Solo Campaign - Weeks 14 & 15

Ciudad Rodrigo

Week 14

Random Events

Everything calm in the British Parliament this week.

Maj Gen RB Long has arrived to take command of the heavy cavalry brigade previously commanded by Le Marchant.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 6, French 6 – since they moved first last week, French elect to do so again.

Moves

French (6 allowed)

1 – Group H (Clauzel, with 6700 men of AdP) to march from Zamora to Salamanca

2 – Group M (D’Armagnac, with 6400 of AdC) to do the same

3 – Group K (Marshal Jourdan, with 11200 from AdP and AdC) to march from Avila to Salamanca

4 – Group K to scout into Ciudad Rodrigo area

5 – Groups H & M to merge with K, all under command of Jourdan.

[Intelligence step -

• Jourdan learns only that there are Allied forces in the area around Ciudad Rodrigo, and the gunners at Rodrigo itself fired at his cavalry patrol!]

Allies (6 allowed)

1 – C (Von Alten, at Ciudad Rodrigo) retreats into Portugal, at Almeida.

2 – Sp D (Maceta, at Ciudad Rodrigo) must dice to see if he will enter Portugal with Von Alten, in contradiction of his orders from the Junta de Castilla. In fact, he rolls a 2, which means he will follow his orders (Maceta is rated 2), so his force separates from the British and marches south to Caceres.

3 – A (Wellington, at Lugo) orders a march to join Cotton at Orense. This involves a difficult (brown) road, so requires a test

2D3 = 4 +3 (Wellington’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 6   - the march is completed without problems.

4 – Group E (Cotton) now merges with A.

[Intelligence step –

• no scouting orders]

 

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. No-one is Demoralised.

Contacts

None.

Narrative

Joined by the forces from Zamora under Clauzel and D’Armagnac, Jourdan enters Salamanca, his total strength now being 25300 men, including the siege train and engineers of the Armee de Portugal.

Karl Von Alten, with the Anglo-Portuguese Light Division, retires into Portugal – to Almeida – to avoid confrontation with this much larger force. Maceta, with the Spanish force from the Junta de Castilla attached to Von Alten, is prevented from entering Portugal by his orders, and thus separates from the British, in spite of their requests that he should not do so, and retires southwards to Caceres.

The Spanish garrison at Rodrigo, under General Hermogenes Reixas, are now unprotected, and expect to be attacked very soon.

Wellington, with the Anglo-Portuguese main army marches south over difficult roads without problem, joining Cotton’s troops at Orense.

Maj.Gen Long has now arrived to take over Le Marchant’s heavy brigade. 

Week 15

Random Events

Change in rule – test will be made on British Parliament around 15^th of each month, rather than weekly as at present.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give Allies 5, French 7 –French elect to move first.

Moves

French (7 allowed)

1 – K (Jourdan, at Salamanca) advances to Ciudad Rodrigo...

2 – ...where a new Group O is split off, consisting of Clauzel’s Divn of the Armee de Portugal, with Picquet’s dragoon brigade and 2 batteries from the reserve artillery, a total of 6600 men with 24 guns

3 – K commences siege operations against Rodrigo

4 – N (Marmont) marches 1 step from Leon to Lugo. Since this is a difficult road, a test is required

2D3 = 5 +3 (Marmont’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 7   - the march is completed without problems.

5 – C (D’Orsay’s bde of Bonet’s Divn, Armee du Nord), march from Sahagun to Valladolid.

[Intelligence step -

• no scouting orders]

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – Sp D (Maceta, at Caceres) marches to Talavera.

2 – A (Wellington, at Orense) scouts into Braga...

3 – ...and into Lugo.

4 – Finding a large French force at Lugo, he divides Group A, splitting off a new Group B, under Lt Gen Sir Thomas Graham, comprising the First & Seventh Divns, with Bock’s KGL dragoon bde and Otway’s Portuguese cavalry – a total of 11530 men with 12 guns. This force, together with Sp B (Espana) will remain at Orense...

5 – while the remainder of Wellington’s Group A march south into Braga. Again, this is a difficult road, so a test is needed:

2D3 = 2(!) +3 (Wellington’s rating) -1 (brown road) = 4   - the march is completed, but the army is Tired, and must rest at Braga.

[Intelligence step –

• A (Wellington) gets a Detailed Report on Marmont’s force at Lugo, helped by information from civilian spies – he is aware of both strength and composition]

Supplies and Demoralisation

Note: By abandoning Sahagun, the French give up the right to route supplies from France through that Area, so all such supplies now come through Burgos. All units are in supply. No-one is Demoralised.

Contacts

The French force under Marshal Jourdan commences siege operations against Ciudad Rodrigo.

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (Week 1)

Initial Fortress Value (FV) is 6 – which is also the max size of the garrison. Reixas (commander, rating 2) has 1 line battalion plus 2 of militia, plus 3 batteries of 8 guns each, one of these batteries being of militia calibre. Counting ½ each for the militia – Garrison Value (GV) is 4½ - say 5 - and since Reixas is officially rated as 2 (Good), add 1, giving 6.

Attackers – Jourdan’s force consists of 34 combat units, of which 4 are cavalry and count ½ each; this gives a total of 32. Dividing by 4 gives Jourdan an Assault Value (AV) of 8, plus 1 since Jourdan rates as 2 (Good). The French siege train has 5 batteries of heavy guns, so the Battering Value (BV) = 5.

So, at the outset, Spanish defenders have FV = 6, GV = 6, French besiegers have AV = 9, BV = 5.

Bombardment phase: Spanish have GV of 6, thus roll 6D6 - they come up 5 5 4 3 2 1 – no 6s, so no damage is done to the attackers' BV, but the two 5s cause a deduction of 2 from the attacking troops’ AV

Simultaneously, the French battering guns (BV = 5) roll 5D6 – 6 6 5 5 2 (remarkable shooting) – each 6 deducts one from the fortress (FV), and each 5 deducts one from the garrison (GV).

Removing the losses, next week’s figures will be FV = 4, GV = 4 (total = 8) for the Spanish, while AV = 7, BV = 5 for the French. The French do not bother asking the fortress to surrender, since their AV of 7 is not promising for a storm against the defenders’ (FV + GV) = 8. No storm.

Casualties for the week: Spanish defenders have lost 2/6 of their GV, so have lost 1/10 x 1/3 of the 2400 men engaged, which is 80 men. Loss in combat effectiveness is proportionately much higher. French besiegers have lost 2/9 of their AV, so have lost 1/10 x 2/9 of the 16700 men engaged, which is 370 killed/wounded.

Narrative

Jourdan has divided his army – Clauzel has a covering force, while the remainder have now started the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. Brisk fire from the garrison coupled with the unhygienic conditions in the trenches have caused the French fairly high casualties, but the French siege guns have performed extremely well, doing much damage to the fortress and the morale of the garrison.

Marmont has moved his army to Lugo, where he can now threaten Wellington from the north, with the option of marching to La Coruna and threatening the Allied supply base at Vigo. Wellington has a very accurate idea of Marmont’s strength and movements, and has detached Thomas Graham with the Anglo-Portuguese First and Seventh Divisions, with the cavalry brigades of Otway and Von Bock. Graham is to hold position at Orense, with support from the Conde de Espana’s Spanish army.

Wellington marched the rest of his force south to Braga. Once again, the roads were difficult, but the army did not fare well [awful dice] – the march was completed in good enough order, but Wellington’s force are tired and must rest for a week.

Col D’Orsay, with a brigade from Bonet’s Division of the Armee du Nord, has moved from Sahagun to Valladolid. This has implications for the routing of French supplies from Bayonne, which must now all come through Burgos.

Maceta’s Castillan army has orders to return to Toledo, and has reached Talavera.

Solo Campaign – Siege Tweaks Re-tweaked

If something is worth doing, my grandmother used to say, it’s probably worth doing over again. Here I was, quite happy with my new Hassle-Be-Gone automated siege rules, and then some insightful comments from Ross on my recent post and an unusually coherent email from De Vries the Impaler sent me back to the drawing board.

One of the truly great things about blogs is that you can get other interested parties to shine some light on your own thoughts, and you can learn a huge amount. [By the way, any fans or students of Water Logic? – I used to be a firm believer in all that creative evaluation stuff, though I seem to have forgotten about it since I stopped being paid to think. I might do a post about it sometime – you have been warned.]

The purpose of my mathematical, off-table siege rules is to strike a workable balance between convenience and realism such that sieges can be handled easily in the background while the campaign rolls on. The tricky bit is finding the correct balance – rephrase that – an acceptable balance.

The part of the siege under particular scrutiny here is the actual assault or storm. For a start, Ross raised the very good point that not all sieges are the same. If the defenders are unusually determined, it can change things. I carefully avoid the use of the word “fanatical” here, since it has kind of rabid overtones. Let us merely identify that there are certain situations and certain armies where the defenders would be prepared to fight for every building, and to sustain unusually high levels of casualties. De Vries’ original suggestion was that the defenders might be “Spanish or mad”, but that won’t do at all. 

Further, De Vries cited the Agustina Effect (after the heroic lady celeb from the Siege of Zaragoza), where the civilian populace are prepared to help with manning the guns and the barricades – i.e. commit to a level of active combat over and beyond merely trying to defend their own property. We also agreed that there might be situations (though I’m struggling to think of an example) where the citizens are on the side of the besiegers, and take a part in the attack on the garrison. To put all this into effect, I have changed the calculations of ASS and DSS (as defined in the rules below) in the storm – the defenders can get an extra dice if they are ready to fight for every building (the Suicide Dice - suggestions for a better name will be most welcome), and either the defenders or the attackers might possibly get yet another bonus dice (the Agustina Dice) if the civilians are prepared to fight on their side, during the actual storm. All storms take a week, however they go.

Agustina de Aragon - "No - it's OK. If she really wants to stand there when
we fire, just let her get on with it..."

Ross raised the matter of levels of loss – applying an overall factor to the complete besieging army’s strength to get the casualty figures is over-simplifying things, and may give inconsistent or illogical results. Prof De Vries also pointed out that calculating the besiegers’ losses retrospectively for the whole siege, based on the “total force employed” is, to use his terminology, dumb, for a number of reasons:

(1)  Though the total force, represented by the variable Assault Value (AV) may justifiably be regarded as all at risk during the weekly routine Bombardment Phase (which includes all kinds of missile fire, mining, sorties, hunger, disease, bad breaks and random demoralisation), this number AV will vary from week to week, apart from losses, as a result of troops being detached from the siege, or new troops joining it.

(2) During the actual storm (as Ross also mentioned), only a portion of the total available AV may be called upon to actually assault the place – losses for that week should be restricted to this subset.

(3) In a campaign where weekly returns are made for all units, it makes no sense at all to do the casualty calcs for a siege only when it has ended. It is much better to perform the calcs week by week, as AV varies up and down (or is subdivided), and carry forward the actual totals.

Though still determined to keep this manageably simple, I accept all of this, and the re-tweaked section of the Siege Rules now reads thus:

11.3.3 Storming:

Defenders’ Storm Strength, DSS = FV + GV + 1D6 + the Suicide Dice + the Agustina Dice

Attackers’ Storm Strength , ASS = AV(st) + 1D6  + the Agustina Dice     [BV, the Battering Value, does not count in a storm]

Where:

* The Suicide Dice is a bonus 1D6 available to the defenders if they are prepared to fight for every building.

* The Agustina Dice is an extra bonus 1D6 available to either side if the civilian population of the town will fight for them.

* AV(st) is whatever subset of the full current AV the attackers commit to an assault.

Results:

* If ASS > DSS then the fortress falls and the garrison surrenders. Attackers lose 0.25 x DSS (rounded to nearer whole number) from AV(st). Defenders lose 0.5 x ASS from GV.

* Otherwise, if ASS <= DSS, storm is repulsed; attackers lose 0.5 x DSS from AV(st); defenders lose 0.125 x ASS from GV

[Losses in GV and AV are not simply casualties – they represent all manner of loss of ability to continue – and note that GV and AV can become negative].

Each week during a siege, losses for each side are calculated as one tenth of the percentage loss in AV or GV for the week. During a storm, AV(st) replaces AV if it is different. Thus, for example, if AV is reduced from 7 to 6 during a particular week, the actual loss to the besieging army in killed and wounded is 1/10 x 1/7 = 1.4% of the troops present/engaged.

Solo Campaign - Siege Rule Tweaks

Since it looks as though my campaign may produce a siege quite soon, I was encouraged to go back to my mathematical siege rules, since there were some bits in there I wasn't sure about. There was a post on this system a few months ago - I explained there that, though an algorithmic system for sieges is certainly not a big attraction from visual and fun-generation aspects, it is (sadly) necessary to handle sieges in this way in a map campaign, since a siege will last for a number of campaign moves (and thus must be able to coexist with armies marching and fighting elsewhere on the map in a different timescale) and also since it might be necessary to have more than one siege running concurrently.

The particular bit I wasn't happy about was the section on Storming. Without getting too deeply into the nuts and bolts (again), the idea is that the defenders have a couple of numbers associated with them - a Fortress Value (FV), which represents the strength of the place and its guns, and a Garrison Value (GV) which indicates the fighting capability of the guys in the fort - this is a kind of lumpy amalgam of numerical strength, attitude, and their current ability to carry on - for whatever reason. Similarly, the besieging force have a Battering Value (BV), which is a measure of their heavy artillery capability, and an Assault Value (AV), which is the amount of force they could bring to bear in the event of (you guessed) an assault, but this number also makes allowance for the men who are available for digging ditches, carrying stuff and just constituting a threat.

The detail of the siege rules is set out in the orginal notes, here and here, so I won't go through all that again, but the idea is that bombardment and (implied) sorties and mining etc wear down these numbers. At the point that a storm is attempted, the appropriate section of the rules is set out in its new form below, with the odd explanatory annotation here and there. The inclusion of a dice roll for the defenders and the besiegers is intended to reflect performance and luck on the day. The calculation of losses bothered me - something struck me as counter-intuitive. If the totals for ASS and DSS (as described below) were very close - in other words, if the result of the storm was a close call the casualties would tend to be relatively light, which intuitively seemed completely wrong. A close-fought storm might have the heaviest casualty rates of all, so I've made a couple of changes - I now use the absolute values of DSS and ASS, rather than the difference between them, when calculating loss, and have changed the formulae slightly. It's a minor tweak really, but I'm a bit more comfortable about how it works now. In a campaign, losses have a lasting significance.

Here's the revised section from my Campaign Rules:

11.3.3 Storming:
Defenders’ Storm Strength, DSS = FV + GV + 1D6
Attackers’ Storm Strength , ASS = AV + 1D6  [BV, the Battering Value, does not count in a storm]

* If ASS > DSS then the fortress falls and the garrison surrenders. Attackers lose a final, further 0.25 x DSS (rounded to nearer whole number) from AV. Defenders lose 0.5 x ASS from GV.
* Otherwise, if ASS <= DSS, storm is repulsed; attackers lose 0.5 x DSS from AV; defenders lose 0.125 x ASS from GV
[Losses in GV and AV are not simply casualties – they represent all manner of loss of ability to continue – and note that GV and AV can become negative].

Whenever it is necessary, at any moment during the siege (or when the siege is broken off or completed), actual casualties may be computed as one tenth of the %age loss of AV or GV since the start of the siege. 

Example – if a successful besieging force started out with AV = 8, and end with AV of 6, then they have lost one tenth of 25% = 2.5% of the total force present; if the defenders started out with a GV of 5 and end with GV = -1 then casualties are 1/10 of 120% = 12%; if the fort surrenders, the remaining 88% will become prisoners.

[It occurs to me that if I don't actually get to a siege in the campaign then it doesn't really matter that I've improved the rule, but it's the principle of the thing!]

Solo Campaign - Week 13

Ciudad Rodrigo - General Reixas checks that everything is ready

Week 13 - Narrative

Having received further prompts from Paris to carry the fight to the Allies, with the objective of invading Portugal, Marmont detached D’Armagnac, with two infantry brigades (6400 men) and the Italian foot artillery battery (8 guns), together with the siege train and engineers of the Armee de Portugal. This force marched to Zamora, where they joined with Clauzel’s command.

Jourdan, with his newly assembled force, carried out a splendid piece of forced marching, travelling from Toledo, via Madrid, to Avila without any straggling.

Karl, Baron Von Alten

Karl von Alten, with the Anglo-Portuguese Light Division, the KGL Hussars and Maceta’s Spanish volunteers, became aware that there were now French forces to the north and the south – Maceta’s contacts among the civilian population confirmed that the force at Avila (Jourdan – though the Allies did not have this information) was large enough to cause concern. The combined Allied force accordingly fell back to the area around Ciudad Rodrigo, since their relative lack of cavalry would make it impossible to withdraw if attacked.

General Barbot

Concerned about the possibility of sea-borne landings on the north coast, the French moved Barbot and his garrison troops at San Sebastian to Bilbao, replacing them at San Sebastian with a force of 4000 National Guard plus artillery from the Bayonne reserve.

Gregorio Cruchaga

Gregorio Cruchaga has been appointed in Navarra to lead the irregular partisans formerly commanded by the Gomez brothers.

Strategic Note

With the Allied army occupying Galicia, the French cannot get into Portugal without getting past the fortresses at Almeida and/or Elvas.

Marmont is convinced that the Allies will not attack him across the mountains from Galicia. Since he is once again directed by the Minister of War to invade Portugal, he has detached his siege train and some of his infantry to join Clauzel to the south.

Jourdan has moved from Toledo to Avila, and the French now have some interesting possibilities:

(1) If Von Alten stands his ground at Salamanca, attack him with some combination of Clauzel’s and Jourdan’s forces – then move to lay siege to Ciudad Rodrigo, which would require two weeks march to receive support from Cotton (who is at Orense).

(2) If Von Alten sees the threat and retires back to Ciudad Rodrigo, there are choices – either pursue him and attack him there with the combined Clauzel/Jourdan force or (riskier but potentially more decisive) hold him there with Jourdan’s force while Clauzel (now reinforced by Armagnac’s 2 brigades), attacks Cotton and Espana at Orense. Defeat for Cotton would leave Wellington isolated in Galicia and allow more time for a siege at Rodrigo.

Either way, Rodrigo is the objective.

The roads from Lugo to Almeida are not good, even in decent weather, and it would be difficult for Wellington to support Rodrigo quickly or force a siege to be lifted. He is really obliged to move south now, back into Portugal, even though this may allow the French an alternative (tortuous) route to Lisbon, bypassing the border fortresses.

The situation of Maceta, whose Spanish troops are currently in Ciudad Rodrigo alongside Von Alten’s, is interesting. He and his troops belong to the Junta de Castilla, and will not serve in Portugal. If Von Alten is forced to retire into Portugal, Maceta may have to separate his forces and head for Caceres instead.

Solo Campaign - Week 12

Quiet week in the Peninsula - Wellington survived a vote in the House by the skin of his teeth, the French are busy collecting together small forces into bigger ones and Karl von Alten is marching off to Salamanca [...do you think that's wise, Captain Mainwaring?].

Higher profile? - Marshal Jourdan

Lower profile - a contemporary sketch of Pedro Gomez

Week 12 - Narrative

A vote in the British Parliament was tabled, but voting was narrowly in favour of keeping Wellington in command in the Peninsula.

Since this is the weekend nearest 15th April, reinforcements, replacements and returns from hospital have arrived. The French have an increase of 2820 men, the Anglo-Portuguese 4010 plus 2 guns, and the Spanish regulars 320 men. No-one knows accurately the strength of the Spanish irregulars, which are diced for as occasion arises.

The Gomez brothers have been removed from the command of the irregular troops of the Junta de Navarra who were defeated at Ancenigo. In fact, they appear to have disappeared completely.

Karl von Alten, with the Light Division, and the Spanish volunteers and irregulars commanded by Maceta, have marched into the Salamanca area. Attempts to scout northwards into Zamora were foiled by superior French cavalry. All Alten knows is that there are French dragoons there.

Marshal Jourdan is now in command of a new, consolidated French force at Toledo – this comprises Neuenstein’s Confederation brigade, Maucune’s division of the Armee de Portugal and Treillard’s cavalry from the Armee du Centre. The intention is to give them some extra artillery from the fortress at Badajoz [but they didn’t have enough orders left this week]

The Anglo-Portuguese army, apart from Von Alten with the Light Division, is holding position at Lugo and Orense, on the assumption that the French will not attempt to attack through the mountains on the border between Castilla and Galicia. [If the French do attack, and if they are successful, Wellington will be accused of inactivity as well as his other problems].

Foy has rejoined his Division at Leon – he is reported to be walking with the aid of a stick.

The fever epidemic among the French (Confederation) force in Burgos appears to be over – there have been no new cases, and troops are starting to return to duty.

Solo Campaign - Combat at Ancenigo, Navarra – Saturday 4th April 1812

General view of the battlefield at midday - the French are on the right

Later in the same week, but further north, a punitive expedition from the garrison of Jaca came into contact with guerrilleros from the Huesca area, near the hamlet of Ancenigo. The French had a brigade of 4 battalions of experienced infantry, plus the usual additional small battalion of combined light troops, together with a company of foot artillery borrowed from the fort at Jaca. The whole was commanded by Chef de Bataillon Fantaise, seconded from the 118e Ligne. His infantry included 1 provisional bataillon d’élite of line grenadiers and 2 of foot dragoons – again, picked men from a number of regiments. [Each of these units counted as “grenadiers” in the CCN rules, which gives advantages in melee and in morale tests]. His other battalion was Polish - from the 4th Regt of the Vistula Legion – more tough veterans.

He was opposed by a force of around 3000 guerrilla troops commanded by the sinister Gomez brothers. [The Spanish force had been expected to be rather larger than this, but some of the troops failed to arrive – for the purposes of this campaign, bodies of Spanish irregulars can be greater or less than estimated, depending on dice rolls – the Hermanos Gomez were not lucky in this respect].

This was a much more conventional set-up battle than that at Olias earlier in the week – the French took position on two low hills, artillery in the centre, the Poles and the light troops on the right. Pedro Gomez, the elder of the brothers, had difficulty restraining his troops, who were worked up into a frenzy by a number of priests serving in the ranks. He directed his first attack against the more lightly manned hill on the French right. The two leading bands of irregulars did not even reach the foot of the hill before they were broken by musket fire and disintegrated. Around the same time, roundshot from the French artillery caused another band to break up in the centre.

Rapidly running out of men, momentum and ideas, Gomez threw another two units against the hills on the French right, and sent in his cavalry in a looping, uphill charge against the French left flank. Both of these attacks failed and broke up into crowds of fugitives. The Spanish force retreated in disorder into the hills around the Rio Gallego. The fighting had lasted exactly 22 minutes. If proof were needed, the day demonstrated that irregular troops are not best suited to this kind of warfare.

OOBs

French Force – from the garrison of Jaca, Navarra (Ch/Bn Fantaise) – approx 3500 men, 6 guns
Grenadiers Provisoirs (1 Bn)
Dragons (a Pied) Provisoirs (2 Bns)
1/4e Vistule
Part of 14/3e Artillerie a Pied (Capt. Plantaine)

Loss – 30 men

Spanish Force – Junta de Navarra, commanded by Pedro and Jose Gomez – approx 3000 men

Loss – 1840 men

The big attack on the French right...

...didn't go well at all

The situation after about 20 minutes - the Spanish forces (on the right) have mostly disappeared 

Poles and skirmishers on the French right, who took most of the weight of the attack - all the French casualties were sustained in this area

This and the remaining pictures were taken by my young son, who is very interested in close-ups - here's some foot dragoons, with Ch/Bn Fantaise close at hand

It's a hard life in the artillery

Guerrilleros retreating through the village

Irregular cavalry

Solo Campaign - Ambuscade near Olias - 31st March 1812

The larger-than-life Ximenez brings his loyal troops to meet the accursed French - my thanks to Iain, who did the super paint job on the leader 

The scenario is the most basic imaginable - a French force in column of march has to pass through a defile in a forest. Spanish irregular forces are concealed in the trees, and their presence is unknown until they choose to attack. Maucune's column marched onto the table in an organised manner, light infantry followed by artillery followed by the line battalions, with light infantry bringing up the rear.

I used Commands & Colors:Napoleonics rules, as usual, but - since all the action was to take place in the centre of the field - I abandoned the use of the Command Cards. I had considered just retaining the Tactical (as opposed to Field Sector) Cards, but felt this might give an unbalanced game. My solution was to require each side to roll 2D3 at the start of each turn - that gave the number of units they could give orders to this turn. Since there was virtually no cavalry involved, squares were not really a consideration, but the idea was that forming square would require that side to give up one of their activation dice - yes, this is excessive - deducting one from the total might have been better. Whatever, this battle involved a great many Spanish guerrilleros, who are not allowed to do anything as formal as deploying into square.

The Spanish irregulars are handled by my own tweaks to CCN - guerrilla infantry may move 2 hexes and battle, and built-up or forest hexes have no effect on their movement. They may move into a forest hex and battle immediately. They do not count crossed sabres in melee, and they are deployed in small units of 2 blocks/stands each. A single uncancelled retreat will eliminate a unit at any time - this is critical - so it is important to keep them well supported, keep generals with them, move them out of the firing line as soon as they take losses and become marginal.

Maucune's column, headed for Aranjuez, was attacked by a force of irregulars under Don Antonio Ximenez, "El Gigante", the clothes-horse of the Junta de Castilla. The Spaniards probably opened fire too early, but Ximenez was keen to get the action under way while the bulk of the French force were still some distance away. The French artillery caused some panic among the leading units on the Spanish left, even though they did not cause a great many casualties, and a couple of these units were eliminated straight away, Don Jorge Maxwell, one of the leaders, being killed in these first exchanges.

It cost the French a great many killed and wounded - the 15e Ligne being particularly badly damaged - but eventually they managed to penetrate into the woods on both sides of the road, and after that it was merely a matter of time before the Spanish force gave way. Handling the guerrilla bands is interesting - they are very mobile, and have a big advantage in rough terrain, but are also very brittle. A single hit will reduce such a unit to a state in which they cannot harm anyone in a wood (for example), because the terrain effect cancels out the only remaining combat dice, and a further hit to themselves will eliminate them and gain another Victory Banner for the enemy. Thus it was constantly necessary to retire worn units and bring up fresh ones. Six Victory Banners were required for a win, and the French had an extra one available if they pushed through the defile to the far end. In the event they didn't need to push that far - they won 6-2 on eliminated units after about an hour, and Ximenez withdrew, his little army melting away into the forest.

OOBs

French Force - Gen de Divn Baron Maucune's division, Armee de Portugal - approx 7800 men - 8 guns
Brigade d'Arnauld - 15e & 66e Ligne (5 Bns) + combined tirailleur bn
Brigade Montfort - 82e & 86e Ligne (4 Bns) + combined tirailleur bn
11/8e Artillerie a Pied (Capt Genta)

Loss - approx 2600

Spanish Force - Don Antonio Ximenez, army of the Junta de Castilla - approx 4350 men - 3 guns
10 small "battalions" of irregular infantry, brigaded under Don Jorge Maxwell (k) and Don Xavier Gento
Small irregular cavalry unit
Volunteer artillery battery of 3 x 4pdr guns

Loss - approx 3200 - mostly missing

Maucune's column marches serenely into the woods

It's amazing what you don't see when you aren't looking for it...

What lies in wait on one side of the road

...and there's more of the beggars in reserve

After heavy loss to musketry, the French set about clearing the woods

Almost the end - by this stage, most of the guerrilleros had thought of somewhere else they would rather be

ECW - VwQ Rules - Pt 3

Here's the last part of the Victory without Quarter rules, as published by Quindia Studios.

Also, offered in all humility and with no disrespect at all to the original, here are my current thoughts on a number of aspects of the rules which seem to me to need a little more detail. In my recent VwQ game with John, we found that dragoons - as we interpreted the rules - caused us a few problems. To be more accurate, they caused John problems, since my dragoons' fire effect was fearsome - ridiculous, you could say! - and was one of the few encouraging aspects of my army's performance.

The way artillery become involved in melees also seemed a little vague, so we identified a need to add some house rules to clarify that a little. Subsequently I found a few other odd things I thought would improve/clarify the game as it stands. If you find they are unnecessary, or don't actually improve anything, then no problem - don't use them, or else just regard them as my imperfect understanding of what was intended. I wish to emphasise once again that no criticism of the author (Clarence Harrison) is intended - if I didn't think the game was worth the trouble, I would not have gone into this amount of detail.

Here goes - these are all suggested changes for my use of the rules:

Dragoons. The main issue I have with dragoons is that when mounted they consitute a stand of 3 figures, so it seems most logical to keep that arrangement when they dismount. Thus a unit of 12 (say) organised as 4 stands of 3 mounted figures - one stand being command. The command stand remains mounted to represent horses and holders when the unit dismounts - the other 3 stands are replaced by open order stands of 3 standing figures. Dragoons can move 1/2 distance and mount/dismount, or mount/dismount and move 1/2 distance in a move (and still fire).

They are not allowed to fire when mounted, but otherwise will behave exactly the same as ordinary horse (ncluding charges and countercharges), but do not pursue if they win a melee. Mounted dragoons get 2D6 per stand in a melee (which is miserable), and also get the "horse" saving throw of 6+ against hits from long-range muskets.

On foot, they always count as open-order, and they fire like normal musketeers (but only get 2D6 per stand). Since 2D6 is quite generous for a half-strength stand (normal musket-armed infantry are based in sixes, and get 3D6 per stand), they do not benefit from a "volley fire" bonus, and thus do not get RELOAD markers. In melees on foot they may not charge or pursue, and count 1D6 per stand. They may Stand & Fire or Evade if charged - the firing range is calculated as for foot units, but if they Evade they are assumed to have jumped on their horses, so will have Evade and Rout distances calculated as though they are horse.

Small arms fire - additional adjustments to dice throw table: -1 if raw troops firing, +1 if veterans seems appropriate. I would expect the level of training to be particularly telling in musket fire.

Artillery – may Stand and Fire if charged (like infantry), and can be charged - if they are contacted they are eliminated without fighting back (same as Evaders and Routers).

Morale - The universal progression Steady > Shaken > Rout seems too predictable - you always know the worst that can happen. Change made such that morale tests when taking artillery hits, having a Casualty Marker allocated and losing a melee will allow a Steady Unit to go straight to Rout if the morale test result is bad enough - in these situations, a morale test total of 2D6 + adjustments < 7 will Shake a Steady unit and Rout a Shaken one (as at present) but a total of < 4 will take a Steady unit straight to Rout.

I'm not a big fan of morale tests, but I propose to add an extra one to the rules - if a unit being charged elects to "Stand & Fire" (or even just to Stand, if they are unable to fire), then it seems appropriate to test their ability to face the charge first. This becomes especially critical if the charge is coming from flank or rear.

Linear obstacles - deduct 3" from move for each, rather than "half move" penalty, which is awkward if there are 2 in a move. Artillery have to use gates.

Flank/Rear attacks in melee – Any unit allowed to charge (i.e. not dragoons on foot) may attack a steady unit in flank or rear without testing morale first - adjustments to melee combat dice throw to be +1 attacking flank, +2 attacking rear, -1 attacked in flank, -2 attacked in rear. Morale: -1 for flank, -2 for rear in morale tests for Stand & Fire (against a charge), Countercharge and Form Stand of Pikes, and also for defender who loses melee; attacker who loses a melee in which he was making a flank or rear attack (fools!) gets +1, +2 adjustment respectively in the morale test following the melee.

Cover in melees: -1 adjustment to dice if attacking troops behind soft cover, -2 if attacking hard cover. Since the rules specifically allow foot to charge foot who are defending a barricade or obstacle, it seems correct for the rules to cover that kind of melee.

ECW - VwQ Rules - Pt 2

Here's the second lot of pages (of three lots). I had originally given serious thought to producing an adaptation of the game which worked on my hex grid - this would mean a conversion of 1 hex is (about) 5 or 6 inches. I have abandoned this for the time being because

(1) the differences in movement rates and weapon ranges for the different troop types in VwQ are quite specific and subtle (and hexes, as a crude approximation, might unbalance the game), and also because

(2) the nice twiddly bits about units routing 2D6 inches (3D6 for horse) or getting off a volley at a range of 2D6 inches if charged (1D6 if charged by foot) - things which usefully help reduce predictability for a solo game - would be changed completely by rounding everything to the nearer (or more convenient) whole hex.

So I'll keep the hexes as an interesting idea to be pursued, but my initial use of the game will be in inches, as written. I shall try to ignore the hexes on my tabletop when it is appropriate to do so, or I could paint the back of my boards plain green. Or I could dig out a rather fine sheet of heavy-duty green baize that I haven't seen for a while, but it is awfully dark green baize, and I think I've gone off that idea already...

Inches are fine in any case - the VwQ game as I played it at John's home in Wales recently was untweaked and the inches were not a problem at all, though in recent years I have developed something of an aversion to tape-measures as another source of clutter and potential breakage of bayonets! This is probably due to exposure to a number of congenital button-twiddlers in the past - a spring-loaded tape-measure in the wrong hands has an effect similar to that of canister shot!

Anyway - here is the next instalment of the rules.

ECW - VwQ Rules - Pt 1

I got an email from someone asking me where he could download Clarence Harrison's Victory without Quarter miniatures rules for the English Civil War, and I had a look around and I'm no wiser. It is a damned good question. I believe that if you email Clarence he will send you them, but a couple of discussion threads I saw mentioned that he is in any case very busy with his own life, and this might be both onerous (for Clarence) and slow (for everyone). I have a pdf which was sent to me very kindly by Clive, but as far as I can see the Quindia Studios site doesn't have a download available at present. I have emailed Clarence myself, but thus far have no response.

So I thought I'd take it upon myself to put the rules up here in a series of short posts - not because they have anything to do with me directly, other than my own enthusiasm for them. I don't think this should cause any offence against copyright, since I am not selling them and since they are not offered commercially anywhere anyway. I'll put them out in three instalments, and I will also say a few things about why I like them, how I propose to use them, and about a few things I propose to build into them. If this does step on anyone's toes, or causes any problem, then please shout and I'll pull the posts as necessary. They are intended to be supportive and encouraging - the game should be widely available if it is not already.

Reviews of any sort are always a bit dodgy, since they often tell you more about the reviewer than the item under review, so I hasten to add that any criticism implied here is entirely my personal view, and that overall I think VwQ is an unusually good game. There will be the odd enthusiast who feels moved to say that I should just use Forlorn Hope, or 1644, or De Bellis Renationis, and be really cool (like them). If anyone thinks anything along these lines, then I'm sure you are right, and I will probably have a go at these other rule sets at some time in the future - I have certainly looked at and considered all of these, and a number of others going all the way back to George Gush, Terry Wise, Wm B Protz et alia. I have recently played Charlie Wesencraft's rules from his Practical Wargaming and enjoyed them, but I'm still pretty firm on VwQ as my game of choice for what is - for me - a completely new period.

Why? Well, first and foremost, I likes 'em. I like the philosophy, and I identify very strongly with Clarence's stated objectives and preferences in his own games. In particular the multiple-figure stands, the lack of rosters and record keeping (casualties are not removed), the simplified tactics are all very appealing, and the card-driven activation system is good anyway, but is eminently suitable for solo play, in which I need just the right amount of control to be be placed in the lap of the gods.

Because of my solo game interests, I have also produced a computerised management program incorporating VwQ for my own use. The program is useable in solo or non-solo contexts, of course, but is especially useful for solo stuff, in which the banter and jollity surrounding card shuffling and dice throwing duties are conspicious by their absence, and such functions can become a pain in the butt. The solo gamer (at least this particular solo gamer) is certainly looking for a pleasurable experience, but he is primarily a facilitator for a little piece of (fake) history, and some of the social traditions of miniatures gaming can become a little wretched without a room full of pals. I will trust my laptop to shuffle cards accurately, without cheating and without dropping them on the floor, and to test morale every few seconds without developing the Screaming Habdabs or losing the will to live.

So the program exists, it runs, though it still needs some debugging and the Optional Rules (notably the Event Cards) are not in there yet. Writing the program undoubtedly cements understanding, but it also revealed a few gaps in the game - things which are not covered. Clarence, in his introduction, makes no claims for originality or even completeness of his game, and there are some interesting and useful expansions on the League of Augsburg forum. I do not think it would be disloyal of me to say a little about some of these gaps, and what I have done about them - in any game of this type, there will be a good many points where the author knows what he meant, and takes as understood certain house conventions of his own which he carries in his head and which make sense of situations which are not explicitly covered - Clarence even invites gamers to add their own extensions where they think they are needed.

I'll say a bit more in later parts of this about the add-ons which I (and others) have - erm - added on, and I may even say a bit more about my computer program. In the meantime (at last), here are the first sheets of the rules. If there is some more sensible way to incorporate pdf files in a blog post, I'd be very pleased to learn of it. Oh, and Clarence - if you are out there, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Solo Campaign - Weeks 9 & 10

Week 09

Wellington now has his new supply depot at Vigo in operation, and supply trains are reaching him at Lugo. He has also been reinforced by replacements and hospital returns to the tune of 5080 men, and a couple of replacement guns for those lost by Gardner’s battery at Benavente.

The Allied Siege Train has moved into the fortress at Elvas, and Karl von Alten has marched the Light Division over the rough roads from Elvas to Abrantes. If these had not been elite troops, they would have struggled to complete the march.

A large force of Spanish irregulars under Ximenez moved from the Ocana area to Toledo, where they threaten the supply route from Madrid towards Talavera and Badajoz. Maucune, who is still supplied by the Army of the South through Zafra and Badajoz, is ordered to deal with Ximenez, and has moved his Division to Talavera.

Week 10

Clauzel, unaware that Cotton’s force has failed in its march to Orense and returned to Zamora, marches north from Salamanca, aiming to join up with Marmont at Leon. The two forces engage at the so-called Action at Peñausende (reported in previous posting), and Cotton, misjudging his enemy’s strength, makes an attack which fails, partly due to poor co-ordination of a plan which is in any case too complicated, but also because the Allied artillery and cavalry are massively out-performed by the French. Cotton withdraws in good order, still having a substantial superiority in cavalry (numbers, if not quality...)

Cotton will be forced to spend next week retreating over rough roads into Orense, and his force is Tired to begin with...

An outbreak of fever among the French garrison at Burgos has some 400 men in hospital.

Maucune’s Divn advanced from Talavera into the Toledo area to deal with the force of Spanish irregular troops commanded by Ximenez, but the Spaniards retired into Ocana, a move which Maucune – having no cavalry at all – was unable to prevent.