Battle of Rolica (Afternoon) : Commands and Colors

With my son still at home and after the stout defence by the French in the previous battle Wellesley (apparently recovered from his death) was persuaded to attack the strong second French position. Again I so.not run through the detail of the battle which is adequately covered on Wiki. In essence Delaborde had successfully pulled back to what was an even stronger position. Wellesley again attempted to out flank the position with Portuguese troops under Col Trant and the 3rd Brigade under Gen Ferguson. He led the main assault. The terrain was very difficult with the front of the French position cut by deep rocky gullies. The British assaulted up these after being initially repulsed they made it onto the plateau but before the position was outflanked the French managed to withdraw in order.

The initial set up for the battle, with the Portuguese and 2nd Brigade looking to outflank the position. With the terrain constraints this is a tough scenario for the British. But the french need to avoid coming off the ridge and being defeated in pieces

Action down both flanks where there is a bit more room to move

French reinforcements 😀😀😀

Portuguese again prove more aggressive down the flank but the French squares clings on

After some fierce fighting (the British suffered from some dreadful dice rolling) the french took the initiative driving the attack back at the sharp point of their bayonets

At this point the French picked up their winning flag taking the battle 5-3. You can see the French cavalry hiding behind the ridge having been mauled dreadfully by the Portuguese.

Another fun game, we resolved a few of the rules we had got wrong first game which made the light infantry more powerful. It would have been much closer if Wellesley could roll the dice properly, at least he didn’t get killed again ! Next up Vimiero depending on Young Wellesley’s enthusiasm 🤪