Battle of Redinha : Peninsular 1811

This weekend we managed another Napoleonic battle this time the French are fighting in the peninsular a Scenario from Command and Colours for the Battle of Redinha in 1811. Ney commanding the rearguard must try and hold back Wellington who is gradually bringing up the whole British Army. By the time he is ready to attack he has the light Division, Picton’s 3rd, Cole’s 4th and Pack’s Portuguese Brigade.

An interesting battle the french must hold as long as possible. Historically as soon as Ney saw the overwhelming British Numbers they pulled back over the river. To try and replicate this the French are all in position on the Battlefield. The British will roll for the arrival of Cole’s 4th Division the turn after this arriving the french can start to with draw over the bridge. Using V&F rules the village of Redinha is represented by two small defensible terrain features one on each side of the road.

The setup, originally I had planned to go outside but the weather was too hot so I squeezed things into the dungeon instead.

The light division on the British left

Picton’s Division on the British right, 

The french are split into 3 Brigades plays a cavalry support, they have some small detachments of light troops posted in front of the main line to delay the British advance, the French artillery opens up on the advancing Portuguese 

The British light cavalry moves forward but is countered by the french, the woods are classed as impassable for cavalry

While the British gallop off towards the centre the french threaten the British left, again hoping to cause delay in the advance of the light division

With the British cavalry now galloping about the centre all hell break loose, all the cavalry is classed as detachments so are really fairly ineffective other than for a little skirmishing.

The British cavalry are now committed and charge home but are fairly easily repulsed, Wellington is reluctant to commit the Portuguese brigade until Cole arrives?

Picton’s Division is gradually advancing on the right but the french here are putting up a stern defence supported by french heavy artillery firing from across the river.

Finally the British dice for Cole who arrives on the baseline, immediately Pack is order to assault the french on the hill.

Hand to hand fighting now as the British reserves get closer, the french need to try and disengage , the french artillery has been moved to face Picton and to avoid them being overrun by the Portuguese 

The Portuguese have been driven back and the french start to pull back off the high ground towards the village, in the distance the light Division has pretty much eliminated the french right flank and is now closing in

Still the defenders are holding Picton back, there is a brief moment when three of Picton’s units are all shaken but the french can’t get the British to fail a Fortitude test

The light division is now closing on the village from the left bringing up their horse artillery

As the french move into the defendable village the British are closing from all sides

A final ‘forlorn’ charge by some french infantry to hold back the tide 

The french manage to get two units across the bridge with a third starting to cross

We didn’t play the final assault to the final death and we settled on an inconclusive draw. The french had done enough holding the British back for most of the day. A fine battle and very enjoyable to play, always hard to have a balanced scenario when the objective for one army is to escape, but this worked out fine and technically it was pretty much equal in VP’s. As always a joy to get the Naps on the table I’m hoping to play the alternative British rear guard action at the River Coa sometime soon.

The weather has remained very warm (nice) so I had a couple of days out in the Western Lakes staying in the van.

The landscape in Wasdale always spectacular

I took some hobby stuff with me and managed to stick some Spanish infantry together in the evening

Day two a visit to Hardknott  Roman Fort looking out to the Irish sea beyond

My walk took me over the hills looking down onto the fort with the Scafell peaks in the back ground one can only imagine what a posting to this location was like back in 100 AD it was a pretty hot day but this view alone made it worthwhile 

That’s it for now another game planned for Saturday hopefully outside.

Thanks as always for checking in 

MAtt ❤️