On Wednesday evening Peter and I got together to continue with the map moves for campaign turn 4. Only Peter and I were present, Mark and Graham having other commitments, but we had been given license at the previous meeting to act in their stead. As it was, only three campaign activation cards were turned before something significant happened.
On the first activation card turned Marmont was activated. Marmont marched from Cuidad Rodrigo to Zamora and 'pin 3P' marched to Leon: they failed to 'link up' in adjacent areas (nodes) so can't concentrate if either is attacked - pin '3P' rolled one 3+ on four D6 march dice.
The next activation card allowed Soult / MacDonald (Mark) to draw a card from the event deck, then the third card activated MacDonald.
He played the event card Surprise Move, which locked O'Donnell in place, and successfully attacked; both sides successfully concentrated without delay for the upcoming Battle of Manresa.
I'm pretty sure that Mark would have done this, especially as, following the Battle of Vich, he now had a temporary advantage in numbers: 47 UI vs 44 UI, mostly due to the difference in hospitalised UI; at the start of turn 6 O'Donnell will reclaim 10 UI back from hospitals, MacDonald will reclaim only 5.
We diced up for battlefield and got map 2 on page 1 of 3 for mountains - Map 53. Then we diced for who got to choose the side of table and who would deploy first. MacDonald added one to his roll for being a better commander; Peter added one to his roll for being the defender; I played a second card from Mark's stock of events cards:
Kept it in my pocket (you've got to sneak lines from the film Waterloo into everything Napoleonic at every opportunity!)
which added two more to Marks roll. The adjusted roll was 5:5: Peter chose the side of table and would deploy first. All this, apart from the battlefield maps (published in Age of Reason rules), is all covered in the campaign
rules).
We got the terrain together pretty quickly: It is accepted within the group that the battlefield map is only a rough sketch of what the actual table terrain will look like when it is laid out - terrain is always governed by what you have.
Then Peter deployed his Spanish as shown. The French are sorted into divisions but they are
not deployed.
A thin veil of Cazadores (in extended line) would cover the left flank; he sheltered his cavalry behind the crystal clear waters of the mountain lake.
The vast bulk of his infantry stretched from the lake, over the steep slopes of the 'mountain', to the right in a long thin line. A small reserve division is being kept off table in the rear of the Spanish position.
Next week Mark will deploy and we'll get going with the second action of the campaign.
Lastly, Colin C. who will be playing this campaign solo, sent me this image of his colour highlighted map. Sooo much prettier and easier to follow than my black and white version.
A thin veil of Cazadores (in extended line) would cover the left flank; he sheltered his cavalry behind the crystal clear waters of the mountain lake.
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5 comments:
I'm confused are those French figures deployed, or are they just sorted out and parked on the table for deployment?
French are just sorted into divisions awaiting deployment. I will edit the post to stop further confusion.
James , I’m following this with interest, not to say bated breath. Looking forward to the next instalment.
James, having pored over your rules I’m ready to start the set up moves . First card up , on the activation deck , is Beresford. He doesn’t want to move as he’s covering Elvas and is waiting for Wellington to come up . As he’s passed can he take a card from the Events deck ? Does he keep the Activation card in his hand to count towards the British Command Hand when it appears ? When do you draw the Campaign Cards ( Events ) ?
If Beresford passes on his activation that's his action. The card is discarded until the deck is reshuffled. There is a lot of standing about in a campaign setting - armies aren't marching about and fighting all of the time - and this kind of situation represents that: If Beresford needs to wait for Wellington, he needs to wait for Wellington.
Do not expect perfect co-ordination in your plans; the lack of it opens opportunities for the enemy but, only if they can get their cards at the right time - the same applies to everyone. You will find you are gambling a lot of the time and this provides constant tension in the ongoing war. With all sequence card based games it is generally best to have an overall plan and prosecute it as the cards are turned (weighing the gamble of course), taking advantage of opportunities as they arise, whilst remembering that in a game like this there are plenty of swings and roundabouts and everyone is in the same boat.
Event cards are drawn when the appropriate 'Campaign Hand' card is turned. There are two for each 'player' in the deck. BTW. I have given each player an envelope in which to store his cards - this is an old campaign housekeeping tip.
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