Sharp Practice French v Spanish

I took on Gary's newly painted Napoleonic Spanish (supported by a couple of groups of my British) with my Peninsular French. The Spanish consisted of three groups of Fusiliers, two of British Line and two of skirmishing guerrillas. The French force was similar with three groups of Fusiliers, two of skirmishing Voltigeurs and a single group of Dragoons.

The terrain was fairly open and we went for the encounter scenario. Both sides moved forwards towards the farm:

Spanish Guerrillas lurk behind a hedge. They are a cutthroat looking bunch:

Voltigeurs and Guerrillas race for the farmhouse. The Guerrillas get there first:

The other group of Voltigeurs has managed to secure the farmyard though for the French:

Firing breaks out along the line with the French Fusiliers advancing to drive off one of the Guerrilla groups. The Spanish Fusiliers have deployed but don't really have a target:

The Dragoons start to try and out flank the Anglo-Spanish lines. A group of Fusiliers advances to support the Voltigeurs in the farmyard:

Disaster occurs for the French though with a remarkable five out of 6 Voltigeurs in the farmyard being shot down by the British Line. Given that they are only killed on 6's that was a remarkable result for the British and the Voltigeurs are finished as an effective force:

On the other flank the French Fusiliers are driving off the Guerrillas:

After the destruction of the Voltigeurs the Dragoons flanking move is now unwise so they dismount and head for the farmyard:

They say lightning never strikes twice but in this battle it did! Some of the Spanish Fusiliers open fire on the surviving group of Voltigeurs and kill three of them:

The surviving Voltigeurs fall back and hide in the bushes:

What was looking a good situation for the French has collapsed quickly. The French Fusiliers in the farmyard have entered the barn largely because they can't be shot in there:

The only advantage the French now have is that the Spanish Fusiliers and British Line don't have much in the way of targets!:

The British Line start to chase the French Dragoons who keep slipping out of the British arc of fire. The Spanish Fusiliers have split up with one group guarding the exit to the barn and the other two moving to engage the French Fusiliers:

The French Fusiliers see an opportunity and rush out of the barn to outflank the British Line. They will be vulnerable to the Spanish if they move into the barn but the situation is desperate:

The British react too quickly and turn to face the French. Both sides exchange fire but the Spanish are now in the barn:

The larger group of surviving Voltigeurs advance again to help out in the farmyard. The British Line have taken a few losses by now:

Are things turning back in favour of the French?:

On the right the French Fusiliers are gradually losing out to the Spanish Fusiliers and the Guerrillas in the farmhouse:

The Spanish dash out of the barn and attack the French Fusiliers. It's a fairly even fight but again luck goes against the French and they lose four men to no loss:

The situation for the French is now hopeless and they retire from the field.

The destruction of both groups of Voltigeurs pretty much decided this game, the first one especially was one of the luckiest (for Gary) dice throws I've seen in a long time. I did manage to make a bit of a comeback but it wasn't quite enough in the end.

Sharp Practice does seem to rate the French pretty awfully in the rulebook Peninsular section displaying a remarkably old-school view of the superiority of the British!