Neil Thomas One Hour Wargames Scenario 30

And - it had to happen - the last scenario in Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames book: Scenario 30, aka 'Last Stand'. 

 

 

 

This specific scenario doesn't have a particular historical reference given, the sources of inspiration mentioned are two CS Grant scenarios (one with Stuart Asquith). In essence, the attacking force has to wipe out the defending force. The attackers can be replenished as many times as needed but they only have 15 turns to do it. Again, I am using the Polemos: Ruse de Guerre rules:

 

 

The Forces:

The British: 2 infantry bases, 1 artillery base (all Elite +1 to all firing and combat rolls)

The Franco-Spanish: 6 infantry bases, 1 artillery base, 2 dragoon bases

 

The British unit on the hill is in strong defensive redoubt.  This can only fit inside one unit.

The Set-Up:

The British are spread between hill, wood and town - concentration is vital, but leaving huge gaps is probably worse...

The Battle:

A French infantry brigade crosses the river - the defending British infantry are more confident in holding the woods than defending the river line

Meanwhile, the Spanish infantry brigade attacks the town, whilst the French Dragoons are in central reserve

Surprisingly, the British are coming off words as the French infantry advance towards the woods

The Spanish infantry similarly get the better of the British gunners in the town

The way is clear for the Spanish

Despite their losses, the British hold on in the woods: the French deploy, in order to bring their guns into play.  The Dragoons follow up.

The big Spanish brigade needs a couple of turns to reform in order to get into marching order

One of those strange situations: in the close-range musketry battle, both sides break each other simultaneously!

The British flee through the woods; meanwhile the rout of the lead French infantry battalion causes mass disorder in the French Left!

This leads to mass panic, as the French infantry, dragoons and gunners all flee back across the bridge!!!!!

The wider view: although the debacle on the French Left is hilarious/annoying, there is only a single British unit left in the fight...

Reserve French formations arrive and advance on the Left; the Spanish infantry makes steady progress on the Right

The Franco-Spanish prepare a three-pronges assault on the final redoubt

The assault goes in

After brief but futile resistance, the last British unit breaks

Victory to the Franco-Spanish

A wider shot.

Game Notes:

A nice game to round it all off. There was a quirk in this halfway through: the Franco-Spanish army morale actually collapsed after the collapse of the two French brigades on the Left. The scenario rules allowed all these to be replaced, but the question was whether to:

a. Count this as an actual British victory.

b. Ignore Franco-Spanish army morale.

c. Rule that the whole Franco-Spanish army needed to be replaced.

I chose 'b' as closest to the broad intent of the scenario author, but all three options are viable, I think.

Overall, I think because of the linear-scaling firepower within the rules identified in earlier battles, this one is going to be an even bigger struggle for the defenders than perhaps the author intended; it might therefore be worthwhile considering 'a' an option in the future, in order to enforce an appropriate level of difficulty and caution on the attacker. 

 

I hope those readers who have been following some or all of the series have enjoyed it. I hope to wrap it all up with some closing thoughts on scenarios, rules, terrain and so on tomorrow.

Figures by Baccus 6mm, buildings by Leven, bridges by Timecast (I think)