Refighting Ameixial

Three Hundred and Sixty One years ago, on 8th of June, Spanish invaders under the command of John of Austria, took up position near the town of Ameixial do Victoria to face a Portuguese force led by Sancho Manoel de Vilhena.  On 22nd June 2024 the same forces squared off on a tabletop in Hong Kong.  Could the Spanish army reverse the result of the original battle - which saw 4,000 of their number left upon the field of battle and the personal standard of John of Austria captured and presented to the Portuguese King as a trophy of victory?

Initial dispositions, Portuguese to the left, Spanish to the right.  The Spanish centre is at the crest of a low ridge.  The town of Ameixial is at the top right, behind Correa's cavalry wing.  Within Schomberg's command on the Portuguese side is an English Brigade of 2 infantry regiments and a cavalry regiment.  

The initial dispositions were made in accordance with the scenario given in 'To the Peace of the Pyrenees', a supplement to the Twilight of Divine Right battle rules.  As well as setting out the areas of deployment and whether the forces were in two or three lines, the scenario sets out a scheme for setting the quality of each individual unit.  This gave the Spanish a higher chance than the Portuguese of being raw recruits rather than trained or elite.  After rolling, seven of the Spanish units were found to be raw, four of them among the cavalry.  Only one of their infantry was elite.  The Portuguese ended with two raw units and no fewer than 4 elite, evenly distributed between infantry and cavalry.

Not having tried a game using the additional factors of wavering or determined troops before, I decided to roll for these factors as well, using a simple 1:6 chance of either outcome.  Again the rolls went badly for the Spanish, giving them four wavering units and no determined ones, against 2 determined units on the Portuguese side.  The effect of a raw rating is to give the unit -1 on Morale tests.  Elite units get a +1.  Wavering units have one less morale point to start with, determined get one extra point.  Would the bad quality rolls for the Spanish make the outcome a foregone conclusion?

I took the Spanish side, supported by George who was playing Twilight of Divine Right for the first time.  Jeremy took the Portuguese and was joined later by Anthony who had fought in the Presswitz game a couple of months back.

The Spanish won the initiative and began with an advance of their main cavalry wing, aiming to make use of the space on their right where they overlapped the Portuguese' deep cavalry deployment to get in position to attack their flank.  The Spanish infantry move forward onto the forward slope of the ridge while the mass of Portuguese infantry moves towards them.

Opening moves seen from the other end of the field.  The smaller Spanish cavalry wing has moved forwards to engage and outflank the solitary English cavalry regiment on the end of Schomberg's line.

The challenge for the Spanish cavalry wings was that while they could advance, any wheeling onto the flanks would require action tests.  As both cavalry generals had a 0 rating, they could not help their men with these tests - or give them extra movement.  The consolation was that the Portuguese cavalry commander, de Mello, was also 0 rated.

Looking from behind the Spanish centre as Schomberg's infantry advance towards them.  The English regiments are on the right end of the line as seen from the Spanish position, facing the Spanish artillery. The Spanish infantry extends beyond the English regiments, so if de Mello's cavalry can be held in check there will be a chance to outflank the English!

The Spanish start to turn one group of cavalry onto the Portuguese left flank

and the Spaniards look to envelope the Portuguese right as well

The two English regiments lead a deep column on the left of the Portuguese centre.  De Vilhena is with them while Schomberg is taking charge over on the right.

The Spanish cavalry complete their wheel onto the Portuguese flank.  One column of Portuguese cavalry has advanced but the other has failed an action test to wheel to face the outflanking enemy.

On the other wing, after a Spanish regiment fails a test to charge, the English horse wheel to offer a brave face to the Spanish regiments working around their flanks.  Schomberg has halted the end of his infantry line but they have failed a test to turn to protect the flank of his position against the cavalry threat.  As the rest of the Portuguese centre advances, it will now find itself overlapped at both ends by Spanish infantry.

As the Portuguese line starts to climb the hill in the centre, some of their cavalry start to wheel to face the Spanish horse in the foreground but their other column of cavalry is disrupted by Spanish artillery and does not move.  In the distance, the Spanish horse have routed the English regiment and can now sweep round the flank, even though the end of Schomberg's line has managed to start wheeling to face them.

At this point, the position was looking quite favourable for the Spanish.  However, the indolence for which John of Austria was noted now asserted itself - in other words, I forgot that the Spanish infantry would have done better to have advanced to fire on the Portuguese line - making them take morale tests first - rather than holding position and letting the Portuguese get the first opportunity to make the Spanish take morale tests.

The Portuguese line advances and fires on the Spaniards while they are sunning themselves on the hilltop

A regiment in the Spanish centre takes an immediate morale loss.  John of Austria does not intervene as he is the only Spanish commander with a rating of 1 and does not want to risk being killed in the opening exchanges of the battle.

After more manoeuvring to try to get on enemy flanks, and several failed charge tests by the Spaniards, they finally launch a charge, which does not shake the Portuguese

On the Portuguese right, the English horse has failed to recover and is about to be driven from the field by pursuing Spaniards.  Having organised a line to keep the cavalry off his flank, Schomberg is heading back to the action in the centre.

A set back for the Spaniards as their left most infantry regiment routs under fire from the Portuguese.  The Spanish have been inflicting some losses on the enemy, but not managing to rout anything.  They would have done better if they had been able to charge into hand-to-hand combat as this would have given them an uphill advantage, but they were to fail all but one test to charge.

Against the English, the Spaniards were moving onto the flank as well as firing on them in front with both infantry and artillery.  To the doughty English it was like water off a duck's back.

The cavalry contest on the Spanish Right was becoming a complicated dance of charge, counter-charge and failure to charge, with no-one getting an edge.

The whole field viewed from the Spanish side.  At the top left, Spanish cavalry are now sweeping across the field, ignoring the fight in the centre, to try to tip the cavalry fight on the right in their direction.  The Spanish are holding firm in the centre but not doing significant damage while the Portuguese have now managed to bring up their artillery to support the centre of their line with direct fire.

A turn later and things are starting to shift quickly.  In the cavalry fight, units on both sides are starting to fail morale tests and falling back behind support lines, if available.  In the infantry fight, both sides have lost a regiment that had been worn down by enemy fire.  John of Austria tried to save his but failed, other than failing to get killed himself, but Schomberg's intervention also failed and cost that gallant officer his life.  

After another turn, viewing the field from the Spanish left/Portuguese right.  With the Spanish left wing cavalry mostly having headed off into the distance, one of the Portuguese infantry units has started to march in column to put itself on the Spanish flank while the remaining unit faces down the last remaining Spanish cavalry.  Another Spanish infantry unit has been lost to withering enemy fire.  In the distance, Spanish cavalry units are beginning to give way.  A couple of Portuguese cavalry have also failed morale tests but their retreats have fortuitously put themselves in position facing the Spaniards advancing around the rear!

The Spanish finally manage to get their flanking infantry to charge in against the English regiment on the end of Portuguese line.  But, it comes a little too late...

...the Portuguese had managed to outflank the other end of the line...

...and all but one of the remaining Spanish regiments are routed by Portuguese musketry!

The Spanish centre had to take a morale test, which it failed and John of Austria was carried off in the rout.  But, this did not mean the end of the battle!  The Spanish army had three wings, of which only one had broken, so did not have to take an army morale test.  Could the cavalry salvage something after the exit of the infantry?  In a final turn, a Spanish cavalry regiment managed to get in a flank charge against the English regiments - an opening having appeared due to the rout of the Spanish infantry - and routed one of them!  This was the only success.  Other charges failed to get off the ground and the remaining melées failed to produce results.

We ended the battle there, allowing that the Spanish cavalry might have been able to cover the retreat of their infantry, baggage and artillery, but otherwise giving a well fought victory to the Portuguese, reflecting the original result in 1663.  The 2024 winner was awarded a double helping of chocolate bars, followed by a grand dinner at the Cricket Club - Anthony missed the chocolate as he had had to leave the game early.