Talavera Night Attack

[Bill Slavin]

We played the second of the Talavera scenarios from Jonathon Jones' O'er the Hills Early Peninsular War Scenarios book this weekend. The night attack leads to a very different sort of scenario as troops stumble around in the dark, trying to keep to their line of advance but with a 60% chance on any move veering off to the left or right. The darkness also impacts the ability to fire or execute close combat as visibility is in d10 inches, with us rarely rolling over a 5 in the entire game! On a number of occasions advances on both sides had to be delayed as brigadiers went looking for lost battalions to bring them back in line but despite all of this, we still managed to have a battle!
Here is the full AAR if you are interested:
https://tinywarsplayedindoors.blogspot.com/2023/01/talavera-night-attackjuly-27th-1809.html

[Kekso]

The night attack

Then you should take some photos at night without any artificial light source

Just kidding, awesome work. Congratz

[Bill Slavin]

Then you should take some photos at night without any artificial light source

Just kidding, awesome work. Congratz

I actually considered photoshopping them all to a dark blue monochrome.

[Bessiere]

Beautiful figures on that lovely table. Looks like a great stumbling scrum.
Cheers,
Bessiere

[Susofrick]

Beautiful figures on that lovely table. Looks like a great stumbling scrum.
Cheers,
Bessiere

Agree totally!

[Peter]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

[C M Dodson]

Excellent stuff and a completely different scenario.

The question of night time manoeuvres is usually depicted with superb accuracy at the movies but the reality is completely different, especially before modern navigational systems were invented.

It is interesting to go into the real, pitch dark, preferably in a wood and see how difficult it is even with a compass to try and keep on course without crippling yourself !

Trying to keep units formed and on track must have been a nightmare, never mind directing fire control.

Brilliant stuff Bill.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Bill Slavin]

All true, Chris, which is why they so rarely occurred. I was happy to referee this game as it meant I could track (and enjoy!) all the crazy moves and feel none of the frustration as the unit’s commander and player.

[Rich W]

Excellent work Bill, those figures look great on the table. I look forward to your next report!

[Minuteman]

A different scenario, and fine photos of your Peninsular armies in action...fortunately in good light, even though I appreciate that this is a night action. All very inspiring.