I have now been wargaming for over twenty years, more or less, and having tried other periods; role playing, and fantasy, my first and only true love is Napoleonics. You, the readers of this Bulletin, will all know the reasons why, so I need not repeat them here. The form that my Napoleonic gaming takes is that of campaigning; my circle of would be Marshals are now in their eight campaign. Over the years we have gamed many wars, for the first time we are enjoying the hospitality of Spain; 1808 to 1813.

The format I have chosen for this has developed over many campaigns. All of the information given to the players comes out in a campaign monthly journal "The Grand Fenwick Observer". The overall commanders of the Imperial and British/Allied forces, do not fight any of the battles, or take any political decisions, and the movements of the Spanish in this current campaign are left in the hands of the umpire. (Politics and the simple minds of wargamers do not mix - here speaks an umpire who once got a black eye from the Tsar of Russia!).

The battles are fought weekly by my Marshals, the French player being the one who has the misfortune to throw highest. They have no command and control over the movement of the armies, but full command on the table top according to the scenario being fought. They have each developed a favourite Marshal or Spanish army, and after each battle they are encouraged to write an account for the paper. The truth of it is left to them completely, so the "Grand Fenwick" can lie like a bulletin giving very good misinformation to the commanders; Napoleon and Sir Arthur (later Duke of Wellington).

As an example lets look at one of the battles from the war - Pombal, fought between the British and the French. The situation was that the British had landed in Portugal four months before at Oporto, defeated the French once and with winter and Napoleon coming had marched on Lisbon, for a safe haven and winter quarters. The British commander knew from spies that the French were cut off in Portugal and had been out of supply since August, (it was now November), but not that Junot had arrived in Lisbon with a starved army from Spain, having abandoned his guns in the mountains.

The French commander's only hope was to get good terms to surrender, without food his troops could not last the winter and his problems had doubled with the arrival of Junot's corps. (Moved by the umpire to Lisbon). So he was attacking in the vain belief that a miracle would save his honour and his soldiers.

As the Umpire I was looking for a way the French forces could be transported back to France and Sir Arthur could be sent home for a little R&R, so Sir John Moore could take command. Also the French commander refused to surrender his cannon and the British commander refused to negotiate terms without them, - politics again!

So that was the scenario set before the Marshals on starting the battle, we use the Empire rules finding them quick and very exciting, the following is the order of battle used and the account from "The Grand Fenwick Observer"

British Forces

Commander: Sir Arthur Wellesley

1st Brigade, 5 battalions line
2nd Brigade, 8 battalions line
3rd Brigade, 3 battalions Fusiliers
4th Brigade, 3 battalions line.
Portuguese Brigade, 4 battalions line, 1 cacadore
Guards Brigade, 2 battalions Guard
Light Brigade, 2 battalions light, 2 battalions rifles.
Cavalry Brigade, 3 regiments of light dragoons.
Artillery, 3 batteries 6 guns each.
All at full strength as listed in Empire.

French Forces

Commander: Bessieres

Bessieres Corps

1st Division. (All units veteran status)

3 French line regiments 3 battalions each
1 French light regiment 3 battalions
1 Italian line regiment 2 battalions
2 batteries foot artillery 8 guns each

2nd Division. (All units conscript status)

3 French line regiments 3 battalions each
1 French light regiment 3 battalions
1 Italian light regiment 2 battalions
1 battery foot artillery 8 guns

1st Cavalry Brigade

1 Chasseur a Cheval regiment
2 Dragoon Regiments

2nd Cavalry Brigade

1 Hussar Regiment
2 Dragoon Regiments

All of the above units, except artillery, were at 70% maximum strength as listed in Empire.

Junot's Corps. (All Conscript Class)

1st Division

4 French line regiments 3 battalions each

2nd Division

2 French line regiments 3 battalions each 2 French light regiment 3 battalions each 2 Italian line regiment 2 battalions each

All of the units in Junot's corps were at 30% maximum strength as listed in Empire and started the game with 3 fatigue points.

The armies were set up using the Empire army lists. The French used the 1808 Peninsular factors with only one special regiment being light infantry. The British were a `pre-Napoleonic' army but had a fair scattering of special units; the cavalry for both sides were all normal.

Battle of Pombal