Roll Call Sharp Practice Game 4 French v Portuguese

Game four's mission was to burn down some buildings in a Spanish village opposed by James' Portuguese. This was another scenario I'd played at Britcon.

The French Horse Artillery deployed covering the Portuguese deployment point while the Fusiliers started to move towards the nearest two buildings:

The Portuguese infantry start to deploy but have to arrive in column and are immediately targeted by the French artillery:

The Portuguese take losses and shock from the artillery. They send some Cacadores forward to try to shoot the gun crew:

Meanwhile the French send their Dragoons to the left towards the furthest building on the left. One group of Fusiliers is approaching the other building on the left while some Voltigeurs have started setting fire to the nearest building on the right:

The right hand Fusiliers form line and exchange fire with the Cacadores. Voltigeurs begin to move to outflank the Portuguese on the right:

Fire from the Cacadores has killed one of the gun crew and also cut down the French drummer boy. The French are enraged!:

The Fusiliers on the left have reached the second building and start setting fire to it. The large building on the right is in flames and the artillery continues to pound the Portuguese:

The Dragoons have dismounted and head towards their target building but get blasted by Portuguese artillery. Three are killed but the survivors press on:

On group of Cacadores attempts to charge some Fusiliers but comes up just short:

The second building is now in flames but the Cacadores gather their wits and charge home on the other Fusiliers:

The Fusiliers fall back from the Cacadores but inflict enough losses on them to break them and they run off into the distance:

Meanwhile on the right the Portuguese have determinedly pushed forward their Line Infantry and begin exchanging fire with the French. They will need to defeat the French before the Voltigeurs (behind the large building on fire) can get into action behind them:

The Voltigeurs pause to drive off a group of Cacadores that had been sniping from behind the hedge. Portuguese fire is taking effect on the French Fusiliers and the other Voltigeurs:

Portuguese morale is now close to breaking:

The Portuguese Line charge forward dispersing the Voltigeurs but fire from the Fusiliers and the flanking Voltigeurs breaks them and the Portuguese retire:

This the most enjoyable game of the weekend. The scenario was much better balanced and James did well to recover from the initial damage done by the artillery to his compressed line troops. His aggression with his lights and the Line he did get into action paid off and caused some worrying moments for the French. There was also more movement than I find usually in SP which often just degenerates into a firefight.