Eggmuhl Giveaway - Results

I got a total of 13 expressions of interest, if I include a couple of strange pieces of related spam and a threat.

Pleased to announce that Gary Amos wins the battlefield guide (not entirely because of the blackmail attempt), and Bart Vetters wins the German-language version.

If these two gentlemen could contact me with postal addresses I'll get the books  to you.

You can email via the address on my Blogger profile or - and maybe better, since I fear that BtInternet may have screwed up my email accounts again - send a comment to this blog post which I won't publish.

Thanks to anyone who sent an "entry", and thanks to anyone who was interested enough to follow my humble adventures on the Danube.

Solo Campaign - Week 31

Our artist's impression of Arnedillo

My compliments to Francis, who pointed out that the map for week 30 had the wrong counter for Clauzel - should have been I, not H as shown. Francis, you really should get out more and, no, there is no prize.

This week we have two fights coming up between the Spaniards and the French, both near Soria. I hope to get them fought out next week.

Week 31

Random Events and Strategic Notes

The severe rain has ceased – ground conditions have returned to normal, though river levels are unseasonably high, and fords are unpredictable.

Giron’s enlarged and well-equipped Spanish army at Calatayud is causing the French great concern. He has no siege train (though Aigburth is going to bring forward the Anglo-Portuguese one from Ciudad Rodrigo), and is thus unable to do much about the fortress towns which dominate the supply routes from France, but he has enough troops to mask Burgos and possibly Pamplona, which would be a serious problem for the French. He also has more than enough capability to sweep the second-line French troops out of Tudela.

King Joseph is desperately concerned about this, and wants something done about the Spaniards very quickly. King Joseph’s estimate of Giron’s strength is wildly high, confused by the large numbers of Aragonese irregulars who are currently attached (but are very unlikely to be allowed to leave Aragon).

Aigburth and the Spanish high command have agreed that Giron should avoid conflict with the main French field armies, but should move on Tudela, Lodosa and Vittoria – occupation of these three areas will stop French supplies to Marmont, Clauzel and Joudan, regardless of the status of the fortresses at San Sebastian, Pamplona and Burgos.

Apparently you can get a Jourdan shirt too - tacky...

Joseph is aware of the risk, and intends to destroy Giron in battle before these moves take place.

Madrid is now occupied by the troops of the Junta de Castilla, and battalions of milicias urbanas are to be raised from the populace.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 5 and the French 4. The Allies opt to move first.

Moves

Allies (5 allowed)

1 – Sp B (Giron, at Calatayud) splits off most of his irregulars (new force Sp I), who will remain in Navarra…

2 – … and marches his main army into Soria

3 – D (Framlingham, with the Allied siege train), marches from Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca

4 – Sp E (Mira, around Ocana) marches into Madrid with some 5000 irregulars

5 – Plans are put in motion to raise a number (possibly 4) battalions of militia in Madrid – timescale uncertain…

[Intelligence step -

• No new information.] 

French (4 allowed)

1 – K (Jourdan/Joseph, at Aranda) splits off the siege train and the baggage train (with the Madrid ‘loot’) as new force U…

2 – … this new force U marches to the fortress at Burgos…

3 – … while force K marches from Aranda into Soria with 11700 men to attack Giron

4 – R (Paquerette’s brigade of about 4500 Garde Nationale) marches from Tudela into Soria, to attack the irregulars under “El Banquero” (Sp G) and prevent their joining with Giron

[Intelligence step –

• No new information.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply, nobody is Demoralised.

Contacts

On Friday 21^st August, Paquerette’s untried reservists meet the irregulars of El Banquero near the convent of Nostra Senora de Penalba, at Arnedillo, on the River Cidacos, Not far from Calahorra. Paquerette has 5 battalions of reservist infantry plus a battery of foot artillery. El Banquero has about 3800 light infantry from the Junta de Vizcaya, no artillery and a tiny force of cavalry. The field is hilly but fairly open, and Paquerette is optimistic…

Vinuesa

The following day, Marshal Jourdan, with Darmagnac’s large division of the Armee du Centre plus the cavalry of the Armee du Nord, makes a determined assault on Giron’s main army at Vinuesa, west of Soria. Giron is estimated to have 11 line battalions, 9 of voluntarios, 5 regiments of cavalry and about 18 guns in 4 batteries. Jourdan has 16 battalions (Confederation and Italians) and 5 units of cavalry, but is relatively weak in artillery – he has one Italian foot battery and one French horse battery – 14 guns in total. The Spanish force was surprised by the speed with which the attack developed, so their defensive position is improvised (with a few dice throws in there).

The customary map and army returns will appear once the actions at Arnedillo and Vinuesa have been fought.

Hooptedoodle #100 – The Price of Self-Respect?

I had sort of hoped that my 100^th Hooptedoodle might be a bit more festive than this, but I had a strange, rather disturbing day yesterday, and I’m still wondering about it. This is not intended as a whinge, nor a sad story of any kind, really, but it contains some elements which seem to be symptomatic of how society works nowadays, and that causes me some disquiet.

Once again, it involves the situation of my mother. My mum is elderly, and she is disabled. She had polio as a child, and – though she recovered – she now suffers from what has become known as Post-Polio Syndrome, which is paralysis caused by progressive degradation of the nerves which were affected by the polio all those years ago. It’s OK – it’s a fact of life, and my mum isn’t given to feeling sorry for herself, so we all just get on with it. To supplement what we can do for her directly, we have arranged for her to have a carer visit every day, and this works wonderfully well. The carer (let’s call her Paula) is a marvelous woman – before she retired, she helped to look after my late sister (who was mentally handicapped), and she and my mother became great friends. They have a private arrangement which works perfectly. Paula comes in for a couple of hours each day during the week, and an hour a day at weekends. Mum pays Paula for her time and her expertise, which is only right and proper. With additional visits and outings organized by the family, we try to ensure that my mum doesn’t lack for either care or interest, and we recently installed a stair lift in her house, which has proved to be a great thing, and has given her control of her own home again. So it works, but all of this obviously isn’t cheap. That’s how it is.

The local County Council did some valuable ergonomic and safety work – putting in grab handles and leveling door thresholds and generally making her house suitable for a wheelchair, and we were also notified that she might qualify for some financial assistance from the Council. So we were encouraged to apply for it – every little bit helps, as I’m sure my grandmother - or was it Tesco? - used to say.

My understanding of these things is not great, but it seems that, if a disabled person resides in a particular county, the local authority has some obligation to assist them, to ensure that their quality of life is acceptable. This may involve putting people in an institution or a home of some sort, or it may result in sending out care-workers and specialists employed by the authority to help these residents, or it might provide specialist equipment. Or, in these days of reduced budgets, there is a direct payment alternative, whereby the disabled person makes their own arrangements for care, in their own home, and the authority makes some financial contribution to help with this. This has a number of advantages, not least being that it is cheaper for the local authority and gives the client more independence. Excellent.

Yesterday my mum got a visit from the keeper of the Council’s purse strings, to sort out the details for a regular direct payment which had already been agreed in principle. Since I have Power of Attorney over my mother’s affairs, both financial and welfare-related, I was there with my official notebook.

The lady from the council (let’s call her Fiona) and I instantly recognized each other as trouble. She recognized me as an awkward beggar who might have the odd opinion, and I recognized her as one of a generation of people with degrees in political correctness and regulatory compliance who gradually took over the Human Resources world and made life frustrating in my last few years at work. These people are astonishing – in the unlikely event of their accidentally allowing something to happen, it will not be their fault, whatever it is.

Fiona told us the following:

1. An informal relationship between my mother and her friend is not good enough. Since their agreement requires that Paula is told when and where to work, a formal contract of employment is required. The Council’s legal people will advise us. 
2. If the Council is contributing to care costs, Paula is not allowed to be self-employed. The Council will even oversee her relationship with the tax authorities.
3. Further, she will have to replace her current professional certification with the new (post 2011) PVG registration (in compliance with the new Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme - this will cost her some £70), and the Council will not proceed with any agreement until they know what her new PVG number is.
4. Further, since she is now an employee, she should be entitled to holiday and sickness pay.
5. Further, since my mother will now be an employer, she will require to take out employer’s liability insurance (about £135 per annum) – the Council can advise. This will, naturally, require someone to come and completely check my mother’s house, its wiring, the state of the stairs, the lighting, the cable on the kettle, etc.
6. Further, a stand-alone bank account will have to be set up to record every penny spent on care – the Council will require a paper monthly statement from this account. They will also require a very detailed paper return of all care-related activities and expenditure – every month. How some of their poor old, demented clients handle this is a matter of interest.
7. Further, all payments to Paula must be made through the Council’s own direct salary system, which they will set up for us if we (which means I) go to their office to discuss it with them. I may not pay Paula by online transfer from a bank account of my own choice, which has been the arrangement to date.
8. Any decisions, changes or problems, and any debates about what Paula may or may not be asked to do must be referred to my mother’s Care Manager at the Council, whose decision will be final.
9. This whole wonderful edifice, by the way, is known as the county Centre for Inclusive Living’s “Independent Living Service”. At this point, I could feel a loud snort coming on. It begs a few serious questions about definitions of Independent, Service and even of Living.

I had a quick consultation with my mum, and with Paula, and I responded to Fiona-from-the-Council thus:

1. The proposed amount of financial aid is rather less than £50 a week. While this would be gratefully received, it represents approximately one-fifth of the total outlay on care that we already have in place, and to change everything in the way proposed is an extreme example of a tail wagging a dog. 
2. The relationship between these two ladies, who have been close friends for years, is very important, and it would be changed in a very unfortunate way by introducing any form of contract of employment – completely inappropriate. All the spin-offs from such a contract – insurance, holiday pay, external vetting and control of payments – are non-starters.
3. The degree of restriction, regulation and general interference, and the amount of administrative grunt, are unacceptable. These arrangements may well work perfectly for clients who are very hard up, or who require the use of agencies, but it does not fit with my mother’s situation.
4. Thank you for your time and for the offer, but we shall decline it. The money on offer is not worth the hassle and the bureaucratic oppression.

We did not tell her to stick it in her ear, but it was a close call. I believe that Fiona has never been rejected in this manner before, and she was very visibly shaken. She insisted on passing us the papers she had already completed, and she said to my mum that, if she changed her mind in the future, here were the details for reference.

My mum replied that, since she is 88, there isn’t really a lot of future for this to happen in.

I’m not sure how I feel about it. There is something in there about the value of self-respect, of independence, of freedom from bureaucratic control. I am convinced we are better off without the Council’s contribution, thank you very much, though I don’t expect that either they or that nice Mr Cameron will trouble to thank us for saving them some expense.

Solo Campaign - Weeks 29 & 30

Unhappy King Joseph

Week 29

Random Events and Strategic Notes

Some important developments are reshaping the French strategy in Spain.

It is clear that the Emperor’s campaign in Russia is not going to be anything like what was anticipated. The Russians’ refusal to stand for a major, decisive battle, and their total rejection of any kind of approach for negotiation indicate that the campaign will be long and difficult, with the French and their allies being drawn further and further into the heartland. The Minister of War in Paris (Clarke, Duc de Feltre) has confidentially informed King Joseph that he is not optimistic about matters in Russia, and foresees that, at the very least, more soldiers will be required there. Thus the French armies in Northern and Central Spain may become more valuable than Spain itself. This has deeply shocked Joseph, who has previously seriously compromised Clauzel by his insistence on protecting his capital at Madrid.

The fact that Clauzel’s army is now in too poor a shape to hold Salamanca means that he will have to withdraw to the area around Valladolid. His requests for wagons from Madrid to convey the sick and wounded from his hospitals in the convents of Alba de Tormes and Salamanca have produced nothing worthwhile – Joseph needs all the wagons he can find to strip everything that is precious or militarily useful out of Madrid, and retreat towards Aranda – he has identified Burgos as a possible new headquarters. Reports from Madrid through British spies indicate a lot of burning and looting there, which suggests that the French are not intending to return.

Marmont, nervous of being trapped between the armies of Graham (at Orense) and Aigburth (evidently advancing into Salamanca) intends to withdraw into Leon, thus the new French line will be Marmont on the right at Leon, Clauzel in the centre at Valladolid and Jourdan/Joseph on the left near Aranda, all north of the Duero.

Clauzel will be forced to abandon his hospitals.

King Joseph is reported to have made some comment to the recuperating General Guye to the effect that he sees no point in “sustaining this folly of his brother’s vanity”, though he may not, in fact, have said this.

The enlarged Spanish army of Giron does not have the necessary heavy artillery to attack Zaragoza, and thus they will work around it, threatening the rear of the new French position and their essential supply routes through Pamplona and Burgos.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 8 and the French 6. The Allies opt to move first.

Moves

Allies (8 allowed)

1 – Aigburth (Force A) and Picton (E) join to form new Force A at Ciudad Rodrigo, under Aigburth…

2 – … and march into Salamanca, threatening Clauzel’s army

3 – H (Long, with the “advance guard” which fought at Martin de Yeltes) will rest at Salamanca

4 – Sp B (Giron, with Espana’s Divn of 3^rd Army) joins with Sp C (Morillo’s Divn of the same army) to form new Sp B at Alcaniz, under Giron…

5 – … and this force marches west to Teruel…

6 – … joining with a large force of irregulars from the Junta of Aragon (I) to become a larger Sp B

7 – Anglo-Port Force B (Graham, at Orense) continues to scout into Zamora

 [Intelligence step -

• Much intercepted intelligence containing hints at change in French strategy, and it is clear that Clauzel is preparing to withdraw.]

French (6 allowed)

1 – I (Clauzel) marches from Salamanca to Valladolid, abandoning his hospitals

2 – H (Pinoteau, with remains of the force defeated at Martin de Yeltes) also attempts to march to Valladolid – since this force is Tired already, a test is required:

2D3 = 3 +1 (Pinoteau’s rating) -1 (tired troops) = 3   - the march is completed, but the force is now Tired and Demoralised, and each unit loses a further block/base to exhaustion and desertion – the cavalry in particular are virtually eliminated

3 – Forces I (Clauzel), H (what is left of Pinoteau) and D (Leberknoedel, with a brigade of Confederation troops) merge into new Force I, under Clauzel, at Valladolid

4 – N (Marmont) withdraws from Zamora to Leon

5 – K (Jourdan/Joseph) at Madrid attempt to keep order while preparing to evacuate Madrid

 [Intelligence step –

• No new information.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply. French Force H (Pinoteau) is demoralised by retreat march to Vallalolid, and loses one block/base per unit before merging with Clauzel.

3 new units of regular cavalry (2 light, 1 of cuirassiers) are now present with Giron’s Spanish 3^rd Army.

Contacts

Clauzel retires before the Allied advance into Salamanca.

Engineering at Ciudad Rodrigo

The civilian labourers and the garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo are working on repairs to the defences of the town, and levelling the siegeworks. The workforce is equivalent to 5 battalions, so the work is represented by the rolling of 5D6 each week. Every 6 rolled adds 1 to the Fortress Value, which is currently 5 – the theoretical full value is 6, but progress has been so good that the governor, General Hidalgo, will aim to improve the defences wherever possible. This week, the dice come up 6 6 5 4 2, so the Fortress Value is increased to 7, at which point work ceases and the labourers are discharged.

Week 30

Random Events and Strategic Notes

The weather has deteriorated – heavy rainstorms have temporarily reduced all roads in the campaign area to a “winter” state.

Despite changed strategy, the French are still very concerned about the possibility of seaborne invasion of the ports along the North coast, and thus many good quality troops remain tied up in garrisons of Oviedo, Santander, Bilbao and San Sebastian.

Housekeeping

The 3D3 activation throws give the Allies 6 and the French 6. Since they had the initiative last week, the Allies again opt to move first.

Moves

Allies (6 allowed)

1 – Sp B (Giron) marches from Teruel to Calatayud

2 – A (Aigburth) absorbs H (Long) at Salamanca

3 – B (Graham) marches over the hills from Orense to Zamora – the timing is not ideal, since the weather has reduced the roads to a poor state, so a test is required:

2D3 = 5 +2 (Graham’s rating) -1 (brown road) -1 (poor weather) = 5   - the march is completed, without problems

4 – Sp F (Ximenez, with irregulars at Toledo) to scout toward Madrid, watching for evacuation of the city

5 – Sp E (Mira, with irregulars at Ocana) to do the same

 [Intelligence step -

• Much activity in Madrid, then Joseph’s forces and an enormous wagon train seen heading north
• Graham finds that Marmont has evacuated the Zamora region, and has destroyed river crossings and generally ruined the countryside and villages]

French (6 allowed)

1 – K (Joseph/Jourdan) march from Madrid to Aranda.

 [Intelligence step –

• No new information.]

Supplies and Demoralisation

All units are in supply, but the Spanish afrancesado units in Marmont’s army (Force N) are Demoralised by the retreat, and especially by the abandonment of Madrid, so must test for loss through desertion. Also, they will not receive any replacements this month.

The detailed losses for demoralisation for this Division (Casapalacio’s) are:

1/Gd Gren, Gd Volt, 1 Leger (Castille) & Royal Etranger – all -1 block. 1/Gd Fus, 2/Gd Fus, 1/2 Ligne (Toledo) – all -2 blocks. This represents a total loss to the division of about 2000 infantry.

Since 16^th August is the nearest weekend to the middle of the month, reinforcements, replacements and returns from hospital are diced for – since Clauzel’s force were forced to abandon their hospitals, they will receive no additional troops this month.

Detailed additions:

French – Chass des Mont, 5 Ch-Leg, 1 Ch-Leg Rugeois, 2/69, 3/2 Art a Chev, 15 Dgns – each +1 block. Total increase from these additions is approx. 400 infantry, 375 cavalry and 2 guns, which is far less than the desertions from Marmont’s Spanish division.

Anglo-Portuguese – 2/5^th, 2^nd Lt Bn KGL, Br Oels Jaegers, Troop ‘E’ RHA, 5^th Dgn Gds, 1^st Port Cav, 1^st Prov Lt Bn – each +1 block; Wallace’s Lt coys, 2/95^th 3^rd Dgns – each +2 blocks. Total increase is approx. 1600 infantry, 500 cavalry and 2 guns.

Spanish – No additions this month.

Contacts

None.