Battle of the Hills of Salamanca

[[N]Isaac_Brock]

Hello all,

Bear with me as I tell you a tale, the tale of a fiercely fought battle among the rolling hills and trees of Salamanca, Spain. It also happens to be my first battle report, so here goes...

Taking to the field that warm Saturday were:

Attackers
Goldy (Netherlands)
Tac (Spain)
Isaac_Brock (France)

Vs.

Defenders
Sinister (Prussia)
Clinch (Prussia)
Pally (Prussia)

Deployment and Initial Moves:

A glorious morning dawned fresh on the hills of Salamanca as a strange alliance of Spanish, French and Dutch troops united to throw the Prussians out of their foothold on the Spanish peninsula.

Drawing upon Spain’s new guerilla unit technique, Tac deployed two units of Spanish hussars deep behind Pally’s lines, for use later.After deployment, I moved my units forward to take the hill and cover the far right. Sinister kept his units back and deployed on the lee side of the hill, safe from artillery fire. Tac moved his skirmishers and artillery forward. I mistakenly didn't bring artillery, so I had none to use.

Pally took up a defensive (and much superior position, I might add) on his hill opposite myself. He brought forward horse artillery and began an extended artillery dual with Tac. Clinch moved up and deployed his units in defense of both the town and readied himself to move to support either Pally or Sinister should trouble arise. Sinister moved forward and took a heavily forested hill right in front of him. Most of his troops disappeared into deep cover, save for some units of cavalry which moved forward to scout.

First Blood
Goldy moves a unit of horse artillery to the left of the town on the hillside. Moving through town, Sinister sees an opportunity and charges it with a unit of Freikorp cavalry, with two units of lancers ready to support. But Tac has a unit of fusiliers on hand and two Dutch cavalry units come rushing forward. Sinister gets one gun from the horse artillery unit before his attack is repelled. He seems ready to escape with his unit intact before Tac’s fusiliers shot them down .

Tac’s guerilla cavalry see an opportunity and rushes forward in an attempt to get Pally’s general, his two units of horse artillery, or all three. But Pally is quick and reacts promptly to his attack. Using a unit of Brandenberg Uhlans he deals a devastating charge to Tac’s first unit of hussars, followed up with a charge by Prussian Hussars. Tac does get a unit through and manages to immobilize (but not rout) both his horse artillery units before his cav is routed.

The main attack begins
Goldy seems to withdraw up the hill, but almost immediately charges down and moves to attack Sinister’s centre, with Tac in support of his centre-right. Clinch moves to support and engage Goldy/Tac as well. While Goldy shifts right, Sinister sends three line and a couple of light infantry to attack Goldy’s right flank, which has been weakened by the strength poured into the main assault.

I begin shifting my cavalry left, as it is not doing squat.

Tac and Goldy force Sinister back onto the hill. His right begins to retreat once my cavalry arrive, tired and ragged, from the west. I proceed to send my cavalry around Sinister’s far right which, in turn, forces him to retreat further onto the hill.

Charging with five line, including two Walloon Guard, Tac punches a sizeable hole in Clinch’s right/Sinister’s left. Units stream through and Clinch withdraws slightly to a better position, closely pursued by Tac. Goldy begins to send units through the gap and threatens to bust the whole front open.

Meanwhile a sizeable cavalry battle begins once my cavalry make it to the centre, and engage Pally/Clinch’s lancer units.

The Counterattack
With his remaining forces, Sinister charges down the hill and engages Goldy’s units as they rush forward to engage Clinch. Goldy turns and forms his units into line where a shooting match begins between the Prussians and Dutch. The contest is a close one, but in the end, legendary Prussian marksmanship wins out versus Dutch tenacity. Goldy will eventually withdraw toward Tac and my position.

Meanwhile, I move my lights forward followed by my line to begin threatening the hill. With Tac’s help, I’m able to threaten Pally's right. He eventually retreats from the hill and reforms at the very back of the map. Goldy and Tac reinforce a small hill in the centre which, when fortified with a unit of horse artillery appears quite formidible.

End Game
While we have the hill, we were outnumbered as Sinister, Clinch and Pally still have sizeable forces remaining. Pally moves his lights forward, at which point I send my lone cavalry unit (my general) to intercept. To my surprise, two units of lights rout shortly into the attack and I killed his general. I move in with a unit of Old Guard and Swiss Guard, both of which are out of ammo. I charge down and force Pally to retreat east. My melee troops catch him and rout two units of line.

Meanwhile, Sinister has moved to the left to threaten Goldy and Tac. Both manage to fend off his attack and with the assistance of his artillery, repel Sinister’s attack.

With the balance of infantry now in our favour, a melee battle begins, partly decided by a still-strong unit of French Old Guard. The match soon is brought to a conclusion...

As the smoke clears from the battlefield of Salamanca, the combined forces of France, the Netherlands and Spain have managed to seize the battlefield from their enemies. The victory belongs to the allies, but at what cost? Close to 10,000 men lying dead on the battle field...

Here are the statistics
Kills Losses
Goldy 1200 1436
Tac 1325 1426
Isaac 1149 1113
Sinister 1284 1276
Clinch 1218 1252
Pally 1218 1252

Result: Close Victory for Attackers

Secretly, I’m surprised it wasn’t a Pyrrhic victory. Still, it was a hard fought battle, gentlemen, and a very worthy one at that. Cheers!

[[N]Von Clausewitz]

Excellent account Isaack. Great job on your first battle report.

Soldats, je suis content de vous.

VC

[[N]Clinch]

Yes that was a great battle. Very good battle report. I've noticed general's unit is now more powerful since the last patch

[[N]Pints of Guinness]

Great battle report mate! I'm also glad to see the statistics included as well as it gives us an even deeper account. Surprising to see melee be so effective.

[[N]Sloop]

Well laid out report Velite, an enjoyable read.

[[N]Fullin]

Nuce read.....

[Pally]

Nicely Done Isaac. Good fight and a good read.

[[N]Tactacus]

Excellent battle report m8,as it was an excellent fight too.Great stuff m8 i do love a good battle report,and also the plus point is these count towards ones rank.
Keep em coming

[[N]Sloop]

Wonderful report stable boy however please refrain from the "statistics" as should I have been involved in the conflict my kill ratio would have overshadowed the good work of those equally nobel yet far less capable.