Neil Thomas Horse & Musket Scenario 014

The next scenario in this series of re-fights of Neil Thomas' One-Hour Wargames is an attack on a slightly fixed defensive force (i.e. it has to statically defend some objectives with the majority of its forces).  Here a town and a hill are objectives which have to be protected by a minimum number of units, with the placement of the others being discretionary. As ever, the battle rules used are another Neil Thomas' set, Simplicity in Practice.

 

The Forces:

Franco-Jacobite Army:

6 Infantry units

2 Horse units

1 Dragoon units

 

Hanoverian British Army:

5 Infantry units

2 Artillery units

2 Dragoon units (this last is a bit of a guess - maybe it was 1 Dragoon unit and 1 Horse unit; made no difference in any case).

The Franco-Jacobites have to take the hill and the town to win.

The Set-Up:

The British are defending a town and a hill, and have put some infantry and dragoons forward into the wood to defend that.

Fergusson's and Leven's Regiments defend the town.

Seymour's Marines and some Dragoons defend the woods

The Battle:

The Franco-Jacobites arrive: their initial dispositions seem to indicate an assault on the wood or the town, rather than threatening the hill.

A view from behind Regiments du Roi and La Reine towards the town

The musketry of the British Dragoons begins to tell on the Jacobite infantry as it advances towards the woods

And on the French infantry as it advances towards the town

The Jacobite infantry reach the edge of the woods and their accurate musketry makes the British Dragoons scurry back to the far edge of the woods; meanwhile French Horse advances to threaten the British reserves trying to reinforce the wood.

A rather ineffectual musketry exchange continues around the edge of the woods

Eventually the Irish infantry and French Dragoons attack into the woods...

Berwick's Regiment and Seymour's Marines fight with bullet, bayonet and butt in the woods...

Seymour's Marines are victorious!  The Irish infantry disperse...

Not so easy to see, but the Jacobite infantry are advancing on the left-hand side of the woods, but the British reserves are now occupying the rest of it

More of the Jacobite infantry are thrown out of the wood with heavy losses (left-centre); the Franco-Jacobites are struggling to make any kind of progress

After regrouping another Jacobite assault is made..and repelled

The French infantry is stuck in front of the town, exchanging fire...

The position as the  Franco-Jacobite general calls an end to the battle, despairing of making progress.

Game Notes:

A much simpler affair than last time, The Franco-Jacobites just had nothing go quite right for them so it seemed right to pack up rather than carry out an almost certainly doomed third assault.   Perhaps someone else can read the tactical runes better, but I still think that the basic plan has to be to clear the wood, separate the British positions then defeat in detail.  Anything else is going to fail without wild amounts of luck. As it was, the Franco-Jacobites didn't even have modest amounts of luck and so everything basically miscarried.

The scenarios in One Hour Wargames are expressed in the same terms as real military exercises in that they have a 'Blue' force or army (the friendlies) against a 'Red' force or army (the enemy).  Charles Grant scenarios are expressed in the same way in many instances.  But I wonder if this leads to unconsciously making the tasks of the Blue side a little harder than that of the Red?  The reason I mention this is that I usually make the 'Blue' side the Franco-Jacobites and the 'Red' side the Hanoverian British, for obvious reasons.

Figures as ever by Baccus 6mm from its WSS range, the buildings are mainly Leven.