Grymauch's Solo Wargaming Blog : Napoleonic Campaign Map Moves

Showing posts with label Napoleonic Campaign Map Moves. Show all posts

Wednesday, 28 January 2026

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 18th - 21st April 1808

I will start looking at the overall strategic view before zooming in to each theatre.

End 18th April

19th April

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 14th - 17th April 1808

I could not believe it when I checked, but it is 2 years since I played a game from this campaign. It is long overdue for some attention and I have now completed map moves leading up to 3 more battles. As in previous posts, the maps have been split into sections. The first being the whole campaign map followed by each of the 3 current theatres of operations.

14th April

15th April

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 3rd - 13th April 1808

There follows a lull in the fighting as all 3 French thrusts are held. The French had enjoyed a significant amount of success until these simultaneous setbacks. Had any one of them achieved victory freeing up resources for the other two, the allies may well have been facing defeat in the campaign. Victory is not assured for the allies yet though with the French switching to defence.

I will begin with the strategic maps giving an overview before zooming in one each theatre for more detail. I have not included every day's movements to avoid being swamped in maps, but it should be sufficient to indicate what has happened.

3rd April

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 2nd April 1808

An overview at the end of the day on 2nd April. While Napoleon and Blucher were slugging it out other forces were on the move. As before I will cover each theatre in more detail below.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 31st March - 1st April 1808

With the campaign moving into a new month it is time to calculate the number of newly raised reinforcements for each army.

Each square on the map is allocated a value. This is based on what is contained within that square. e.g. a rural square with no inhabitants will have a minimum value recognising a purely agricultural contribution, whereas a heavily populated town with industrial units will have the opposite. A capital will contain a bonus so it is important that countries maintain possession of that.

Captured territory will deny that country of its Value Units (VU's) with the victor gaining 25% of those lost.

At the start of play on the 1st of the month, calculations are made for each country who then spend their VU's on reinforcements replacing losses in existing units. All those relevant units are identified at this stage (much to the pleasure of their commanders!) and the number of new recruits allotted.

All regular recruits are classed as 2nd Line. i.e. trained but inexperienced. Recruits to militia units are conscripts. Needless to say, 2nd Line troops are more expensive than conscripts. Artillery crews and cavalry also attract a premium. Too many new recruits joining a unit could downgrade its quality. e.g. a veteran battalion that receives 50% or more recruits are reduced to 'line' status.

When that has all been calculated it is time to determine when those recruits arrive at their respective units. To keep this simple, I roll one D6 for each force. A force being all those units represented by one counter on the map. Each pip on the dice represents one day after the 1st day of the month. So a '3' will mean they arrive on the 4th of the month.

When they arrive they are simply added to the rosters. I appreciate that it would seem a little odd that all recruits from whichever nation all arrive within the first week of each month but to make it completely realistic would be a logistical nightmare.

To give some idea of the numbers involved, on this occasion the French, with by far the largest number of VU's at 735, are able to purchase around 300 replacements. They have lost far more (1,200 to be precise)! So this is not a game changer but allows some units to avoid extinction. The Prussians are down to 268 VU's purchasing a little over 100 figures having lost 2,210.

Turning now to the map moves for these 2 days -

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 30th March 1808

The situation by nightfall on 30th March 1808:

Now for a closer look at each sector:

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 29th March 1808

Overview

To the north west Grouchy continues to pursue the retreating allies. The Dutch (orange 1) fail to rally and only do so on reaching their capital which they have now done. The Brunswickers and Hanoverians are aiming to link up with the British who are still in the process of assembling in port.

Another Brunswick brigade (black 1) has been transported from their main island base and are ready to join the fight.

The result of the most recent action (battle of the Tourane Peninsular) at the bottom left. Best (yellow 4) intends to link up with the rest of the Hanoverians. Chasse's Dutch/Belgians (Orange 2) are routing pursued by D'Erlon (blue 6).

Continued -