Hold the Line!

A few weeks ago I ran a little Naps game at our sunday HQ , Ricks been on at me to post some sort of report so here it is at last!

Scenario was simple- A Portuguese and Spanish force have to hold the line Long enough for British reinforcements to arrive and save the day against a massed French attack.

Chris Fazey and  commanded the French, Dave and Ian S commanded the Anglo-Iberian force

 I supplied the figures and terrain except the battlemat which the Deeside defenders kindly lent us, 3 battalions of French infantry borrowed from Rick, and Daves 3 British Battalions.

Loyal Lusitanian Legion hold the village and the woods,
 Spanish troops guard the road beyond.

Battalions of the Garda Real, Irlanda and Zaragoza regiments await the French.

And here they come! The French infantry advance!

The Loyal Lusitanians refuse to give  ground in the face of overwhelming numbers...

So the French moves all their strength to the right to break the first line!

They march straight into the waiting Spanish. Despite the odds against them
 the Spanish hold, and the impetus is knocked out of the French attack

HURRAH!..

The British arrive, and begin the long march up the table.

Except for the Brunswickers who spent most of the battle marching in circles.

The British arrival is most timely, as the Spanish give way. The French regroup
for the next phase of the attack.

The British intend to deny the French time and space to regroup-
Their light cavalry brigade charges to disrupt the French, whilst their infantry forms up.

On the right the Wurzburgers try and keep up the attack but struggle to make
headway against the 50th foot.

Chaos reigns on the left as exhausted infantry
struggle to push back the Light Brigade. 

With superhuman effort they succeed on both flanks and swing round the base of the hill to fight the
 Redcoated infantry, but the cavalry did their job- The French are exhausted and can do no more.

As the French army broke itself in its final assault on the waiting redcoats the British gained the field- oh for another turn or two before the British had arrived to regroup and we'd have done it! We only had one more line of troops to break through. Alas, for they were fresh, and our foremost units were shattered!