Napoleonic's: Capture the Gun

With the spy safely in their custody the British had determined that the information she held was in fact the location of a large amount of gold which had been stolen from their pay train. This was now in the hands of a local Spanish bandit leader who had it under guard at a strongly fortified post. In order to have a chance of getting the gold the attackers would need some serious firepower. Fortunately they had heard of the location of a Spanish artillery piece stuck in a bog which if liberated could be used. Somehow the French had also caught wind of this so both sides raced to take hold of the cannon.

The main objective was to seize hold of the cannon with bonus campaign points on offer for holding the gun powder stores at the end of the game. Both sides stuck with the same force composition as the last battle. 

Major Berkeley concentrated his forces to gain the cannon whilst Major de la Croix decided to try and contest all the objectives more evenly. 

The battle started with the British making moves on their left whilst the French also made the stronger advance on their left. 

Both sets of cavalry advanced up behind the cover of hills and faced by waiting infantry both would decide to dismount in order to offer a smaller target.

This ended badly for the British cavalry as cresting the hill on foot they met with a deadly volley of fire from the French and where forced to make a retreat having suffered 50% casualties.

On the British right both sides hung back from making the dash for the cannon and instead traded mostly ineffective fire. The British did have the greater numbers so did start to wear the French down a bit.

They even managed to send the Voltigeurs running for cover with a well delivered volley from their Grenadiers who had advanced in front of the light infantry. The French Hussars had also by this time dismounted and advanced onto the hill and met the same fate as their British counterparts.

On the French right some unusually accurate fire had taken it tole on the British and effectively knocked them out of the fight for the gun powder.

The British now pushed into the advance on their right whilst trying to maintain a steady fire on the French.

It was about this time that Major de la Croix seeking to inspire his men into the advance rode to the fore and with a cry of 'en avant vers la victoire' dashed across the road. Unfortunately for him a Grenadier levelled his musket and with a deadly shot knocked him from his mount.

Not to be outdone Major Berkeley had himself ridden to the front and single handily engaged the Voltigeurs. The suddenness of his appearance and the ferocity of his assault led them to panic and flee once more. 

So as night fell both sides consolidated their gains with the French firmly in control of the powder and the British holding the cannon.

This takes the campaign scores to 12-4 for the British as Major Berkeley managed his personal objective of spending at least 8 command points and Major de la Croix fell whilst trying to achieve his.