Battle Of Columbeira In 3D

AT the real Battle of Roliça in 1808 the French commander, General Henri François Delaborde, prepared a second position south of the village of Columbeira.

The idea was to fight a delaying action at Roliça, and then make the main stand on high ground behind Columbeira.

To a certain extent this is what happened, and the two actions are usually treated as one battle, as indeed does Mike Lambo in devising his scenarios for Battles Of Napoleonic Europe.

Scenarios one and two cover the first action, from the Anglo-Portuguese and French perspectives, with scenarios three and four depicting the second action, again from both sides' perspective.

For the sake of convenience, and to reduce possible confusion, I have renamed the second action the Battle of Columbeiro. but I will be fighting it as per the book.

Map for scenario three, where the human commands the Allied troops, which start below the red dashed line

Map converted to my Hexon II battlefield

I have composed the three woods or copses of different trees, so I can refer to them as Three Fir Wood, Big Fir Wood and (right) Oak Wood.

The human, in addition to Sir Arthur Wellesley, receives five units of infantry, two of cavalry and one of artillery.

To win I have to destroy the whole French army, which in the scenario is almost as strong as mine, before the end of turn 10.

I have opted for a strong right hook, my plan being to conquer the main hill and roll up the French army from there

The AI, in addition to General Delaborde, receives five units of infantry and one each of cavalry and artillery.

The AI's setup is semi-randomised, but it too has concentrated troops on the flank with the largest area of high ground

Here is how we setup when I first fought the scenario, using the book's map and counters.

The biggest difference is that in the 3D version I have favoured the right hook much more strongly

In the original playthrough I won what I called "a fairly crushing victory with a turn to spare," although I conceded that the AI "was hampered by bad dice throwing at the crucial activation stage of many turns."

It is nice being gracious in victory - I hope this time I do not have to be generous in defeat.

As usual I will write up the battle turn by turn.