Summary of Burgos Campaign

Map at end of Burgos Campaign

The campaign ended on a high note with the second battle of Pancorbo.  This was similar to the historical battle of Baylen and resulted in the destruction of Wellington’s 1^st corps and the loss of the campaign.

Link: http://1813campaigndiary.blogspot.com

This was the second campaign in western Spain.   Wellington had won the first when he defeated Soult and forced him to abandon Valladolid.   

Link: http://1813valladolidcampaign.blogspot.com/

The six corps commanders had much more freedom of choice and movement in the Burgos campaign than in any of the previous ones.   I played the role of both Wellington and Soult, but I only issued orders when I felt either side needed a new objective to keep the campaign on track.

I feel that it worked well.   Apart from setting the objectives I had very little influence on the progress, or outcome, of the campaign.   All critical decisions were made by the corps commanders, including the French decision to abandon Aranda and move north to support Burgos.

The French suffered badly in the first three battles, and had to abandon their forward position and retreat to the Bayonne to Madrid road.   I may be wrong, but I got the impression that this early success made the allied commanders a little over confident.   Certainly it was a lack of caution which led to the loss of 1^st allied corps at Pancorbo.

The fourth battle of the campaign forced the northern French corps to abandon Pancorbo and retire north.   This left the two southern corps cut off from Bayonne, and in danger of being attacked at odds of three to two.

1^st allied corps sent their Spanish division, which had suffered least casualties, to occupy Pancorbo.   Their British division, which had suffered heavy casualties, were held to the west to recover.

This allowed Soult (me) to take one division from the centre corps and march north to retake Pancorbo.   The battered 6^th French corps (which had lost Pancorbo) joined them in the attack which resulted in the destruction of 1^st allied corps.

The progress of the campaign illustrates the advantage of PBEM rather than a solo campaign.   In a solo campaign I would have had too much information to take the decisions taken during this campaign.   The six corps commanders were all working in isolation and had to take difficult decisions based on inadequate information.   It s easy for me to sum up where things went wrong, but it was much more difficult for them to make decisions with little direction from their Commander in Chief (me).

So thanks to all the players who took part.   I hope that you enjoyed it as much as Jan and I did.   Without your efforts it would have been a much less entertaining campaign.

There are still a few campaign diary entries to conclude the campaign.   But I have already done most of the work on the next campaign.   I hope to post details of the new blog later today  on the campaign forum and will be asking for volunteers to take on the role of corps commanders.

Link: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/napoleonicpbemcampaign

Burgos PBEM Campaign

Campaign Diary (Strategic) Map

The campaign is now entering its final stage.  

The published campaign diary blog is two campaign days behind the orders written by the players, so although it is clear to me that the campaign is ending they are still two days behind.   So I have to be careful what I say to avoid spoiling the end for them.

I started the campaign blog as a permanent record of the campaign, which is now three years old.   It is also a way of keeping followers of the campaign, both participants and non playing, up to date with what is happening.

The players write orders for each campaign day, but I process them as three campaign moves per day.  This allows me to calculate exactly when contact is made and whether there is sufficient time to fight a battle.  It also allows me to determine at what time reinforcements arrive during a battle.

The players have written corps orders for day Day14.   But the campaign diary has only reached the end of Day 12.   During Day 13 there is a major, and conclusive, battle.   So they have actually written orders for the day after the battle, but have not read the diary for the day of the battle yet.

Southern Battlefield (Tactical) Map

It seems to work well.   There are three detailed campaign maps, and each corps commander only has access to the one he is fighting on.  The campaign diary map covers all three areas, but in much less detail.   So I can publish a running commentary on the campaign without giving away any important tactical information.

And the fact that it is delayed by two campaign days means that what information I post is at least two days out of date

This also means that I can post a detailed battle report which everyone can read, but by the time they do so they would have been informed of the outcome anyway.

For this phase of the campaign I have given the corps commanders much more freedom than in previous ones.   I have given them a campaign objective, but then allowed them compete freedom how to achieve it.

It’s been interesting to see how the different players approached the task.  Some put the minimum of effort into to, and indeed even failed to resupply or recce.   Others put a lot of effort into writing orders and corresponding with their commander in chief (me) and the other corps commanders.  

It’s also been interesting to see how some players have appeared to lose interest as the campaign progressed, or more so as their corps suffered either due to battle casualties or attrition due to their own lack of control.

As always I have learned a lot of lessons from this campaign.  I have also enjoyed it as much, as not more, as the previous eight phases.   So there will be a tenth phase.   Hopefully it will be better still as I amend the maps and campaign orders to provide a faster moving game with even more strategic problems than the previous ones.

Over the next two or three weeks I will be working on the new campaign diary blog.  This will include a short history of the 1813 campaign to date and links to each of the previous phases of the campaign.  It will also have a short introduction to the next Phase, which will be based in the Danube valley.

I will be looking for six corps commanders to take part in the next phase, and will start to recruit as soon as I have the background available on the campaign diary.  

A Very Spanish Victory

Spanish rout the Italians

We are now back into the 1813 PBEM campaign, and have just finished the first wargame since our Christmas break.

This phase of the fictional campaign is set in northern Spain, and deals with Wellington’s attempt to take Burgos.  The French have fought, and lost, all four battles so far.   I was hoping for a French victory this time, but it was not to be.

There are three corps per side, each of two divisions.   Each allied corps has one Anglo-Portuguese division and one Spanish one.   Each French corps has one French division and one Italian, Westphalian or Polish division. 

Each French or British division consists of three good and one poor infantry brigade.   Each Italian, Westphalian or Polish division has two good and two poor infantry brigades.   Each Spanish division has one good and three poor infantry brigades.   In addition there is a wide range of skirmish, firing and melee ability between the different nationalities.   Finally the French and British have Average commanders, the others mostly Poor commanders.

Our wargame rules rely heavily on command and control and dice, and this results in very unpredictable wargames.   The odds are against the Spanish, but only slightly.

Our latest wargame had the French corps in a good defensive position at Pancorbo, defending the main road from Burgos to Bayonne.   The British division arrived at the start of move one, but the Spanish did not arrive until the start of move five.   The British took a battering from the French artillery whilst they waited for the Spanish to arrive.   It looked like I would get my wish for a French victory.

Then it all went “pear shaped”.   The Spanish have a very brittle morale, but for this to be tested they have to receive casualties.   They only had one casualty throughout the whole game, and then they rolled a high morale dice.

The French were attacking the Italian division, who could do no right.   Their cavalry lost a melee with poor quality Spanish lancers.   Their artillery failed to hit the Spanish infantry columns, even at canister range.   Their skirmisher and volley fire failed to stop the Spanish charging home.  The result was an Italian rout.

It was one of those games where there was a high proportion of low dice, except on the one occasion when the Spanish had to test their morale.   In a non campaign game I would probably have rolled again when the French gunners rolled a total of three with two D6 at the critical moment.  But this would not be acceptable in a PBEM campaign where we are fighting the battle on behalf of the two campaign players.

The end result was a marginal allied victory.  The British division lost heavily, as did the Italian  division.   The Spanish and French divisions suffered little.  The French had to retreat, leaving the allies with a minor victory.

If you would like to read the battle report you will find it here:

http://1813campaigndiary.blogspot.com

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.