New PBEM Campaign

I have enjoyed taking part in the 1806 Campaign so much that I am considering whether it might be possible to play one of my 1813 campaigns as a PBEM (play by email) campaign. It would be nice to have some outside involvement in the campaign.

So far I have done no more than ask on the Campaigns of Napoleon Forum whether anyone would be interested in taking part. If there is sufficient interest I will look at how it might be done.

If you would like to take part have a look at


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http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Campaigns_Napoleon/

The Battle of Rohenburg - Second Game

The result of the second game was very similar to the first - another Russian victory. So all the heart searching about whether to accept the result of the first game, with its good dice-bad dice, was resolved for us. And as the result was the same I didn't have to feel guilty about changing the effect on the campaign

The greatest effect of this game was its effect on the artillery rules. We decided that the artillery had too much influence on the battle, and was the major influence on the result. Its strange how you can play with a set of rules for months and months quite happily, and then suddenly realise that they are unbalanced.

As a result of the changes to the rules, the infantry will now be the deciding factor in future games. It will still be largely down to the dice, and the decision whether to skirmish, enter a fire fight or charge home and hope for the best. But who gets to deploy their artillery last will have much less influence on who eventually wins the game.

Counter battery is now largely ineffective, requiring 11 on 2D6 at long range to hit the enemy artillery. However at close, or cannister, range they become much more effective.

We have used the new rules for a couple of weeks now, which included a large game with four batteries per side, and they seem to be working well. Mind before this game I thought they were working quite well as they before!

Click on 1813 Halle Campaign on the right to read the full battle report.

Cool enough to walk

Its been a very long, and very hot, summer here in Spain. The locals say the hottest they can remember. So our second favourite hobby, hill walking, has taken a back seat. In fact we have not had a "proper walk" since early June.

Yesterday some friends asked us to show them a local walk. Its about 8 miles return, and ideal for the first walk of the season. The temperature was down to 28c, with a cool wind. Pretty well ideal for walking.

The "official walking season", when the local walking groups start meeting again, is still two weeks off. But I suspect that now we have got our walking boots on again the wargaming will take second place. We will still play two or three times a week, but not every day as we have during the summer when it is too hot to do anything outdoors.

If you would like to see more photos of our walks click on Paul and Jan in Spain 2009 on the right.

The Battle of Colbitz

This wargame was the second battle of a mini campaign we played in November 2008.

It was yet another victory for Jan, and part of a run of bad luck which I was having - or at least that is my excuse.

You can read the battle report by clicking on "Wargames in Spain" on the right.

The Halle Campaign

The battle of Rohenburg was the fifth wargame in this phase of the 1813 campaign. It was also the cause of the "Good Dice, Bad Dice" question. You may recall that a few weeks ago I mentioned how a game had been lost due to a couple of bad dice, and whether the result should be allowed to bring the campaign to an early conclusion. Well this was the wargame that caused the subject to be raised.

In fact we fought the battle again, and I will post that battle report shortly.

Meanwhile to read the first battle report click on 1813 Halle Campaign on the right.

Vimiero Battlefield

On 2 September 1994 Jan and I spent an afternoon walking around the battlefield of Vimiero. I remember it as being a lovely warm summer afternoon, and writing up the visit and looking at the photographs brought it all back .

There is a large monument which dominates the village, so I imagine that they must have quite a few visitors. But as we walked around the deserted village that was hard to believe. And they were obviously not used to English speaking visitors in the small cafe where we had a light snack.

Our pathetic attempts to order a snack was our first experience of trying to communciate without a word of Portuguese, and made us realise how difficult it was going to be. Obviously the hotels would not be a problem, because the receptionists all spoke excellent English. But we were now well off the tourist beat, and during the day we would be lucky if there was anywhere to get a coffee, let alone a menu in English. Fortunately we had planned to have picnics on the battlefield each day, and if necessary we could buy a snack at a petrol station travelling from one battlefield to the next.

Some of our happiest memories of this holiday were our contacts with various locals, who all proved to be extremely patient and helpful despite having very little idea of what we were talking about!

You can read about the visit by clicking on Walking Napoleonic Battlefields on the right.

The Fog Thickens

We have now done about 6 or 7 weeks of the PBEM 1806 Campaign, and the long awaited battle is still awaited. I was really sure last week that we were about to cross swords with the Prussians around Jena, but they have disappeared.

I have had quite a bit of success with the Game Master, who has finally let me have an order of battle for the Prussian army, give or take 10% and six days old. But at least I have some idea what I am up against.

We are using the umpire map, which is quite adequate when we were many days march apart. But now that we are within 10 miles of each other you need a lot more details, and that is not available. So there are constant questions about woods, hills, bridges and fords. I have just checked the email folder for mails to and from the umpire, and there were nine pages.

As Napolelon I get a weekly situation map, which is a daily situation map in campaign terms, which shows the locations of my formations and any identified enemy. This map, and subsequent questions, take up about 8 of those 9 pages of emails. I had finally got confirmation that there was a large body of Prussians, about 4 infantry divisions and perhaps 3 or 4 cavalry brigades. All of last week was spent planning some very clever moves on my pretty inadequate map. I was convinced that we would have a battle today/this week, and told my wing commanders so. They advanced to recce the field, only to discover that the Prussian horde had disappeared!

Its very interesting to compare this PBEM campaign with my own 1813 campaign. The latter is designed to produce good wargames with the minimum of paperwork. So there is no element of fog of war at all. Its a bit like playing a board game, where I (as umpire) can see everyone everywhere.

The PBEM on the other hand is the exact opposite. I know fairly well where my corps and divisions are, though they sometimes do not arrive exactly where I have told them to be. But no idea at all about the enemy, and even when I do find them they often just disappear.

Then there is the map problem. Although I have the map on the computer, and it is updated each week/day, it is very difficult to plot moves over the coming day. I have done a hand drawn map to plan moves with markers. But I can not put them on the computer. I am sure that there must be a way to do it, but I need a modern day Berthier to help me do so.

So which is the most fun? Really hard to say, as they are so different. But I certainly spend a lot more time working on the PBEM campaign, and look forward to getting the next report from a cavalry patrol or the daily update from Berthier with the situation map. On the other hand is it very frustrating having to wait days or even weeks (real time) for a plan to develop. There has been no problem maintaining my interest for far, but it must be more difficult for the wing commander who can only move where I tell them and will not really come into their own until a battle is fought - if it ever is.

So it will be a couple of weeks before I can report any great developments. Meanwhile I will continue to struggle with the fog of war, which gets thicker and thicker with each email I receive.