Peninsular War 1809 to 1814

Another multi player area movement strategic game from Ian, this time covering the Peninsular War!

A very lovely map of Spain. The size and intersections of the various areas represent the density and difficulty of the terrain (generally major rivers or mountain ranges)  and also correspond roughly to the various regions of Spain. The map also has various major cities, which are important for determing lines of communication, some are inside the areas (eg Burgos, Madrid) and some (like Cordoba) are on area boundaries as major rivers flow through them.

With a varied array of real life participants, it was an excuse to wear an an array of stupid hats as well as show off various figures. I was cast as Spanish, so found the biggest bicorne I own. Tim is showing off some of his 54mm Portuguese staff officers, while Russell counters with his Del Prado Napoleon.

Tim C and Ian were French, Russell and I Spanish, Jim and Tim G Anglo-Portuguese while John ran the game.

The game runs from 1809 to 1814, with three campaign seasons per year and simple movement and combat rules. Units can stack up to three per area, move one area and fight when they are in the same space. Attacker wins draws. Once per year each side rolls for reinforcements, although there were various restrictions on what and when. The French have to start removing units from 1812 onwards as Napoleon invades Russia, and the British start to have the option to land in Corunna or Santander later in the war.

The various factions have overlapping objectives. The French want to keep Joseph on the throne and keep the British penned up in Portugal (ideally kick them out). The Spanish want to kick the French out of Spain and the British want to invade France!

We went with the historical setup. Ian has designed it so that various alternate options can be explored, the main one being that the French don't invade Russia.

The Spanish are scattered around the periphery of Spain, Joseph is on the throne supported by large French forces and the British are in Lisbon and Oporto. The Spanish and Spanish Bonapartists fight worse than everyone else, needing a 6 to instead of 5.

The black blobs are Spains trump card, guerillas! These are placed in an area and interdict French movement on a 1-3. They don't move and can't be destroyed, but proved to be surprisingly effective in disrupting French movement. These also get diced for annually as reinforcements and by the end of the game, Spain was in uproar as the map was black with guerillas.

1809 saw the British march into Estramdura and the Spanish concentrate in Adalucia and actually drive the French back! The French consolidated their hold on northern Spain

By the end of the year though, it had all gone wrong. The French attacked aggressively and conquered Andalucia and Galicia, destroying most of the Spanish Army in the process. The fighting with the British was brutal and although Wellesley came out on top, it was a much reduced British Army which marched into Madrid. Joseph retreated north to link up with his French allies.

Going into 1810 things looked a bit cheerier as both sides rolled for reinforcements. The Spanish bounced back in Leon, more French troops crossed the Pyrenees and some British forces landed at Lisbon while the main force was back in Oporto, concerned about the French in Galicia. Even Joseph managed to raise some more troops! Guerillas spread out across Spain, we were trying to isolate various areas of the country with blocks of interdiction.

1810 was the French high water mark, they pushed aggressively against Portugal, which allowed the Spanish to retake Madrid (again). Once more Joseph survived, albeit with reduced numbers.

1811 saw a big French effort against the British and they took Oporto and threatened Lisbon. Meanwhile the Spanish chased Joseph into Navarre.

But as summer 1811 drew to a close, the French had been repelled at heavy cost and were back in northwest Spain while Wellesley still held Portugal. The Spanish were content to sit in Navarre for now.

We broke for the night at that point.

On Wednesday Micheal toook over from Russell. The Spanish marched back to Madrid while the French concentrated northwest of the capital, somewhat hampered by the guerillas who were all over Spain now.

The Anglo-Portuguese followed up slowly but seemed content to let the Spanish do all the fighting in 1811.

1812 was curtains for the French. A decisive battle was fought northeast of Madrid (Vitoria?) which resulted in heavy British and French losses. A small British force landed in Santander and the French had to withdraw some units to send to Russia.

The Spanish went from strength to strength with their main army at Burgos, a subsidiary force from Barcelona invaded southeastern France! 

As 1812 drew to a close, the last French units were destroyed and the British were on the French frontier, ready to cross the Pyrenees in 1813.

With no more French units in play and no prospect of reinforcements, we called it at that point.

That was a great game, very enjoyable and rattled along at a fair pace. You could perhaps pick holes in it as a simulation of Napoleonic warfare, but as a strategic game it worked well. We had a good washup session afterwards and ran through some potential changes but without over complicating it. The main things we decided to try were:

1. making the number of French units withdrawn in 1812 and 13 variable rather than fixed
2. allowing a possibility for French units to destroy guerilla units by staying place
3. having defending units win draws, which I think better reflects the realities of Napoleonic warfare.

We liked it so much, we wanted to play it again the following week! Well done Ian.