la albuera (May 16, 1811)
the scenario for napoleon's battles
INTRODUCTION
The battle was fought the 16th may 1811 between a British
Army under Beresford, which was besieging the fortress of Badajoz, and
a French relieving force hastily collected by Marshal Soult including
elements of his Army of the South (Armée du Midi), from the Cordoba
garrison and from the corps besieging the town of Cádiz. Hearing form
the approach of Soult, Beresford took up a defensive position at La
Albuera. The aim of Soult was to attack Beresford before the Spanish
Ejército de Extremadura (under General Blake) linked up with the
British force.
La Albuera was one of the bloodiest battles of the Peninsular War: both
armies suffered around 33% casualties. The battle included the
overriding of British infantry by Polish lancers and several vicious
infantry fire fights leading ultimately to the French rout. Soult was
obliged to retire again towards Sevilla but the subsequent British
siege of Badajoz resulted unsuccessful.
The Order Of Battle used is mainly based on two books:
"History of the Peninsular War. Vol. IV: December 1810 -
December 1811. Massena's Retreat, Fuentes de Onoro, Albuera, Tarragona"
, Charles Oman, Greenhills Books 2004
"The fatal hill. The Allied Campaign under Beresford in
Southern Spain in 1811". Marks Thompson. Marks Thompson Publishing,2002
HOUSE RULES
The second edition of Napoleon's Battles edited by Five Forks has been used (including all the
optional rules) with some slight modifications fully explained in the
Albuera pdf file and in the Home-Rules
section:
1) The cavalry scale
is also 1/120. To avoid distortions, 2 figures were removed for each 3
casualties.
2) Units of cavalry from 480 men upwards are
allowed and units of infantry with less than four elements are also
allowed to display under-strength infantry units.
3) Routed
units can try to rally without an attached general with an additional
'-3' modifier.
4) Divisional batteries are used (with a -1
modifier). The infantry fire is carried out as usual, but the resulting losses are not
marked on the target unit, but are only used to cause disorder.
5) C-i-C ratings. Do not use
“10” as Response number of the C-i-C’s but use the values assigned to them
as Corps Commanders.
TABLE-TOP ADAPTATION
Albuera pdf file
Old map
Game map
INITIAL DEPLOYMENT
General Allied view
Portuguese (left)
British (center)
Spanish (right)
SPECIFIC RULES OF THE SCENARIO
The Scenario file propose three variants:
Historical
The Godinot Brigade and its accompanying cavalry demonstrated
against and ultimately attacked La Albuera. The V Corps divisions made a
wide flank march and attacked the right/rear of the Allied line. The
Werle Brigade and the Grenadiers Réunis were maintained as Reserve in
that zone of the battlefield.
The plan of Beresford
Beresford drew his army on the hypothesis that Soult will
attempt to break through his centre, by capturing La Albuera and
storming the heights behind. In this scenario Soult adheres to this
plan.
Soult is right
Soult offered battle under the believing that the Spanish
Ejército de Extremadura has not linked up with Beresford’s force. In
this scenario Blake’s army is not in the field, but may arrive during
the battle.
In all the cases the actual Entry zone is found by dicing.
FRENCH ARRIVAL TIMES AND INITIAL ACTIONS
| The scenario chosen was the
historical (See scenario file above). French units and their initial
actions were the following: 9.00 h: Go and 1B/C enter at A2 (woods) and proceed to attack La Albuera W, 2B/C and 3B/C enter at A3 with Soult 9.30 h: G and V enter at A5 (road) 4B/C enters at D5 10.00h: 1 and 2 enter at B5 (woods) and start to outflank the Allied right 10.30h: W, 2B/C and 3B/C follow the tracks of 1 and 2 |
VICTORY POINTS
The town of La Albuera and the Badajoz road (D1) are worth each one the 50% of
the Allied/French victory points. All terrain objectives are Allied-controlled
at the beginning of the game.
THE BATTLE IN PICTURES