Los Minas de Plata 1808-Spain

Last night was a"riot" of a game-it was so fast moving that at times I found it difficult to keep up!!

This was the scenario-Dave was Ackland,Paul was Wellington,I was Napoleon and Brian was Soult-and Brian put in the performance of his life!!

This shows the table before any movement,Paul's command is in the foreground,facing my command.Brian was tasked with capturing the village of "Santa Anna", and a more dogged persistence and tenacious effort can not be imagined-it was superb to watch,great gaming at the best level.Dave was in charge of the Spanish and Portugueses troops,opposing Brian-he also put in a great defence-this was wargaming at its best as far as I am concerned!-All this praise of Dave and Brian can not distract from Paul's wonderful handling of his light dragoons and horse artillery,who put an end to Napoleon's ambitions!!!-I did ok too!

The game commenced with this impressive attack on the village by Brian's Westphalians,supported by artillery and cavalry,Dave countered by reinforcing the village,and sending some Portuguese to assist.

Meanwhile,in the centre,Paul has advanced against my guns and Infantry,we even had a melee,as I tried to stem the "crimson tide".Once I thought that the British were weakened,I put in a counter-attack against the Villa area,but Dave came to Paul's assistance,sending some infantry and cavalry to support him-the swine!!

He looks too happy for a man who has just got all of his officers shot ,by incredible dice throwing from Dave!!-send in another wave of brave Frenchmen,Brian!!-looks like a cavalry battle looming in the far distance.

There they go! By now Brian's command was shrinking fast,but surely one last effort will see the village in French hands.

At last!! the garage reverberated to shouts of "vive l'empereur" as the French stormed into the village-but what of the rest of the battle?????

Well,my counter-attack is faltering under pressure from artillery and volley fire-the Guards have been committed as a last resort-but will it be enough?

The resounding answer is NO!!!!-After a tremendous tussle on my left flank,Paul has forced my infantry into square,beaten my cavalry,and is now moving his light dragoons and horse artillery onto my flank and rear-it's all over for my command-Brian's command,although in the village,is being faced by overwhelming odds,so we had to admit defeat,but as we all know,defeat is not dishonour!!-we put up a good show!!
I really enjoyed this game,so too did the rest of the "lads".
We had a bit of spare time at the end of the game,so I "rolled out" the Battling Tanks,and they seemed to go down well,after a very quick demo.-so who knows??
Roll on Thursday,probably an Ancients involving a Cretan Temple!
Brian has managed to get in touch with the organisers of "Border Reiver" show,and has booked us a table-we now have to decide which period we will fight as a demo. game.