Burgos Campaign Update

After two months the campaign is still going strong.

We have just completed the seventh campaign day, and the third campaign battle.   Despite three battles in three campaign days, we have managed to keep the momentum of the campaign going, and still to the target of one campaign day each week.

All of this is largely due to the new concept of each player having his own campaign area and objectives.  In fact there are three areas, as shown above, and the six players in the campaign are each fighting one opponent.

Each of the first three battles have taken place in a different campaign area, so all players have experienced one battle each.   It was fortunate that the battles were spaced to take place on consecutive days.  This was nothing to do with me, it was entirely due to player choice.   It allowed Jan and me to fight each of the battles over the period of a week, just sufficient time for us to complete a wargame.   Had there been two on the same campaign day it would have taken us two weeks to fight, and resulted in a delay in the campaign.

As CinC of both the British and the French armies I have had very little work to do.   When one of the corps commanders sends in a report I distribute the information to the other two players.   This gives a small degree of cooperation within the two armies.  But in general there is little support between corps commanders.  

It’s unfortunate that the French managed to lose all three battles, as this must result in a general retreat to the east.  I had hoped that the battles might present a problem to adjacent corps commanders.   At the least it should have caused concerns about open flanks.   But with a general retreat this will not arise.

The other new introduction for this phase of the campaign is the use of guerrilla bands.    One in each campaign area.   They have caused problems by cutting supplies and capturing messages. 

In summary so far so good.   It is also good to report that all six original players are still in place.   This has been a problem is previous PBEM campaigns, when players have been known to disappear without notice.   I hope this is due to the longer turn around from two to four days to write orders, and perhaps even that it is more enjoyable for the players concerned.