So here, as promised, are the campaign rules as I currently have them. Plus, you'll find some cobbled together author's notes at the end to explain why some of the rules are as they are.
What I can't do here are the full Army OOB / list tables, or the cards that go to make up the Activation Deck (36 cards) and the Events Deck (61 cards). These are in MS Word tables format and they fall to bits when I cut and paste them to this blog.
However, anyone wanting all the files, including the rules, lists and all, can email me (olicanaps@gmail.com) and I'll send you everything I have except the map - that you will need to download for yourself (it's free here). Be warned - it might take me a few days to get round to replying, please bear with me.
A Peninsular War Campaign
for four Payers ¹
Forces and Stacking
Forces: Each pin on the map represents one or more infantry divisions.
Each pin is called a force. The minimum strength of a force is one division. Where
a force is more than one division strong, only the pin of the army commander or
leading division will be used to note the force’s location on the map; any
accompanying divisions will be noted in the player’s army lists – thus an
element of fog of war can be maintained before contact.
Command: A force not under the command of the army commander will be
led by a force commander. The force commander must be a named corps commander
where available, otherwise the force will be led by the most senior division
commander – as an acting corps commander. When leading an independent force,
corps commanders get 3 PMP, acting corps commanders get 2 PMP. Note: When a
divisional officer is leading a force a subordinate will take command of his
division without impact on officer quality rolls. Where several forces are at
the same battle the senior force commander will be C-in-C and other force
commanders will temporarily return to their divisions.
Stacking & Merging Forces: Where two or more forces of the same
army concentrate in one area they can merge or remain separate forces; multiple
forces from different armies can concentrate in the same area but they cannot
merge (unless they are Anglo-Portuguese, see Anglo-Portuguese command structure
below). All count towards the area stacking limit for attrition purposes. Note:
Although most forces from different armies cannot merge, they can operate
together under a “Joint Command”
campaign card. The maximum force that can shelter inside a fortress 30UI. Although
there is no maximum area stacking limit, the absolute maximum effective
stacking for battle is 100 UI (roughly equating to 25 infantry units plus
supporting cavalry and artillery).
Area Occupation: Enemy forces cannot occupy the same area unless one
has been invested in a fortress by a force at least equal in strength – a siege
is underway.
Force Strength: The strength of a force / division
is only tracked in infantry UI. Cavalry is allocated in proportion to the total
infantry UI committed to the battle. The army’s cavalry divisor (4-10) is given
in army lists; in order for cavalry to be fielded there must be at least 2 cavalry
UI (this is the only time a 2 UI unit is allowed); cavalry type is determined randomly.
Guns are assigned to a force in half batteries for every 10 UI of infantry and
cavalry fielded; half batteries must form full batteries wherever possible;
artillery type (horse / foot) is determined randomly. See: Organising Armies Prior To Battle
Disbanding Divisions: The minimum size of a division is 4
ready UI plus any UI in hospital. If a division’s strength falls below 4 ready UI
it must move as fast as possible to the nearest friendly fortress (where it
will remain until it has 4 ready UI), or it can be disbanded. The UI of
disbanded divisions can be redistributed to other forces in the same or an
adjacent areas. Voluntary disbandment is allowed at 6 ready UI or less. At no
other time can divisional UI be transferred from one division to another. Following
disbandment the divisional pin is placed in a fortress and cannot become active
again (it is ignored for all campaign purposes) until it reaches 4 ready
UI.
Area Attrition Limit: The maximum number of UI, in
combined or separate forces, that can be stacked in an area before testing for
attrition is fifty.
Anglo-Portuguese Command Structure: At the start of the campaign, up to
two British divisions (historically 4th and 6th) can be
given to Beresford; they can be merged back into Wellington’s command at any
time (see stacking and merging forces above). The Cadiz Division may merge with
a Spanish army or Beresford on Wellington’s activation – it must leave that control
at Wellington’s request, or if its movement restrictions prevent it from
further cooperation.
The Campaign Activation
Deck
This deck
drives the campaign. The deck is shuffled and placed face down. Then, one at a
time, the cards are turned and the instruction on the card followed until the End of Turn card is revealed. ⁹
On turning the
End of Turn card attrition for over
stacking is assessed. Then, all of the cards of the campaign activation deck
are shuffled prior to the start of the next turn.
The first turn
of the campaign is a set up turn. This is played as an ordinary turn except:
The End of Turn card is removed;
players cannot initiate a battle or take / pass through / besiege a key enemy
VP area. The turn is purely used to decide dispositions and run through the
activation deck. After the set up turn, add the End of Turn card and shuffle the deck: Turn one of the campaign can
begin.
Movement
Following an
army’s activation (on its specific army activation card), each of the army’s forces
can move. Forces must move one at a time. Every activation, each forces starts
with four movement d6. The d6 is modified as follows:
1.
If
the force has a green pin deduct two dice.
2.
If
force is acting on a Forced March
campaign card add up to two dice without penalty, or three or four dice with an
attrition check.
3.
If
the force is moving in open terrain add one to the d6 roll.
4.
If
the force is moving on a major road add one to the d6 roll.
5.
If
the force is moving in extreme weather deduct one from the d6 roll.
The dice are
rolled one at a time: On each roll of 4+ the force may move one area.
Where an active army ends its movement activation in areas
adjacent to the enemy it can attempt to initiate one battle. This is not
a movement roll.
Attrition
Attrition Tests: Forces must make an attrition test in the following
circumstances by rolling d6:
1.
Immediately
after adding a third or fourth dice using a Forced
March campaign card.
2.
If,
at the end of a campaign turn the general stacking limit (50 UI) of an area has
been exceeded, or they are unable to trace an open supply route (of eight areas
or less, point to point) back to a friendly / allied supply fortress; regional capital
city; forward supply dump; naval supply port.
If a test is
required, each division in an effected force must test by rolling D6. Each
division failing to roll 4+ must check for attrition effect.
Attrition Effect: Divide the division’s total UI by six (rounding down
all fractions) to discover the number of UI that will go into hospitals.⁵ Hospitalised UI are not marked off of
divisional strength because they still count towards force stacking limits. The
number of hospitalised UI is noted in the tracker with the turn they were
admitted +2 (E.g. UI hospitalised on turn 2 will note a 4 into the hospitals
tracker and will be unfit for service until the start of turn 4).
Campaign Cards: Certain campaign cards can be used to negate the effects of
attrition:
1.
A Logistics
campaign card can be played to negate any attrition tests for one force, of any
size, in any circumstances.
2.
A
Naval Supply card can be played to
during a player’s activation to create a forward naval supply base: It is treated
as a supply fortress, it cannot be used in the activation it is created and it
can only supply the forces of one army for one activation unless maintained.
Naval supply ports can be overrun and destroyed.
3.
A
Forward Supply Depot campaign card
can be played during a player’s activation to create a forward supply base. It
is treated as a supply fortress; it cannot be used in the activation it is
created and it can only supply the forces of one army for one activation unless
maintained. Forward supply bases can be overrun and destroyed.
Initiating Battle
Initiating Battle: Having
moved all of its forces that wish to move in the current activation, an army
may nominate the forces in one area to lead an attack against enemy forces in
an adjacent connected area, and indicate all forces that will concentrate in
support (see concentration below).
A d6 is rolled, adding one to the roll if the defender is in open
terrain, adding one if Wellington, and deducting one from the roll if the force
is led by an acting corps commander. If the result is 4+ the defending player
must choose to withdraw or stand. Only one attempt to initiate battle is
allowed per activation.²
Exception - Major
Rivers: After an attack has been initiated, if there is a major river
between the attacking and defending areas, the defender may claim the river as
defensive terrain by rolling 4+; he does this before choosing to withdraw or
stand. In normal weather conditions major rivers will be extremely difficult
terrain (require difficulty checks to cross) and have two to four bridges (d3+1)
crossing points. If a major river will feature as table-top terrain, the
attacker can negate the river by immediately playing a Bridging campaign card; otherwise he has the option to press the
attack regardless, or call it off.
Defender Withdraws:
If the defender withdraws he does so automatically. The withdrawing force can
withdraw one or two areas. Forces defending an area with a fortress can choose
to move forces into it (maximum of 30 UI, including hospitalised). The attacker
now moves into the vacated area with the leading forces and may also
move any concentrating forces into their nominated concentration areas. If the
defender has retreated into a fortress, a siege may begin (see sieges below).
Defender Stands: If
the defender stands he indicates any forces that will concentrate in support
(see concentration below). A battle will now ensue between the attacker and
defender, and all concentrating forces.
Pin Movement: Although
the battle is said to be fought in the defending area (for terrain
determination), and the area will give name to the battle, the battle will
probably be fought somewhere in between. Map pins do not relocate during
the initiation or concentration process. Pin movement takes place post battle.
Green pins: All
forces involved in a battle are marked with a green pin. Numbered green pins
are used to indicate any force concentrating with delay. A green pin reduces
the movement dice of a force on its subsequent activation card. Green pins do
not effect movement during the post battle movement phase; rather, the green
pins reflect the loss of subsequent activation movement due to it.
Concentration of
Supporting Forces ²: To concentrate for a battle a force
must be in an area adjacent and connected to either the attacking area or the defending
area.³
Concentrating forces roll a d6 to determine their times of
arrival. One is deducted from the roll if the attacker is concentrating in the
defending area; one is deducted from the roll if the defender is concentrating
in the attacking area; two is deducted from the roll if the concentrating force
is pinned by an enemy force that is not itself concentrating and is at least
half the strength of the force it is pinning; one is deducted from the roll if the
force has a green pin; one is deducted from the roll if the force would
normally activate on a different card to the attacking or defending force
(unless acting on a Joint Command
card).⁴
Concentrating forces will be part of their army’s initial
deployment if they roll 4+. Those rolling less arrive after commencement of
battle and are activated as delayed off table reserves when their side’s Stratagem sequence card appears.
·
A force rolling 1 becomes available as immediate
off-table reserve on the fourth appearance of the army’s Stratagem sequence card.
·
A force rolling 2 becomes available as immediate
off-table reserve on the third appearance of the army’s Stratagem sequence card.
·
A force rolling 3 becomes available as immediate
off-table reserve on the second appearance of the army’s Stratagem sequence card.
·
A force rolling 0 will fail to arrive in time to
take any active part in the battle; they still act as per other concentrating
forces post battle.
·
Cavalry is always available for initial deployment.
Armies & Deployment
Organising
Armies Prior To Battle:
1.
The player must organise the infantry UI of each
division into units (of 3-5 UI in each), then determine type and quality.
2. To
work out cavalry UI take the total number of infantry UI that will arrive in
time for the upcoming battle and divide them by their relevant cavalry divisor,
rounding all fractions up. After working out the total number of cavalry UI the
player must organise them into units of 3-5 UI each before randomly determining
their type and quality. Exception: Where only 2 cavalry UI are available, a
single 2 UI unit is allowed.
3. ¹⁰ To work out the number of
artillery half batteries in the force take the total number of infantry and
cavalry UI that can arrive in the upcoming battle and divide the total by 10,
rounding all fractions up. After working out the number of half batteries the
player must form them into full batteries and assign them to infantry divisions
(1 per division maximum). Where a half battery is left over it can be assigned
to an infantry or cavalry division (if assigned to cavalry it is automatically
horse artillery). The number of batteries assigned to immediately available and
delayed divisions must be proportional.
Deployment:
Both sides roll deployment D6 modified as follows:
·
After dicing for C-in-C quality, add one if
better battlefield commander, or Wellington.
·
Deduct one if acting corps commander.
·
Add one if defending.
·
Add two if playing a “Kept it in my pocket” battle card.
Table side is chosen by the defender unless his roll was
doubled by the attacker. The attacker deploys second unless his roll was doubled
by the defender. If both sides rolled the same, roll D6 with highest choosing
table side, then each side deploys one division at a time, lowest roll first.
Major Rivers: A
major river is placed on the table by the defender after table side is chosen.
Bridges are placed by the players alternately, defender placing the first
(bridges must be at least 18” apart and 24” in from the table edge).
Immediate Off-Table
Reserves: Divisions may be kept in immediate off-table reserve behind the
player’s baseline. They may be activated for arrival on an Army Action card
(orders are sent), at which point their point of entry (left, right, or centre)
must be declared; then they must arrive on the next appropriate march
card.
Battle Duration ¹¹: Battles will last a
minimum of five full turns. Turns ending prematurely on ‘same domino’ results
are not counted towards the total – they are extra time.
Post Battle Casualties
Divisional UI Loss, Hospitalised:
Each divisional infantry unit (constituting
UI drawn from the divisional UI pool) will incur one UI loss, hospitalised, if
it took any casualties during the battle.⁵
The battle’s loser will always convert half of its hospitalised UI (rounding
down all fractions) into permanent losses. Hospitalised UI are not marked off
of the divisional UI strength because they still count towards force stacking
limits. The number of hospitalised UI is noted in the tracker with the turn
they were admitted +2 (E.g. UI hospitalised on turn 2 will note a 4 into the
hospitals tracker and will be unfit for service until the start of turn 4).
Divisional
UI Loss, Permanent:
An infantry division incurs one permanent UI loss
for each of its infantry units at zero UI, routed or destroyed.
The force incurs one permanent UI loss for each of
its cavalry or artillery units ending the battle at zero UI, routed or
destroyed. The player chooses distribution.
The losing army will incur two permanent UI loss
for each enemy light cavalry unit presently at 2 UI strength or more (the
losing player chooses distribution).
Post Battle Movement
Loser:
Primary defending forces roll six d6: For every roll of 4+ the
force must retreat one area.
Other defending forces roll five d6: For every roll of 4+ the
force retreats one area.
Attacking forces roll four d6: For every roll of 4+ the force
retreats one area.
Losing forces may enter a fortress using up any remaining
retreat moves. Maximum fortress capacity is 30 UI (including hospitalised UI).
Surrender: If a
force is unable to retreat because its escape routes are blocked by enemy pins
containing an equal number of UI or more, the force will surrender. Otherwise, the
losing force will surrender 20% (rounding up all fractions) of its remaining UI
as it breaks out, adding one area of movement to do so if required: The losing
player chooses distribution.
Winner:
Attacking forces move into the defending area, then roll three
D6 for each force. For each 4+ a force may move one area to exploit the
victory.
Defending forces move into the defending area, then roll two
D6 for each force. For each 4+ a force may move one area to exploit the
victory.
Draw: Forces remain
static with the option to roll any number of retreat dice up to a maximum of
five.
Sieges
When an enemy army enters an enemy fortress area it must
invest it with a force of at least 10 UI and equal to the UI within. If it
cannot invest the fortress it cannot enter the area or remain in it. Whilst
invested the investing player exerts control over the area surrounding the
fortress but the besieged player holds the areas victory points until the
fortress falls.
Sallying forces can only lead an
attack if the fortress area, attacking area and defending area are the same.
Relieving forces, leading the attack or concentrating, always count the
fortress area as the defending area.
Once invested, a siege can resolved with a Siege Artillery campaign card played on
an appropriate army activation. No dice roll is required for initiation by the leading
force; external defending forces cannot concentrate this card is in effect.
On an appropriate army activation card, negotiation for
surrender may be undertaken – leeway should be given to allow a withdrawal move.
Victory Points ⁸
Each player starts with 22 victory
points.
British and Spanish players will each
deduct 1 VP for every red or yellow occupation pin lost.
British and
Spanish players will each add 1 VP for every red or yellow occupation
pin gained.
French
players will each deduct 1 VP for every blue occupation pin lost.
French players will each add 1
VP for every blue occupation pin gained.
1 bonus VP will be added for personally gaining an area.
All occupation pin VPs are doubled for losing or gaining
fortresses.
Battlefield victory: 2 VP each for the players of the winning
side. 1 bonus VP for personally gaining a victory over each 20 UI (rounding
fractions) of enemy strength.
For every bonus VP won by the Spanish player roll D6: On 4+ add
1 VP.⁶
Initial Dispositions
Spanish:
·
2nd Army, O’Donnell: Barcelona. 59 UI
in 5 divisions.
·
3rd Army, Freire: Valencia. 39 UI in
3 divisions.
·
5th Army, Blake: Sevilla. 40 UI in 3
divisions.
·
6th Army, Santocildes: Santiago. 39
UI in 3 divisions.
·
TOTAL: 177 UI in 14 divisions in 4 armies.
Anglo-Portuguese:
·
Anglo-Portuguese Army, Wellington: Lisbon. 104
UI in 8 divisions.
·
Army of Portugal, Beresford: Elvas. 32 UI in 2
divisions.
·
Cadiz Garrison, Graham: Cadiz. 12 UI in 1
division.
·
TOTAL: 148 UI in 11 divisions in two armies.
French (player 1):
·
Army of the South, Soult: Merida. 112 UI in 7
divisions.
·
Army of Catalonia, MacDonald: Toulouse. 51 UI in
4 divisions.
·
TOTAL: 163 UI in 11 divisions in two armies.
French (player 2):
·
Army of Aragon, Suchet: Zarogoza. 86 UI in 5
divisions.
·
Army of Portugal, Marmont: Valladolid. 81 UI in
6 divisions.
·
TOTAL: 167 UI in 11 divisions in two armies.
French (alternate
activation):
·
Army of the Centre, Joseph: Madrid. 36 UI in 3
divisions.
·
TOTAL: 36 UI in 3 divisions in one army.
TOTALS:
·
Allies: 325
UI in 25 divisions in six armies.
·
French: 366
UI in 25 divisions in five armies.
Key areas ⁷
These are the areas that are worth VPs.
Mark them on the map in red; pin them accordingly.
Allied Areas:
Galiza: Santiago, Corunna, Vogo
Galiza, Cuidad Rodrigo (actually held by the French).
Portugal: Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra,
Almeida, Evora, Estramoz (Elvas).
Gibraltar (Note: This area is deemed
impregnable and cannot be besieged).
Palma Majorca (Only included because
it is a fortress on the map).
Andalucia: Sevilla, Cadiz (garrisoned
by the British), Cordoba, Granada, Berlanga.
Valencia: Valencia, Cartagena, Murcia.
Catalonia: Barcelona, Tortosa,
Terragona.
French Areas:
France: Bayonne, Toulouse, Perpignan.
(Important Note: Bayonne and Toulouse are impregnable).
Old Castille: Valladolid, Burgos,
Santandar, Oviedo, Salamanca.
New Castille: Madrid, Toledo,
Albacete, Cuidad Real, Turuel.
Extremadura: Merida, Badajoz, Caceres,
Navalmoral.
Aragon: Zaragoza, San Sebastian,
Pamplona, Huesca.
AUTHORS NOTES
I will send these rules out in MS Word (not in a locked PDF) to anyone who wants them, along with the full OOB / Army Lists and so forth, so you can play around with
your own edits where necessary. However, in return, I ask that you respect my
copyright and refrain from publishing them electronically or in hard copy except
for your own personal use - thanks.
I have referenced some of these notes
in the rules but, not all of them, or in any particular order. They were done very much as an
afterthought, and quickly, to explain why I did things the way I did, or to offer editing suggestions.
Now, this is not a very detailed wargame campaign. It is just a few pages of basic rule outlines. I have always found that complicated campaigns falter because they require too much work by the players and the umpire / adjudicator (the latter usually being me). I have tried to boil things down to the minimum required. This is a wargame campaign that intends to do nothing more than pose some basic strategic / grand tactical questions and generate wargame battles with wargame consequences for future battles. I hope you weren’t hoping for tables on how certain personalities react in different circumstances, how to run a wargame economy, or how to build spy networks, etc.
I came to a lot of the rules for this campaign because of the campaign map,
which was made by someone else (an excellent resource; thank you, ‘Murat’), and looking at the maps in Osprey’s Peninsular War Atlas at how armies
were quite dispersed for much of the time. I liked the fact that armies weren’t
all in one place but were in mutually supporting locals. Obviously, this is
hard to reproduce on a node to node map with 30 – 40 miles between nodes
but, I wanted army dispersals to have that feel. In consequence there is quite
a lot of abstraction going on: I play with the map distances and pin location
to a very large degree. It’s definitely a system that comes out of left field; it’s quite possible that
I’m insane. My advice is not to think about it too much and give the ideas a
whirl. Hopefully, the rules will give the feel of strategic movement by Napoleonic
armies – dispersing into columns before concentrating to fight. If the rules do
that, they have succeeded. More on this below.
Because this campaign was going to be
played without an umpire secret 'unscripted' ploys and the like would be hard to do. In
consequence, I introduced a 61 card Campaign Events deck into the mix. Doing so opened
so many doors that this card deck expanded at a rapid rate of knots –
eventually encompassing everything from units in ambush to siege resolution.
They are the one thing that I can’t fully check without hours and hours of
playtesting. I’ll report on my blog if I change or add any. There is always
scope for you to make more cards of your own (or change / discard the one’s you don’t
like).
If you were wondering what the start
date for this campaign is, it is 1811ish with simplified areas of occupation to
get the thing going. As wargame campaigns generally changes the historical
narrative the moment they start, I found no compelling reason not to use a lot of
fudge here.
Starting army organisations and numbers were taken from Oman. One glaring omission from the French
army list is the Army of the North – about 75,000 men have disappeared. Well
not exactly disappeared. As most of you will know, historically the AoN was
dispersed into garrisons all over northern and central Spain and couldn’t
concentrate because if it had the whole of that part of Spain would have risen
up in open revolt – probably ending the war in Spain’s favour within months. Imagine that
the 75,000 men of the AoN are there but, they are running round northern and central Spain like blue
arsed flies keeping the hostile population subdued, keeping supply routes open
and chasing two ever elusive Spanish armies about the place (these numbered
about 25,000 men and would pop without warning, cause havoc in the French rear
areas, then disappear like smoke - they are also absent): It’s all going on –
we just don’t need to concern ourselves with it. My wargame campaign rational for
these three armies going completely AWOL were twofold. Firstly, if you give the
French players another army of 75,000 men they will use it as a field army
(which historically it wasn’t) and it will unbalance the campaign too much.
Secondly, I didn’t want to have to work out a lot of unwieldy rules for
revolts, garrisons and policing (which probably wouldn’t work anyway) and I
certainly didn’t want to spend a lot of time adjudicating this aspect of a
wargame campaign in Spain. Suffice to say that the French did manage to keep the lid on Spanish dissatisfaction in occupied areas (to a modest degree, at least) but it took a lot of manpower to do it.
Notes on unit scale: I am using a home grown version of classic
Piquet to fight my battles. In this version of the rules a unit is 3 – 5 Unit Integrity
points strong, most typically having 4 UI. With this campaign strength in mind
it shouldn’t be too difficult to convert this system to other available table-top
sets, many having a roughly similar ‘stand based’ system: Black Powder small,
medium, and large units; Soldiers of Napoleon has a roughly comparable basic
mechanism too. Where your rules count heads, I suggest that you simply divide
heads by UI, counting average sized units as 4 UI – though you might need to
tinker with what losses trigger post battle hospitalisation depending on your game casualty rates.
When it comes to the overall scale of
this campaign, I had to play about with my usual scaling of things too.
Normally, for one off fictional battles, I typically have divisions of five or six 4 UI
units (when a UI is 250-ish infantry, 150-ish cavalry). The scale of this campaign,
where there will be a lot of divisions being brought to battle, made that impossible for me to do with the number of units and table size that I have; this
is also the chief reason for the arbitrary 100 UI maximum allowed for an army
in battle. In this campaign an infantry UI is about 400 men. My collection is
not huge but, at 2700 or so figures, I realise it might be more than most can
muster outside of a club / group setting – I can’t help that I’m afraid; these
rules were not written as a commercial exercise, they were tailored to my own collection.
I’m sure, that if you don’t have the numbers, you too can tinker your way around
the scaling.
You will note that I didn’t add
cavalry divisions as such to the army lists. This is because they most
frequently operated as brigades and I didn’t want to track the location of
formations that small. I think I pinched the divisor idea from Age of Reason
rules where they use it for artillery – it’s a simple mechanism which puts a
proportion of cavalry with each ‘pin on the map’. The army cavalry divisor
numbers came about by looking at historical proportions where I could find them. See note on artillery below.
Card Decks:
These are best printed onto thin card and put into standard size collector card
plastic sleeves. Card sleeves make homemade cards 100% uniform and a joy to
shuffle; they are well worth the investment. You’ll need just shy of 100 sleeves – buy them
all the same colour to lessen the number of packs (usually 50 per pack) you will need to buy.
¹
Four player campaign: This campaign
was designed for four players: One British; one Spanish; two French (Suchet
& Marmont; Soult & MacDonald; Joseph as a joint command). A few more or
less players could be employed with little difficulty: It could be played with
a minimum of two; five is probably best done by splitting the Spanish; six by
re-dividing the French as equally as possible (with Joseph’s army added to the
player army mix and possibly allowing him to operate outside of New Castille) into
a three player faction. More than that and you start getting into the realms of
one army players, which is doable but players might get bored awaiting their
activation. I suggest the British should not be divided unless absolutely
necessary because its strategic strength was its ‘one general’ (Wellington)
command structure.
²
Initiating battle on 4+: This dice
roll is a simple way of abstracting the act of bringing an enemy to battle or
forcing him to withdraw. Where the dice roll is unsuccessful, assume that the
defender is manoeuvring to avoid action whilst remaining in the same general
area, or the circumstances are such that the attacking commander feels it best
to decline the opportunity to attack.
There is an argument to say that if both
sides want a battle you should let them have one but, I went against that idea.
I believe that the player is only that; he may want a general to act in a certain way but the
general, being in independent command, and without an 'eye in the sky', might have other ideas. Picture
Napoleon in Paris, fuming at what he thought ‘lack of will’ by his generals in
Spain – well, he’s you.
³
Concentration distance: In reality, forces on adjacent area nodes would be too far apart to
concentrate quickly if true distance was being measured. However, we must
imagine that a map node serves more as a ‘way point’ for
campaign movement than a precise geographical force location: Imagine that a force can be anywhere between the node it is in and the nodes it is connected to.
⁴
Concentrating in the other side’s area:
This is game
mechanic abstraction of command and control difficulty and has little to do
with geographical pin position or direction of attack. When the attacker
concentrates in the attacking area or the defender concentrates in the
defending area command and control is deemed to be at its optimum. Other
concentrations are deemed to be more difficult – the force is coming to the
field by a circuitous route, or the transfer of orders is not so smooth – and
there is more chance of things going awry. Remember what I said about force
location and area nodes on the map, well this is all part of the same insane idea.
⁵
Hospitalisation: ‘Hospitalised UI’ represent the
temporary loss of divisional effectiveness and morale in as simple a way as I
could think of: Very little extra paperwork is required, no extra modifiers are
required for troop quality rolls following adverse combat results, etc.
⁶
Spanish bonus VP handicap: This is a
‘handicapped bonus’ for the Spanish player – he’ll probably need it. Another handicap bonus is the rate at which Spanish armies can recruit on the Spanish Drafts activation card.
⁷
Key areas: Most key areas (for VP capture / loss
value) were obvious. Others were chosen as a best fit or simply at random; in
war, some places become more important than history would previously hint at so I felt quite comfortable doing this.
Estramoz in Portugal (facing Badajoz)
needs to be made into a fortress on the map – it also represents the frontier fortress at nearby Elvas.
Toulouse
and Bayonne both count as ‘regional capitals’ for supply purposes and need to
be underlined on the map. In reality, until 1813/14 any invasion
of France by the Allies would have provoked a huge response from Napoleon. In
consequence I have decided to make Toulouse and Bayonne impregnable to the
Allies. They can be moved through but they can’t be taken (they counter-balance
Palma and Gibraltar). This campaign is not about invading France!
⁸
Victory Conditions: What constitutes an overall strategic victory in this campaign is a moot point: I think players
will know it when they see it. However, only one player can actually win the
game by having the most VPs at the end of it – although highly unlikely, he
could even be on the side that strategically loses. This game is about personal
glory and advancement rather than ‘jingoistic patriotism’: The best (luckiest)
general wins - after that, position only grades different types of loser. I
thought this the best way of introducing the historical element of
non-cooperation between the Allies and the rank narcissism of certain French
Marshals.
⁹
Elastic time: Controversially, campaign turns
do not have a time scale. For the purposes of this campaign time is elastic: A
turn can be one day or several months. This allows for a better campaign
narrative: Battles occurring on consecutive activations might actually be
separated by weeks, or they might be the second day of the same action – it will be up to the campaign diarist to decide how events
are written up. Only the sequence of activations is important, the time each activation takes and the time between activations is not. The campaign will take as long as it
takes and, without a clock running, historical events elsewhere in the world
cannot effect it – E.g. Napoleon doesn’t need to abdicate on campaign turn
twelve and bring an enjoyable Peninsular wargame campaign, at the crux of a decision, to an early end!
¹⁰ Artillery balance:
Because infantry divisions in this game are usually only three or four units
strong I found it difficult, under my home grown version of Piquet table-top,
to get the power ratio of artillery to everything else right. With one full battery
per division (as it historically should be) artillery would be far too
dominant. If your rules allow for reasonably effective half batteries go for
one per division, otherwise you'll need to do it like me and combine them and not have one per division - it was a fudge.
¹¹ Battle Duration: In my table-top
battles there are a minimum of five full turns during which units will, in the
best circumstances, get fifteen chances to move: Infantry in line and open
terrain could move up to 11’ 3” on those cards. In my opinion a relatively ‘short’
battle encourages players, especially those attacking, to be decisive; overly ‘long’
battles allow too much to happen in a single day, allow long (lazy) periods of
inaction and don’t allow an outnumbered defender to play for nightfall (a draw)
– the latter being an important consideration in a campaign setting.
¹² Pinning: This was an edit made early into the campaign. It adds a new element of campaign map game play into the equation.
Well, I hope that was useful and not too bewildering.
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