Battle Santarem 19th November 1810 - Part 2
Setup (reminder)
The Battle: After the 4/47th departed, escorting General Foy out of Portugal, Reynier received orders from Massena to hold Santarem. Junot’s 8th and Ney’s 6th Corps could reinforce Reynier within 24 hours. Wellington received false intelligence on the 17th that the French were vacating Santarem. Wellington resolved to attack.
We return at Turn 6, French have 3 victory points for destroying Pack, Allies at 0:
Game ends French major victory 6 points versus Allies 0. The mud was a serious issue with the Allies most stuck in it until turn 6. Michael typically sets up his scenarios to be 3-4 turns getting in contact, 3-4 turns fighting, 3-4 turns resolution. That did not happen in this game, with only a 1/3 chance to move most of the Allies got stuck, and the main force had the widest part of the mud to cross. The ½ speed move through the mud was a serious drawback – with the limited deployment space. I would suggest if replaying it to do the roll D6 for the formed battalions where only a 1 result shows the unit stuck, 2-6 just a ½ move. We gave the Allies Anson the Elite KGL as an option upgrade, and the French got another foot artillery for Santarem that became Foy’s. In a replay I would not give the French the extra artillery, they would also not get to change orders at turn 1 which was only set by the scenario as this allowed the release of Sarrut / Foy too early. This game was heavily affected by the fates of the dice as the French couldn’t hit anything with artillery canister for the first 6 turns, but on volley, melee, and towards the end artillery the 6s poured out. Alan had to leave from turn 10 to 12 so taking his battle plan I finished off the game – even then the elusive 6s for the allies still turned up for the French!! Weird how that happens.
The historical outcome:
Pack was without his artillery that got stuck in the mud so his advance faltered. Wellington realised as he saw Craufurd and Spencers advance stall that Santarem was occupied in force so he called off the attack. The scenario is a “what if” Craufurd was successful in getting Wellington to press the attack?
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