The Peninsular project part 6.1 The battle of Evora

In the first part of part 6 of the project, I'm going to re fight the battle of Evora fought on the 29th July 1808. As this is a large skirmish battle I'm going to post it in two part mainly because if i don't most readers will find it to much for one post. ( i know i did )
So the first part will cover turn 1 to 5 and part 6.2 will follow on with turn 6 to the end.

The battle sketch showing the layout of the battle field. The allies can be seen in the for ground, and the French can be seen advancing up the road towards Evora.

A quick recap 

The battle of Evora was the result of general Junot's desire to keep the main route into Spain open. He had dispatched general Lision with up to 7'000 men to capture the city of Evora which had a garrison of Portuguese and Spanish regulars. Once Evora had been garrisoned Lision was to advance onto Elvas. 

For my re fight i have given the French the task of clearing the allies from their defensive positions. The allies have the option to withdraw to a second position. once the allies have been forced from the second position they are defeated and the city is lost.

If they manage to hold their second position then the French have been defeated and Evora has been saved from its terrible fate.

To make things a little less one sided, i have given the French only 3 of their units at the start of the game. the French have also been given the assault command that means that they will advance on the enemy once they are on the table.(Lision was confident that he could carrier the position especially, as the allies had chosen to fight him in the open rather than from behind Evoras walls.)

The battle starts with the allies holding their first defensive position, the irregulars are hiding in the woods, ready to pounce on the French flank. The Portuguese regulars are formed up on the right with their artillery and the volunteer cavalry behind in support. The Spanish artillery is next with the Spanish regulars holding the left flank and ridge line. The Spanish hussars are stationed behind the Spanish infantry. The militia are on the road to the rear.

On the other side of the battle field, general Lision is marching along the road towards Evora. With him are the 4th dragoons they will take up a position on the French left and flank the Portuguese infantry. The 58th line infantry and the Hanoverian are next and will form up on the other side of the road, and attack the Spanish held position on the ridge.

The rest of Lision's force is strung out along the road, and will have to be diced for.

From game turn 3 i will roll a D6 for each of the remaining French units, the results will determine which turn the units will arrive on the battle field.

For each unit roll a D6 results as below:

1= turn 4                             4= turn 7

2= turn 5                             5= turn 8

3= turn 6                             6= turn 9

Normal command tests for advancing will be used, but to reflect the shaky morale of the Spanish hussars that in the historical battle, road off into the sunset, before they were contacted by the enemy will have to roll a one off D6 morale test the first time they are ordered to advance on the enemy.

Hussars morale test roll a D6 results as below:

1 or 2  and the Hussars brake and run 

3 to 6  and the hussars draw their swords and advance.

Start of the battle and the units are placed on the table. 

The allies in the first defensive position

The first of the French appear on the battle field

    The battle field at turn 1 the main allied force is in their first position the second line of defence is either side of the militia unit base on the road in the rear.

Spanish artillery open fire on the dragoons on the road but miss. The card behind them is their activation card.

The Portuguese artillery also fire on the dragoons and they also miss, For each phase, each unit on the table has a activation card which is drawn from the deck of activation cards. 

The dragoons move through the trees to flank the allies.

general view of the battle start of turn 3

General Leite watches as the dragoons move on his right flank. He orders the Lisbon Police to advance on the dragoons.

general view of the battle start of turn 4

The Lisbon police move towards the dragoons 

The dragoons can see the enemy cavalry moving and form line.

More French infantry appear on the battle field General Lision orders them on. 

General Leite orders the Spanish hussars to move over the ridge and attack the Hanoverians a D6 roll and their off sword in hand towards the enemy, but will they charge home?

The dragoons pass the order to charge home but the Lisbon police fail their counter charge order.

general view of the battle start of turn 5

Cavalry fight. the dragoons have the advantage as they charged. 

The result of the fight the dragoons win the first round 4 hits to 1. The dice indicate hits on the figure as these are both skirmish single figure units For each hit on a target a D6 is rolled to see how many wounds are cused that round. Single figures have a maximum of 3 wounds

The battle at the end of turn 5. The dice behind the unit bases in the background are for morale damage as units count hits as morale damage in combat.

a quick recap of the action so far. The Spanish still hold the ridge, and with the hussars about to appear on the flank of the Hanoverian the first French assault is in the air. When the hussars move the Hanoverians will have to take a morale test, at minus 1 to see if they stand or run, on the ridge the Spanish artillery are down to morale damage and will have to test when their card is draw to see if the continue or start to withdraw. The cavalry battle on the right is about to get interesting a morale test is needed for the Lisbon police cavalry and see picture below there is a nasty surprise awaiting in the wood for the dragoons in turn 6 (as long as they pass their command to charge test)

irregulars in the woods 

well that's it for the first part of the battle of Evora  thanks for hanging in there it's been a real test of the rules and my sanitey but both are holding out, part 2 of the battle will follow on from turn 6 till then my friends