Lasalle Tournament Alcoy Nov 5

For a little change from all our campaigning activities, Jose had kindly organised a Lasalle Tournament in Alcoy. Each army had two supports and as there were eight of us, four with French Armies and four with Coalition armies (two British, one Austrian and one Russian, it was also turned into a team game.
There were to be three games, two in the morning, dinner and then another game in the afternoon and all be finished for half past six. I thought this was a little optimistic on Jose's part because playing with two supports can last over three hours
There were four tables already set out representing a Napoleonic battlefield and each player was able to play on a different battlefield in each of his games. I managed to take a few photos of mine and the other guys battles, but as I was trying to concentrate on my games it was hard to keep an eye on the other peoples battles.

My first game was against Dani, I had a French Conquest infantry Division and for support Light Cavalry Brigade and a Veteran Infantry Brigade. Dani, had British Light Division and for supports Light Cavalry impetuous and Brunswick Brigade. I was attacking and set up first, the battlefield was based on Wagram and because we were playing with supports it was 60cms longer in length.
My initial setup was artillery on my left flank with all my infantry in the centre and my cavalry on the right flank to sweep around before he could bring his reserve cavalry on.

Everything started well, my artillery were causing havoc on his Brunswick troops. Whilst my cavalry thundered over the hill and taking out an artillery battery, but I had forgotten about impetuous cavalry throwing twice to come on the table and on turn four his cavalry appeared.

My veteran infantry in the centre, instead of facing just infantry now faced infantry and cavalry and by his combined attacks and rotten dice throwing on my half, I lost three infantry units from my right Brigade in one turn. The two left brigades advancing were also being checked by the counterattacking British.

Through my poor deployment my units could not advance and were being beaten piecemeal. My French cavalry were coming to the rescue but as they were held up by moving through a wood it was too late and my army routed.

The point system for the games was Major victory 3, Minor Victory 2, Draw 1 , Minor defeat 0, Major defeat -1

Therefore Dani was on 3 points and I was on -1 points.

On the table representing the Battle of Arapiles Miguel's Austrians fought Javi's French. This ended in a Major victory for the French proving that the Austrian avant garde can be beaten.

Therefore Javi 3 and Miguel -1

On the Battlefield representing Quatre Bras, Kiefer's British defended against Jose's French. Covering his left flank with a long wall, Kiefer set out his troops in one thin red line.

It wasnt long before the French managed to break through the British line and threaten the objective. But with equal number of pursuit cavalry, it was only a marginal victory.

Therefore Jose 2 and Kiefer 0

The last game of the first round was played on the battlefield representing Eylau. Toni's Russians against Cristian's French. This hardfought game ended in a draw so both players get 1 point each.

At the end of the first round the French were leading with 5 points and the Coalition had 3 points.

My next battle was against Miguel and his Austrians. After last games failure with my cavalry not supporting my infantry. I decided to mix them up a little, so the infantry were well supported. I was defending and placed a wall on each flank to protect my artillery.


This was the only other photo of this game because it was quite intense, Miguel attacked in force with his cavalry at the head of the charge, As they came down the hill my cavalry countercharged. This turned out to be disastrous and in the next turn I lost three of my cavalry units.
Once again my infantry were unsupported, but this time they put up a strong defence. It was a very bloody fight and on turn seventeen I broke, he was lucky, I had broken a few of his units and some more were on 5 DISRs, damn those large units. Therefore miguel scored 3 and and once again I scored -1 . I suppose I could argue two minus's make a positive.

As I have already said I didnt manage get around to take photos of the other games (sorry guys), the scores were as follows:

Toni's Russians marginal victory 2 points against Jose's French 0 points.

Javi's French drew against Dani's British therefore 1 point each.
Christian's French Major victory 3 points against kiefer's British -1 point


So after 2 rounds the score is finally balanced both sides having 8 points each.


The timetable of events was actually going on time and our host for the day, Rafa, took us to a restuarant up the road for a splendid "menu del dia".


After an enjoyable meal, we returned for our final battles, Kiefer's British were playing against Javi. Kiefer attempted to attack but lost the dice off and once again defended, this time learning from his earlier mistakes he decided not to over extend himself. But all was to no avail and with his open flank been threatened, the British broke. So Javi won 3 points to the French and -1 to the Coalition, making the scores French 11 points and Coalition back down to 7 points.




The next game was Miguel's Austrians against Cristian's French, although one of them was defending, it looks like they were both going to hold the middle ground. With the consqeunces of it all ending in a draw 1 point each. therefore the scores are now, French on 12 points and the Coalition back up to 8 points.

The penultimate game was against Dani's British and Joses's French. Jose was attacking and this was one of the few games where we used the whole length of the table. In the end Dani won a major victory scoring 3 points and Jose -1 point this changed the overall table dramatically and now both teams are on 11 points each. Which leaves one final game to decide it, mine.

I was playing against Toni and his Russians. Unfortunately Toni rolled for weather and managed to get mud. I was attacking and so knowing that artillery are very slow in mud , I unlimbered them all and placed them on my flank. With mud there is no time for manoeuvre and so using the cover of the woods I placed the rest of my force directly facing the objective.

Toni's Russians had 4 batteries of artillery and they started to pound my mass ranks as they emerged out of the woods. Although the first blood was mine when a Russian Infantry unit entered a town in march formation and recieved nine hits from my "Grand Battery".

Due to the mud and The Russian Batteries my main force could not get near to the Russian line. I tried with two light cavalry units which was reminiscent of the "Charge of the Light Brigade". On my extreme right flank, my French infantry were victorious in crossing the wall but I had taken to many losses in my centre and my army broke. With Toni only having Cuirrassiers for cavalry, he was unable to pursue me. Therefore he won a marginal victory 2 points and I recieved a big fat zero

This meant the Coalition at the end of the day had won by 13 points to the French 11. As Wellington was believed to have said "A close run thing".

The top Players were Dani with 7 points for the Coalition and Javi with 7 points for the French

Thanks for everybody especially Jose for a very enjoyable tournament with a twist with it being also a team game. We only ran over by 15 minutes which was a surprise to the doubters(me)

Hopefully we can all get together for a rematch to see if the French can get there Revenge.