Mira Señor, Gabacho. Miles de ellos! Battle Report.

This battle report will be quite short. 

I played the game in fits and starts over a period of several days. It all went well and threw up a few surprises along the way. I was never quite sure how the game would turn out until mid way through turn four, when....

Turn one started well for the British. They turned their Brilliant Leader card quite early and won most of the initiative to boot. 

They had soon occupied Los Muerte....

...The Farm, and positioned a reserve line behind the northern end of Windmill Hill. This latter deployment would actually prove to be a mistake.

The French didn't get to move until the very end of their deck, turning their Brilliant Leader sixth card from last (26 card deck). Costly?

However, in turn two the initiative switched over to the French and soon Windmill Hill was under heavy attack. 

At first the British came out on top, routing two of the attacking French units, but then.....

....The French took the windmill. The Portuguese defenders were thrown out, they rallied, counter attacked, and re-took it.

This was the crucial part of the battlefield at this point and both sides concentrated their initiative spending here, the rest of the field going quiet. 

Finally, the Paris Municiple Guard secured the windmill. 

The cost had been heavy for both sides in both troops and divisional morale points. 

This was when I realised that the British had deployed their reserve badly - they should have deployed directly behind the Windmill - and they had the time to do it! The roughness of the terrain meant they were too far away to make an immediate counter attack. It would cost the British dear,

From the windmill the French began to roll up the British line of 5th division which was now out of divisional morale points.

Meanwhile, the French had advanced into the valley (The Gap) between the two steep rocky hills. 

However, British artillery and volley fire had depleted the French to such an extent that their threat was largely nullified.

Dethley-White's HA battery had done much to blunt the French attack. Fighting until his battery was silenced by counter battery fire, before being forced to withdraw by French columns. Dethley-White would be mentioned in dispatches.

On Muscle Hill, things had gone even worse for the French. The Scots and artillery had simple mown them down as they ascended the slopes. 

Turn four: The British were about to lose Los Muerte. The French were assaulting it from the north and west. The British infantry were surrounded. The French were bringing up artillery to blast their remnants out of the town. 

However, midway through turn four, time pressure was telling on the French: If they could get most of the initiative, they had a chance to pull off a victory. Night would fall at the end of turn six.

The British ordered their cavalry to attack the French infantry coming down the slopes of Windmill Hill. This was a desperate last throw of the dice for the British at the southern end of the line. This move actually looked quite promising. The French infantry were numerous but largely spent. Most of the 'prime' French units had been destroyed in the continuous French assaults to clear Windmill Hill and Los Muerte and 'morale points' were in very short supply: the three infantry divisions had only 7 between them, mostly with the raw troops of 2nd division.

Unfortunately, for the British, the French C-in-C had also changed his plan and ordered their cavalry forward. At this point the French had a tremendous run of initiative and, before the British cavalry could intervene the French cavalry was upon them. The British fought hard, holding their own, but it gave the French time to secure the town.

It was now turn five. One last push by the remaining French against the northern end of the British position might just succeed. It was still too close to call. 

Alas, the turn ended almost before it had begun. Duplicate initiative dominoes ending the turn abruptly. The French had run out of time. The British on Muscle hill were too strong to be dislodged by the French in its immediate vicinity. 

The French had given the British a very bloody nose. The British had lost Windmill Hill and could not launch a counter attack for fear of losing Muscle Hill too. But, the French, even with superior numbers had failed to totally dislodge the British from their position. I award a marginal victory to the British who have done enough to withdraw under cover of night to fight again.

EDIT: DAF has commented that it looks like a decisive French victory. In some ways it does but, having played both sides, it didn't feel like it. My reply to his comment is here. I hope it explains why I awarded a marginal victory to the British:

I know what you are saying Jim. The battle was 'won' by the French, and I'm sure the Marshal will say that in his report to Napoleon. However, because they outnumbered the British by such a margin, I set a very high bar for them to achieve a game victory. The result, you might say, was something like Dunkirk - it rather depends on how you look at it: Wellington will convey to Horse Guards a report expressing his satisfaction at bringing the army away to safety.

Playing both sides, it didn't feel like a French victory because they were so spent at the end that I was finding it hard to pick which units could lead the assault on Muscle Hill if time were available. Nearly all of their good troops, the few that were left, had taken a lot of 'hits' and were shadows of how they had started the battle, or they were at the far southern end of the field in Los Muerte and would take time to sort themselves out. Divisional morale points were also in short supply - a few reverses could see whole divisions withdrawing as they failed army level morale checks.

If time were available, I think the French could have won the battle with their abundant artillery, which now outnumbered the British artillery by seven to two - they could simply blast the British off their hill, but this would take time, perhaps two or three turns after reaching position (another turn or so?), time they didn't have.

Consequently, like Dunkirk, this was a British victory. It's just a pity they couldn't achieve the victory by actually winning!