Having studied the Anglo-Portuguese Army in the Peninsular War for many years, I believe that we need to do something to improve the British Peninsular Army Lists in the NPOW rules and in the revised lists on the Web. At first I was mystified as to how 'divisions' got so big, but then someone told me that they were in effect double divisions. This makes perfect sense, as it slows up command and control, though I would like to see the word 'division' changed to something else so that newcomers don't get confused. I would like to see 'Command Group' myself, but maybe this is not that important. My major comment, however, is that the balance of Portuguese is far too high. Taking Salamanca (1812) as a representative battle, of the 43,000 Anglo-Portuguese infantry present, only 17,500 were Portuguese. The Army list has them almost in equal numbers. It may well be argued that at Vittoria (1813), the numbers were much more even, but that was because there was a complete Portuguese division present as well as two independent Portuguese brigades. It would seem appropriate, in the spirit of the new suggestions for improved Army Lists to give the Anglo-Portuguese player the option of including a fully Portuguese 'Division' (representing the historical Portuguese division (Silvera's) and the two independent Portuguese brigades (Bradford's and Pack's)) -- total, 7 'units'). The 'normal' Anglo-Portuguese division should then consist of 4 redcoated 'units' (ie, historical brigades) and 2 Portuguese. One of the redcoated 'units' in the 'First Divison' would be King's German Legion and another would be Guards. Players would select three 'divisions' from the list, making the three from the options of 2Anglo-Portuguese, one Portuguese, and one Light Divisons. This change would be historically satisfying while remaining in the spirit of the rules. Back to Frontline Vol. 2 Iss. 2 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com