The Battle of Fort Avila, part 3
Turn 6
Once again the 25th Dragoons charge the 2nd Marines, who are still in square. The French infantry keep advancing to the fort with their ladders, while the 2nd British Brigade start to cross the bridge near to the allied baseline. As the French advance around the fort a light artillery piece is spotted on the rear bastion.
The French having won the first move, fire at the breach again causing more masonry to fall, they now have 17 hits, and still NO BREACH!!
The Spanish kill 2 figures on the 1st Battalion 2nd regt Vistula Legion through artillery fire.
The 2nd and 3rd 14th Line take 5 casualties off of the Tuy Militia, who fail their morale and retreat off of the wall. The 70th Lose 3 from the newly arrived Beatanzos Militia, which had been hiding in the fort out of sight of the poor Frenchies. The 2nd/14th Line lose 1 figure which takes them below 25%, which means a morale check, they pass but lose their leader again due to musket fire (sigh!). . The Spanish No1 gun loses its last two figures and is destroyed. Also the Spanish light gun loses 1 figure, fails a morale test and retreats leaving the gun in place.
The 2nd Marines, (my star unit of the game), smashed the French 25th Dragoons 3-4 in a hard fought contest and routed back 13 inches.
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The 2nd Marines charge the 25th Dragoons by the bridge. In the foreground
are the 4 Battalions of Combined Grenadiers |
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| The attack on the fort. |
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| A gaping hole where the No1 Spanish gun once lived. (Que evil manical laugh Ha Ha Ha!) |
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Around the flank of the fort go the French, taking out the light Spanish gun on
the rear bastion. |
Turn 7
The 25th Dragoons regained their poise and passed their morale check. The 1st Hussars and the 23rd dragoons both charge the 2nd Marines, who are still in square. The Hussars are stopped short due to casualties received in the charge.
Now came the quote of the day, Surj suddenly remembered he could fire his onboard artillery, (remember this is now turn 7!!) and very excitedly pointed and shouted
“How far can my artillery fire?”
Ian matter-of-factly answered “36 inches!”
Surj replied incensed, “ No!!! I thought Postie said 3 foot!!!”
The whole shed erupted into laughter, while poor Surj just stood there looking bewildered, wondering why we were all crying. Poor Surj was quite embarrassed after realising his mistake, he he!!
Now came a pivotal moment in the game, we had to throw for initiative, If the French won, we could place our ladders and get a good foothold on the left bastion, if the Spanish won, they could move troops along and block the French attack. It was a 1 D6 throw off with a plus 1 for the French, I threw a 2 giving us a 3, Richard threw a 5. Damn!!!! So the attack would have to wait for another turn.
The 4th Legere who were about to climb their ladders moved away from the wall and formed square as the Spanish Borbon Horse galloped around the corner, The 4th lost 1 casualty from musketry from the fort, but fired at the advancing Spanish Horse inflicting 2 casualties as well as the Brigade commander who had attached himself to the unit in preparation to charge.
As we were by now all quite close there was a lot of firing, the French 1/14th Line were wiped out by artillery fire by the No2 Spanish gun and hooray!!!!! another 3 hits on the fort and the breach had been made!!
2 Spanish guerrillas were killed by the French medium gun and another 3 were killed on the other guerrillas by Ian’s heavy gun. Musketry fire from the fortress claimed 2 casualties from the 1/1st Legere and another 2 from the 1st Paris Municipal Guard. This turn the Spanish Militia on the walls took some casualties both the Betanzos and Avila Militias lost 2 casualties each.
Over on the other side of the battlefield the French cavalry once again were beaten in melee by by the 2nd Marines, (this was getting really boring now), the 23rd Dragoons lost 2-3 and were pushed back 2 inches disordered.
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The 1st Hussars and the 23rd dragoons both charge the 2nd Marines,
who still win! |
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The 4th Legere, who were about to scale their ladders, when the
Spanish Cavalry appeared around the corner. |
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| The Spanish move the 1st Aragon around the walls to block the French attack. |
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| A breach is finally made!!! |
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| A veiw of the Battle field Turn 7. |
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| A close up on the fort Turn 7 |
Turn 8
Ian certainly had it in for the British Marines, the 23rd Dragoons who were still disordered, once again charged the 2nd Marines who didn’t have time to fire at the oncoming French. For the first time the dice went Ian’s way, the French won the melee 4-2, the Marines were finally beaten and destroyed. Yessssss!Rich charged in his Borbon Horse into the 4th Legere in square and bounced straight off disordered and fled, losing 2 figures.
The 27th Legere abandoned their planned fire on the No2 Spanish gun and ran to the newly formed breach, only managing to get 4 figures through and losing one of those to the Tuy Militia who lay in wait. All along the wall the Spanish lost men including 6 figures on the 1st Aragon Light infantry, the French plan was coming together nicely, every Spanish unit on the wall would have to check morale. The French also lost a few casualties the 1st/4th Swiss lost 2 as they advanced to the wall edge and the Paris Municipal Guard lost another 2.
Richard then defied all logic, reason and to be honest fairness!!! and passed all three morale checks, throwing two 1’s and a 2. I’ve got to admit that the air was rather blue and Richard was called a few choice words, all of them thoroughly well deserved!!! So that meant there’d be no unopposed climb for the French for another turn.
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| The disordered 23rd Dragoons finally get rid of the 2nd Marines. |
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| The 27th Legere charging through the breach |
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| The 3/ 2nd Vistula Legion backing up the 27th Legere. |
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| The 1st Aragon Light Infantry on top of the bastion, about to lose 6 figures |
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| Surj's 38th Foot just outside the fort entrance |
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| The fort under attack on two sides. |
Turn 9
Time was getting on we all knew this would probably be the last turn of the game, defiantly for me as I had to get to work that evening.
The Spanish won the initiative once again and Richard charged his Villavicosa Dragoons into the square of the 4th Legere and lost 3 figures doing so. The French 27th Legere were charged by the Tuy Militia and a small party of Spanish pioneers, at the breach.
The French finally climbed their ladders, with the 3/14th Line meeting the remnants of the Aragon Lights on the bastion and the French Pioneers climbing up unopposed.
The 10th Chasseurs a Cheval charge and run down a unit of Spanish Guerrillas, who strayed a little too close to them. Then the 10th were fired at from the No2 Gun on the fort and lost their attached Brigade leader along with 2 figures, but still managed to pass their morale.
The British 2nd Battalion finally reached the fort and ran through the now opened door, with the 38th Line leading the way, while the rest were following up fast before they were cut off from the fort.
The previous victorious 23rd Dragoons were wiped out by expert musketry fire by a small unit of Guerrillas. Back at the fort the French lost 2 figures from the 4th Swiss and 1 Pioneer; they both passed their morale, while the Spanish lost 4 from the Betanzos Militia who fail their morale and retreat off the wall and 2 from the Avila Militia who once again defy all laws of probability and pass their morale.
Somehow, (ok, my dice rolling!), the 3/14th Line lose the fight with the 1st Aragon Light Infantry at the top of the ladders and retreat back, but the 1st Aragon lose 1 final figure which forces them to disperse.
At the Breach the 27th Legere lose the melee 2-1 and were pushed back one move. The final melee of the game proved indecisive the Villavicosa Dragoons and the 4th Legere drew 2-2 .
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| The Villavicosa Dragoons charging the 4th Legere's square |
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| The 3/14th climb their ladders and attack the last of the 1st Aragon Lights |
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| The French pioneers make it to the top of the Bastion unopposed. |
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Another shot of the French attcking the bastion, the Spanish Militia have turned to
face their attackers |
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| The 38th Foot make it into the fort. |
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The rerst of the British coloumn marching unopposed
towards the door of the fort |
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| The French 27th leger are charged by the Tuiy Militia and the Spanish Pioneers. |
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| An empty breach. |
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| The final battle Battlefield |
And that was the game. After totting up the score sheet the Anglo/Spanish were declared the winners by 1 point 7-8. Although the fort was still in contention with the French Pioneers on the bastion it was not enough because the British reinforcements made it into the fort.
What a fight!!!
Richard was awarded the game MVP by Postie, for his dogged defence on Fort Avila. Well done Rich!!!
And a big well done to Postie the GM, he defiantly earned his own MVP, for putting on and thinking up such a great game. Well done Postie!!
