lines. The British position is indicated in red, the French in blue. "Sossen" is Vimerio, "Unhose" is Ventosa, "Hostomitz" is Torres Vadres. The road to Lisbon up which Junot has marched is the "Rabenstein Strasse" while the road Wellesley has approached along is the "Schlau Strasse". These two roads are the respective armies' lines of supply. Lisbon can also be reached inland down the "Podhorzau Strasse" via Torres Vadres.

The north edge of the map is the sea where a supporting British squadron lies offshore, the French would be exposed to fire from them if they attempted to turn the British right, so this area is out of bounds (the terrain is also nothing like the original battlefield).

For this casual game replay of the scenario I will relax the boundaries somewhat. They'll still be marked but troops may push beyond them by a couple of hundred yards, but no more please as the north end of the map leaves the British position wide open.

During the post-battle chat after yesterday's game it was suggested that if you played in the original game, please play on the other side this time. It would be best if we could have two C-in-Cs who were not involved before.

I'll take French C-in-C if no one else wants it.... Sounds like a welcome challenge!

I didn't experience the pleasure of the original so, (again, if nobody else steps up), would be willing to step into the role of Old Nosey in Part Deux. This one has all the makings of a right royal punch-up!

True, the campaign game was a really bloody fight and quite messy, mostly due to the French decision to get stuck in with the bayonet. Peninsular Brits v French is a little like Russians v French - both sides have very good troops and no-one wants to quit so the bloodshed is pretty grim... we just have less dangerous artillery in this fight.

I was French last time so I'll throw in my hat with Old Nosey on this occasion.

I led the french last time, so I'll be with Ron and Martin.

Do you have the casualty figures from the last battle, Martin?

So this one is tough on the French and the British are stacking their team. All the more of a challenge!

Is there an OOB to look at anywhere so I can more effectively plan the English demise?

I was Hill last time, so I'd like to try the French side. Bringing culture and fine cuisine to this benighted land is the least I can do.

Battle Report from last game is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2xmz2olswd4znem/Battle%20Report%20Vimerio.csv?dl=0

I can e-mail the OOBs to the two teams - I'll just keep e-mailing it each time a new player signs up.

So far we have:

British: Ron (C-in-C), Martin, Mark

French: Matt (C-in-C), Kevin

Thanks Digby. I can see why the French had troubles - attacking against a far larger and higher quality force. Hmm......will have to truly channel my inner Napoleon for this one.

The British don't have that many more troops and in cavalry the French are completely dominant.