Battle of Bussaco 1810 : Peninsular War

With the British weather warming up it was time to venture into the Garden for a larger Napoleonic battle. A chance to get as much of my Peninsular collection on the table. Bussaco is regarded as one of Wellingtons classic defensive battles holding the ridge with his outnumbered army held back as long as possible on the reverse slope, the French sending colomns up the slope only to be beaten back. Having checked out the Command and Colours scenario I felt I could just about do justice to the French attack by Ney on the British/Portuguese left wing. This is also the most famous part of the battle with Craufords light division defending the Convent on the ridge.

Lots of available information on the battle, this map particularly useful. Obviously many adjustments were made to fit my collection and the practicalities of terrain.

The battlefield setup, 12x6 feet. Convent in the foreground, the village behind representing Sula and beyond that Moura. To give the battle any sense of authenticity the slope has to play a part, this immediately makes it a very tough battle for the French, who in hindsight would never of attacked. However, to try and represent this any troops moving up or ‘down’ the slope would have to be in open order and would take a turn to reform on the crest. Cavalry would have to dismount to move up the slopes. Finally if the British were more than 12” from the crest they couldn’t be seen or shot at (but they could also not shoot). Finally the french would have one ‘brigade’ in reserve who would arrive one the draw of a card.

The light division in the convent, with a Portugese brigade push out in front

Maucune’s Brigade moving through Moura, with some supporting cavalry from Junot’s Division

Loison’s Division in the distance and in the foreground Marcognet. The British have a small number of Riflemen in Sula to slow the French advance. The cavalry behind Loison represents Lamothe’s Cavalry but will really not be much use although their artillery might help ?

The french begin their advance

Much of the British line is holding back to avoid being hit by french artillery, (note the Windmill is anew addition to my terrain the Rendra version picked up at Salute fits perfectly now painted up)

The nearest part of the ridge to the french is in front of the convent so the French use this to try to get a foothold

The 95th stubbornly hold Sula

The french have made the ridge and are now sparing with the Portugese and light infantry sent forward by Crauford

On the french left the generals are realising the error of their attack with troops having to form into open order and the finding themselves at the top under fire while they try to reform or fire back, (luckily they are only toy soldiers who can go back in the box)

Better progress towards the convent with the 60th Rifles driven off, annoyingly the British pass all their Fortitude tests

Finally Sula is taken and the french can punch on towards the slope itself

Some of Junot cavalry has dismounted to support the attack on the left, but the British rise up, deliver one volley and Charge with the bayonet driving the leading French back down the slope.

Massed french is now trying to push towards the convent but are restricted by the width of the ridge here

On the french right the cavalry is useless and the infantry has now chance against one of Cole’s British brigades who pull back behind the ridge to avoid the french artillery.

The Portugese however take a real battering in front of the convent

They are driven back but once again the British pass a key fortitude test which would probably have seen the rest of the brigade flee the field

A wide shot just to show the fun we were having 😀

In the centre the french try yet again to force the ridge but are met with the bayonet, the French eventually win this single combat but are too shaken to advance any further

The leading French are now pushing close up to the convent but the rest of Craufords Light division are still holding the ground

This was really the end of the battle. The British have held the centre quite easily, with all the remaining french units heavily shaken and not fit for another attack. The convent is still being contested but really only the Portugese brigade has been badly mauled.

On the french left they have been driven back with great loss ! So a win for the British. A throughly enjoyable encounter, great to get the collection out and fighting. The french reserves never arrived so Ney will be having strong words with their commander. In the end we judged the rules we had in place for the hill felt harsh but were about right. Had the reserves arrived early perhaps the french could have wasted even more men trying to get up onto the ridge. Looking forward to some more Peninsular battles soon.

This past week I also went down to George's to complete our Konigsberg campaign. George has already blogged so not a blow by blow account here, just a couple of photos to show his lovely late war collection in action.

Germans advance in strength

Despite losing my Pz lV early on the Germans eventually got the upper hand mainly due to numerical superiority and firepower. We didn’t hold back and after a wobble where the German morale started to drop worrying quickly, we managed to turn things around to claim the win in this final battle. 😀

and finally the weather has been crazy hot and I managed to get out into the hills

The central Lakeland mountains in the sun

That’s it for now, I’m away again next week to Scotland but then planning to attend Partizan so let me know if you are attending. I’m hoping to take my Spanish with me to Scotland to get them stuck together at least.

Thanks as always Matt ❤️