Cordova Campaign – Battle of Montoro

Battle of Montoro – table at start of game

Start of move 1
Both armies start the game on the table.
At the top the Spanish are deployed in and around Montoro
1, 2 and 3 corps are in front of the town, 4 corps at the rear
The three French corps are deployed with one corps in each square

There are three game objectives
Farm on the left, small woods in the centre and large woods on the right
The side which has possession of at least two objectives a t the end of 12 moves will win

End of move 12

On the right 39th Vistula corps have taken the farm, 3rd Spanish corps is in rout
The Polish advance was delayed by having to move through the large woods
They then pinned the Spanish to the left of the farm, and attacked the farm itself
This was achieved without much help from their lancer brigade, who failed their morale and routed
2nd Spanish orps did not have any cavalry, so this was not the disaster it might have been
After a short fight all four Spanish brigades routed (see yellow stars) and abandoned the farm

In the centre 38th French corps had a more difficult task. 2nd Spanish corps was supported by artillery from the reserve, and also cavalry from 1st corps. No attempt was made to engage this strong force, so the attack on the small woods at the T junction had to a frontal one. The French did eventually take the woods, but were unable to hold it against an attack by two brigades from the reserve 4th corps.

37th young guard corps attacked the large woods on the right. 1st Spanish corps held the two northern wood sections, and were positioned to counter attack any French who entered the two southern sections. This meant that the French artillery were unable to engage the Spanish infantry. They therefore exchanged fire with the Spanish artillery, but lost the engagement and routed with 10% casualties. The battle for the woods was therefore an infantry affair. Not surprising the French young guard took the woods and 1st Spanish corps retreated. But the French has no reserve to counter a counter attack by two brigades from 4th Spanish corps.

The French lost 13 infantry and 1 artillery casualties (5300 men)
The Spanish lost 21 infantry and 1 artillery casualties (8500 men)
The French had four brigades in rout, the Spanish had six

The Spanish held two of the three objectives at the end of 12 moves and won the battle

Comments

This was the first battle of the Cordova campaign, it was also the first time that the Spanish outnumbered the French in infantry and artillery.

The French had 12 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades and 3 corps artillery
The Spanish had 16 infantry brigades, 2 cavalry brigades and 4 cavalry.

The Spanish deployed half of their artillery, and all of their cavalry, in the centre. The French dare not attack such a powerful force, and directed their main attack at the two flanks. They created a reserve of two cavalry brigades, one artillery and one infantry brigade to pin the Spanish centre.

The attack on the left went well, but losing their artillery on the right flank was a serious blow to the French. The loss of a lancer brigade on the left flank was not so serious because the Spanish did not have sufficient cavalry to take advantage of their loss.

The main difference was the much more powerful Spanish infantry. The French took all three objectives, but were then too weak to withstand the counter attack by four brigades from the Spanish reserve.

This game was the first test of the stronger Spanish army, and too soon to come to any conclusions.

Cordova Campaign – Day One

9 September 1813 – Southern Spain – Day 1

French attack Montoro
13 French Army attack Montoro
14 French Army observe El Carpio
15 French Army observe Espinal

Spanish hold Cordova-Jean border
1 Spanish Army hold Montoro
2 Span
3 Spanish Army hold Espinal

Comments

The campaign opens with both armies facing each other at the regional border between Cordoba and Jean.

The French campaign strategy is to defeat 1st Spanish army in the north and 3rd Spanish army in the south and then pin 2nd Spanish army in front of El Carpio against the river Guadalquivir and destroy them.

In the north Marshal Suchet attacks the town of Montoro, which is defended by General Giron.
Giron has four corps, three on the border and one in the town itself. Suchet has three corps.

In all previous campaigns both commanders had equal numbers of infantry, cavalry and artillery. The campaign model was that both would have an equal chance of winning. This model worked well in the other four campaign areas, but not in southern Spain. This area has always been the most difficult to recreate the historical problems encountered by the French. They always defeated Spanish field armies, but suffered from long lines of supply which were vulnerable to attack by the Spanish irregular troops. This type of campaign works well as a map exercise, but does not transfer to the wargames table.

Each French corps has four infantry and one cavalry brigades, plus corps artillery. Two Spanish corps have the same, but the other two have no cavalry. In each battle the Spanish will have 16 infantry brigades, two cavalry brigades and four corps artillery. The French will have 12 infantry brigades, three cavalry brigades and three corps artillery.

During the campaign I will command the French, and will be able to test how well the small cavalry superiority works, and whether it makes up for the infantry and artillery imbalance. If necessary I will adjust the Spanish troop types to reduce their combat and morale status.

Start of Cordova Campaign Phase

 

Central Germany – Campaign Phases 

Cordova is set in southern Spain and follows the French invasion under the command of marshal Suchet and the Spanish defence led by General Giron.   This is the fifth phase to be fought in southern Spain.   The French won three phases and the Spanish only one.

Of all five campaign areas this is by far the most difficult to model.   As you know my 1813 campaign is designed to provide interesting battles to wargame.   That means giving both players a reasonable chance of winning each of the wargames fought.

In previous phases I have tried to weaken the French by including the guerrilla war, which played such an important role in the historical campaign.   The French had to detach large numbers of men to protect their lines of supply, which were under constant attack by the Spanish irregular forces.  

This war within a war had a critical strategic bearing on the campaign.   French supplies had to travel hundreds of miles, and were under constant attack.  However by and large they did arrive.   However the French commanders had to disperse their armies in order to supplement these supplies by living off the land.

It did not however have any real tactical effect.   I can’t think of any battle in the Peninsular which was affected by the guerrilla war.   And my primary interest in the campaign is the wargames which is produces.

Gaming the lines of supply and the guerrilla war has taken up a lot of time and effort, for relatively little reward.    And as the French won three of the previous four campaign phases it clearly did not balance the French and Spanish armies on the wargames table

Cordova Campaign Map

For this campaign is am trying out a new idea.   The Spanish will have considerably more brigades than the French.  There will be nine French corps against 16 Spanish corps.  

All armies are based on the number and type of wargame figures on my shelf.   Apart from the Spanish all French and allied corps (in wargame figures) have four infantry brigades of 8 figures, one cavalry brigade of 4 figures and corps artillery of 1 gun and 4 figures.   So all corps have the same number of infantry, cavalry and artillery.

The Spanish have two such corps, but the other two do not have any cavalry.   Many years ago, long before I created my 1813 campaign, I replaced my Minifigs 28mm figures with Foundry figures.   This allowed me to buy exactly the number and type of figures I wanted at the time.    My infantry units 16 figures, 4 skirmishers and 1 mounted officer.   My cavalry were 8 figures.  

For some long forgotten reason I did not apply this logic to the Spanish.   They included a mixture of regular, militia and guerrilla figures.   But they only had two cavalry units of 8 figures, unlike the other nations which had four such.

Spanish corps (including cavalry brigade)

In each wargame the French will have 9 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades, 3 corps artillery

The Spanish will have 16 infantry brigades,2 cavalry brigades, 4 corps artillery

This is a huge advantage in numbers .    To balance the infantry will be almost entirely conscript and poor quality skirmishers.   The cavalry will be trained, as will the gunners.   Otherwise both would be virtually useless, particularly in later games when they have casualties.

I anticipate that the major difference will be artillery.   The attacking French will always be outgunned.   Yet to press home an attack they will have to advance and risk artillery casualties.   Their slight advantage in cavalry will help, but probably only in the early games of the campaign.

The main Spanish disadvantage will be the poor quality infantry.   If the French can rout one brigade there is a good chance any supporting troops within 4” will fail their morale and join them.

However if the Spanish guns can cause casualties to any of the three cavalry brigades, or the three corps artillery, the French will be unable to deliver an attack with any hope of success.

I have no idea how all of this is going to work out.   As always it will depend on the luck of the dice.   I suspect I may have to reduce the quality of the Spanish cavalry, which would be correct in historical terms.   Hopefully I will not have to do the same for the Spanish gunners.   My understanding is that they were the best of all three arms in the Spanish army.   But more important it would make it very difficult for the Spanish player to win.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming campaign.

End of Nordhausen Campaign Phase

Central Germany – Campaign Phases

Nordhausen was the fifth campaign fought in central Germany since the Sixth campaign began in June 2020.   The Russians won three of the five campaign phases.   Out of a total of 29 battles/wargames fought, the Russians won14.   All of this would appear to indicate that the balance between armies is about right.    However in the Nordhausen campaign the Russians won all six battles/wargames.

Central Germany – Battles Fought 

This is the first time this has happened since the 1813 campaign began in April 2009.   Since then there have been 97 campaign phases and 519 battles fought.   I can’t remember a since phase when one side won all of the battles.   Even in southern Spain the French did not manage to do this even once.   Most Spanish victories were of a technical nature, with the French failing to achieve the battle/game objectives within the 12 hours/moves allowed.   But this is allowed because the relative strengths of the two armies make it necessary to set an artificial target, rather than the destruction of the enemy army.

I spent a lot of time pondering why this happened during my recent Christmas and New Year spent in the UK, but can find no obvious reason.   None of the battles started with an obvious winner or loser likely.   During the first three battles both sides were full strength.   During the last three both had casualties, but the Russians tended to have more because they lost the first three battles.   But the French casualties were often on elite infantry brigades or cavalry brigades. This is because those suffered the most casualties by doing most of the fighting.

I came to the conclusion that it was just a matter of luck.   I considered changing the rules, but could not see any obvious way to ensure a more equal outcome.   Once more I have to put it down to the luck of the dice.   All six games were enjoyable for both players, and the decisive melee often decided the winner and loser.   As far as I can remember there was no particularly bad run of luck for the French.  

The next campaign will be in southern Spain, which is always a challenging campaign to plan.   I have made major changes in the order of battle for this next phase, but more about that next week.

Christmas Holiday

We have just returned from the UK, where we spent Christmas and New Year with our family.   All of my wargame and campaign is on my desktop, so I have to go “cold turkey” when we are in the UK.  

It is lovely to visit the family, and we always have a very enjoyable time with them.    But after a few days I find it quite difficult to find things to do.    Christmas in Northumberland can be quite a shock after spending the rest of the year in the Costa Blanca.   It is often wet and cold, though this year we were very lucky with the mild weather.  And we returned just as the heavy snow arrived.

It made me realise just how much I rely on my computer, and how difficult it is to replace it.   My IPad and mobile phone makes it easy to keep up with news and what friends are up to, but it does not replace the couple of hours each day I spend on joint hobbies of Wargaming and my Monday Ramblers walking group.  

You will all know about my 1813 campaign, and that I spend a couple of hours most days either Wargaming, updating the campaign or writing the two blogs.   Some years ago, when it was a PBEM campaign, I transferred everything on to my laptop and took it with me.   However I found it impossible to concentrate without appearing unsociable, and of course I could not fight the battles as a wargame.   Now I just switch off until we return to Spain.   Fortunately I can keep up with wargame blogs and forums, but it is not the same.

I miss my walking group just as much.  It is a U3A group, which I have run for the past ten years.  We started as a hill walking group, but as we got older we found the hill climbing too much of a challenge.   A couple of years ago I converted it into a more gentle valley walking group.  There are 30 regular members, and we meet each Monday for a three hour walk.   I am fortunate to live in the very popular walking area in and around the Jalon valley.   I have created 30 walks, including a few easier hill walks, which we do in sequence.   We are all friends, and we miss them a lot when we are in the UK.

In addition to walking each week, I also do a blog post of each walk.  I have always recorded my walks by taking photographs and started the blog 20 years ago to keep friends and family in touch when we moved to Spain.   In recent years I have also started a group Facebook page to recruit new members.   Two years ago a friend suggested that I do a YouTube version of the blog, and I now post a video about once a month.   All of this requires an hour or so each day.

So when I return after two weeks in the UK there is a lot of work to catch up on.   All of this is a work of love, so I am not in any way complaining.   But it does explain why I have not posted for two weeks, and why I have to find a non wargame subject whilst I try to catch up on the wargame campaign.

Happy New Year to you all.  

 

Nordhausen Campaign – Day Six

 

7 September 1813 – Nordhausen Campaign - Day 6

French abandon Nordhausen
4 French army – day 2 siege of Weringerode
5 French army – abandon Nordhausen and retreat west
6 French army – defend Ebelben

Russian attack Ebelben
1 Russian army – day 2 siege of Weringerode
2 Russian army – occupy Nordhausen
3 Russian army – attack Ebelben

Battle of Ebelben – table at the end of move 2

Sixth French army is commanded by Marshal Poniatowski
Third Russian army is commanded by General Winzingerode

French – 12 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, 3 corps artillery
Russian – 12 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigade, 3 corps artillery

French – 8 infantry, 2 cavalry and 1 artillery casualties (3,500 men)
Russian – 3 infantry and 1 cavalry casualties (2,500 men)

There are three game objectives
Walled farm on the right
Hill in the centre
Hill on the left
The side who control at least two at the end of move twelve win the game

On the right 7th Russian corps are delayed passing through the woods
They place their cavalry, artillery and one infantry brigade on their left
The other three infantry brigades advance to the right of the farm
The French have only two brigades to oppose them, and lose the firefight
The Russian infantry, supported by their artillery, then attack and take the farm

In the centre 8th Russian corps follow a similar deployment
Three infantry brigades attack the hill
The are opposed by three French brigades
After an extended melee the Russians take the hill

Between the two hills the French have concentrated two corps artillery, cavalry and infantry
The Russians deploy two cavalry brigades, corps artillery and one brigade
Neither side are prepared to risk an attack and there is no fighting, other than artillery fire,

On the left 5th Russian corps attack the hill with three infantry brigades
The fourth brigade support the artillery who deploy on the right to support the cavalry reserve
The French hold the hill against determined attacks throughout the day
But on move 12 the final Russian reserve attack and break the Vistula grenadier brigade
The Russians hold the hill, but we both felt the Polish infantry should have done so

Comments
The terrain in this battle is very similar to the previous one
The orders of battle are also similar, though starting with more casualties
The French have twice as many casualties as the Russian army
So it is surprising that the Russians finish the game with all three objectives

The orders of battle are similar, but the deployment is different
Cavalry and artillery are unable to fight on hill, so are not required against two objectives
The French place guns from two corps in the centre, between the hills
They are supported by one cavalry and one infantry brigade
The Russians oppose them with two cavalry brigades, but supported by the corps on either side
The Russian commander is unwilling to risk an attack against so much artillery]
The French commander does not have to attack, only to hold the approach to the town
So no fighting takes place in the centre.

Under our current rules hills are held, and taken, by infantry.
Both hills are closer to the French, and are occupied by their infantry
This gives them a definite advantage against the attacking Russian infantry

However the outcome is decided by luck
First which side moves first when the attacking infantry move within combat range
Second how kind the dice are for skirmish, musket and melee combat
With three brigades on each side the luck is usually pretty equal and balanced

The Vistula corps hold the hill on the left, and they fight aggressively against the Russian attacks
The Russian infantry lose the early stages of the combat, but are able to rally one or two brigades
As we start the last move there is one Polish brigade on the hill, and two Russian brigades
But only the leading Russian brigade will reach the Poles before the end of the 12 moves
Both brigades are elite grenadiers, both have 10% casualties, both have a commander within 4”
However the second Russian brigade is within supporting distance, which will help for morale.

The Russians chip comes up first, and they attack with a bonus of plus 1 for impact
The dice is 4, plus 1 for impact, gives them 5
The French lose 10% and are disordered
The Russians do not lose any casualties but are also disordered
The French lose the morale test and retreat shaken
The Russians do not test because they are only disordered and their commander is within 4”
So the Russians have control of the hill at the end of 12 moves.

The Russians already held the other two game objectives, so would have won anyway
But we both felt it was really unfair that the Poles had done so well throughout the game
But lost on the last move, even though it was not just down to poor dice.

A few weeks ago I wrote on here that I considered Wargaming to be a game rather than recreating historical battles. But we both felt so committed to this particular game that any satisfaction resulting from the Russians winning was overshadowed by sadness that the hard fighting Poles lost.

Playing Wargames

 

 

Over the years my style of Wargaming has changed dramatically, as I suspect it has with most wargamers.   I started off playing on the kitchen table, then as the armies got bigger on the floor.   Eventually I managed to get a permanent wargames table, and they ranged from 4x4 foot to 12x6 foot.  

My main love has always been Napoleonic, but I have dabbled with Ancient and WW2.   My first wargame figures were a handful of Hinton Hunt 20mm metal figures, quickly reinforced by Airfix 20mm plastic figures as they became available.   My ancient armies were Romans and Ancient Britons, which was all  that was available from Airfix.   My WW2 much wider ranging because of their comprehensive range of both figures and vehicles.

The first few years was a very steep learning curve.   There was not material available, and my main source was the series of Don Featherstone books, which I bought as soon as they were published.

My first armies were just a collection of figures, grouped in units depending on the current rules available.   Finding a copy of Henry Harris “Collecting Model Soldiers”.   From memory it had chapters on infantry, cavalry artillery and how to go about collecting models.  It was aimed at Model Soldiers, rather than Wargaming figures, but it prompted me to reorganise my collection into correct military organisations.   I didn’t have enough figures for Brigades and above, nor enough to attempt any historical orders of battles.   But it did give me a structure and organisation which at least attempted historical formations.

For many, many years my wargames were a series of figures at either end of the wargames table, who would advance and fight a large melee.   There was no attempt at historical tactics, because I did not have the facilities to do so.  This was before skirmish wargames and the rules available did not have anything like orders of battle.  

As more reference material became available, and as I gained more knowledge about Napoleonic warfare, my collection began to take shape.   The games became more historical as the rules became more complicated.   But my main inclination was always the look of things, accurate uniforms and commercial period buildings.   When Wargames Illustrated arrived with its beautiful coloured photos of games from Peter Guilders Wargames Holiday Centre I, like many more, was inspired to improve the look of the table.   A couple of visits to WHC resulted in my first wargames table with sculpted scenery, though much smaller than Peter’s tables.

The games at WHC were spectacular in their scale and detail.    Waterloo looked like a diorama, with masses of figures to represent the various armies.   He did have orders of battle for each major battle, but they were not historical.   Each corps had a number of 36 figure units, but they were not grouped in brigades or divisions.   I followed this with my own collection.

It was only when I started my 1813 campaign in 2009 that I really concentrated on creating orders of battle that would not only suit the collection of figures I had available, but also fit both the campaign map and the wargames table.   The map was designed to be transferred to the table, so each map square had a corresponding square on the wargames table.    I put a lot of work into trying to transfer current road maps into campaign maps, but eventually designed my own campaign maps, working from the table up rather than the map down.   This required a lot of compromise, but the end result has worked really well.

Each wargame table is a military district on the campaign map, and each has a city or town.   These are the strategic objectives in the campaign, and the tactical objectives on the wargames table.  

Each wargames table has nine squares, and there is a physical feature on each square.   One of those is a town or city, and that is the campaign objective.   For many years the attacker had to defeat the enemy and force them to abandon the town.   This was very difficult to achieve within the 12 moves allowed, and more often than not at the end of the game the town had not been captured.   Most often the defender would retreat to the town, forcing the attacker to advance and have to deploy again.   I would often have to make a decision based on casualties or routed brigades to decide the winner.

It was only when I decided to have game objectives that I overcame this problem.  In the photo above there are nine squares, each with a terrain piece.   The town is at the top of the photo in the centre, and the defending army deploy in these three squares.   In the centre there is a hill on the left, a woods in the centre and a hill on the left.   Nearest the camera are three more squares, and these are where the attacker deploys.

So the battle for the town is fought in the three centre squares, and the player who controls at least two of the three at the end of 12 moves is the winner.   Having three objectives makes for a much more interesting wargame.  There are three corps per side, and each objectives is allocated to each corps.   The commander in chief can create a reserve by taking brigades from any of the three corps, which allows him to support one of the three corps and gives him a big tactical advantage.  It also encourages the defender to create his own reserve to counter this likely tactic.

But most important it clearly shows who won the game.  If the defender retreats he has to abandon one of the objectives, so this type of “gamesmanship” is no longer used.   It is possible, but very unusual, for neither player to control two of the three objectives.   Sometimes each player will hold one objective, but the third is still being fought over at the end of move 12.  In those cases we allow one more move, and if that does not work the game is declared a draw.   But the player with the most casualties or routed brigades must then retreat for the sake of the campaign.

I am at a loss to explain why it took me so many years to come up with this solution.   It now seems such an obvious way to decide the winner, and it also makes for a much more interesting wargame.