Talavera Battle Report
On Saturday, July 3rd 2004 our group played the Talavera scenario using the
Napoleon's Battles rule set. Casey Hall and Joe Underwood played the
French and I took over the allied command. As this was our first game playing Napoleons Battles in a few years,
we did not take any notes on when certain events took place during the game (it
was all we could do trying to remember the rules).
As such, this battle report isn't as detailed as we would like, but you should
get a good idea of what happened. Needless to say, we had a blast!
Casey and Joe (Playing the French) did a fantastic job and even the Spanish did
better than their historical counterparts. Most importantly, fun was had by all.
Results of the battle are at the very bottom of this page. I'm sure we all made
rules mistakes but the game was a great learning experience and
already we are planning the next big event.
All French Models were provided (and painted) by Joe and all Allied were mine
(as I didn't have enough Spanish painted up, I had to proxy in some of my
Portuguese). We are still in the process of rebasing our models to match
the Napoleon's Battles basing system.
The End:
Unfortunately, due to us getting started late, we were unable to finish the
battle. However, at the time the guys had to leave, it was pretty obvious
that the French had the clear upper hand. The Spanish army was in tatters
and very close to breaking. The British were still holding most of I Corps
at bay, but the French IV Corps which had smashed through the broken Spanish
line had flanked the Cerrro de Medelin hilltop and were about to launch the
final assault on the pitifully few defenders. Even if by some miracle the
British were able to hold onto the hill top, the allied casualties caused during the
game were horrendous and that alone should have given the French enough VPs to
win. However, as I said above, this game was a blast.
Congratulations to Casey and Joe for a fine game!
