One Hour Wargames Scenario 6: Flank Attack

Salamanca lite...

I played One Hour Wargames Scenario 6: Flank Attack (1), which is inspired by the battle of Salamanca. Salamanca was a battle driven by surprise, and this element can't be attained in a wargame scenario, so the scenario is slightly different from reality.

I used this battle as a sort of playtest for my fast Grande Armée rules. I left Command and Control rules aside, including the impulse system, and I just tested the skirmish, artillery, movement and close combat rules. The game was therefore played with the normal OHW turns.

French forces on the march, while British troops threaten their flank

Seen from the other side, with the British blocking force

The French had 3 infantry (5SPs Sk2 each), 1 cavalry (6 SP) and 2 artillery units (Medium). The artillery units in particular were badly suited to a battle where they would have had to move fast. The British instead had 4 infantry (5 SPs SK2 each), 1 light infantry (6SPs Sk2) and 1 cavalry (5SP) unit: the lack of artillery means they have to get close to the French to stop them.

In short, the French had to sacrifice 1 infantry and 1 artillery unit to fend off the larger British flank force, while the rest faced the small blocking force. The initial French attack was repulsed, but 1 artillery and the cavalry unit arrived (the cavalry having previously repulsed their British counterparts) and a new attack managed to open the hole needed to break through and allow 4 units to exit the north edge, given them victory.

The French attack on the British blocking force

In hindsight, the British had to deploy the flanking force closer to the blocking force: this would  have allowed them to be in a better position to stop the French. Instead, the flanking force was farther, and they were too far away to avoid the enemy breakthrough.

The Grande Armée rules worked well, especially the skirmish, artillery and close combat rules: they were easy to play and fast. Regarding movement, I gave up variable movement quite early, and chose fixed movement: turning takes 1/4 of the movement, moving backwards while keeping the front to the enemy takes 1/2 movement, difficult terrain takes 1/2 of the movement.

Probably the same battle could be played inverting the army composition.

I hope to test the command and control rules soon, including the variable impulse turns.