The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1840, the first of three Carlist Wars. It was fought between two factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Spanish monarchy: the conservative and devolutionist supporters of the late king’s brother, Carlos de Borbón (or Carlos V), became known as Carlists (carlistas), while the progressive and centralist supporters of the regent, Maria Christina, acting for Isabella II of Spain, were called Liberals (liberales), cristinos or isabelinos. Aside from being a war of succession about the question who the rightful successor to King Ferdinand VII of Spain was, the Carlists’ goal was the return to a traditional monarchy, while the Liberals sought to defend the constitutional monarchy.
It was the largest and most deadly civil war in nineteenth-century Europe and fought by more men than the Spanish War of Independence. It might have been the largest counter-revolutionary movement in 19th-century Europe depending on the figures. Furthermore, it is considered the “last great European conflict of the pre-industrial age”. The conflict was responsible for the deaths of 5% of the 1833 Spanish population—with military casualties alone amounting to half this number. It was mostly fought in the Southern Basque Country, Maestrazgo, and Catalonia and characterized by endless raids and reprisals against both armies and civilians.
The Royal Expedition (Spanish: Expedición Real), also known as Don Carlos’ Expedition, was an 1837 operation in the late stages of the First Carlist Warundertaken by the Carlist insurgents. Marking the highest point of Carlist control, it ended with a humiliating defeat and laid the groundwork for the end of the war in 1839.
Huesca was the capital of ancient Aragon and was a rather substantial place with its own cathedral and palace. The battle was the first of the “Royal Expedition” in 1837. The Royal Expedition was an effort by the pretender Don Carlos to capture Madrid. A Cristino army attacked the Carlists in the late afternoon of May 24, a few hours after the Carlists had occupied the town and were setting up their camp inside and outside the town. The battle was relatively small, with the Cristinos having about 7500 infantry in 10 battalions, about 1000 cavalry and three small batteries. The Carlists had a few more infantry battalions, perhaps a few more cavalry and no artillery. Nevertheless, the fight was bloody, with the Cristinos suffering over 1000 casualties.
The Game
My buddy DF decided to do the Battle of Huesca from the First Carlist War, using Valour and Fortitude. He provided his collection of 28mm Perry’s. They are based with a frontage of 15mm per figure. The battle was fought outside the town so we only needed a few Spanish or Mediterranean buildings placed on part of one long edge of the table to represent the outskirts of the town. There is also a hill near the middle of the table with a chapel or hermitage and graveyard which the Carlists occupied and fortified with four battalions. A contemporary map shows cultivated areas but they apparently had no effect on anything, so we placed some on the table for aesthetic reasons, but they were ignored for game play.
This battle would allow us to use almost everything in the rules: attack columns, light infantry, open order, mountain guns (light artillery), hills, defendable terrain, etc. The First Carlist War army sheets are available on the Perry site and in the September edition of Wargames Illustrated.
Victory points would be assigned by the normal V&F army break rules, as well as three objectives that were placed around Heusca.
The Carlist were deployed in the chapel, with the other units being in hidden set up, to represent where they exited the town. The cavalry entered on the board edge on turn one. The Cristinos would enter from the board edge in three commands on turn one, with the cavalry entering on turn two.
Both sides made their plans and we got to playing. The Carlists planned to hold the objective towns with the infantry and stretch the Cristnos away from the same. They then would move their cavalry to the flank to try to turn the Cristino’s lines. The Cristinos plan was to use one brigade to threaten the Clarlos right flank, while fainting the main army to the right and then striking at the center of Huesca.
We played the game for about three hours. We set a time limit, not a turn limit (which is one of the options in the rules). Both sides started to implement their plans from the get go. The Cristinos had some issues with not getting commands early, which slowed their advance. Carlos forces executed their plan aggressively and quickly turned the flank. This caused the Cristinos to hesitate more, eventually leading to the line being outflanked and engulfed.
On the Cristino’s flank, things seemed to be going to plan, as they held up a slightly disproportionate force. However, things finally took a turn on firepower and this threat was eliminated, ending any hope of getting into Huesca.
In the end, it was a decisive victory for the Carlists. The game ended with not only a historical victory for the Carlists, but one that was not that far off the historical fight! Another fun fight with V&F.
