The Marquis of Montrose in Leganés, Spain - sep 2013, Game 1

[moncholee]

I attended this tournament once again (see last year´s reports on viewtopic.php?f=108&t=38360). This time I wanted to change the Late Imperial Spanish army I usually use as I wanted a bit of change and also avoid repetitive spanish vs spanish battles, as this army is very popular here in Spain. I considered some alternative armies and finally chose Scots Reslists. I liked it because it was an unusual army and noticede that many of their troops had swords, such as the Irish brigades and the highlanders, those last ones also being warriors, impact foot and musket*. The high amount of fire or the ferocious charge would disrupt the enemy, who would be beaten by the swords. Not having superior troops neither mounted (almost) would allow me to field manu Bgs, so I would be able to support all the main fighting line. A great commander, the Marquis of Montrose, would give extra ressilience to my troops, allowing me to stand long enough until some enemy got disrupted and then the charge would come. Even more, I would dominate terrain with the highlanders!

The disadvantages would be no artillery and just one BG of low quality mounted, and no supeior troops. But these weaknessess seemed small compared to the strengths of the army. So I brought them to the tournament with just two practice games under my belt. As you will see, that would be critical...


The list:

1 Great Commander
3 Troop Commanders
1 BG of 4 horse average, unarmoured, shoot pistol and melee pistol
1 BG of 3 dragooons
1 BG of 4 light horse scottish, light spear, sword
3 BG of P&S irish, sword
2 BG of P&S scottish
3 BG of P&S scottish, poor
3 BG of 8 highlanders



GAME 1: Tlaxcaltecas with spanish ally

Bad start. This is one of the worst armies that I could face, as their main weakness is fighting against artillery or mounted, just what I didn´t had. I had to trust victory on far greater firepower

The tlaxclat... the talclax... the pagans deployed infantry in the center and skirmishers on the wings, with a few spanish troops commanded by some Hernán Cortés on their right wing.




I advance to occupy the hills and the terrain.






I try to reach and charge their skirmishers with my light horse and dragoons but as soon as I get into bow range... as a matter of fact, enemy skirmishers would be lethal during all the game!




I order defensive positions on my left wing.




The pagans went to battle with colourful clothes, and no armour. Crazy, aren´t they?






I spot a chance on my right wing. My highlanders there just have to expand and advance to finish the archers and skirmishers in front of them. The dragoons would then be able to hunt the skirmishers on the edge of the battlefield, while the rest of troops concentrate fire on the elite enemy warriors thar are approaching.




On the center the lines get closer. I start firing but to no effect on the pagan hordes.




Things are not as they should be on the right wing... pagans seem immune to the rain of lead that falls upon them. Not only that, my highlanders fragment under the fire of obsolete pagan bows!




The lines clash with the violence that can only come from impact foot warriors! The pagans have not been softened by my fire and that´s a big problem, as they are superior...






The same Marquis of Montrose joins their troops in the fight... and dies in the first charge!




The situation gets hard... my troops start to lose cohesion, and the fragmented highlanders break!




On the left wing there is an impasse where no army advances, altough a group of highlanders is killing many pagans with their muskets, but they stand firm.






Violence!






Finally the pagans under musket fire break and flee, but those same highlanders are in trouble. A poor regiment giving rear support “redeploys” realizing what is probably going to happen...




Another poor regiment redeploys too when the friendly troops in front of them are annihilated. It is sad, I know.




The impasse continues on the left wing. The horse must take cover behind friendly infantry due to good aim of the spanish artillery.




And time came and the battle was over. I was one or two points from breaking and had just broke one enemy BG. Catastrophic defeat for the scottish!

[Simpleton]

Your report has great pictures, the action was exciting, and the flags and paint jobs excellent. The colonial Spanish are a fearsome lot since they are rated above what the homeboys are listed as. Cheers.

[moncholee]

Thank you! The flags were certainly very nice and a change from the Burgundian Crosses my troops usually carry.

[Scrumpy]

I don't suppose you can remember the Colonial Spanish list?

[moncholee]

It was an small contingent composed of two superior determined horse, six armored superior impact foot and two artillery, as far as I can recall. I don´t have the list book so I can´t check it.

[Scrumpy]

Thank you.