Yom Kippour War

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Perry Brother fight the 'Battle of Talavera

If you have been following the Perry Brothers latest releases.  You will know they put out new sets of Spanish Troops...   Enjoy the eye Candy of the Perry's great terrain and battle.


Here is what they said:
Talavera 1809
We had the pleasure of a visit from ‘Eclaireur’ (a man of mystery) and Dave Brown a man of rules, well with rules; he wrote General d’ Armee which we were going to use.
Eclaireur suggested that the southern half of the Battle of Talavera in 1809 would be an interesting encounter. Actually our ancestor fought with the 45th at Talavera, however his regiment would be just off table. It would be the first ‘blooding’ of Alan’s Spanish and some of his Confederation of the Rhine regiments. The Confederation regiments were built for other divisions rather than Sebastiani’s Corps, so some, although German, aren’t those at Talavera. Alan needed a couple of Kingdom of Holland battalions, a few more Confederation regiments and Spanish cavalry… and a bit more terrain (a predominant hill on the Allies line), so he was fairly busy two to three weeks before the game. It’s always good to have an incentive to paint figures and this was perfect.
Michael joined Eclaireur with the French/Germans and while Dave took the British. Alan couldn’t resist the colourful Spanish although he realized they may not stand….
We were using General d’ Armee published by Reisswitz Press.
The troops were deployed close to where they were in the original battle.
The Confederation of the Rhine, Dutch and pseudo Polish regiments pressed forward to kick things off, an additional French brigade and a brigade of dragoons were kept off board in reserve. Most of Eclaireur’s men were opposed to Alan’s Spanish while Michael’s troops opposed the tougher British brigades of Dave’s force.
The Allies began the firing with some long range shots causing a few casualties. As the ’French’ advanced two artillery batteries were deployed, one facing the hill redoubt the British artillery occupied and the other the Spanish. The French artillery fire was pretty effective (out gunning the British in the end and quickly driving off a Spanish regiment). British artillery fire wasn’t particularly impressive but the Spanish guns hardly missed a shot causing chaos in one Confederation of the Rhine brigades.
Dave began to send a British Brigade forward on the far left. To counter this, the additional French brigade arrived to bolster the pseudo Polish brigade. Around the same time Eclaireur deployed the dragoon brigade on the opposite flank in front of the city with their Horse battery. This battery was soon knocking chunks out of a Spanish regiment in the outskirts of Talavera, which in turn had to pull back into the city.
The Nassau brigade received a volley from a Spanish regiment stationed behind the stone wall in the centre which killed their brigadier and sent them reeling back a move.
Meanwhile on the hill the British artillery had to pull back out of action due to casualties and exhaustion. Their post was taken by a British regiment. Michael had tried to get his French and Poles to charge in on the Dave’s British but they weren’t playing ball and were getting pretty shot up in the process.
Alan decided he had to do something about the two batteries opposed to him. It was time for the Spanish cavalry. This was going to be risky. One unit of dragoons managed to get between both batteries but out of their arch of fire. If the Allies got the initiative next time they could charge a battery in the flank before being swamped by French Dragoons. The Allies did get the initiative so the Horse battery was ridden over. A French dragoon regiment crashed into them sending them back but was repulsed itself. The other dragoon regiment got involved with the rest of the Spanish cavalry and scattered them.
Dave had softened up the Michael’s French and now decided a charge would finish them off, however the British regiment got the willies as it was ordered to charge and retreated back through the supporting regiment! At the same turn Eclaireur poured some devastating volleys form his Nassau and Dutch into Alan’s Spanish behind the stone wall crippling the brigade and sending them back.
That was it the Allies had lost the area. 
It was a great game with the rules giving a great feel for the period, highly recommended!







































1 comment:

  1. Stunning - and genuinely inspirational. The Grand Manner buildings are superb.

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