Campaign map with six
corps per side
You
will recall that the problem was to increase the size of campaign wargame
armies from four to six corps per army.
This would result in more figures on the table, even for the smaller
campaign games.
It
would be easy for the French armies.
There are 13 corps available, so dividing them into 6 corps armies would
not be a problem.
However
for the Austrian, British, Prussian, Russian and Spanish armies there were only
4 corps available for each nationality.
I
could have combined allied armies into a combination of two allied nations, for
example Austrian and Russian, to produce a six corps army. But this would cause problems with the
permanent orders of battle proforma we used in our wargames. It was not a huge problem, but it was a
messy one.
My
“light bulb idea” came after a few weeks of considering other options. I would use left, right and centre columns
for campaign movement. Each column
would have two corps. The left and
right columns would use the same figures, but different corps numbers. The centre column would use the other two
corps.
I hope that the map above will make this more clear.
Four corps French Army
In the French army 1, 2, 3 and 4 corps are the original, and each are different figures
5
and 6 corps are new. They are
duplicates of 1 and 2 corps, and use the same figures. The campaign will open with the three
columns advancing to engage the enemy.
As the campaign progresses it is quite possible that the two centre
corps may combine with either the two northern, or the two southern
columns. But it is very unlikely that
the northern and southern columns will ever fight together. This means that it will be possible to
wargame any battle consisting of 1,2,3 and 4 corps. Or 3,4,5 and 6 corps.
In
theory this seems to work well, and will allow me to wargame with more figures
in all campaign games. But I will need
to try it out for a couple of campaigns to see if there are any unforeseen
problems.
Seems a sensible solution Paul. As you have not brought the whole force to a single encounter previously, one cannot see it happening in the coming campaign. There is always other territory to cover and objectives to secure.
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Hi James
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment
You are quite right that it is very unlikely that there will be a single battle involving all six corps. But it is quite possible that the left or right wing might join with the centre column to provide a three or four corps battle.
I am hoping that the extra two corps will widen the possibilities for more varied battles, and in particular slightly larger ones than the previous one on one corps.
However I am also all too well aware of the possibilty of unintended consequences. All too often in the past when I have changed something it led to even more problems. Fingers crossed.
regards
Paul