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The day was mine, but they did not know it and would

not run: The Battle of Albuera, 16th May 1811


Introduction
During 1811 the main objective for the British was to take the frontier fortresses of Almeida, Ciudad
Rodrigo and Badajoz. These towns controlled the major routes from Portugal to Spain and needed to
be neutralised before Wellington could cross the border and take the fight to the French. Almeida
and Badajoz were attacked at the same time, with the main army besieging Almeida, and a smaller
British force cooperating with Blakes 4th Spanish army to contain Badajoz. The French attempted to
raise both sieges, and these attempts gave rise to two battles fought within a week of each other. At
Fuentes de Onoro, Wellington again bested Massena. But perhaps the more famous encounter was
that fought south of Badajoz by the combined British and Spanish armies under Beresford against
the Duke of Damnation, Marshal Soult. Advancing from Seville with 25,000 men, Soult met the
hastily assembled allies across the River Albuhera. It would be the most bitterly contested battle in
the entire Peninsular war.
To Seville

French Deployment Zone


N
Feria Brook

River Albuhera

Albuera

Arroya Brook
To Badajoz

Allied Deployment Zone


0
To Valverde

16

Game Setup
The game setup is quite simple. Both sides may deploy anywhere in their respective deployment
zones, on any type of blind, on any orders. The exception to this is Coles division, which arrived
during the night and must be positioned to the north of the Valverde road. The high ground gives
defenders Terrain Advantage but does not influence movement. The village of Albuera is a standard
Built Up Area, defence factor +2, holding one battalion. The rivers and brooks may be forded without
penalty (defenders if attacked across them with have Terrain Advantage), with the exception of the
section of river North of Albuera village, which cannot be crossed by artillery. The game should
ideally be played on a 5 square table, but 5 (North-South) by 4 could be used if necessary.

Special Rules
To reflect Soults contrasting abilities for Grand Tactical planning as opposed to battle management,
he is rated Bold/Solid until the first close combat is fought. From then on he is downgraded to Solid.
It is recommended that the optional rule 25.9 is applied to allow Bold generals like Cole and Lumley
to replicate history and take the initiative without orders.

Victory Conditions
French Major Victory:
French Minor Victory:
Allies Minor Victory:
Allied Major Victory:

Drive the allies from the high ground and inflict at least 40%
casualties on the British infantry
Inflict more casualties on the allies than are received, and inflict at
least 40% casualties on the British infantry
Hold the high ground, inflict more casualties on the French than are
received and limit casualties among British infantry to 33% or less.
Hold the high ground and limit casualties among British infantry to
20% or less.

Further Reading
There are several excellent books on Albuera, my favourite is that by Mike Oliver and Richard
Partridge: The Battle of Albuera- 1811. Glorious Field of Grief. The orders of battle presented here
are based on those found in the appendices to that excellent work.
There are some good web resources available:
- for an overview of the battle see Andrew Jacksons piece at
http://www.peninsularwar.org/albuera.htm and here (if you ignore the tasteful advert for
wrinkle cream!) http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_albuera.html
- for a treasure trove of first hand material, go to the Napoleon Series website. Guy Dempsey
(the author of another good book on Albuera) has deposited a lot of his research material
online: http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/1811/Albuera/Archives/c_albueraarchivesintro.html

for those struggling with Spanish uniforms for this period, there is a fantastic collection of
material on Steven Balagans blog:
http://balagan.org.uk/war/peninsular-war/order-of-battle/albuera_spanish.htm

Allied Order of Battle, 16th May 1811


Commander in Chief:

Beresford (Poor)

2nd Division
5/60th
Colbornes Brigade
1/3rd Foot
2/31st Foot
2/66th Foot
Houghtons Brigade
29th Foot
1/48th Foot
1/57th Foot
2/28th Foot

Stewart (Poor)
btn
B class SK3, Rifles, Skirmishers
B class
C class
C class

SK1
SK1
SK1

B class Stoic
B class Stoic
B class Stoic
C class

SK1
SK1
SK1
SK1

4th Division
Cole (Bold/Able)
Myers Brigade
1/7th Foot
B class Stoic
2/7th Foot
B class Stoic
rd
1/23 Foot
B class Stoic
Harveys Brigade
11th Portugese Line
2 btns C class
Loyal Lusitanian Legion
C class

SK1
SK1
SK1
SK1
SK2, TLI

Kings German Legion Alten (Detached; Solid)


Light Battalion (14 figures)
B class
SK3, Rifles, TLI
Cavalry
3rd Dragoon Guards
13th Light Dragooons

Lumley (Detached; Bold/Able)


B class Elan
Heavy Cavalry
B class Elan
Light Cavalry

Artillery*
Hartmann (Detached; Solid)
Royal Foot Artillery 4x9lb guns B class
KGL Artillery
6x6lb guns B class
Royal Horse Artillery 4x6lb guns B class
Horse Artillery
Portugese Forces
1st Brigade
4th Portugese
10th Portugese
2nd Brigade
2nd Portugese
14th Portugese
Artillery
Foot Artillery
Cavalry
1st Dragoons
7th Dragoons

Hamilton (Solid)
2 btns C class
2 btns C class

SK1
SK1

2 btns C class
2 btns D class

SK1
SK0

6x9lb guns C class


D class
D class

Light Cavalry
Light Cavalry

4th Spanish Army

Blake (Poor)

Vanguard
Lardizabal (Solid)
st
1 Brigade
1st Regt. Murcia
D class
2nd Regt. Murcia
D class
nd
2 Brigade
2nd Regt. Leon
D class
Regt. Ligero de Campo Mayor C class

SK0
SK0
SK0
SK1

3rd Division
Ballasteros (Poor)
nd
2 Cazadores de Barbastro
D class
Regt. Pravia
D class
st
1 Catalanes
D class Brittle
Regt. Infiesto
D class Brittle

SK1
SK0
SK0
SK0

4th Division
Zayas (Bold/Able)
nd
2 Real Guardia de Espana
B class
th
4 Real Guardia de Espana
B class
2/Regt. Irlanda
C class
3/Regt. Irlanda
C class
Regt. Veteranos de la Patria
C class

SK1
SK1
SK1
SK1
SK1

Cavalry
Casimiro Loy (Poor/Cautious)
Provisional de Santiago
D class, Brittle Light Cavalry
Hussares de Castilla
D class, Brittle Light Cavalry
Regt. de Bourbon
D class, Brittle Line Cavalry

* The British artillery may be kept together, or distributed to the British divisions before the start of
the game.

French Order of Battle, 16th May 1811


Commander in Chief:

Soult (Bold/Solid->Solid; see briefing)

1st Division
34th Ligne
88th Ligne

Girard (Bold/Solid)
2 btns B class
2 btns C class

SK1
SK1

2nd Division
21st Legere
103rd Ligne

Gazan (Solid)
2 btns B class
3 btns C class

SK2
SK1

Independent Brigade
16th Legere
51st Ligne

Godinot (Detached; Solid)


2 btns C class
SK2
3 btns C class
SK1

Independent Brigade
12th Legere
55th Ligne
Combined Grenadiers

Werl
3 btns
3 btns
1 btn

(Detached; Solid)
B class
SK2
C class
SK1
B class, Elan
SK1

Cavalry
Latour-Maubourg (Bold/Solid)
st
1 Brigade (Bailly)
4th Dragoons
C class
Line Cavalry
th
20 Dragoons
C class
Line Cavalry
th
26 Dragoons
C class
Line Cavalry
nd
2 Brigade (Brich)
1st Lanciers de la Vistule
B class, Elan
Lancers
nd
2 Hussars
B class, Elan
Light Cavalry
th
27 Chasseurs a Cheval
C class
Light Cavalry
Artillery*
Ruty (Detached; Solid)
Horse Artillery 6xmedium guns B class
Horse Artillery
Horse Artillery 6xmedium guns B class
Horse Artillery
Horse Artillery 6xmedium guns B class
Horse Artillery
Foot Artillery 6xmedium guns B class
Foot Artillery 6xmedium guns B class
* The French artillery may be kept together, or distributed to the French divisions before the start of
the game.

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