Spanish Campaign Army – Basic Campaign

Tactical map for Linares Campaign

This is the tactical map for my current Spanish campaign.   The Spanish are yellow and the French blue.   The Spanish objective is to hold the city of Linares (centre bottom).   The French main depot is Probete (centre top) and their objective is to defeat the Spanish regular army and take Linares.

At the start of the campaign the French have one depot (Probete).   The Spanish have four, including the main depot at Linares.

There are Spanish militia brigades in 8 of the nine cities/towns.   Because Probete is occupied by the French, the garrison has left the town and become a guerrilla band (top right).

The French plan is to send two corps down the main road (red), engage any Spanish they find and take Linares.   A third corps will move through the mountains on the left, and a fourth on the right.   They will protect and support the main army as they move south.  

The Spanish plan is to avoid a formal battle as long as possible, and to rely on their guerrilla bands to disrupt the French communications and supplies.

Each French corps starts the campaign with four days supplies.   For each depot they hold they will collect one day’s supplies each campaign day.   If they have less than four depots Probete will receive the balance.  To resupply a corps must be within three squares of a depot, not moving and not in battle.   The French can move a maximum of four days supplies between depots each campaign day.

Each Spanish corps, and militia brigade, starts the campaign with three days supplies.   Supply rules are the same for the Spanish Regular Army.   A militia garrison will always supply.   A guerrilla band must be in a town or village to resupply.

So a French corps must either remain within three squares of Probete, or must establish depots as they advance.  To do so they must detach a full strength infantry brigade to become the garrison.  The garrison will forage sufficient supplies for one corps each campaign day.

A guerrilla band can attack an isolated garrison or a supply train.   To do so they must be in the adjacent square.   They may not attack either if there is a French corps within one square of the garrison or supply train.

You will find the campaign diary blog here

 http://1813pbemcampaigndiary.blogspot.com.es/

Spanish Campaign Army - Introduction

Campaign map of Europe

My 1813 campaign has five allied armies, one of which is Spanish.   They have proved the most difficult to fit into my campaign, and have changed the most due to play experience.   I thought it might be interesting for anyone contemplating a campaign in Spain to hear about my experiences.

It is important to understand that my campaign is fictional, and is designed to provide interesting battles to wargame.   The original background to the campaign was roughly historical, but has changed out of all recognition over the past nine years.

Campaign map of Spain

I wanted the Spanish Army to be able to hold their own against a French Army.   But at the same time I wanted the Spanish player to experience the same sort of tactical problems his historical counterpart would have had.

As the campaign is set in 1813 I felt it reasonable that the Spanish troops could be similar to the French.   By this time the best French troops had been removed from Spain and replaced by low quality conscripts and foreign allies.   On the other hand the Spanish commanders, assisted by Wellington, had started to learn from their earlier mistakes.  

Fifth French Army

There are two French, one Polish and one Italian corps.   In total there are 16 infantry brigades, 4 cavalry brigades and 4 corps artillery.   Half of the infantry are average and half conscript.   You will find a full order of battle at Label 51 here

 http://1813pbemcampaigndiary.blogspot.com.es/

 

Spanish Regular Army

There are four corps, but only two have cavalry.   In total there are 14 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry brigades and 4 corps artillery.   Four of the infantry are average and the rest conscript.   You will find the full order of battle at Label 52 here

 http://1813pbemcampaigndiary.blogspot.com.es/

         

In addition there are 9 militia brigades, who provide the garrison of the nine cities or towns in each campaign phase.  They do not come under the command of the Spanish CinC, and may not be moved from their town.  If the town is attacked by an enemy brigade they will fight.  If attacked by a corps they will leave the town without fighting and become a guerrilla band.  They may only operate close to their original town.   They have the same combat ability as a conscript brigade.  

So the Spanish have 23 infantry brigades against 16 French, two cavalry brigades against four and the same number of artillery.

Our Spanish Adventure – Part Six

When we moved to Spain in 2006 I knew that most of our leisure time would be taken up with hill walking and wargaming.  I did not realise that I would find a third interest which would take up just as much time as the other two.

I cannot remember even reading a blog before I retired, let alone writing one.  Nor can I remember when I did discover them, but I know it was after we moved to Spain.   I suspect that I found them through TMP.

I have always been one of those strange people who keep a daily diary.   I also used to make an album of holiday photographs.   So it is not surprising that blogging appealed to me.

I believe Napoleonic Wargaming was the first blog I wrote.  The first entry was May 2009 and the aim was to write one entry a week about all aspects of my wargaming activities.   I have kept to that objective, and have posted at least one a week since then.  I kept an index of each subject by using the Labels function.   I always wanted them to be a source of reference, and have continued to do so with all of my blogs.

About the same time I started Jan and Paul in Spain.  This was to be a record of our life in Spain and our regular hill walking.  It was intended for friends and family in the UK, but quickly became popular with nor only our walking group and also walkers throughout the world.   I have one blog for each year and usually post twice a week during the walking season.   Pretty well every walk we have done in Spain since 2006 is recorded in words and photos.   Each blog has an index and it is quite frightening to compare the same walk over the years, and to see how everyone has aged.

The third major blog was my 1813 Campaign Diary.   Started in April 2009 it is a series of blogs covering the countless phases of the campaign.  It would be difficult to count the number of posts over the many blogs, but on average I have posted about 3-4 time a week.

The fourth major blog was Walking Napoleonic Battlefields, also started in 2009.   Over a period of years Jan and I had spent summer holidays walking most of the major Napoleonic battlefields.   I had compiled an album of each holiday and I used these to write a blog about each holiday.   Again they are indexed so that I can find each individual battlefield visit.   I wrote the last entry in 2011, but still get 10-20 visits each week.

These are the major blogs, but I have also written a number of minor ones

Wargames in Spain was a collection of the early wargames we played when we first moved here.   It was also started in May 2009, but covered wargames played over the previous three years.   It lasted less than a year and was replaced by my 1813 campaign blog.

Wellington’s Battles recorded my wargames of his battles.   Started in November 2009 and the last entry May 2012, there were only 14 battles fought.  I used maps and OOB researched for our battlefield visits to plan each wargame.

And finally Napoleonic Wargame Rules and Campaign Rules.   Both started in May 2009 so that anyone could follow my campaign diary blog.   They both received some interest, but really came into their own when I converted my solo campaign to PBEM in September 2009.   The Wargame Rules still receive 10-20 visits each week.

I am really surprised how involved I have become in writing the various blogs.   I am a creature of habit, and always have been.  I have always enjoyed writing my diaries, so I am a natural for writing blogs.  I have always done them for my own enjoyment, but have been greatly encouraged by the comments I receive, and by noting the number of visitors weekly and monthly.   As I write, this blog has had 191950 individual visitors over the years, and has 104 followers.   I would like to thank you all for following my journey and assure you that knowing someone out there reads what I write has been a great encouragement to continue to do so.

And that is enough of my Spanish Adventure, at least for the present.  Next week I will look for something more current to post about.