From my side of the table... The Second Battle of Porto 1809

Greetings...


This was my last battle of 2018 and in my opinion one of the greatest defeats I have had (and yes I have had a few).


The game was hosted by Alan Perry
Michael Perry and Adrian Shepherd took the command of the international forces of oppression.
I took the part of the forces of equality fraternity and liberty.


Alan explained to me my 'challenging French dilemma'


"You are going to loose"... nothing new there then... "your challenge should you wish to accept it is to get as much of the baggage and men as possible off the table "


This isn't going to end well... is it?

A beautiful peaceful morning on the banks of the Douro...

Shattered by the onslaught of a mob of beer, gin and rum drinking yobs... our yobs are much more refined ... wine and brandy.

My men are eventually aroused from their innocent slumber... and the baggage train containing tourist souvenirs, landscape paintings, wine, brandy, some delightful white port and a few specialist artistic etchings belonging to Marshal Soult start to slowly... very slowly... move out.

As more of the enemy approach, the boat guards attempt to discourage them... I think I made some very scary splashes in the water.

Oh! what a surprise... a blunder... and there they are racing past the baggage... which is moving at almost zero miles an hour...

The first of the enemy hordes hit the beach...

The boat guards decide to beat a hasty retreat... one of them may have accidently dropped some lit matches on the way out...

Here we see the baggage train and its 'escort'... not moving.
I managed to 'not move' quite a lot...
The forces of darkness, oppression and reaction moved a lot...

My biggest move of the game... the intention was to turn onto the beach and force the enemy back into the sea... you can see their flank being covered by my only other unit to move that turn.

Yup!... still there... maybe they are saving themselves for the 'big push'.

Michael's forces arrive and threaten my isolated brigade...

Adrian's troops begin to make their way off the beach...

I manage to form my men into a defensive chevron...

As the baggage train wanders towards the edge of the table, Michael waits to intercept them... he had better be patient.

Now these hussars may look dashing... but they are merely meandering...

Some of my men actually move forwards as the enemy start to leap from the beach onto the seminary hill...

My men fight bravely against insurmountable odds... and really terrible dice!

My cavalry attack Michaels cavalry in an attempt to keep the escape route open...

Unfortunately a bizillion more men have landed on the beach and prepare to leap forwards...

Michaels men are momentarily halted by beautiful French uniforms...

Unfortunately the pressure continues to build from Adrian...

As you can see the baggage train shows absolutely no urgency...

Adrian's massed phalanx's make contact with the rear of the baggage...

All control breaks down as a Mexican wave of surrendering arms are raised across the army...

Seeing the writing on the wall...

Marshal Soult shoves his specialist artistic etchings into his saddle bags and does a runner...


Only the Marshal and two cavalry units made it off the table....


At this point Adrian and Michael almost went to war with each other as they tried to grab as much loot as possible... I have no doubt that the delicious white port was simply wolfed down without understanding the subtleties of  its flavour... sigh!


This was a really enjoyable game... I was never going to win... but I should have lost a lot less.
My dice throwing was truly terrible...Michael and Adrian's on the other hand was spectacular... it seemed that for every single bound I got ... they got three!


Great company and lovely toys... what more could one ask for...


Victory?


A more glorious sounding version of this tale can be found here...


https://en-gb.facebook.com/perryminiatures/posts/1863932437062187?__tn__=K-R


All the best   Aly