Despite being side tracked with the Napoleonic Campaign project yesterday, I also managed to complete and post the photographs and orders of battle for both the French and Spanish armies in the Tarragona Campaign.
All of the preparation is now done, and today I hope to start on the map movement and campaign diary. They should appear on the blog tomorrow.
Reading through Old School Wargaming, one of my favourite forum, this morning I read with interest about an 18th century imaginary country. Or rather a blog about a series of such countries. I have been aware of these fictional wars and nations for many years, indeed I first read about them in "Charge, or how to play wargames" in the last 1960s. I was tempted to try one, but could never generate the same interest in Seven Year War period as in my old love Napoleonic's.
I am not really interested in creating a fictional country, but I am always playing with the idea of fictional Napoleonic campaigns. Usually based on a "what if" idea. And it made me wonder whether there might be a forum or discussion group devoted to Napoleonic Campaigns. And if not, why not.
This is not the sort of thing that could be done on a blog. The idea is to exchange ideas and discuss them. There may be such a group out there somewhere. If not I would consider starting one, providing that there is sufficient interest.
I put the question on the half dozen forum to which I belong, and asked if no such forum exists would there be any interest in creating one. I am quite staggered, and very pleased, with the response I have received already - in less than 12 hours. In particular I have received a lot of interest from Old School Wargaming, and that is just the sort of forum I would like to set up. It is very polite, very helpful and seems to avoid the sort of flare up so common with internet forum!
If anyone reading this knows of such a forum/discussion group I would love to hear about it. If not, if anyone would be interested in joining such a group please let me know.
Recently I have used this blog as a weekly update and reference point for the rest of my blogs. I notice however, that this blog is visited each day 10 or more times, so I thought it might be more interesting if I used it as a sort of notice board, where I can put up anything new of any of the other blogs as soon as they appear. It would also give me an opportunity to comment on anything wargames related that takes my notice.
For a week or so most of my attention has gone to the new mini campaign. Its set in the east coast of Spain around the city of Tarragona. Yesterd
-->ay I posted the first blog, which is the background to the campaign. It can be found at -->http://1813tarragona.blogspot.com/
Today I will start work on the French and Spanish orders of battle, and hope to publish them tomorrow.
Finished playing the Battle of Magdeburg during the week and it then proved to be the last battle of the campaign. It was one of those games which seemed to go on forever. In fact we started it in mid June, and we have been in UK for 10 days, so we actually played it for about two weeks. I was using this game to experiment with the best way to write battle reports, so we only played one move a day and then I photographed the table and wrote up each move. In fact it was one of our better wargames, because it was not decided until very near the end.
I had a very clever strategy which involved me loading my right flank at the expense of everywhere else. Just as I was about to smash Jans left flank with my cavalry division, supported by a full corps, she charged my leading cavalry brigade with her solitary one. I threw two dice, 1 and 3, and lost the melee. Not only lost, but routed. The supporting cavalry brigade and horse artillery had to test morale and also failed, and also routed! The infantry made their morale, but dared not advance without cavalry support. My very clever plan had just fallen apart. Then, out of the centre where they had been hidden behind Magdeburg, appeared Jans cavalry division. My whole army ground to a halt, and formed square.
In addition to the battle report, I have also tidied up the whole campaign blog. This battle proved to be the end of the campaign, and a very satisfactory one. After great initial success the Prussians were driven back over the river Elbe. But they kept hold of Magdeburg, so there is good scope for a follow up campaign in northern Germany. Either a Prussian advance to Hanover, or a French drive across the Elbe towards Berlin.
Walking Napoleonic Battlefields
The coach trip has left Albuera and started the long drive north to Cuidad Rodrigo. On the way we stop at the subject of this weeks blog – the roman bridge at Alcantara. Not one of the most famous locations during the Peninsular War, but an important one in 1809 (when Wellington destroyed it) and 1812 (when he repaired it). It was vital to the French during this period as it was the only crossing of the river Tagus in western Spain, and its loss would involve a very lengthy detour. Read all about it here
But I am looking forward to next weeks offering, which will be Cuidad Rodrigo itself. This was one of my favorite locations of the Spanish battlefields, both during our 1991 Holts Tour and also later on our own.
1813 Campaign
I feel that there is a good chance of this blog being overlooked entirely due to my creating a new blog for each phase of the campaign. This means that there is not much work done on this blog, and when there is it is to an existing blog, such as the Campaign Diary, and is not obvious to a casual visitor. This is a shame, as this blog contains the nuts and bolts of the whole campaign and is, to my mind, the most interesting part of the whole thing. Furthermore it is constantly updated with what is happening on the mini blog (for example Magdeburg Campaign).
To make it a little easier for new visitors to find their way around this blog I have added a new Summary of 1813 Campaign. This is the first page anyone will see, and I hope will tempt them to try the links to find out more about how the campaign was created or look at the photographs of the campaign armies or how the map movement works.
If you are interested you can find it at http://1813campaign.blogspot.com
Wargames in Spain
This blog is not about wargames set in Spain, it is a history of the wargames Jan and I have played since we came to Spain in 2006. The latest offering has the unusual title Battle of Gotha. It was part of an earlier 1813 campaign, very similar to the present one. This game involved a French and Russian battle not too far from Halle in Germany. I like these battle reports because they are simple and easy to understand. They consist of four photographs. The first is the table before the game starts, it was used to send to any competing player so he could plan his game before he arrived. The next three are usually taken from one side of the table showing left, centre and right. You can see what I mean at http://wargamesinspain.blogspot.com
What’s Happening Next Week
The major job is to set up the next mini campaign of the 1813 Campaign. It is set in eastern Spain and involves Spanish v French. It’s a Baylen type campaign, where the Spanish have lured the French up into the mountains and then attempt to destroy the garrison of Tarragona before the French can get their act together and relieve them. The campaign is easy, the difficulty will be getting the rules right so that the Spanish have a chance to win. We have played a number of similar games recently and they usually work quite well. Games usually involve the Spanish having 2 to 1, and all is well unless the French roll bad dice. Or they allow the Spanish a lot of hidden deployment, and the French have to get through without deploying for a full battle. Both interesting games if you can get the rules right, and throw the right dice. It will be interesting to see how it works out.
I will be starting the new blog early in the week, and will put the campaign background, campaign diary, campaign movement and orders of battle on as I type them up. I also hope to start the first wargame from the campaign during the week.
Jan and I have been in UK for 10 days, the longest I have gone without putting anything on the blog since I started it! Sorry to anyone who might have been calling by to see what is happening.
I had my laptop with me, but for most of the time was not able to log on. When I could it was in circumstances where I could not concentrate sufficiently to get anything down. I had taken some notes with me to update the "Wargames in Spain
-->" blog, but only put one on - and that was my cat Buster helping us play a game!
On the other hand I did have the opportunity to reflect on things, which is not always a good idea. Too often it results in me going off at a wargame tangent.
I was particularly interested in reading about two new wargame rules, and their reception on TMP. The first is "Napoleon" by Foundry. The reception has been pretty poor, with some correspondents apparently happy to have a go without even reading the rules. Indeed it seemed that no one had actually played the rules. Now I am sure that some people can judge a set of rules on a quick read, but I am not amongst them. It usually takes us 5 or 6 games just to get a feel for the rules, and as many again to realise that we don't actually like them.
The second set is "Honour" by Sam Mustafa. This was better received, though nothing has actually been published yet. And I must admit that they sound very interesting. I considered using his Grand Armee at one time, but discovered LFS at the same time and would not attempt to learn two sets of rules at the same time. I particularly like the idea that you can fight different size battles with the same base stands. As I understand it they could represent a battalion in a divisional size game or a brigade in a corps sized one. I doubt that I would stick with the rules, but they might well give me some ideas to amend my own house rules.
I have really decided that "house" rules are the answer for Jan and I. Neither of us like learning new rules, and play so much that we always find fault with them sooner or later. And once you start to amend them you create more problems than you solve. I always felt that it was necessary to have a "professional set of rules" when we ran club games, as I would always feel that I had to defend a "house set". However if just Jan and I are playing we can always compromise and end up with a good game.
The thing that struck me most reading TMP is what a terrible impression it must give to newcomers to the hobby when they read the things printed there. I am sure that the vast majority are like me, just keep our heads down and let them get on with it. But if a wargamer with 40 years experience like myself is put off, how must a novice feel.
I have also been meddling with Battle Chronicler, which I also found on TMP. It is a computer assisted method of doing battle reports. The example looked easy, so I downloaded it, plus something else which you need to play, which took nearly an hour. I hate to think how much space I have taken up on my hard drive. You will appreciate that I am a computer novice and just cross my fingers when I do these things. Once downloaded I then found it was much more complicated than I had imagined, and there are no rivers or hills available. To be fair, it is at the test stage and is free, so I am not really complaining. And the whole reason for doing my own campaign on an A4 sheet of paper is to avoid having to struggle with the computer. So you might well ask why I attempted it in the first place!!
I have also been looking for a new camera. My present one is about 10 years old, and I am sure is well outdated. Looking for a new one proved a big headache. We were travelling around UK and looked in Newcastle, Salisbury and Weston super Mare. In each shop I explained what I wanted. This was a camera (like my present one) that you can point and press for when we are walking. I would like a simple (as opposed to my present complicated) way of taking close ups of wargame figures. And I would like a wide angle lens to take the whole 6x6 foot table - even if balancing on a step ladder. And I wanted all of this in a middle priced camera, say not more than £150. Each shop convinced me that their camera, and all were different makes and models, was the right one. By the end of this exercise I was completely confused. Not a single camera could do all three functions, and I could not agree which was the nearest. In despair we visited a small, family run shop in Morpeth. The owner produced a camera which met all of my list, and at a price of £139. I would have bought it on the spot, but it was to be a Christmas present to us both from my son and family. So I noted the details and gave them to him. Within minutes he had found the same camera, online, at £89 post free. Personally I would be tempted to go back to the shop and see if they would match, or at last come near, the online price. But I suspect that my son will just buy it online and the shop will lose a sale. It seems very unfair, but then again a saving of £50 is not easily ignored.
Whilst struggling with my decision I came across the word "stitching". In photograph circles it apparently refers to taking a number of photos and then joining them together. I was assured this was simple to do, and that downloads were available online. Again I downloaded one, and again it is proving much harder to do than promised. Once more I would have to confess that this is probably more my fault than the designer. However when I went on their forum (there never seems to be a human you can contact) there were pages and pages of similar requests. And the answers seemed much more complicated than the questions. Ah well, at Christmas I will have my new camera, and the nice man told me that this feature is included on the camera and even I can do it. We will see.
So much for excuses and what I have been doing for the past 10 days. You would be more interested in what I hope to do in the next 10 days.
First I plan to do another in the "Walking Napoleonic Battlefields" blog. Not sure which, but it might be Albuera. I think that was the next one we visited during our 1991 Holts Battlefield Tour.
I will definitely do one more of the "Wargames in Spain" reports. This time without support from the cat.
I will add more to "Jan and Paul in Spain 2007". When we were in UK I was really pleased to see that a lot of our friends had been visiting the Spain blogs. I had noticed that they had quite a few hits, but as no messages were left did not know who was coming by. It is the worse part of doing a blog, you never know how your work is being received. On the other hand you don't get lots of adverse comment either!
And finally we must get some wargaming in. This should not be too difficult. The summer has arrived here in Spain, and that means very hot afternoons. One of the coolest parts of the house is our wargames room, and there is a large ceiling fan to help keep us cool. The Spanish have their afternoon siesta, we have our afternoon wargame and swim. This looks like being the last battle of our "Magdeburg Campaign". I have already started work on the Spanish campaign which will follow. Maps and order of battle are already done, but I have to start the map movement. I don't like to do so before I finish "Magdeburg", as I would lose interest in that. Also before I start in Spain I want to tidy up "Magdeburg" so that it makes easier reading from start to finish.
So lots to do, and plenty of time to do it. Keep calling in to keep up with the latest.
Nothing added to the campaign this week, as all of the background has now been done. The campaign rules, wargame rules, armies, order of battle and campaign history are now complete, except for updating and perhaps minor amendments.
Again the blog is up to date and the previous battle reports and campaign history are complete. Jan and I have been playing the battle of Magdeburg, which looks like being the biggest and last battle of the campaign. It is very hot in Spain now, and we usually only play one or two moves at a time. I am posting a battle report of each move on the blog and will do a summary of the battle, and the campaign, when we have finished.
Wargaming in Spain
-->
http://wargamesinspain.blogspot.com
This is the blog I have worked most on this week. It is the archive of the battle reports of the games we have played since we arrived in Spain in 2006. I have usually written a battle report, particularly if they were part of a campaign. So there are quite a few to enter. I usually type up two or three a week.
The latest one is Badajoz. Writing the blog reminded me of what a strange town it is, and how the visit left me with memories of a sad and depressing place. Its also the only location that I have never had any inclination to revisit.
Plans for next week
As the Magdeburg campaign draws to a close, I have been very busy preparing for the next stage of the 1813 Campaign, which will be the Tarragona Campaign. Set in north west Spain it will deal with the Spanish attempts to prevent Marshal Suchet sending assistance to Marshal Soult in north east Spain where Wellington is preparing to drive the French out of Spain.
All of this week has been taken up with getting the wargame rules on blog. The blog contains all of the rules in full. There is also a demo game in words and photographs to illustrate how the rules work. There is a seperate page for each move. Current orders are shown, plus dice rolls for firing and morale.
The demo game is a real wargame, namely Helmstedt. It was not planned as a demo, but as it progressed I realised that showing so much details in each battle report would be boring.
Wargames in Spain
-->http://wargamesinspain.blogspot.com This blog is designed to show the wargames we have fought since we arrived in Spain. I had already taken photographs of each game, but not always described it as a battle report. They will appear in the order they were played.
These games are not part of the current 1813 Campaign.
This blog covers the current mini campaign, within the context of the overall 1813 Campaign. It is designed to show all the current map moves and battle reports in one place. And when the mini campaign is resolved there will be a new blog for the next mini campaign
The battle of Helmstedt was the major battle so far in this campaign. However as I am using this battle as the Demo Game for the Wargame Rules blog, and as the battle report is too complicated, I will be altering the campaign slightly.
If you are following the blog, you will note that Helmstedt has been removed. In the next few days I will be doing updating this campaign, and its history will change slightly.
French Fourth Army
