Napoleonic Campaign

I have said that I would probably not add this to my blog due to the time involved, but then I thought what the heck! So here goes for my Napoleonic Campaign:

I have always enjoyed playing out campaigns which add a whole new dynamic to fighting battles on the tabletop. An important consideration is losses which can have serious implications for future battles if a commander is reckless. When amassing my figures for my Waterloo project I decided to create a campaign which would provide encouragement to get figures painted. This also extended to a Peninsular war project. By using the 100 days campaign orbats in my campaign it meant that all those units could be used outside the limitations of the former. There was not much need for Dutch/Belgians, Nassauers etc. in my Peninsular War project for example. I started this campaign in March 2015. So far there have been 17 battles of various sizes including two naval actions. A couple were fought in 15mm as they were smaller actions but the rest was in 6mm. This campaign has barely started and in reality I am not sure that it will ever finish. It is my little indulgence and mostly fought solo although my sons occasionally dip in.

THE CAMPAIGN

In the 1970's I purchased a boxed campaign system called 'Warplan 5/5'. It is a superb system which I have used on numerous occasions over the years although never on this scale. It includes 30 double sided map cards, each of which are split into 25 squares (hence the 5 x 5). The terrain in each one of those squares is described in the book supplied which also gives the rules of play etc. There are numerous other charts, roster sheets, supply records, weather charts etc etc. I have never played it as intended as to describe it as detailed is putting it mildly.  

Warplan 5/5 Campaign System

This picture is only a fraction of the contents and the box cover is all that is left of the original box!

I have greatly thinned out the requirements for my campaign but taken some good ideas from the original set. Each of the squares on a map card is allocated a value or VU for Value Unit. This value will depend on the level of the population, any industry, farms, fortifications etc. At the end of the calendar month in campaign time, a country calculates its total VU and uses that to 'buy' replacements for losses. For ports, shipyards and ship repair facilities, a naval value is given (NVU). This is used to purchase new ships. If a country captures territory from another then it adds half its VU and NVU to its own. I dispensed with the weather as, quite frankly I could not be bothered. 

Infantry and foot artillery move 2 road squares or 1 cross country square by day. Cavalry and horse artillery double that. Ships are each allocated their own speeds depending on ship type.

For this campaign I used all the map cards I had. I also created some sea tiles to fill in.

Not being the most inventive of people I have not called my campaign anything in particular and the countries involved are very roughly where they are in our world! So here is the parallel universe. You will see red straight lines being the borders for each country. The small coloured tiles in each are the positions of the forces involved. Each tile has a number at the top (naval units are prefixed with an 'N') and for land units the figure below is the strength of that force. I started the campaign giving strengths in actual men but as the campaign progressed I changed this to number of figures.

This map is the start of the campaign set at 1st March 1808. 

You can identify the various countries by the colour of their forces' tiles:

Red:              British
Orange:         Holland/Belgium
Green:           Prussian
Black:           Brunswick
Yellow:         Hanover
Light Green: Nassau
Blue:             French
Light Grey:   Spanish
Brown:          Portuguese

This is an example of a map card. I experimented with each square = 2'3" square on the tabletop and 3' square eventually settling on the latter. (My terrain tiles are 9" square hence 2'3"!).

When I provide AAR on each battle I will cover which size board I used. I attempted to recreate as accurately as possible the terrain described on the card. As you will see from the photos I post my terrain collection built as the campaign progressed. 

For land battles I used the excellent General de Brigade rules by David Brown. I made my own modifications which I have described elsewhere. 

An additional modification was to import another idea of Sam Mustafa's in Grande Armee of the Army Break point. And another was a chart to calculate the numbers of casualties that return to the unit after the battle. This will vary depending on the quality of the unit and whether the force involved decisively won, a narrow victory, narrow loss or decisively lost. If a draw and both sides disengage then there are no modifications other than troop quality.

For sea battles I used the Warhammer Historical 'Trafalgar' rules. Naval buffs I have spoken to are not impressed with these rules but I find them very playable. The naval element of the campaign is relatively minor so I did not want an all-ecompassing complicated 'realistic' set. I made some adjustments for smaller actions.

Ships used are 1/2400 from Tumbling Dice with a few from Magister Militum. 

I will cover more of the rules used including the campaign system as the blog is updated with the various battles and actions. The Orbats at the start of the campaign are the same as those at Waterloo with the exception of the Portuguese and Spanish which happened to be what I had in 15mm at the time. Other forces involved in the 100 days campaign, mainly French and Prussian, will be mobilised as the campaign progresses. 

THE SITUATION ON 1ST MARCH 1808

The European powers are increasingly nervous of an increasingly aggressive Napoleon as he moves forces towards their borders. Although allied, the other European powers are distrustful of each other so they have not as yet joined forces and have stayed within their own borders. 

The next post will be the early moves leading to the first battle.