by Jim O'Neill
I have
taken the historical order of battle for both the
French and Allied forces engaged at Salamanca
and con verted them into Fire and Fury OOBs
(Orders of Battles) for the Union and Confederate
armies. I have arbitrarily chosen the Allied
organization for the Southerners (that +1 charge
bonus comes in handy) and the French for the
Northerners (the French artillery was superior in
number and quality to that of the Allies, so there
is no need to alter the rules).
I have also listed the Divisions
involved, with their original French or Allied
commanders and strengths rounded off to the
nearest 100, for reference purposes.
French - Marechal
Marmont
Allies -
Wellington
At right, 5th Zouaves march towards Twin Peaks. Terrain by Doug Kline of Battlefield Terrain Concepts. 22mm buildings, haystack, fences, and troops by Musket Miniatures. Trees andf turf by Woodland Scenics.
In the full Order of Battle, I will
leave the assigning of leaders' names to the person
who is setting up the scenario. You may even be
tempted to allocate the names of the actual players
to their individual commands to encourage a
feeling of involvement. It then gets really personal
when someone 'cops one' on the Fallen Leaders'
table.
To encourage this practice, I have
used the names of various contributors to, and
advertisers in, the ZOUAVE for the commanders
in the fictitious ACW order of battle - without
regard to which side of the Mason-Dixon Line
their sympathies lie. The allocation of who is an
'exceptional' commander also bears no relation to
their prowess with a pen, a product, or for that
matter their various abilities on the wargames'
table. Having been brought up on Perry Mason as
a child, and having noted the American proclivity
for litigation, this could be the first order of battle
that is headed 'Without Prejudice.'
In the historical battle, the French
had two brigades of cavalry under Curto and
Boyer totaling some 3,400 sabres and the Allies
had five brigades of cavalry under the overall
command of Cotton totaling some 4,000. These
however were attached to individual infantry
divisions. An integral part of the Allied forces
were the two independent brigades of Portuguese
infantry with a combined strength of 4,500
bayonets.
The French artillery comprised 13
batteries and that of the Allies 10 batteries. In
both cases each battery contained six pieces and
all were usually allocated at divisional level. The
normal organization of the Allied army was that
each division consisted of two British and one
Portuguese brigade. It should be noted that there
was no corps command, hence the respective Army
Commanders act as Corps' Commanders and
convey those benefits as noted in the rules.
I hope you enjoy the ensuing game, if
you give it a try. It is not so one-sided as it
appears since American troops were much more resilient than their Napoleonic
counterparts, which the FIRE & FURY rules reflect.
When a Napoleonic brigade or division routed, it
generally remained that way and would only stop
running when either rallied by an extremely brave (or
foolhardy) general, or when it ran out of breath.
Although units in the American Civil War broke, they
tended to come back into the fray much quicker, and
thus there was a greater ebb and flow across the
battlefield. The catastrophe that befell Thomieres
need not therefore have the same disastrous domino
effect.
In Papua, New Guinea, where I live,
there still exists a strong tribal custom of an eye for an
eye. It is called payback. I developed my deep
interest in studying and wargaming the War Between
the States through reading articles written in
magazines such as the ZOUAVE. It has not only
given me much enjoyment, but also cost me a small
fortune. If, through this article, I have managed to sow
the seeds of an interest in the Napoleonic Wars -
please regard it as payback!
FIRE AND FURY:
Rich Hasenauer. Published in 1990 by Dave
Waxtel & Quantum Publishing. My
personal favorite set of rules for battles at
this scale. The two supplements covering
the battles in the Eastern and Western
theatres are also a must.
A HISTORY OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR: Sir Charles
Oman. Published in 1996 as a reprint in
seven volumes by Stackpole Books. This
scholarly work is not a light read and is
one of the two major secondary sources,
but well worth the effort if you wish to
make a detailed study of his period.
HISTORY OF THE WAR
IN THE PENINSULA AND THE SOUTH OF
FRANCE: W F P Napier. Published in
1993 as a reprint in six volumes by
Constable. Napier was present at several
of the major battles and writes great prose.
His sl~,le is lively if opinionated. Again,
not a light read.
NAPOLEON'S
MARSHALS: David G. Chandler (Editor). Published in 1987 by Weidenfeld &
Nicolson. A good collection of essays by
various modern historians sketching out
the highlights of the lives of the twenty-six
Marshals created by Napoleon.
WELLINGTON IN THE
PENINSULA, 1808 - 1814: Jac Weller.
Published in 1962 by Nicolas Vane Ltd. To me,
this is the definitive one-volume account of the
campaign in Spain and Portugal although he
reinforces Oman's misconceptions on the
French column versus the British line.
My apology to Jim ONeill for allowing some mistakes to
appear in his background article in the previous issue. Jim's name was
misspelled in the author's credit line as well as in the table of contents. Even
though I strive to make a perfect issue, (at least in regards to grammar and
such), I do err at times. Jim was so nice because he didn't even bring it to my
attention.i --IJ
More Road from Salamanca to Twin Peaks
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