The Battle of Corona - Part 2

With the army of Albion on the retreat, Emperor Mordred returned to Mudrid with the bulk of his troops, leaving Marshal Sault to continue pressing the Orc's withdrawal. Lieutenant General Sir John Morr reached Corona with his troops in poor condition after their forced march across the Cantankerousse Mountains, and immediately embarked the dismounted cavalry and their mounts plus the majority of the artillery, retaining 8 Albion and 4 Catalucian guns ashore along with limbers, caissons and teams.

The sight of the Britorc navy ships and the thought of Morr getting away unscathed stimulated Sault to begin his attack, despite his Ferach troops being in arguably worse condition than the Orcs who had picked the Cantankerousse Mountains clean ahead of his own foraging parties.

Morr’s main position lay along the Monte Maca ridge, from the village of Elvira to the Burger Estuary, while Marshal Sault deployed on the Palava and Pennysquido ridges. The Ferach heavy guns took post on the Heights of Pennysquido, ready to bombard the village of Elvira.

Bentorc’s Brigade held the ground around Elvira, with Waaagh’s Guards Brigade and Orccingham’s Brigade on its left. Flashorc’s brigade held the high ground above the Corona Road, with Major Black Bob Crowfoot’s Brigade on the heights above Lingalonga.
The Ferach army was drawn up with L'Escargot’s Dragoon Division on the extreme left, Gui de Carcharoth’s Infantry Division supported by the heavy guns facing Elvira, de Payen’s Infantry Division in the centre and Alabec’s Infantry Division forming on the right with St Bane's light cavalry.

Sault was forced to wait impatiently for stragglers to rejoin their units, but the heavy guns finally signaled the start of the battle at around 2pm.

The Coldscream Guards occupied Elvira while the 62nd Foot remained pinned behind the town by the enemy artillery fire, and at this time Morr has sent a re-call message to General Sir Edward Pungent, who he'd dispatched to Corona for embarkation with the reserve artillery.

The one-sided artillery contest continued, while the "pas de charge" reverberated along the valley. Pungent's battalion and the gun battery can be seen on the road passing the village of Ooza, while the Ferach advance has been slowed to avoid being disordered as they cross the river. (a house rule)

Artillery fire from the ridge reeked havoc with the lead battalion of de Payen’s division. The line infantry, who were already heavily fatigued and demoralised after "leading the chase" over the Cantankerousse, became pinned on the river bank and subsequently routed.

The rest of the Ferach left flank continued their advance, and assaulted the Coldscream Guards in Elvira, which had just been reinforced by the Black Joccs.

Elvira became the scene of some intense fighting,

and contact was made along the entire line,

while the rearguard division of Sault's forces arrives and advances to reinforce the Ferach left.

The light cavalry on the right flank advanced to 'threaten' Crowfoot's brigade, eager to be within striking distance if the Albion line collapses.

The Dragoons on the left flank also prepared to exploit the position if Elvira fell, hoping to "roll up" the Albion line. The Orcs up on the ridge stoically responded to the cavalry threat by forming square,

while the rifle armed elements within Crowfoots brigade demonstrated their superior accurate range!

As the afternoon wore on, General Morr understood that he had the better of Sault, IF he could hold Elvira. It was imperative that the Guards battalions held in what had become a battle of attrition, and he moved into the town to bolster the beleaguered troops morale.
As he joined Black Joccs, Morr was struck by a roundshot fired by the Ferach guns on the Heights of Pennysquiddo and thrown from his horse, his left arm nearly severed and his chest and lungs severely damaged.

Darkness was falling and both sides in the area of Elvira, now exhausted, withdrew from the village.
The Britorcs carried out an orderly withdrawal towards Corona, and the Ferach, in no shape to pursue, were content to take the Pennysquiddo Heights.

Lieutenant General Sir John Morr was carried back to Corona, but died of his wounds before the army evacuated from Catalucia.
Marshal Sault rested his forces around Elvira prior to their long march back over the Cantankerousse Mountains, though he did deploy his artillery to the west of the Corona road and had them fire on the Britorc Navy ships as they left the harbour - no doubt to endorse his report to the Emperor that he had despatched the Orcs of Albion "with a bloody nose"!

This was a fun little project, I knocked up the battlefield to represent the original "Battle of Corunna" from an offcut of plywood and some left over Jarvis grass sheet, glued over card shapes to represent the "Monte Moro" and "Penasquedo / Palavea Heights".
The rules I was taking for a test drive were "2 by 2 Napoleonic's" by Rod Humble, which are available for free download, and I can heartily recommend if you fancy playing 2mm Napoleonics on a 2ft square table!

ANNOUNCEMENT

As mentioned previously, I'm highly delighted and honoured to be posting over on "The Game Cupboard" and "The Emerald Musketeers" blogs. I will be starting a couple of 'new' projects over there, but I'll also be migrating some of the content from here.
All future posts for my Napoleonique, England Upturned and Sengoku Jidai campaigns will appear on THIS blog :- The Emerald Musketeers
All the stuff currently posted here will remain (ie I won't be cutting and pasting stuff across the blogs), but if you just happen to be 'following' any of these campaigns, you'll find the updates appearing on TEM from now on.
My Dark Conspiracy and Zombie Apocalypse will continue here (and who knows, maybe some new stuff will appear too!), and I apologies profusely if this causes any confusion or consternation for anyone.

Many thanks for dropping by, and of course your comments, queries, observations or points of order are most welcome - especially during this time of isolation.

Stay safe, Stay home and Stay sane!