Background
In Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as “Battle of Arapiles”) an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Duke of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont’s French forces among the hills around Arapiles, south of Salamanca, Spain on 22 July 1812 during the Peninsular War. A Spanish division was also present but took no part in the battle.
The battle involved a succession of flanking manoeuvres in oblique order, initiated by the British heavy cavalry brigade and Pakenham’s 3rd division, and continued by the cavalry and the 4th, 5th and 6th divisions. These attacks resulted in a rout of the French left wing. Both Marmont and his deputy commander, General Bonet, received shrapnel wounds in the first few minutes of firing. Confusion amongst the French command may have been decisive in creating an opportunity, which Wellington successfully seized and exploited.
General Bertrand Clausel, third in seniority, assumed command and ordered a counterattack by the French reserve toward the depleted Allied centre. The move proved partly successful but with Wellington having sent his reinforcements to the centre, the Anglo-Portuguese forces prevailed.
Allied losses numbered 3,129 British and 2,038 Portuguese dead or wounded. The Spanish troops took no part in the battle as they were positioned to block French escape routes and as such suffered just six casualties. The French suffered about 13,000 dead, wounded and captured. As a consequence of Wellington’s victory, his army was able to advance to and liberate Madrid for two months, before retreating to Portugal. The French were forced to abandon Andalusia permanently while the loss of Madrid irreparably damaged King Joseph’s pro-French government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salamanca
The Game
We decided to use this battle to try out Snappy Nappy Napoleonic rules, in our never ending quest to find a good set of rules to finish a period battle in about four hours. We set up the battlefield, forces and objectives using the old Napoleon’s Battle Salamanca scenario. The field was about five foot deep by twelve foot wide. Most of the British forces were deployed either off table or using hidden placement to try to simulate the surprise they achieved historically.
The forces all started in their historical deployment areas. However, as the French players know how the battle played out historically, they did not follow their historical counterpart’s advance. Instead, they fortified the center position and awaited the British attacks. This kind of turned the game into an attrition battle. With the cascading hit system in rules, casualties were somewhat random. Artillery ended up being quite potent, as the British has problems making their saves! Both forces slogged it out until they had exhausted themselves, but leaving the French in position of the important hill. It looked like a counterfactual French victory, until the British were able to steal an unprotected objective on the flank and squeak out a victory for His Majesty!
– Manteuffel