SCENARIO 29: SHAMBOLIC COMMAND

SITUATION

The Blue army has been ordered to defend a strategic hill. Its superior numbers would normally make this a simple task, were it not hamstrung by appalling leadership.

ARMY SIZES

The Red army has 4 units; the Blue army has 6 units.

DEPLOYMENT

The Blue army deploys 4 units on the hill, facing north; and 2 units in zone 1, also facing north. No Red units are deployed at the start of the game.

REINFORCEMENTS

Turn 1: Red army: all 4 units arrive from the northern table edge.

SPECIAL RULES

1. Dreadful Leadership. Only 2 Blue units may move and/or engage in combat during each turn. The Blue player may choose which units are active.

GAME LENGTH AND TURN ORDER

This scenario lasts 15 game turns. The Red player goes first in each turn.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

The side in exclusive occupation of the hill at the game’s end is victorious.

INSPIRATION

There are strong similarities between this encounter and the previous scenario, since both games see the numerically superior army suffer from terrible leadership – a situation likely to engender much frustration for the wargamer! This game is based upon the Battle of Medina de Rio Seco (1808), a Napoleonic engagement that saw the Spanish (Blue) army defeated by the French (Red) force.

FURTHER READING

Accounts of the Battle of Medina de Rio Seco can be found in:

Chandler, David (ed), Napoleon’s Marshals (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987) (pp. 70–75). Lipscombe, Col. Nick, The Peninsular War Atlas (Osprey, 2010) (pp. 44–47).