A Peninsula War Campaign
Nov 1808-Jun 1809

Introduction

By Gunner Bearden

I started playing Napoleonic miniatures in 1974 when an Air Force lieutenant introduced the game to our high school wargaming club. Until then we had been limited to board games and had no idea, in our small western town, that miniatures even existed. Since that time, more than 28 years ago, I have been a dedicated miniatures player, delving into the American Civil War, Ancients, and World War Two, but always with Napoleonics as my primary focus. During much of the last almost three decades I was serving in the U.S. armed forces, often overseas. The service keeps you pretty busy and there were long periods between opportunities to enjoy my primary wargaming interest. What kept me going during those years were the fine articles and battle reports in the wargaming magazines of the time. That experience has now prompted me to contribute to Hal's fine periodical, MWAN. My love of the hobby, plus the encouragement of a very understanding and supportive wife, has also prompted me enter the wargaming industry as a maker of games and rules sets. Three years ago I bought Signifer, an outstanding line of historic miniature flags, and then introduced Le Petit Armee, a complete I Omm Napoleonic gaming system with rules of the same name - Hal was kind enough to review the game and rules in MWAN 109

In my twenty-eight years of Napoleonic gaming I have played and enjoyed countless miniatures battles - well, I enjoyed most of them. The best battles were linked to a campaign system of some sort. Campaigns are the best combination of board games (map movement) and miniatures (battles) because a campaign forces you to think beyond the current battle. You cannot simply throw your forces forward into the fray and fight to the last man, as happens in most miniatures battles, because those forces will be needed for the future. Unfortunately, every campaign I participated in quickly collapsed under the weight of the paperwork involved. I liked the paperwork but most people just didn't have the time or inclination to keep up.

When I wrote my game system rules, Le Petit Armee, I wrote them to work with a planned set of campaign rules that I had in mind. Last year, after beginning a successful Peninsular War Campaign to game test the rules I published Le Petit Campagne - Rules for Historical Campaigns using Miniature Armies. Le Petit Campagne is designed to reduce the paperwork in a campaign game to a minimum by using Army Points (AP) to represent every aspect of the game. All a player needs to do is add and subtract AP from his unit totals to account for attrition, battle losses, and replacements. The game test campaign generated an enjoyable campaign that lasted about four months of real time and generated eight corps sized battles over the course of eight months game time. The following is a short synopsis of the rules and campaign that I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed playing and writing.

BATTLE RULES SYNOPSIS

Le Petit Armee is a brigade level game with players assuming the role of a Corps or Army commander. Brigade sizes are standard throughout the game, regardless of nationality or organization. Infantry brigades contain twelve figures representing 2,160 men (1:180). Cavalry brigades contain six figures representing 720 men (1:120). Artillery batteries represent 8-12 guns. Each army or corps will contain a number of infantry and cavalry brigades supported by artillery batteries and commanded by a General. The general is assisted by a several "Lieutenants". Lieutenants do not represent actual Division or Brigade commanders - instead they represent the relative command assets of the Corps or Army. In the advanced rules army size and nationality determines the number of Lieutenants. The General uses command points to order units to move or rally. The number of command points available is determined each turn by the condition and size of the General's army as well as by the result of a random die roll. Again, the advanced rules use nationality to adjust the number of command points available making nations with better command systems more flexible than those with less efficient command systems.

Generals can issue move orders to individual units (brigades or batteries) or to a Lieutenant who can control up to three units within his command radius. Even when ordered to move a unit's or Lieutenant's reaction to the order is still subject to uncertainty, as the unit must roll against a command response table. The result of the command response roll will allow a number of actions used for movement and formation changes and will affect a unit's ability to close with the enemy for melee. Early in the game, with most of the units unengaged, the army is able to move quickly and easily into position. Once the battle is joined things begin to get more difficult. Players soon find that limited command points force them to make choices about which units to move or rally. Players who don't control their frontage, who don't use reserves to replace battered units, or who fail to keep track of the location of their leaders, will soon find themselves on the losing side.

The remaining game systems are fairly traditional. Movement and fire is a move-countermove system although initiative can change who moves first and units are allowed to react to enemy movement in some instances.

Morale is based on the roll of a d10 and units must make a morale test after casualties, after seeing a friendly unit routed or destroyed, when rallying to regain morale status, and when resolving a melee.

Fire and melee potentials are based on stands fighting and the roll of a dl 0, but casualties are eliminated by figure. The rules include sections on battlefield set-up, terrain choices, and deployment. Most importantly, especially when working with the Campaign Rules, armies deploy using deployment counters, some of which are dummies. There are also rules for the use of flank marches and off board reserves as well as the use of an army's or corps' supply train, representing its lines of communication and supply, as a battlefield and campaign objective. The rules include a section of Army Lists using a points system that is primarily designed for creating armies during tournament or campaign play.

Each game turn represents 30 minutes and most players can complete a turn within the same time or less. Corps sized games, representing 15-20,000 men per side, can be completed in two or three hours. Larger battles take can be completed in slightly more time as long as each player controls about a corps and is familiar with the rules. At Historicon 2002 the Long Island Wargaming Association staged a refight of the 1812 Battle of Salamanca using six players unfamiliar with the rules and over 100,000 troops represented on the board. The battle was fought to completion within five hours.

CAMPAIGN RULES SUMMARY

Le Petit Campagne uses Army Points (AP) to reduce the bookkeeping aspects of the campaign to a minimum. Each player is assigned a number of AP at the start of the campaign and assigns them to unit counters deployed on the campaign map. The number of AP that can be assigned to a unit counter is limited based on the counter type - Corps, Division, etc. - and by scenario nationality limits. The campaign map is divided into provinces and each province further divided into districts. Map movement is district to district based on the terrain and campaign conditions, nationality, and the roll of a d10. Each turn represents one week of game time - a total of forty-eight turns divided in twelve months of each game year. Supply is handled by deploying supply depots and by foraging. Battles can occur when opposing forces occupy the same district at the end of the movement phase. All aspects of the campaign, including supply attrition, force march attrition, reconnaissance and rear guards, as well as battle losses, pursuit losses, and replacements, are handled by adding or subtracting AP from unit counters.

When a tabletop battle occurs each army or corps is created for the battle using the available AP and the Army Lists in the Le Petit Armee rules. Map movement is conducted by Corps and Divisions and these must be concentrated within a district for battle. More than one battle can occur within the same district. If the situation allows, a Field Army of multiple corps or combined AP can be created before battle, but more often the army must attempt to concentrate on the battlefield. Players are guaranteed a single corps or division, called the contact unit, on the battlefield at the start of the game. An umpire or neutral player rolls to determine the status of any other units attempting to reinforce the battle - units may be present at the start of the battle, may arrive during the battle as a flank march or reserve, or may not arrive at all. The player doesn't find out the status of expected reinforcements until their arrival time rolls around. This uncertainty concerning the arrival of reinforcements, combined with the campaign game's tactical reconnaissance rules and the battle rules for hidden deployment, flank marches, and reserves, leads to a realistic simulation of the "fog of war" and situations in which a smaller army can defeat a larger army. This is something that is difficult recreate in most tabletop miniatures battles.

The battle ends when one army breaks in accordance with Le Petit Armee rules or withdraws from the battlefield. Casualties are determined through a combination of eliminated units/figures and pursuit. The pursuit rules are based on the ratio of "effective" infantry and cavalry units in the defeated and victorious armies at the end of the battle, the number of daylight hours available, and whether the defeated army was broken or withdrew voluntarily. Pursuit can be devastating. In some cases pursuit losses will exceed battlefield losses, which is a historical reality. Losses are recorded as AP subtracted from the unit counters engaged in the battle.

The rules include options for the use of Reserve and Cavalry Corps, and Siege and Bridging Trains Le Petit Campagne also includes a sample campaign map and scenario for use with Le Petit Armee Complete l0mm Napoleonic System, allowing fictional campaigns to be fought by two to four players using just the armies and accessories in the basic set. Although designed for the Napoleonic period the campaign rules can also be easily adapted for many different periods and battle rules as long as an Army Point system can be used to create battlefield armies and for bookkeeping. The Campaign

Opening Positions

The French armies, shocked by the violence of Spanish resistance and by Dupont's surrender at Baylen have retired behind the River Ebro. General de Division Ardant commands in the Spanish Provinces of Navarre and Aragon and his forces, designated the First Army of Spain, have been tasked with the subjugation of the Northern and Western Spanish Provinces. French forces in Catalonia, commanded by General de Division Rohan, are responsible for the subjugation of the Eastern and Southern Spanish Provinces. Madrid and the Province of New Castile will fall to whichever General can get there first and the fate of Portugal has been left for the future.

The Spanish armies, complacent after the French withdrawal, move up to the Ebro River at a leisurely pace, confident that the French forces are spent. Garrisons hold the vital cities of Barcelona and Sarragosa while the Spanish Armies of the Center and Right are deployed south of the Ebro in Old Castile and Aragon, respectively. The Army of the Left is deployed above the Ebro in Biscay. British/Portuguese troops hold a number of garrisons in Portugal as well as deploying a small field army east of Lisbon but the Spanish have yet to seek the assistance of British troops.

Map

A Peninsula War Campaign Nov 1808-Jun 1809 Fought Using Le Petit Armee Rules and Campaign Rules

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