Ameixial Refought

In June at the HK Society of Wargamers we refought a key engagement in the Portuguese Restoration War, the 1663 Battle of Ameixial.  This ended with the historical result of a resounding Portuguese victory.  I had been concerned that by using the optional rules for Determined and Wavering troops allowed in 'Twilight of Divine Right' the balance had been tipped too far against the Spanish.  They had ended up with 4 wavering units on top of the 7 raw units they had rolled to start with, while the Portuguese had managed to add 2 Determined units to the 4 elite units they started with.  I had also failed to do anything with the Spanish infantry, throwing away any benefit that being uphill might have give them in melée.  So, I decided to run a refight at the regular Tuesday fight night, doing without the determined/wavering option.  The Spanish infantry were entrusted to Gareth, who could be relied upon to let them get stuck in, while I handled the cavalry.  The Portuguese were under the command of Jeremy, looking to repeat his exploits in the first battle.

Before starting, Jeremy suggested we wait to roll for individual unit quality until the point of contact, to add uncertainty.  I overruled this in favour of deciding quality at the start so that the generals could make use of this knowledge when sorting out their troop deployments.  The result was to more than reverse the imbalance in the first game.   The Portuguese with 18 units could have expected to get around 3 elite and 3 raw units as there was a 1:6 chance of either of these results coming up for them.  They ended with only 2 elite and 1 raw, the remainder being  standard trained units.  The Spanish had 22 units but would be rolling with a 1:3 chance of having raw units, 1:6 for elite and 1:2 for trained.  They ended with 6 raw units, 5 of which were among the infantry, but also with 6 elite units, 5 of which were among the cavalry!

The Portuguese have to attack in the scenario, so Jeremy was now facing an uphill struggle in every sense.  The deployment rules forced him to have one strong cavalry wing and only a single cavalry regiment on the other.  How could an advantage be gained against a much better enemy line up than in the first game?

The picture above shows initial deployments.  The Portuguese right and centre under General Schomberg has its single cavalry regiment at the far right, supported by artillery and adjacent to the two English infantry regiments. The double line of infantry extend to the left of the centre, where a deeper formation of 3 regiments faces the end of the Spanish infantry - their weakest point held by two raw units.  The Spanish infantry line along the ridge of the hill is slightly longer as their artillery has been deployed in the centre and some spacing has been left between units.  A single cavalry regiment sits behind the hill in reserve. Morera's cavalry on the left is placed to outflank the Portuguese.  To the right, Correa's 8 cavalry face the 6 of De Mello's brigade on the Portuguese left.  This allows Correa to extend his line beyond the enemy, threatening outflanking on this side of the field as well.

The Portuguese began by using their superior generals to give the infantry line a double move, bombardment from the Spanish guns failing to have any effect.  De Mello's cavalry advanced alongside the infantry on the left but the small right wing cavalry held back, waiting to see if Morera's brigade would advance.

Morera confidently advanced with his brigade against his weaker opponent

Another double move by most of the Portuguese infantry brought  them near the foot of the hill on which the Spanish line waited, but the English regiments at the end wheeled to block the threat from Morera's cavalry

On the Spanish right, Correa sent forward his two outflanking regiments, one in line, the other in column - hoping that a good action test would allow it to turn into line in position to charge the flank of the Portuguese cavalry if it continued its advance.

Having learned the lesson of the first refight, the Spanish did not wait for the Portuguese to come to them, but as soon as they were in range attempted to charge all along the line - and passed every test except one on the left centre!  The outflanking cavalry also passed action tests, allowing the lead unit to start wheeling while the other changed into line, ready to join the action with a flank attack on its next turn.

In the clashes all along the line, the Portuguese have to take the first morale tests as the Spanish have advanced.  All the cavalry pass comfortably, as do most of the infantry.  But, in the match up of the deep attack column, led by an elite unit, against the raw units on the right end of the Spanish line, the Portuguese lose a morale point!  

A couple more exchanges at the left end of the Spanish line caused one of their regiments to lose a morale point but then their opponents routed under the combined effect of artillery and musketry, with their general not being close enough to allow them to retake a failed test!  

The rest of the line had held well, the Portuguese taking no further losses while inflicting a morale point loss on one Spanish infantry unit and another on an elite cavalry unit, causing it to fall back behind its raw support unit.  Even a flank charge into the end of De Mello's cavalry failed to shake it in the slightest, to Spanish amazement.

But things were not looking good on the Portuguese right.  Morera's cavalry routed the single Portuguese regiment on their first clash, while the English infantry that had formed square to repel cavalry had been advanced on by Spanish infantry, untroubled by bombardment from the Portuguese guns which are set to soon be over-run by the Spanish cavalry.

Another turn of morale tests for combat produced no change.  De Mello's cavalry failed to build any momentum from the earlier push back in the centre.  They were again untroubled by the attack on their flank, but could do nothing against the looming threat of an attack from the rear.  The main infantry attack column again failed to secure any advantage over the raw Spanish infantry.  Finally, on the right, yet another Portuguese unit routed under heavy fire, leaving a gaping hole in the Portuguese line.

At this point we decided to end the game and give our attention to the delicious custard puffs that Gareth had brought as dessert.  The Portuguese could not bank on their cavalry continuing to have the run of luck with morale tests that had kept them in the game so far and there was nothing they could do to stop their right wing being rolled up by the overwhelming force now facing it.

What lessons to draw from this game?  We agreed that Jeremy's proposal to wait to settle unit quality at the first point of engagement might have led to a more interesting battle.  As things were, it was clear from the outset that the Portuguese had only a very narrow road to success while the larger Spanish force had many more options open to it.  But, if the Spanish had been as successful in the delayed rolls as in the initial set up, it is doubtful if the balance would have changed much.  It seems that I was wrong to think I had unbalanced things too far in the earlier refight with the use of determined/wavering troops.  When the uphill advantage of the Spanish infantry is properly used, as in the this game, it really is a very tough fight for the numerically inferior Portuguese unless the quality of the Spanish troops does reflect their poor performance in the real battle.