The Battle of Vich (part 2)

So this is how we left the action. The Spanish have stalled under effective French artillery and musketry fire. They are about to start withdrawing.

Another shot of last week's end of play. Only on this flank do the Spanish look like they have any chance to break through.

The clock is about to turn to turn three. 

A simple game clock is a very useful piece of  kit - especially in campaign games. This one came from a broken carriage clock. Until recently it was just a scruffy looking acrylic face, with a paper dial sellotaped to the back of it, that I had drilled to take a black plastic spinner: Now it looks much tidier in a home made freestanding cardboard case. 

Nightfall will occur at the end of turn five. The Spanish, about to go on the defensive, need to hold until then if they are not to suffer an early campaign defeat.

Now, Piquet games, as we saw last week (with the Spanish unable to deploy their artillery), can throw up some odd situations and this game threw up another one. 

The Spanish nervously  withdrew, fearing the French would catch them in their retrograde movement but, nothing could have been further from the truth. 

The battle's narrative would be that the French didn't realise the Spanish were withdrawing until after they had drifted away and failed to take advantage of the tactical situation: In Piquet terms the Spanish got so much initiative that they ended up with time to withdraw, rally several units and form a new line whilst the French got so little they basically had to stand and watch. If the Spanish had continued to attack, with the amount of initiative they won and French getting so little initiative in response, they may well have carried the day. 

The game clock had just turned four.

The Spanish couldn't quite believe that the French had failed to follow up their withdrawal. Surely the French would move soon; there were still almost two turns to go.

The French inched forward but....

....the sun was now low in the sky.

The Spanish were still winning the bulk of the initiative and were cycling through their sequence deck (to end the last turns) as fast as they could.

In the last light of the day, on the Spanish right, the French drew to musket range, threw in an unsuccessful infantry charge and brought their hussars to bear. 

Then, nightfall descended and shrouded the Pyrenees in darkness. Both sides now looked to make the most of an inconclusive encounter in their dispatches: Honours were just about even. 

The French lost 3 UI killed (5.9%) and 5 UI hospitalised. The Spanish lost 5 UI killed (8.5%) and 10 UI hospitalised. Hospitalised UI will remain so until the start of campaign turn 6. 

Neither side opted to make a withdrawal move; all pins remain in position.

One thing everyone could agree on, players play campaign games with a different set of considerations than in one off games: Shepherding one's forces is much more important than in one off games and the lives of 'the little lead men' are not so readily gambled away.