7th FOGN game vs a Russia 1815 Infantry corps.

Following a break down in negotiations at the Congress of Vienna, the Russian army has deployed to invade PORTUGAL. 

General Viscount WELLINGTON has been forced to deploy his army to attack the town of CASCAISES that Russian infantry corps has occupied....

The Anglo-Portuguese army is on a probe with 1 or more divisions on a flanking march. The Russian army to the north is on a full scale Frontal Assault. Two Russian brigades defend the two parts of the town.

 

The Anglo-Portugeuse army (using Prussian Stand ins)

I played my 7th Field of Glory Napoleonic game vs Dave amd his Russian 18th Infantry corps. I was using his Prussian army as stand in.

Davie is rated in the top 10 general's in FOGN. You will shortly see why. 

3rd and 1st division deploy on two steep hills. This will be a mistake.

I wanted to try an envelop mission again, this time using the Light AND Cavalry division. My other divisions had large units so this time might be able to withstand the enemy for long enough. I deployed ON two steep hills (this was a big mistake).

A difficult river, walled paddock and impassable quarry are to the east.

The Russian army - three divisions in total.

They advance quickly, straight ahead.

I move to try and flank the assault, but too slow over the left hill and the right one slows me down too much. My 9 pounders failed to hit anything in the ENTIRE GAME.

 At this point I knew SOMETHING WAS VERY WRONG, but I didn't know what. But I had a feeling that today was not going to end in victory.

The Coldstream guards move to support the 44th foot.

The Russian dragoons and light infantry outflank the Highlander brigade. My guns are facing the wrong way and failed their roll to turn right fast enough.

The LIGHT DIVISION arrives. Will they be too late? The 95th rifles are to the left, the Lusitanian Legion in the centre, and Spanish guerrillas on the right. Ahead in the town is a poor conscript unit.

My flank march arrived only 1 turn later than possible, but it was still too slow. If I had deployed my army BEHIND the steep hills, the attackers would still be approching me. As is, the flank march arrived 1 turn later than the earliest possible, and was still going to be too slow.

The Calvary division arrives too. The Heavy Dragoons advance quickly, the light dragoons and Portuguese dragons behind.

The armies engage.

Gunfire goes out, but I take a lot more disordered troops.

I had to make a choice at this point. My guard unit on the left is wavering and has two steady enemy units to their front;. Do they charge (without support!) or stay. I decided to stay. Looking back, my only chance to win was to charge, and the odds were very bad. But better to charge with a Superior elan Veteran Guard unit than not. If they had made into hand to hand combat, they had a better chance at winning than shooting it out.
+3

The Russian dragoons with a brigade commander get behind my lines and approach my line of communication.

My unit on the hill falls back, as the guards. Several of my units are disordered and the Russian army is nearly completely unaffected.

The Light Davison prepares to assault the town.

In they go!

The British Dragoons prepare to charge through the British lines.

My Line of Communication is broken, as is the Highlander unit that was holding the right flank. My artillery breaks and the centre is falling back.

The 95th rifles easily take the western side of the town

The Russian army is surrounding the British.

My right flank is retiring, my left flank is failing. Situation excellent, attack! The Heavy Dragoons charge forward and break a unit! However, they are BRITISH DRAGOONS and go straight forward and are unsupported.

My centre is giving way. Only the 21st Portuguese brigade stands in the way, and it's wavering.

The heavy dragoons flee and waver the Portuguese dragons. The 95th Rifles prepare to assault the right side of the town and the enemies line of communication, but are too late!

The centre of my line disintegrates and only one brigade stands on the right, surrounded.  Merde.

At the point around turn 2, where I knew SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG I could see I was going to be in trouble. What was the crucial mistake above all others was deploying on the steep hill. In FOGN artillery is practically useless on rough terrain and the artillery brigade did only 1 actual hit the entire battle.  The infantry on it couldn't do much damage outside and took more damage in.

I should have placed my army BEHIND the steep hills, and forced/lured the enemy to attack over them. Then the cavalry division would have hit them from behind.

I also should have taken more note of where the enemy deployed, and simply moved to the left out of their way. Frontal assault can't change direction much for the first two turns.

I could also not have got the river and instead got a road to place my LOC further left and out of range of his dragoons. It was too close.

I'm not as good tactically as most players who have 1-30+ years experience of Napoleonic warfare. I'm going to take some soviet advice and lower the amount of divisions from 4 to 3, to make command of units simpler. In this game, it didn't help much having the extra morale reroll.

The Portuguese dragoons didn't help much. A veteran KGL unit works better as a reserve and more able to support failure when it happens.

One of my many mistakes was NOT assaulting with my Guards unit. They were wavering, but being Guards may have actually got into close combat, and won. I should commit them to that if it comes down to it. They, and the 95th Rifle's make a perfect assault unit on towns or fortifications, but would require a 2nd unit to go in with them.