Solo Campaign - Weeks 33 & 34

French soldiers in the main square at Burgos, astonished by the futuristic
architecture and apparently oblivious to a Spanish presence on the
right of the picture

The Earl of Aigburth is severely compromised by the failure of the brave new Spanish Third Army at Vinuesa - the planned attack on the French communications is now impossible, and the main Anglo-Portuguese and French armies are squared up in the region of the Duero, too evenly matched for either side to risk going on the offensive.

Aigburth is also concerned that the Summer is almost over, and the marching season is drawing to an end - the roads in the mountains and on the Portuguese border are a serious problem in bad weather, as a number of the generals present have learned to their cost this year.

Week 33

Random Events and Strategic Notes

The Allied strategy has taken a severe knock with Giron’s defeat at Vinuesa. The Spanish main army is in a very poor state, and since Giron wishes to retreat to Madrid while the army is both Tired and Demoralised, he will suffer further losses on the march.

Aigburth’s intention was to have Giron occupy, or at least threaten, the areas around Tudela, Lodosa and Vitoria, which would effectively sever the French supply roads from Bayonne and force Marmont’s and Clauzel’s French forces to leave Castilla and retreat into Vizcaya. To support a possible attack on Burgos (now no longer an option), Aigburth had ordered forward the Allied siege train.

As things stand now, Marmont and Clauzel are not strong enough to take the offensive against the Allied armies of Graham (at Zamora) and Aigburth himself (at Salamanca) and, with the end of the Summer approaching, Aigburth does not consider that he has sufficient numerical advantage to advance to drive the French back, so the situation is something of a stalemate.

The Principal Junta have replied (at some length) to Aigburth’s note conveying his disappointment over Giron’s performance at Vinuesa. The following extract is significant:

“Your Excellency will be aware that the armies of King Ferdinand have had unsuccessful days before, and have always risen again to fight the invaders. The courage of our soldiers has never been in doubt, and the battlefield experience gained by this young army will be valuable – we have no reason to question the suitability of Captain General Giron to continue in command. With rest and reinforcements (of which we have an ever-increasing supply), the army will be ready to take the field again by the beginning of November. Perhaps Your Excellency and your staff would be better engaged in offering a more active threat to our enemies, rather than concerning yourself with issues which are solely Spanish matters.”

Aigburth has observed privately to members of his staff that Giron is indeed a lucky man to be the nephew of Castaños, the victor of Bailen, but also accepts that Giron and his limitations are at least familiar to him, where a replacement might be a complete unknown.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 6 and the French 5. The Allies opt to move first.

Moves

Allies (6 allowed)

1 – Sp B (Giron, at Guadalajara) retreats to Madrid. Since his troops are already Tired and Demoralised, this will involve further loss through desertion and men falling out on the march [Dice for every base/block making the retreat – regulars are lost on a throw of 1, irregular/militia on a throw of 1 or 2]

2 – Sp I (Irregulars of the Junta de Navarra) is placed back on the map at Caltayud, since they are pretty much ready to operate again in this area.

[Intelligence step -

• No new information.] 

French (5 allowed)

1 – K (Jourdan/Joseph, at Soria) marches into Aranda, to provide the left wing of the front line which the French propose to hold

2 – Q (Dujour, with a force of Garde Nationale forming the garrison at Jaca) advance into Huesca to attack Sp H (Cruchaga, with a small partida force)

3 – King Joseph’s personal HQ is now at Burgos, and forms part of Force U there

[Intelligence step –

• No new information.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. Giron’s army suffers further losses on the retreat to Madrid: Regulars lose 200 infantry, Volunteers and Militia lose 600 infantry and 250 cavalry.

Contacts

French Force Q (Dujour, with 3500 Garde Nationale from the garrison of Jaca) enter the area of Huesca to attack Spanish Force H (Cruchaga, with approx. 750 guerrilas). Employing the special rule for guerrilleros, Cruchaga’s force disappears into the hills and travels across country, reappearing on the map at Alcaniz. No contact, no action.

Week 34

Random Events and Strategic Notes

Nothing new in the campaign area, but again there is concern that at least part of the French army will be recalled to France to replace losses in Russia.

General Guye has returned to active service, and resumes command of his Division of the Armée du Centre, attached to Marmont at Leon.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 7 and the French 7. Since they had the initiative last week, the Allies again opt to move first.

Moves

Allies (7 allowed)

1 – Sp B (Giron) rests at Madrid

[Intelligence step -

• No new information]

French (7 allowed)

1 – R (Paquerette) returns from Soria to Tudela, to resume garrison duties

2 – Q (Dujour) returns from Huesca to Jaca, to resume garrison duties

[Intelligence step –

• No new information.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

This is the weekend closest to the middle of the month, which is when reinforcements, replacements and returns from hospital are diced for – since Giron’s army is Demoralised they should not be entitled to any reinforcements, but in fact their return to Madrid had resulted in a massive rush of volunteers – there is a big rise in patriotic fervour since the capital was abandoned by the French – therefore Giron will get reinforcements like everyone else.

Detailed additions:

French – 4/28L, 1/Drag Prov, Lacharrue’s Tirailleurs, 1/25L, 2/25L. 3/25L, 1/27, 2/27, 2/50, 3/50, 1/59, 15/3 Art a Pied, 5/66, 2/86, 11 Dgns, Lanc de la Vistule, 2/2 Nassau, 2/4 Baden, Neuenstein’s Tirailleurs, 1/4 Hesse, 25 Dgns, 3 Huss, 2/2 Spanish Line, 1/Royal Etranger – each +1 block; 10/3 Art a Pied, 1/Sp Gd Grenadiers, 1/Sp Gd Fusiliers, 1/2 Spanish Line – each +2 blocks; 5/82 +3 blocks. Total increase from these additions is approx. 5400 infantry, 500 cavalry and 7 guns.

Anglo-Portuguese – 2/21^st Port, 1^st Lt Bn KGL, 68^th, 1/95^th, 1^st Cac – each +1 block; Br-Oels Jaegers +2 blocks. Total increase is approx. 1400 infantry.

Spanish – Caz de Castilla, 1^st Ft Battery, 2 Lanc de Castilla, Vols de Valencia,  Ligero del Reino, Leon, 2^nd Ft Battery, Coraceros, Vols de Espana, Hus de Extremadura – each +1 black; Tir de Castilla, Loyales de Zamora, La Union, Vols Aragon, Vols Guadalajara – each +2 blocks; 2 Princesa, Def de Fern VII, Leg Extremena, Regt del Ribeiro – each +3 blocks. Total increase from these additions is approx. 5200 infantry, 500 cavalry and 4 guns.

Contacts

None.

ECW – The Arquebus Rules

So what are the Arquebus Rules, then, Foy?

Well, since you asked, I’ll tell you.

They are a hybrid, and an incomplete hybrid at the moment. Arquebus was my working title for the framework of a computer program I wrote last year to manage solo ECW games played under a set-of-rules-yet-to-be-defined. Initially, as you may have read here before, the idea was that the underlying rules were to be Clarence Harrison’s Victory without Quarter, which I liked the look of for a number of reasons, and which I had tried out during a visit to the Kingdom of Old John last year.

Whatever your thoughts on computers in wargames, one spin-off of automating the game management is that you soon become aware of gaps in the game logic if you try to put a set of wargames rules into a computer program. So let’s see – if the melee winners fail this morale test to control the pursuit – what happens? – oh – look at that – it doesn’t say. So what exactly do artillery do if someone charges them? – well – gosh – it doesn’t say. Etc.

One big advantage of using someone else’s rules is that they have been playtested before, and you have a good idea in advance whether they work or not. VwQ is a bit different – there are people who have played them and use them and like them, but there is also a fund of recommendations for adding the missing bits – including some from The Bold Clarence himself, who has never pretended that the rules were complete or anything other than a work in progress.

So I set about redrafting VwQ for my own purposes, to plug some gaps and fix some things I wasn’t comfortable with and then – since I’d started doing it this way – I took the opportunity to simplify a couple of fiddly bits, and amend a couple of the tables to suit my own ideas. The final straw was that I eventually replaced VwQ’s trademark, card based Activation system with something else – I discussed this in an earlier post.

At this point, though the game still employs some of the mechanisms from VwQ which I have liked from the outset, much of it is changed. The overall package is definitely not VwQ, and I decided it made more sense to make a clean break, and call my evolving rule set Arquebus, if only to keep my head straight – same as the program. I acknowledge my debt to some other games, but it is a hybrid.

Briefly, I adopted an alternative Command and Activation system which I found in some of Mr Featherstone’s recently-published rules – which may or may not have close relatives in Warhammer, Blitzkrieg Commander and Bloody Barons. It ticked a lot of boxes – intuitively, it seemed reasonable, it hung together well from a completeness point of view, and it was cute enough to borrow without shame.

Well, I’ve now tried it out, and it was tedious. Clever or not, it required extra work, and I found it to be mostly irritating – slowed the game down far more than it improved it. So I’ve replaced it with a much simpler, dice-based system which has close relatives in the Portable Wargame family, and in at least one iteration of Ross’s Hearts of Tin, and even in some earlier ideas of my own (surely not?). Since this is now Arquebus we are talking about, and thus mine own, I may well replace it yet again next week – I’ll see how I feel. I am giddy with the possibilities…

The rewritten rules for Arquebus are beginning to stabilize – I have now reached a stage where I am polishing the wording, checking that I have covered everything. Once the game works, I will continue with the computer program, but make no mistake – Arquebus first has to perform tidily as a dice-&-rulers game without a computer in sight, or I shall keep working on it until it does [famous last words]. Thus there is a latest-version rule booklet (I believe I’m on Version 0.21 – which is the first amendments to the substantially changed 2^nd edition) and I was thinking that I might make it available if anyone is interested – I’m still not sure about this – it is a tweaked version of VwQ, though the tweaks now outweigh the VwQ bits, and it is not really designed to cope with anything more than the way I like to play my wargames. I’m thinking about it. The world is full of half-baked rulesets that don’t quite work – why add to the heap?

He's what? - he's redrafted Table 3? - bloody hell...

Once I’m comfortable that it works – at least a bit – I’m happy to provide copies to anyone who wants one. Hang on a bit. If someone feels moved to ask me why I don’t just be a sensible fellow and use Forlorn Hope or similar, please don’t – we’ve done that bit already.

Righto, Foy – so what happened to your Commands & Colors based ECW game?

Nothing – I have been using it and it works pretty well. As I mentioned before, I also need a more tactical game for small actions – where the Commanders can amuse themselves forming column of march and carrying out flank attacks and all that – this is where Arquebus should come in.

And it’s guaranteed hex-free, in case you care.

Hooptedoodle #104 - Jeff & Steve

Three Hooptedoodle posts on the trot is usually a sign of something or other, but on this occasion it is merely that we have been busy, preparing for some visitors who will be staying with us for a few days, so I haven’t had the opportunity to complete the paperwork for Weeks 33 and 34 of the Solo Campaign – that’ll be sometime later this week.

Today’s post is nothing political or barbed (I hope) – merely a note to welcome our new friends Jeff and Steve, who arrived this morning and seem to be settling in quite nicely. These are not the aforementioned visitors, as you see – they are Comet goldfish. My son Nick has been reading a lot on the subject, and promises that he will look after them carefully and faithfully. Certainly we have plenty of equipment and jars of special stuff bought in, so if that is a measure of how well they will be cared for we are off to a good start.

My feelings about pets are mixed. Over the years I have had a dog (great when I was 12) a cat (who was a much better friend than I expected) a budgie (a miserable creature – it didn’t do anything interesting except bite anyone that came near and screech deafeningly when there was music on the radio or the hoover was switched on), and that’s it, really. I dearly love to see birds and animals in their natural environment, but I’m too selfish or something to make room for one in my house.

I recall the thoughts of Dali on the subject of animals. He said, I think, that he wasn’t very interested in animals in general, apart from the rhinoceros, which had “divine crenellations”, but he liked them when they were suffering. Dali kept a couple of ocelots at his villa, and he used to get his slave girl hangers-on to walk them around the swimming pool and occasionally throw them in, to promote this state of natural grace which he admired.

Of course I disapprove. Dali was, in any case, a posturing old goat, as geniuses go, so I’ve always dismissed that as a gag of some sort.

Dali with Babou

In this part of the world, there is a slow but constant influx of wealthy townies, coming to discover the people they really are in the country. Although I arrived here in a similar manner myself, I laugh long and loud as the newbie country gentlefolk work through the checklist of things they must have in order to qualify. The Aga stove is too obvious to mention, as are the Land Rover Freelander and the green wellies (implication of horses), and there are certain high-end clothing manufacturers who cater for phoney lairds and would-be horse-breeders of this type. The standard-issue Labrador is usually an early arrival as well, and the dogs always have pretentious names – not at all like Jeff or Steve.

Over the years I have known some astonishing names for pets. My own cat was named Jim, exactly because we had a neighbour who bred Siamese champions, and all her cats were named after Aztec gods, or figures from classical history – or worse. I remember that something called Countess Lucretia got stuck in our garage once, and she also had a dreadful cat named Neoptolemus who used to dig up our flower beds as part of his toilet routine. Given an air-rifle, I’d have put a pellet up his regal backside every day until he got the idea.

I ribbed Nick gently about the lack of daring in his choice of names for his new fish, but he was quite comfortable about the matter. I also mentioned it to my hairdresser (as one does), and she assured me that her daughter named her goldfish Gail and Brian, which also seems a bit humdrum, but probably reinforces a point.

Maybe kids are just less affected in these matters. Perhaps, also, a pet who is a friend should not have a threatening name. Even I can see that Thor would be a daft name for a goldfish. So – yet again – I shall try to have the good grace to learn from a child, and accept that Jeff and Steve are OK. They, of course, do not realize that we call them anything at all – I’m not certain that they realize very much, to be honest.

I hope they are happy here.

I’m interested in this idea of names for pets. Do they reveal things about us that we would be better to hide? Do we name our pets to impress people? What is the best (or worst) name for a pet you have come across? No prizes, but I’m interested, and it might be a good laugh.

Hooptedoodle #103 – Saving the Planet – once again

My new car is not so new now, but I am still very pleased with the fuel economy compared with its predecessor. Like a lot of modern, “intelligent” cars, it has a display on the dashboard of how many miles it estimates you have left in the tank.

Now I know how this works – a sensor detects how much fuel is left, and a computer program works out your current rate of consumption based on the fuel metering, one number is divided by the other and there’s your answer.

It’s a funny thing. I know how meaningless is the instantaneous read-out, but it can have a most positive psychological effect. This morning I drove into the village, cruised fairly gently down to the station carpark, did my messages and drove gently back – Glenn Gould playing Bach's Goldberg Variations on the stereo and everything very mellow.

The mellowest bit of all was that the “miles before refuel” reading was 130 miles when I started off, but was up to 150 miles when I got back. What a brilliant feeling that gives you! – somehow, I’ve gained something for nothing. It’s almost as though someone has sneaked some additional fuel (free of charge!) into the tank while I was out.

I’m all in favour of this – however stupid it might be, it really feels like an achievement to have gained those extra miles, to have cheated the oil companies. I like it.

When I was a kid we had a standing joke about finding a circular bicycle route which was downhill all the way round. We knew it wasn’t possible, but it was a fun idea. This is somehow related – we could try to imagine driving gently enough so that we never needed to fill the tank again.

I’m working on it.