Battle of Vitoria - Move 5

Table at the start of move 5

On the right Morillo has received orders to hold his present position, and is trying to organise his Spanish brigades with only a Poor commander’s CP.

On Puebla Heights d’Erlon is slowly moving his guns into position to fire on the Spanish

To his left Picton is preparing to assault Areniz hill. His cavalry and artillery are both out of command range between him and Morillo.

Centre left Alten is also finding command and control difficult. As his leading infantry engage the hill, he does not have sufficient CP to control them, bring up his reserves and still control his cavalry and artillery. He decided to concentrate on the hill.

Gazan has realised that he cannot command both Areniz village and hill. Worst still his position on the hill is now looking desperate

Top left Graham has been ordered to Hold his position, and prevent any French moving to reinforce the centre.

Reille’s has taken the bait and is moving the whole of the French reserve to hold Gamara

Morillo does not have sufficient CP to deploy his Spanish infantry. The artillery have already suffered casualties, which make them ineffective at long range.

D’Erlon now has both of his guns deployed on the edge of Puebla Heights, within range of both the British cavalry and the Spanish infantry and artillery

Picton has moved his leading infantry up onto the crest of Arinez hill. He is now under orders to attack and must use all of his limited CP to do so. This means leaving his reserve infantry, artillery and cavalry without orders.

Gazan’s artillery has withdrawn shaken, and his infantry are trying to deploy to face both Picton (from the bottom) and Alten (from the left)

Alten has managed to close up his infantry and is now within command range of them, his artillery and his cavalry. But he does not have sufficient CP to control more than his leading infantry. Being in line they move slowly, but will deliver a punch when they finally come within rifle range of the enemy.

Gazan has withdrawn his shaken artillery out of danger, but must now deploy his two infantry brigades to face both Picton (right) and Alten (bottom)

Graham has been ordered to hold his position, and in doing so to pin the French reserve.

Reille is moving the entire French reserve to hold Gamara. Once in position, Graham will be outnumbered in artillery and cavalry and will be hard pressed to hold his own.

Game Notes

Each commander rolls one average dice to determine the number of command points (CP) he will have to issue orders. To the dice total he adds one if a Poor commander, two if an Average one and three if Gifted.

As the two armies come within musket range it requires more CP to order them to move and fire. This means that even a Gifted commander will not have sufficient CP to do everything he wants to. A Poor commander will have even less. And if they also roll a low average dice they may find that they have difficult decisions to make.