Tarragona Campaign

The second battle of Cambrils was epic in more ways than one.

First it was the biggest wargame of the campaign so far, with all three French corps and all four Spanish armies taking part.

More epic still, we fought it FOUR TIMES as a wargame. The first time we have ever done so. It was all because we were not happy with the balance between French and Spanish. Jan commanded the Spanish for the first game, and lost. I commanded them for the second and lost. And changed the orders of battle to make the Spanish stronger. In this second battle it became clear that there was no point in having more Spanish, is they all broke when the first one did.

Third game Jan commanded the Spanish and won. Fourth game I commanded the Spanish and again won. In both cases only just. And by winning I mean that they were still holding their position at the end of the game, not that the French had been defeated.

Strangely all four games were enjoyable. Because of the rules we use, the dice throw is very important. So it is easily possible to play the same game, with the same troops and in the same opening positions, but have a completely different result each time.

You an read the full battle report by clicking 1813 Tarragona Campaign button on the right.