General de Brigade

[Ordnanceboard]

Have just gotten back from my second attempt at the Barrosa scenario from scenario book 1; yet again (as opposed to what actually happened in reality) the British lost.

In the post game discussion over a couple of beers we reckoned that the odds (as they seem frequently to be in GdeB) are stacked against the British; it would seem that in order to win they need to win initiative in the first throw (they didn't in either of our games) and get Browne's light battalion up onto the ridge. If the British fail to get onto the ridge ahead of the French then they have had it since, assuming Browne's and Barnard's battalions are duely sacrified to win time, they are either outnumbered 3:2 by Laval or 2:1 by Ruffin - and as Stalin said, "quantity has a quality all of it's own".

It's hard to see what real advantage "quality" has in these rules, the bonus modifiers don't really compensate for the points disadvantage of receiving enemy charges in column (or frequently massed column); our experience is that even with throwing average dice, if a column gets closes in melee with a line unit, then the line unit is going to break and go backwards. Given the relative smaller size of British units, they are much more likely to take 10% casualties and falter / break throughout the game. So for the British player to win in a game, they have to get good dice throws throughout; however a French player can get average dice scores and absorb bad dice scores easily and still win. Whether this is a factor of the inbuilt numerical advantage in any points based game or in a scenario it's hard to figure out.

Perhaps we'll give up on the British for these rules and go for an army like the German states or Austrians who can meet the French at a parity rather than a disadvantage.

[Mlokosiewicz]

I've tried this scenario a few times myself, and frankly I can't see how the British can win. Makes you wonder how they did it in real life. Even if you made all the British Guard quality and the French all Conscript, I think the British would be hard pressed to achieve a Victory although they might deny the French a clear one.

For a better straight up contest between British and French, I would try the Maida one. Its a small battle compared to most, which makes it a good game for beginners, plus the sides are pretty evenly matched.

Mitch
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Mitch Berdinka

[Orange]

Gents,

I did Barrosa a few months ago and ended up doing quite a bit of research in an attempt to capture the flavour of the battle. This drove me to make a number of modifications to the scenario in the GdB scenario book. Some of this is discussed in the write up of the game posted at:-

http://generaldebrigade.13.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=3252&highlight=barrosa

In my view, key to recreating the battle is (1) giving the Brits a element of surprise over Laval's Divison and (2) fixing Ruffin's Division to the otp of the ridge at least for a while to make sure that the two French divisions do not join up and overwhelm the Brits.

At the same time, one needs to recreate the pressure of rapid, on the hoof decsion making for the British commander, thus reflecting the no going back nature of each committment.

Orange.

[alanmccoubrey]

We have to remember that only in British histories did we win Barrosa ! And I speak here as one whose regimental motto was Faugh a Ballagh !

[Ordnanceboard]

Orange, thank you for that, and the link, it's unfortunate that for you photos I get a series of boxes with red crosses in!!!

Don't you just love computers?