Battle of Vitoria - Move 7

Table at the start of move 7

Morillo now has Hold orders and must hold his position facing the Puebla Heights

d’Erlon has his artillery in place to fire on the Spanish.

His infantry are moving forward to close with the Spanish infantry

Picton’s infantry have taken Arinez hill.

Alten’s infantry have also reached the top of the hill

Gazan has abandoned his broken infantry and artillery on the hill, to organise the defence of Arinez village.

Graham is waiting for further orders just west of Gamara

Reille is deploying the French reserve at Gamara.

Morillo is suffering from the enemy artillery on Puebla Heights.

The infantry square holding his left flank is shaken by artillery fire

He is moving his artillery out of range of the enemy guns and to protect his right flank

D’Erlon’s infantry are forming to the right of Puebla Heights, supported by their artillery on the front edge of the hill

Picton’s cavalry have broken and are in rout.

He has ordered his artillery to limber and move closer to Arinez hill.

He is waiting for further orders now that he has taken the hill

Gazan is trying to organise his remaining infantry to hold Arinez village

Alten ordered his infantry to clear the French off Arinez hill

He is now waiting for new orders from Wellington

Gazan ordered his cuirassiers to charge Alten’s hussars

The hussars failed to counter charge, have been overrun and are in rout

Two of Alten’s brigades have formed square under threat from the cuirassiers

His gunners have run to the nearest square to avoid the cuirassiers.

This reverse has thrown Alten’s attack into complete disorder

Graham has received orders to advance and engage Gamara

He has sent his artillery forwarded and protected them with a Portuguese infantry square

Reille holds a very strong position at Gamara, but is concerned about his right flank after the fall of Areniz h

Game Notes

When the cuirassiers declare a charge, the hussars had to test morale to counter charge. The rolled 1 on a D6, failed to counter charge and received the cuirassiers at the halt. They already had one casualty, so it is not surprising that they broke and ran.

They were protecting the flank of Alten’s column and they routed into the artillery who were directly behind them. They in turn had to test morale, failed and were shaken.

Because the hussars had routed, the cuirassiers had to test to see if they would pursue. They passed and did not have to do so. Had they failed they would have rolled another dice to see whether they would pursue the hussars or charge the nearest enemy.

This single charge has thrown Alten’s command into disorder.