Escort Duty - a Napoleonic Sharp Practice AAR

Last Sunday at the club was a chance to get my 28mm Anglo-Portuguese forces on the table for a big game of Sharp Practice against Brian's French. The scenario was the fourth one in the rulebook; "Escort Duty". The aim was for one side to enter at one end of the table, escorting an important person and exit at the opposite end. The Anglo-Portuguese would be the escorting force.

The table was laid out with a river running along the length, with fields and wooded areas on both banks. The river was fordable along its entire length, counting as a minor obstacle, but also had two shallow fords, where movement was not affected. There was a water mill at one end of the table, with a patch of marshy ground close by. This offered light cover, being a tangle of tall reeds, aquatic plants etc. First, here is the table from the Anglo-Portuguese end. their entry point was to the right of the river.

The Anglo-Portuguese forces were;

Captain Nigel Molesworth (Status III) of the 61st Foot with 3 groups of 8 from a Centre Company, accompanied by Sgt Timothy Peason (Status I) and the Important Person, Coronel Vincente Salvador da Silva, a Portuguese Exploring Officer from Wellington's Staff. Cpt Molesworth is accompanied by a Drummer (musician).

Lieutenant Barnaby Thorne (Status II) and Sergeant "Waspy" Jasper Hyde (Status I), each with 1 group of 6 95th Rifles.

Tenente Alfonso Bacalhau with 2 groups of 6 Atiradores from the 3rd Battalion of Caçadores. 

Sargento Tiago Cataplana with 1 group of 6 Atiradores from the 3rd Battalion of Caçadores.

Like the 95th, the Atiradores are equipped with Baker rifles and operate as skirmishing light infantry.

This is the water mill, close to the exit point for the Anglo-Portuguese.

The rules for this scenario state that "Blue enters the table at either Point 1 or 2, rolling to see which with an equal chance of either. They place a secondary Fixed Deployment point there, as they have no Primary Deployment Point for this scenario. Roll a further D6 and half that total, rounding up. The Blue player now takes that many moves with his entire force."

So, the Anglo-Portuguese (being Blue) then got to move along the length of the river for three uninterrupted moves. I deployed all my light troops as far along the river as possible, with the Atiradores crossing over to try and seize good firing positions. Thorne pushed on to secure a position in a field of wheat. Sargento Cataplana's group of Atiradores moved to occupy a wooded hill overlooking the area from where the French were to deploy. This group would keep up long range fire on the French throughout the battle.

Meanwhile the 61st advanced along the river valley in open column. Coronel da Silva was with this body of troops.

Tenente Bacalhau got his two groups of Atiradores into a wood where they could easily prevent the French from safely venturing across the open ground towards the river.

Once my three free moves were over, we began to draw chips from the bag, as normal. The French quickly began to deploy from the opposite bank of the river to Molesworth's 61st, but close to where the Anglo-Portuguese would have to exit. I wasn't too happy to see artillery arrive.

However, the French were in range of both Tenente Bacalhau's Atiradores and Sgt Hyde's 95th, so both groups began to fire, causing a couple of casualties and some shock.

More French soon arrived, no doubt hurrying towards the sounds of battle.

Before long the French line fusiliers were firing at Hyde's Light Bobs on the edge of the marshy ground.

The 95th acted as a skirmish screen protecting the main column of the 61st, but the French fire wasn't particularly accurate at what was extreme range for muskets. Even so, the French did manage to inflict one casualty on the British Foot.

Thorne had also joined the fighting by now, adding his men to the skirmishing screen protecting the 61st and Coronel da Silva.

Undeterred, Molesworth urged his men on towards safety, unaware that a small group of French Légère Voltigeurs had crossed the river and were waiting hidden behind the water mill.

Accurate fire from the 95th and the Atiradores was pretty much pinning the French down at long range, preventing them from getting close enough to make their musket fire more effective. However, the could easily change.

And change it did. the Voltigeurs opened fire, forcing Molesworth to deploy into line, as the 61st took casualties. Lt. Thorne's 95th joined in the fire fight, as Sgt. Peason was charged with escorting Coronel da Silva to safety. Other French troops were also pushing to cross the river. Things were getting a bit tricky for the Anglo-Portuguese.

However, the French Légère skirmishers were driven off by a mixture of controlled volley fire from the 61st and accurate rifle sniping from the 95th.

A heavy pall of smoke descended on the battlefield, as the French were forced to withdraw back across the river. Peason and his group of fusiliers took Coronel da Silva across the wheat field, shielded by Molesworth's defensive line.

Elsewhere, the battle continued, with the French finally getting their gun into action, firing canister at Tenente Bacalhau's Atiradores, but Sgt, Peason and his group of 61st were able to get Coronel da Silva to safety.

So, a victory for the Anglo-Portuguese, helped very much by two factors. Firstly, the terrain favoured the Escorting side once the dice roll to see where I would enter from allowed me to get onto the opposite side to the French. Secondly, my Light Infantry were able to function exactly as intended, skirmishing and harrying the French deployment, providing a screen for the main column and then adding extra fire to drive off the French threat by the water mill.