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FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 5:01 pm
by moncholee
Mi opponent deployed a Later Imperial Spanish with four Bgs late tercios (one elite and three superior), two of cuirassiers (horse heavy armored), two of reiters, one of dragoons and two artillery batteries. So I used my own Later Imperial Spanish. Let´s say my army mutinied for lack of pay and they come to bring us under command again :) And in the table at our side... Later Imperial Spanish vs Caroline Imperialist. Yeah!

Deployment of both armies was standard: tercios in the center and mounted at the flanks, save that I put all the cuirassiers on my right... just in front of his artillery! As they were relatively unprotected I decided to go for a glorious (or suicidal) charge against them, as fast as I could, using the average cuirassiers as a shield for their superior comrades, hoping that at least these ones reached the artillery. Flander´s Army veterans are like that.

Initial deplyment, my troops on the close side of the picture.

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Charge!

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My dragoons, benefiting from a difficult terrain, face enemy mounted and dragoons.

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On the center, infantry gets closer. Brother against brother!

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On the right flank the charge continues. Artillery fires furiously at the wall of steel that comes over it, producing casualties at the shield cuirassiers and putting them at the verge of annihilation.

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On the center and left flank the troops continue advancing. Not much action yet.

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Half a league half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred:
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Or like Iron Maiden would say...

You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand there's no turning back

The bugle sounds as the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As you plunge into a certain death

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The cuirassiers take a final bombardment at point blank... and hold! Both batteries are rolled over and captured.

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Infantry keeps advancing. On the left, enemy cuirassiers caught up my evading dragoons and broke them. Fortunately the difficult terrain protected my artillery from the victorious cuirassiers. A general will try to rally the intact but broken dragoons to no avail.

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On the center we get into firing range and... what happens? Altough I have more groups I can´t concentrate fire. With the same firepower, the bigger size of late tercios protected them from taking as many morale test as I had to take. I begin to loss cohession and take casualties. Time to charge!

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On my right flank I win the fight of mounted but just barely, not before I get to make a rear charge.

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On my left flank enemy cuirassiers go into the difficult terrain to avoid one of my tercios, but they get stuck and are destroyed by artillery fire. My dragoons take cover behind a wall. My artillery is finally safe.

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The infantry clash goes horribly wrong! Two broken tercios and the rest are disrupted or fragmented. Aren´t they the best infantry in Europe? Oh yes, enemy´s the best too :)

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Just one of my tercios wins its combat, the rest is broken or fragmented. My victorious mounted wing comes to the rescue, but maybe too late? The situation is critical, both armies are one point from breaking.

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My artillery punishes his reiters and finally break them. Victory! It has been a close call, a hard and epic battle, but it was the least you could expect from two spanish armies, wasn´t it?

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Re: FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:54 pm
by gibby
Nice report, good pictures.
cheers
Jim

Re: FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:19 pm
by timmy1
Very good pictures. Your opponent's army looks wonderful.

Re: FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:14 am
by deadtorius
thanks for the write ups and congratulations on defeating the not so great Spanish :wink:
I have been looking at the later Spanish list from Wars of Religion to add as an ally or new army for our later German 30 years war bashes. so far its still just looking but I managed to gather enough Spanish infantry flags for them.
Love to see if elite Tercio is really as good as I hope it is.

Re: FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:30 pm
by timmy1
Oh they are VERY good. I have given them a go and they are tough but very vulnerable to artillery.

Re: FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:45 pm
by moncholee
Thank you for your comments.

I haven´t used elite tercios enough to really know, but I have heard from a fellow player that regularly uses them that they are killing machines in close combat with a general. Altough I would say that the greatest strenght of Spanish armies is their ability to field all its infantry as superior if so desired. Fielding an elite unit is a plus.

Re: FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:07 am
by deadtorius
Yes the whole superior army is very tempting, as is one 9 base Tercio of elites. One of these days they will see the table for sure.

Re: FOGR in Granada 2012, game 2

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:21 pm
by zaknafir
Nice shots Moncho! :wink:

Cheers,
Javi