January 1809 This is the last report from the war in Spain. Wellesley having been kicked out of Castile, has retreated back to Portugal to decide on his next move. Winter has set in so one might think that action would slow down and stop. one might think that, but We are dealing with Wellington here. WHAT HAPPENED THIS TURN Wellington force marches his small British army through Leon to Navarre. The French supply lines are again cut. And with winter here, this could be a disaster for Napoleon. Of course, the Duke's boys are done in from the rigours of an already long unsuccessful campaign, so can they hold their position? WHERE EVERYONE IS French: France - 1 small army Madrid - 1 small army, Murat Castile - 1 large army, Napoleon, 1 very small army, Junot British: Navarre 1 small defeated army, Wellesley Portugal - 1 Portugese guerilla Andalusia - I guerilla, El Incognito Leon - 1 guerilla Valencia - 1 guerilla Catalonia - 1 guerilla, Don Camillo THE ARGUMENTS THAT WERE TURNED IN THIS TURN Marvin Scott Action: Wellington makes a forced march to Navarre. Result: The French supply lines are cut. Reasons: Large formations are hard to defeat in open battle but ... Supply lines are long and vulnerable, and (wild card) an army marches on its stomach. Chris Blair Action: Napoleon marches his large army into Portugal. Result: He fights another battle with Wellington that pins his army down in Lisbon. Reasons: (wild card) This is the pursuit after battle. Wellington has had no time to rest or prepare. Napoleon is motivated to win quick or starve. Nicholas Falzon Action: Wild Card - Amazing bugs eat all the British troops. Result: Wild Card - The French win and take over the world. Reasons: Defeat - The defeated corpses are used as fossil fuel. Tactical Advantage - In future wars, the bugs attack other nations opposing the French. Wild Card - Napoleon was half-bug born and that is why they have helped. (Note: As referee, I ruled this one weak. So it needed a roll of 2 or less to happen. If I had been using the "very weak" rule in this game, I would have ruled it that way. So it would have required a roll of 1 to happen. But if it was true, just think of the War of the Worlds scenario one would have!) Chris Engle Action: Rally - Don Camillo and El Incognito make an agreement "Plan de Saragosa" which unifies-command of the guerilla movement. Result: Wild Card - France is denied control of 4 of the 6 provinces of Spain. Reasons: Defeat - The Brits lost, we are on our own Fear -We must all hang together or we will most certainly hang separately.Motivation -If we cooperate we can keep this war going for YEARS. AFTERWARD So ends the Peninsula war (or at least the part we were concerned with). When I started this PBM, I had not yet run this set of rules at a convention. Now they have been tried out at 5 different conventions. I've found that they are much more fun when played as a face to face game, but clearly they also work as a PBM. Thank you, to everyone who played. It was a fun game. I hope you will all be able to play in next year's PBM - "The French Revolution." WHAT HAPPENED MONTH BY MONTH August 1808 Don Camillo the leader of of the guerrillas in Saragossa recruits "er, thousands" of young Spaniards to his banner. He now has TWO small armies in Catalonia. Sir Arthur Wellesley lands his army of British regulars in Andalusia to re-inforce Gibralter. Wellesley is ready to engage the enemy. General Murat spends the month fortifying Madrid. By the end of the month he is ready to withstand a long siege should that be necessary. September 1808 General Wellesley marches his small army from Andalusia to Castile where he surrounds Madrid. This pins Murat's army there. Napoleon marches his large army Into Catalonia to the city of Saragossa..The act of doing this persuades the populous to "enjoy the protection of France and abandon the upstart Don Camillo." This results in Don Camillo having to flee to the mountains leaving the French to enjoy the city. October 1808 The Portugese rise up in rebellion against the tyrany of the French. The army under Junot is defeated. The sad remnants of this force (with Junot at their head) retreat into Castile. Napoleon's army of Catalonia marches into Castile to relieve the siege of Madrid. As soon as he leaves, Don Camillo rallies his guerilla army In the mountains of Catalonia. The French still own the cities but the guerrillas own the countryside. November 1808 A small force from Napoleon's army makes a forced march through Navarre back into France to prevent any guerilla incursions Into the mother country. While Napoleon tries to pin Wellesley down into a decisive battle his men begin to get hungry. As a result of poor supplies and bad weather (it is November after all) men begin to desert. Meanwhile no decisive battle has been fought.  December 1808 The French In Castile are starving due to lack of supplies. They begin to desert In even greater numbers. This is soon alleviated though, when the small French force sent back to France re-establishes French supply lines through Navarre. As a result of newly arrived food Napoleon's men ... Force the British into an open field battle in which the British are thrashed. Wellesley retreats into Portugal with his defeated army, leaving his Spanish allies to dangle in the breeze. January 1809 Wellesley force marches his defeated army to Navarre to once again cut the French supply lines. And so the war goes on... Back to Experimental Games Group # 18 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com