Over the Hills?

The French always had more artillery than the British, and utilized what Spanish pieces they could lay their hands on. I think it more than likely that, if the bridge was of any importance, they would have brought some pieces to guard it, since it is the simplest and most effective way to make crossing a bridge extremely uncomfortable. Without them, the French have no chance of holding the bridge anyway, and should run at first sight of enemy with cannon and rifles. See my post above.

That aside:

Nobody has said it takes a day to take the bridge - only that it happens on day 1.

And I would like to protest that the French were not complete idiots either and had light companies that could skirmish just as well. They had not quite the range, granted, but in a village or a similar location that is only of minor importance.

It was widely acknowledged in the Peninsula that the Rifles were as superior to the French light infantry as the French light infantry were superior to the British. in other words: The French were very far from being thought of as idiots, and the British knew they had an advantage only because they had Riflemen. Even so, one company could easily be overwhelmed by sheer numbers because rifles took so long to load compared to the muskets the French (and regular British infantry) used.

I well realize the French had skirmish troops also, though not armed with rifles just muskets, Nappy was not a rifle fan. I was just going by the much earlier comments that the 86th would be composing the opposition and they are not lights.

Hey, I'm actually a big French fan, that's why I play a French char but again I am saying we want the Brits to succeed in this mission and if the French start with a sizeable force at the bridge and cannon too, the fight becomes very hard. Then they still have to do the charges and also hold off the oncoming French main body.

I'm just trying to argue for the Brits to have early success because later it will get very hard for them. Like a movie cliffhanger.

No, the fight won't become hard. They just would have to actually do what they do best, i. e. sneak around and attack from there.

Yes, with cannon, simply charging the bridge is suicidal, but Fraser brought a Howizer and two other pieces, and now has the chance to actually use them to good effect.

The riflemen get to do a nice, adventurous river-crossing and a perfect skirmish.

The grenadiers can do a very heroic charge and win the day.

Somebody might even be able to capture two French pieces, which will give them Wellington's gratitude.

I find that much more interesting than a simple attack against no real opposition, and it has the advantage that it can be played out in several smaller threads, which makes the actual RP easier.

If that was the only fight then yes, I think that sounds like a good one, an assault against heavy resistance but I thought the storyline called for the main body of French to come up later. Given that we don't want too many losses in a hard fight to take the thing then also have to hold off even more French later.

I know the Brits are good but like people have been also pointing out the French are pretty good themselves.

I have read that artillery batteries carry a fairly limited amount of ammo so if Fraser is using up much of it to take the bridge, he wouldn't have much left to for the main body of French when they make the counterattack.

Plus the Brits do need to carry along plenty of gunpowder too for the blowing of the bridge.

Of course we are the writers here, we can have this turn out however we want assuming we ever agree on anything. I just think that the way Sharpie wrote it before makes more sense, the early going goes to the Brits but then as time goes on it's gets a whole lot harder as the French come in force and with artillery too. Either storyline is viable but we need to pick one, my preference is the Sharpie version of the other day.

If the spy/informer were to go to the bridge picquet, how likely is it that the officer in charge will believe/trust his information and send to the main body for backup?

In this case, I would say very likely. Because wrong information can be explained, but having such a force simply appear and take such an important bridge although the officer was warned would end on a gray morning in front of a wall. If he survived the attack.

Considering he is not an amateur in the business who has just entered the scene, but has been present in and out for much longer and probably has connections, has had previous experiences with the sides, has also been in contact with dead French informants, be it also searching their person for documents, and has been able to infiltrate certain groups,.. quite likely. He does not need to be the one going from the picquet to the HQ (not that if there was a question of trust or belief, would HQ be any more believing than the picquet). He is quite happy if somebody else does the informing of HQ for him, if the officer wants it so. He would also do it himself, if the request of the officer goes in that direction.

In which case, I say we compromise a little.

Scenario plays out pretty much as I've already laid out, with the exception that the informer tells the officer or whoever is in charge of the bridge party, who then passes on the message (whoever actually goes is up to the players concerned) to the main party.

(And I am also getting more than a little tired of going in circles with this whole thing.)

I can perfectly understand the last bit.

I have stated my opinion. I will go now with whatever the majority decides.

Or there is no spy, since it seems that his presence does not alter a single thing in the actions of the officer at the bridge that he would not have done at first sight of the British anyway. The rest be done however whoever wishes.

I greatly respect the opinions of all the players involved in this discussion, I really do. And really I think in the end we all want the same thing, the story to be fun and a success - I don't even mean as in bridge blowing success as much as an interesting storyline with roles for everybody who wants in.

I still can see a role for Josef, he's an interesting char. Like Sharpie says, he does his part, the bridge commander is now warned and sends on help which will bring the main body even faster than if Josef hadn't done his bit.

Sharpie is right though, we've debated this enough and I am as guilty as anyone else. If I ruffled any feathers in doing so, my sincere apologies, that was not my intent.

I'm probably as guilty as anyone in ruffling feathers, and I apologise. I have been trying to find a way to make this plot as interesting as possible for everyone and I am sorry that has turned out not to be the case.

It seems the officer of the picquet/guard of the bridge's actions won't realistically change if going according to the present scenario. Calling for backup a bit earlier, or a bit later, but not changing his preparations against the ones coming - really makes no difference. This makes any information that has been brought rather useless and the risk of getting caught rather not worth the effort.
So, lets just drop the spy thing. Torrington won't be informed on the numbers of French, the French don't get informed on the arriving armies and thus get the shock of their life or whatever the scenario you want .

To be honest, whatever happens with the plot is fine with me, as I don't believe I'll be taking part - but naturally I hope everyone who does enjoys themselves fully.

Right. We've had two players drop out, and I think the rest of us are pretty well agreed on what needs to happen: English force of 200 men + however many artillery soldiers take the bridge, French guard commander sends word to the main body who send reinforcements, English have to defend the bridge till the last charge is laid, retire in good order across it, blow it up, head home.

So, some small amount of French are holding it right now? Maybe they can see and say aaaaghh, they have a ton of men, we gotta get outta here? (Sorry, I haven't read this thread in its entirety, just hoping for a summary and then I'm ready to jump in and play a French guy yelling aaaaagh.)

Hey sans nom!

Glad to have you play another Frenchie at the bridge. I got Sharpie's kind permission to write the NPC sergeant in charge of the detachment and I also am putting my char, Francois Seviere, there too.

As Sharpie wrote, the bridge commander will send for help so you would be more than welcome to operate that runner. Or....once the attack begins I'm sure at least a few of the French will just simply see how badly it is going and make a run for it. A lot depends too on how the Brits hit them. Torrington has it that the initial march by the demo column will take one day so I'm guessing the Brits might then launch a sudden attack at dawn taking advantage of the dark to sneak up light troops rather than simply just march up the road toward the bridge in column in broad daylight. But I leave that fun stuff up to those playing Brit officers

Anyhow, feel free to add a Frenchie or two if you're in the mood. I will be getting up an initial post for the bridge guard later today.

I think I'll just wait and follow other people's lead then, if I feel capable. I'm almost a bit wary of the thread now, worried about doing the wrong thing.

Or I might just stay out of it. It sounds too confusing.

Can we speed up a little? It's been over two weeks and the British haven't even seen the bridge yet.

That would be good yeah. I think some of the writers for the approaching Brits like our artilleryman and the Guardsmen are really busy with school right now though. Hopefully soon they will get back into it.

Can we salvage this? What if we just throw ALL the plans out and let people do whatever the heck they want, and surprise us all. (Apart from the plan that the bridge gets blown up and the French lose this battle. )

I'm pretty much open for anything right now, just would like to have a battle.

I don't want to be a spoilsport, but basically all the things I did not like about the projected plot have already been established in the threads sofar. The spyhattery is impossible now, too.

I never had any fixed plans; I did not like the setup and tried to point out that a different setup would allow for several opportunities for threads.

Therefore, deciding to kick all plans doesn't really help me to like this any more than before. However: As I said, I will play along with what characters I have in the threads, and even a few NPCs, if somebody else moves the story.