Action at Vera

On 31 August 1813 the small Spanish village of Vera became the scene of a small action which would make a good Richard Sharpe novel.

Wellington has laid siege to the port of San Sebastian in July 1813, and Marshal Soult was determined to raise the siege before the garrison surrendered. The river Bidassoa formed the border between France and Spain. The main French attack was along the coastal road through Irun, with a second attack a few miles inland through the village of Vera.

The French offensive failed, and the 10,000 strong division of General Vandermaesen approached the river near Vera. Due to a heavy rainfall the river was unfordable, and it would be necessary to cross by the only bridge in the area.

As they approached the bridge they found it defended by 80 men of the 95th Rifles, under the command of Captain David Cadoux. The French attack was met with a determined defence by the riflemen who were positioned in houses overlooking the bridge. Repeated attacks on the bridge resulted in an ever increasing number of French dead, dying and wounded.

Cadoux held the bridge for two hours before being finally overrun by the vastly superior number of Frenchmen. It cost the French 231 casualties, including Vandermaesen himself who was killed leading his men.

Cadoux was also killed along with sixteen of his men. Another 46 officers and riflemen were wounded.

The bridge is still in a good state of repair, and a plaque was erected in 1921 in honour of Cadoux and his men. The main road is now some distance from the bridge, which is not easy to find but is well worth the effort of doing so.

You can read about our visit to Vera, and the bridge, during a tour of Wellington's battlefields in northern Spain and the Pyrenees at

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http://northernspainandpyrenees.blogspot.com/

Luck in Wargames

I know that many wargamers, perhaps even most wargamers, would prefer that luck plays only a small part in their games – if any part at all. I used to think the same, but more and more I have come to appreciate how the element of luck can add an extra dimension to a game.

The element of luck is particularly important if two people play together regularly. Jan and I wargame at least three times a week, though usually only two or three moves. So a full game can last a week or more. We both know the rules very well, and rarely make serious tactical mistakes. In those circumstances any sort of game, and particularly a wargame, can become very predictable and even boring.

All things being equal I would probably stand a better chance of winning. So I tend to command the army with the worse commanders, or the most casualties, or the one attacking rather than defending. This would move the odds slightly in Jan’s favour.

We found many years ago that when you wargame so often it is very difficult to create an interesting and challenging battle. We had always aimed at a set of rules which rewarded correct tactics rather than detailed knowledge of the rules. However we soon came to realise that this was an unrealistic goal. When you both know the rules very well you will always eventually learn the weakness of the rules and play to them. You may try not to, but it is human nature to want to win.

That is when I decided to increase the element of luck in the rules. They still reward good tactics, and I don’t think it would be possible to win if you did not use historical tactics. Dice for firing, melee and morale are 1D6. A very bad roll, say 1, at the wrong time can turn the tide against you. A very good roll, say 6, at the right time can present an opportunity to win the game. And a series of good or bad dice rolls can turn around a winning streak.

Let me give you an example. We are in the middle of a critical game which will decide the winner of our ill fated Halle PEBM campaign. The French started the game with a distinct advantage, so I commanded the Russians. In the first 6 moves the French had more luck than the Russians, particularly in regard to the Poor Card. You may remember I explained that when a Poor Card is drawn the next poor commander to have his move can not issue any orders? The French have one poor commander, the Russians two. In the first six moves my 4th Russian corps failed to move FOUR TIMES due to the Poor Card.

By move 9 things were looking very bleak for the Russians. The two brigades of the French reserve cavalry were poised to charge and break the Russian centre. They charged a cuirassier and a Cossack brigade. The result was inconclusive, with both sides winning and losing one melee each. The overall effect was worse for the Russians, as the resulting confusion caused two corps to halt their advance to bolster the centre.

Then the completely unexpected happened. The French right consisted of 3 French corps and 14 Westphalian corps. They were advancing against the badly shaken 4 Russian corps, the same one that had all the bad luck with the Poor Card. One Westphalian infantry brigade was Shaken. It would have to test its morale, if it passed it would become Formed at the end of the move. If it failed it would Rout, and open a gap between 3rd and 14th corps. The Westphalian commander joined the brigade, which would add one pip to its dice throw to make morale. But if it failed he would join the rout and not be available for the rest of its corps for a full move. He rolled a 2, and the brigade would have routed if he were not present. Because he was it still failed to make its morale, and remained Shaken, but it did not rout.

Next card drawn was 4 Russian. Their artillery fired and hit the Shaken brigade, who then had to test their morale again. This time they failed, despite the corps commander being with them, and routed – taking the commander with them. In these circumstances any unit within 4” must test their morale. There were two such units, one Westphalian infantry brigade and the 3rd corps artillery. Both were Formed and had no casualties. First the artillery tested, failed and routed. Then the supporting infantry tested, again failed and joined the rout. The Westphalian artillery was outside supporting distance of the original rout and did not have to test their morale. However second infantry rout was within 4” so the gunners now had to test morale. You guessed it, they failed and routed. Within the space of one move the whole game had done an about turn and the advantage gone from the French to the Russians.

To be honest this was a too much influence from luck. It is not unusual with our rules for a slight change in odds to result from a good or bad dice, but never anything on this scale. I have no idea what the odds against so many units routing, but certainly it is very unusual – and so it should be. And if you are going to allow the element of luck, then you must be prepared to accept the chance of such a thing happening.

The game is far from over, and the French could still very easily win. It has at the very least opened up the game again. The Russians are still in great disorder and it will take some time to sort them out. The loss of the French right flank does not have to mean that they lose, as they still have three corps well placed to take advantage of the Russian confusion. It will be interesting to see how it all ends.

If you want to read the full battle report you can find it here:

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http://pbem1813hallecampaign.blogspot.com/

Our Wargame Rules

I have had a couple of queries about the rules we use, or rather what sort of rules we use. The only way to really understand a set of rules is to play a couple of games with them. However I will try to give a short overview.

The rules are our own, designed to give a fast and fun game and to rely more on the luck of the dice than detailed knowledge of the rules. They owe a lot to LFS, which were the last set of commercial rules we used. However they have been amended and altered so much that they now have only a passing resemblance to them.

There are four elements to our rules. Command and control, firing, melee and morale. By far the most important is the first.

In a large game there is one commander in chief and four corps commanders. There is a card for each commander, plus a Poor Card. Each move they are shuffled and drawn one at a time. When his card is drawn the commander has his move. He rolls an average dice and adds his command bonus, Gifted is 3, Average is 2 and Poor is 1. He can then issue one order for each command pip.. When the poor card is drawn the next Poor commander to be drawn misses his turn. His corps can fight if attacked, but he can not issue any orders. Commander in Chief can give his move to a poor commander providing he is in base contact and it costs 3 command pips.

Firing consists of artillery, skirmish or volley fire. It is difficult to score a hit with my rules. For example a roll of 8 or more is required when rolling 2D6 for artillery on infantry or cavalry. However once a brigade receives a hit it then affects its ability to fight or make morale by deducting one for each casualty on a firing or morale test.

A brigade which fails its morale for the first time goes from Formed to Shaken. It must then test its morale at the end of each turn. If it fails again it routs. Any supporting brigade within 4” must also test morale for the first round of rout.

There is, of course, much more to the rules than I have outlined above. But it does cover the main points. The overall effect is that most Gifted and Average commanders can carry out their battle plan providing they do not have particularly bad average dice rolls. Poor commanders are very much at the whim of the Poor Card.

Each game is designed to last 12 moves. By move 8 or 9 one side usually suffers more casualties than the other. Once casualties are taken it becomes progressively more difficult to regain the initiative. In particular the loss of cavalry on one side can be decisive, or indeed artillery casualties.

We have used the rules for about two years, and have played about 50 wargames during that time. So far they have managed to provide the sort of games which we enjoy playing. It has been necessary to make a few minor adjustments, but only a few.

If you would like to see the complete rules they can be found at:

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http://paulandjanwargamerules.blogspot.com/

The Battle of Sorauren

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This is one of the easiest and most enjoyable of Wellington’s battlefields to explore. Just a few miles from Pamplona on the road to Roncesvalles you find the picturesque village of Sorauren.

Look to your right and you see the ridge held by the British and Portuguese and attacked by the French. Turn left and you arrive at the bridge where Wellington wrote his famous, and hasty, orders to bring up his reinforcements. The whole area is little changed since 1813.

The ridge is easy to climb, and a short walk brings you to the “bridge” leading to the French hill. An ideal spot to sit and read the history of the battle, and locate the locations mentioned.

Walk down to the river and you will find the bridge, and nearby a convenient ill beside the river. You can sit in the sun, with a cold beer, and see the very spot where Wellington wrote his dispatch.

And if that is not enough it is only 65 miles from Vitoria and about 30 miles from Roncesvalles and Maya. So you can explore four battles within an easy days drive of each other.

Best of all you can use Pamplona as your base for the whole tour.

You can read about our visit here

http://northernspainandpyrenees.blogspot.com/

Working on a new campaign

The weather here has been quite miserable lately with two days of low clouds and heavy rain. It’s also been very cold, for southern Spain anyway. So we have had not been able to get out much, and had to cancel our weekly walk. As a result I have had plenty of time to sit down and sort out the new campaign.

It will be a return to our solo 1813 campaign, after a break of almost seven months whilst I dabbled with PBEM campaigns. The 1813 campaign began in April 2009, and is only loosely based on the historical campaign. The first phase consists of five mini campaigns, three in Germany and two in Spain. Three have already been completed leaving southern Germany or western Spain to choose from.

It took me most of the day to read back into the campaign and to decide which of the two remaining areas to tackle next. I eventually decided on southern Germany. A Bavarian and Baden army is based on Munich to observe the Austrian army and prevent them from marching north to join the Russians and Prussians. The Austrians make a surprise march down the southern bank of the river Danube in an attempt to take Passau. Not unlike the 1809 campaign in fact.

I want to include some of the interesting elements of the PBEM campaign, in particular to avoid too much instant reaction. This is difficult to achieve with a solo campaign, and I am not sure whether it will work or not yet. I will keep the CinC strategic objective and daily orders, and the corps commander three moves within each day. I will also introduce terrain penalties on the tactical (battlefield) map. Plus I have three tactical maps, one for each side and one for the campaign diary. All of the paperwork has been done, and I am ready to start the campaign.

But first I must finish off the Halle PBEM campaign. We are enjoying the final wargame of the campaign, it is proving more interesting than any of the previous games. Deployment is taking longer than expected, as reinforcements are arriving throughout the first day. So it might be necessary to fight a second day if there is no obvious winner by move 12.

Final battle of Halle PBEM campaign

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I was not looking forward to returning to the PBEM campaign and trying to sort it out after it fell apart over the Christmas period. You may remember that when I restarted the campaign in January two of the ten players confirmed, for very good reasons, that they would not be able to continue their role. I then updated the campaign and sent out reports and asked for the next set of corps orders. Most replied, but there were two missing. I then wrote once more, and of course had to wait another week for a reply. None came.

The campaign had reached a critical stage, and the loss of four commanders caused a great problem. I realised that it would not be possible to continue, but I did not want to just stop at this decisive point. So I decided to end the PBEM element, and complete the final phase as a solo campaign.

As I had anticipated that it would take at least two or three campaign moves to reach the battle, and each would take at least one week, I decided just after Christmas to start one of the Wellington’s Battles games to keep Jan and I occupied. When it became obvious that I would have to assume control of the PHEM campaign I was already half way through the Talavera wargame.

The last pre Christmas move of the campaign was in early December, it would be early February by the time I finished Talavera. After such a long break I was not looking forward to trying to get back into the Halle campaign. In the event it proved easier than I had expected. I had kept comprehensive records and maps of each stage of the campaign, so it was not too difficult to read up to the stage when the campaign came to its untimely end. I already had movement orders for most of the corps, and I only had to decide what to do with the four corps whose players had withdrawn from the campaign.

You can read the result on the campaign blog. I have set up the table, and the campaign background and orders of battle can be found on the latest entry. I hope to start the game this weekend, and will publish one wargame move each day until the battle is complete and the winner of the campaign decided.

If you would like to follow the final battle you can find it at:

http://pbem1813hallecampaign.blogspot.com/

Wellesley defeated at Talavera

The battle of Talavera has been won - by the French. The third wargame in our series based on Wellington's battles in the Peninsula has gone against the historical outcome. All three of these games have been very enjoyable, and I would recommend this idea to anyone wanting a good game without too much preparation.

The idea is to base the game on a historical battle, but not to attempt in any way to recreate the battle. For example in this game the table has the two hills of medellin and cascajal, a strong point in the centre to represent the pajar and a large town to represent Talavera. The allied army is half Spanish, on the right, and half British, on the left. The French have three groups of infantry and one of cavalry. The cavalry are opposite Talavera, two lots of infantry opposite the British and one in the centre to reinforce either wing. Historical strengths are ignored, the aim is to have a reasonably balanced game which would be fun for both sides to fight.

My rules are designed to be simple and fast and to reward historical Napoleonic tactics, but they rely for a large degree on the luck of the dice. So knowledge of the rules, or even a better tactical knowledge of the period, will not always lead to victory, though either will give you an advantage. This approach will not suit everyone, but it does lend itself to fun games.

The games last for a maximum of 12 moves, which is sufficient to allow an infantry figure to march from one side of the table to the other. The layout is designed for the fighting to take part in the centre of the table. So there is sufficient time to allow for a little manoeuvre, but if one side spends too much time in preparation they will run out of time.

If interested you can read the battle report here:

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Or read the rules here:

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