18th April 1814 – Battle of Savaltiere

Savaltiere Campaign area

11^th and 17^th French corps have orders to attack Savaltiere

4^th British has orders to move south and attack Kurutze

2^nd British have orders to hold and resupply

6^th Guerrilla have orders to recce D06

British - 26800 infantry, 1900 cavalry and 60 guns

Spanish – 1000 infantry

French - 23200 infantry, 3000 cavalry and 60 guns

Table at start of wargame

British Brigades       7 infantry      2 cavalry       artillery

French Brigades      6 infantry      2 cavalry       artillery

11 French corps starts on the table

17 French arrive start of move 1

2 and 4 British start on table

6 Guerrilla arrive start of move 1

Move 1 – 0800 to 0900

French advance and deploy to column of attack

2 British change direction to move to town

4 British about turn to move to town

6 Guerrilla move towards village

Move 2 – 0900 to 1000

Table is extended south to make Savaltiere centre of table

All four corps are within sight, figures placed on table

Move 3 – 1000 to 1100

All corps deploy and advance into short artillery range 

Move 4 -1100 to 1200

11 French occupy hill and advance towards town

17 French artillery hit infantry, who are shaken with 20% casualties

2 British are finding it difficult to deploy because of lack of space

4 British rifle brigade garrison the right hand town section

Move 5 – 1200 to 1300

11 French gunners hit town garrison, who pass morale with 10% casualties

11 French infantry cause another 10% casualties, garrison are shaken but hold on

17 French lancers charge British hussars, who retire shaken with 10% casualties

4 British corps is bearing the brunt of the battle, and has three brigades shaken

Wellington orders a general retreat to avoid further casualties

Game Casualties

British lose 1200 infantry

French have no casualties

Game Summary

The British are poorly deployed to meet the French attack

Wellington orders both corps to move to secure the town

4^th corps reach the town first, and come under attack by both French corps

The British started the game with casualties from previous battles.

This, coupled with particularly poor dice, resulted in three brigades being shaken

Wellington decided to break contact and retreat

To do otherwise could easily have resulted in heavy casualties

Total casualties, including from earlier battles, at the end of the battle

French 3,200 casualties no brigades in rout

British  5,300 casualties 3 brigades in rout