28. Battle of Reynosa - 18th March 1809

The small hill-town of Reynosa in the high Cantabrian mountains has taken on significance out of all proportion to it's size. A mountain track that is just suitable to bear military traffic passes through the town from north to south connecting Torrelavega on the coast with Saldanha on the northern edge of the plain of Leon. A second track runs east to Espinosa on the south-west edge of Basque country.

The confluence of these poor but useful roads has made Reynosa a key place in the plans of both armies this winter with a number of minor skirmishes in the place and many troop columns passing through. The town itself is almost a ruin; the inhabitants have fled to isolated hill farms and smaller outlying communities where the Spanish guerillas have control and the empty damaged buildings are now barracks to a French garrison, their memories fresh with the grim remains of tortured and dismembered Frenchmen the guerillas had left hanging from trees a month ago.

The French garrison is determined to hold the place and awaits a chance to repay their enemies in kind should they dare attack again.

This they do.

A Spanish column is discovered coming south over the high pass from Torrelavega on the morning of the 18th march. The head of the column collides with scouting French cavalry in a dank heavy mist. Neither side expects the other and neither has any idea of how strong - or weak - their opponent is.

In this action the Spanish must secure Reynosa and control the junction of the Torrelavega-Saldanha road and the Reynosa-Espinosa road. An objective star marks the location. The French must retain control of the town and crossroads.

Note that the four tracks that run off the north map edge which are marked to Torrelavega all meet up at points higher in the hills before converging on the pass. Any force coming south from the coast to Reynosa must move down one or more of these tracks. No other access to Reynosa is possible from north or west so other roads marked on the map running westwards or north westwards are to be ignored and may not be used by either side.

This is not a big action and requires a minimum of 3 players per side. More can be accommodated if they take brigade commands so this battle is an ideal one for our newer players to be involved.

Please sign up via the Doodle link below. As always, it helps me very much in administration if you cannot make it to still let me know this on the Doodle. Thanks.

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Scenario post updated.

Sunday 6th December was the most popular date so we'll be playing then at our usual time of 20:00 GMT.

We have six players - Kevin, Pat and Tom on the French side and Pepe and Alex on the Spanish, plus yours truly. I'll join the Spanish.

This is just the right number of players for the battle but if more wish to play there are still brigade commands available.

I'll play

Glad to have you join us Mark.

BTW, you'll have to change your Doodle and SoW MP names soon

Only two Spanish players have signed up. Surely there are more Allied people out their thirsty for another glorious victory?

I am in.

Good to see you back Mike.

Helllllllllllooooooooooo señor Morsey. It is unfortunate that our first meeting on this battlefield in a long time will result in your untimely death. I will make sure my chief of staff orders extra flowers for the casket and that your sword is returned home to your grieving family.

Bonjour M. Charmead,
Ma réponse à vos paroles nauséabondes et déplaisantes est.
Puissent 1000 fles infester votre aine que vous trot à travers le champ de la guerre avant de mourir.

For clarity I have added exit/safe zones for both sides to the map.

Once again I can only apologise to the Spanish players for the bug that probably cost you the battle. With half the infantry present unable to shoot or melee it was going to be a defeat no matter what. The French played well but remember you were massacring women and children effectively and not a responsive opponent

This was less like Reynosa and more like Wounded Knee.

Nevertheless I have to accept it as a French win and push the Spanish back over the pass. Verdier's LoS is saved.

I think there were something like 700 French losses to 2500 Spanish.

I think for fairness sake you should do what you did after Miranda and have the second division that could not fight be "delayed" and have missed the battle and therefor suffer no losses.

Just my opinion as a glorious frenchman

I understand that we may have technical difficulties from time to time and that is ok, but it does not sit well with me that it was declared a French victory. I do not know what the answer is to correct the situation. I am fine in doing a replay or something along those lines or the battle was inconclusive.

Almost 1/3 of the French were cavalry and I was the infantry commander and I can tell you that if the Spanish would have been able to bring in another > 25% in infantry, the French infantry position would have been forced to leave the high ground in the hands of the Spanish. About 5-10 minute before the game was called, I was struggling to keep 3 or 4 battalions online to combat the Spanish that kept coming at me. My artillery battery was in the wind by that time.

The French cavalry were running down the Spanish, but the Spanish infantry had beaten the French infantry.

Perhaps a draw would be a more proper outcome.

Thanks,
Tom W.

A draw would still be a 'loss' for the Spanish as they are attacking into Reynosa. I believe we saw a similar result at Torrelavega last turn.

Most unfortunate to hear of the technical issues. It's always tough to be in a limbo of 'what could/should have happened'.
Good luck to Martin to try and create a result that won't cause half of us to revolt.

Dave

Torrelavega wasn't quite the same situation as the French voluntarily called off their attacks and thus handed victory to their opponent. In order to not have battles run on and on over multiple days and slow the campaign to a crawl I arbitrarily made up the 'loser goes back' rule. At Reynosa I had to call the game to stop the slaughter of the lambs even though without the bug I am sure the Spanish would have fought on. Its impossible to say what the 'what ifs' would have been. Two of the 3 French batteries had been driven off and only Kevin's horse battery was left. If Tom's infantry were really as worn down as he says then we have a lot of variables in the mix. Perhaps the French may have been able to hold the Spanish up for the full 3 hours, I just don't know.

I will still grant the French a win and have Reynosa function as a supply line node but I shall probably not be very harsh on the Spanish.

Its doubly awkward as the Torrelavega position is being attacked again this turn by VI Corps and these two Spanish divisions can return there and be in the line of battle (for various reasons the VI Corps advance from Santander comes a week after this battle). Other elements of forces in this area are affected too. That sounds obtuse but I don't want to say more at this point, but the lack of a genuine result for this battle is an annoyance beyond the simple fact that this bug is a pain.

I do think Reynosa would make an entertaining stand alone game for us to play again. It only needs 7 players and I think we can get that many most days with a bit of advanced warning.