Here we have a pair of guns (a 6lber canon and a Howitzer), with the crew wearing “sdaratoga” uniforms. 

 Last post of the 2025 Campaign in a Day!

I have in mind to do Spring 1807 in Poland (The Friedland Campaign) for 2026, with myself as GM. 

TRANSIT TABLE LOGS (can click on images to read details more easily)

I always find these fascinating to read:

Spain 1813 British Messages

Spain 1813 French Messages

This Continental regiment has red facings, dark red vests, and grey trousers.

GM Report- Spain 1813 Snappy Campaign

“We always have been, we are,
and I hope that we always shall be detested in France”

Duke of Wellington.

History background and campaign
Development.

Last year (2024) was my 1^st
time creating a Snappy campaign. Players said it was a good campaign
so I decided why not try it again. This year I wanted to do Spain.
I wanted to see some redcoats on the tables. The French and British
have always had a natural rivalry throughout the 18^th &
19^th centuries. I always enjoyed playing the Peninsular
campaign in W&P. As a matter of fact part of my research
included buying & playing another of Mark Mclaughlin’s games
“Wellington” which was about the 1812-1814 Spanish campaign. I
read a lot of internet articles on the campaign, including
Britishbattles.com but the most interesting discovery was Project
Gutenberg “A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. 6, September
1, 1812-August 5, 1813″ by Charles Oman. 

So how to choose a campaign? Portugal
1808? Corunna 1809? Talavera 1809 (done previously)? Salamanca in
1812 seemed interesting. Well, inspiration came from Peter’s
basement while playing Field of Battle. Kevin Carroll suggested
Vittoria, which I had not considered. Hmmm… I could
do another 1813 campaign, build off my previous 1813 Saxony campaign.
1813, This could be my year. The forces were relatively even at the
Battle of Vittoria. And to top it off it was a pivotal
battle that decided the Peninsula campaign. Sold!

Next I had to find a map. My 1^st
map choice was the June 21^st Vittoria
battlefield. Do a one day campaign of a one day battle. But the
Basque region had so much more to offer, with Rivers, mountains, and
a coastline to include the Royal Navy. I then found Peter’s maps
of the entire European theatre. I carved out a section of northern
Spain. These are very clean maps, but I discovered my table network
would be too easy to figure out. Finally, I settled on a random
internet map. – Old nostalgic map. A plethora of terrain, roads,
and ambiguity to cause some confusion. Plus good Ole Northeastern
towns called LaGuardia & Bayonne.

The opposing forces:

Wellington’s army comprised 52,000
British and 28,000 Portuguese troops. An army of 25,000 Spanish
troops co-operated in the campaign. Wellington’s army had 90 guns.

The French army, drawn from the Army of
the South, the Army of the Centre and the Army of Portugal, comprised
68,000 troops (including 7,000 cavalry), with 150 guns.

George Nafziger online OOB is amazing.
It has both armies arranged and detailed down to the regiments and
batteries. This was good because the scale I needed to do was not
Corps size as is typical of a Snappy campaign, but Division level.
Units were represented by Regiments instead of Brigades.

Divisional
Game scale: Each Inf Unit = 900 men

Each
Cav Unit = 300 horses

Each Art
Unit = 12 Guns

I used the actual OOB of the opposing
sides for the battle of Vittoria, or in the general
vicinity and had participated in the Pyrenees battles in the
following month of July. This gave me 15 French and 14 Allied
divisions. With this I could accommodate up to 29 – 31 players…
YIKES that is a lot of players. We actually had 19 Generals on game
day, so it was very manageable.

The miniatures – There were 131 British
units and commanders vs 142 French. Two stands per infantry and
cavalry unit. I knew Peter had the figures to cover me. I used
Jame’s scoring of units based on quality and staying power for a
balanced point.

Guards = 12

Elites = 8

Veteran = 6

Seasoned = 4

Conscript = 3

Here is how I went about assigning
combat values. The British Infantry were Veterans
after fighting in Spain for 4-5 years. The Portuguese were just a
notch lower, so I assigned Seasoned. There were
Spanish, which we ended up not using, that were a mix of Season
and Conscript. The French had some cadres of Veterans,
but Napoleon had pulled a lot of veterans out to create a new Armée
du Main fighting against Blucher and the Czar. So I created French
divisions with a mix of Veteran and Seasoned. Cassange
(Russ) had an all Seasoned division. All the 6lb artillery was
veteran and I made the 12lb art seasoned.
Cavalry on both sides were strong. Most cav units were Veteran
or Elite. I did give the British one Guard Cav, and
one Guard Infantry unit. No guard units for the French, they
were recalled to Germany. Sorry French….Blame Russia.

The British had 9 Inf divisions with an
average of 8.7 units.

The French had 8 Inf divisions with an
average of 10.3 units

The British had one Cav division and
French 2 Cav divisions each with 4 horses

The French had an 18-16 advantage in
Artillery.

I arranged the weighted divisional
units to create a balanced force structure. In anticipation of a
players coming and going, I set the divisions in sequence 1-15 by
division to try and always keep a balance on game day. We actually
had 3 players drop out, so each side was minus one division, and
Brandan graciously gave up his small cavalry division to add to
Picton’s command and he took on the Wellington command role.
Speaking of Wellington, many AARs (I mean the French ones) are
referring to Wellesley as the British commander because they claim he
earned the title Duke of Wellington in May of 1814. In truth
Wellesley earned his title the Viscount Wellington of
Talavera after that battle in 1809. So he is rightly referred to as
Wellington throughout my 1813 campaign.

Map and Table design.

The beauty of the Snappy campaign is in
its multiple tables, all potential battlefields. Russ has written a
great summary about the details of this on a previous Snappy post so
you can look that up on the campaign on Peters blog “La Patrie
en Danger!” January, 1814 Campaign in France.

My two main goals as a map designer is
one to give the players the opportunity to maneuver before battle and
two to try and create smaller separate battles. I have heard or read
about how sometimes the players all congregate on a single table. No
room for maneuver. A slugfest. And LONG turns which may dampen the
excitement.

I had 14+ tables (6’X4’), utilizing
everyone that the Portal had. To enhance the maneuver of Corps, I
watched a video that Russ sent last 2 years about a Spanish Snappy
Nappy campaign run by an Australian gaming group. They used
additional “Transit Tables” or Transit Towns (X) inserted between
actual tables. I added time delays mostly 5 minutes, some longer due
to distance or mountains, to simulate the time it takes to march
across an actual table. I had 15 of these 8.5 X 11” tables. I made
the combatants record in a log the time they entered and the time
they left these transit tables. This provided much good information
of each division’s whereabouts during the day. Generals were or
course on the honor system to wait the appropriate time before moving
to the next table. A network of 49 index cards represented the road
network. I allowed the players to find their route from table to
table.

The double table. I suspected
that due to the set up, and victory conditions that the forces would
collide along the main road… At Vittoria (T6). Well, that is the
heart of this campaign, so that would be good to recreate, right? But
if that happened, it could become very crowded on a 6X4 table and
break my number two goal. I really would like to avoid that. So I
designed a double table to create the room needed. How well did my
plan go?… I’ll let report from Major Gen Ponsonby speak for me…

“Ponsonby led the British into view
of the city and as the French positions came into view, he realized
that Lief and Alten were already within sight of the city as well.
Now three divisions who had not been ordered to take Vittoria were
staring down the Cities French defenders with a possible two more
divisions behind.”

Sometimes you get lucky ! Through the
day, there were 3-4 French, and 3-4 British players on the Vittoria
table at the same time. The day ended with 3 vs 3. The double table
worked out.

The terrain in Northern Spain has a lot
of mountains and rough terrain. And of course the Pyrenees mountains
were the most dominating feature. I had only one transit town in the
Pyrenees, and I put a limit of TWO units ONLY able to travel the
road. I think Daricau (James) was the only player who scouted out
the town in the mountains.

Only one River, the Ebro, was a major
river. This was on the mind of both sides. While 3 tables had the
Ebro with bridges (and one ford), I made the main road from Burgos to
Vittoria a transit town (Miranda X9) so as not to hinder movement
across a major river. I anticipated multiple divisions moving in
that direction and didn’t want to break my #1 rule of
maneuverability.

Victory conditions:

Objectives: Napoleon needs his
Marshals in Spain to repell the British Army approaching the
frontier. Taking Burgos would set the British back, as this traces
supply all the way to Portugal. He also needs to avoid a major
defeat, as that likely would persuade Austria to join the coalition
forces in Germany. The British need take the major cities & to
push the French out of Spain and capture the main road to Bayonne,
which is Frances main source of supply.

I put these Victory objectives into
tangible points system.

Control the following

Burgos         
              +2

Vittoria         
              +2

Pamplona         
         +2

San Sebastian       
  +1

Santander         
         +1

Division Exhaustion – casualties
exceed 75% =      -1

Enormous Train of Booty – French
earn if wagons gets to Bayonne     +1

Control of main road from Burgos to
Bayonne – British earn if they can control 3 / 5 tables     
+1

British Capture Bayonne     
  +10

I almost made the capture of Bayonne an
Automatic victory, since this would be catastrophic to Napoleons
reign to have British occupy a French city while he was facing down
the Allies in Saxony.

The French owned 5 VP, British 2VP at
the start. That would put the burden of attack on the British. The
train of booty and the control of the road I considered bonus
opportunities in case of a tight game.

Special scenario rules (or the
way the GM annoys the players)

Each side had unique concerns, unknown
to the opponent. Supply in Spain’s rugged terrain was an issue for
both sides. The British were a long way from their ports in
Portugal. It was important for them to capture a Northern Spanish
port to alleviate this situation. Only two ports were available,
Santander and San Sebastian. Historically the British used
Santander. So did our Generals. The French had to deal with
Partisans disrupting their supply. I tried to keep the Partisan
rules simple. That is garrison certain towns, mainly along the main
road or pay the penalty. I marked the 7 towns with a Flag that
needed a garrison, failure to do so would result in random moral
checks.

King Joseph had the choice to use the
Bayonne garrison as a reserve, or disperse to these towns. He chose
the latter, relieving the burden of every French Division commander
from having to give up a unit for garrison duty. I chuckled when I
heard the British post game comments “I wondered why I kept running
into all these towns with a garrison.”

Also French messages had a possibility
of 5% chance getting intercepted by the partisans. Only one message
during the day got stopped.

The British also had the opportunity to
involve the Royal Navy. But only for bringing reinforcements to the
battle, as this was a land battle game. Pre Campaign Wellington had
to determine where his Big guns and Portuguese reserves would land.
I needed a specific time and location. The Navy would wait up to one
hour for the Brits to capture that port or they would leave without
dropping the reinforcements. Wellington chose Santander, 1pm.
General Graham made it happen capturing the town at noon and holding
it from a pesky French Cav threat. (2) Heavy Artillery & some
Portuguese infantry made it to shore.

The French had the “Enormous train of
booty” located in the city of Vittoria.  It began moving north
around noon.  It moved at a speed of the sum of (3) D6 dice
every 15 minutes along the main road until it reaches Bayonne.
The French command put a road priority to this loot and did their
best to ensure Bonaparte got his wealth. Unfortunately, it ended up
behind British lines. All the troops had Beef Wellington that
night.

Campaign recap from GM perspective.

1813, June to July. The stage is set.
Since April Wellington has continually out maneuvered and out flanked
the French forcing them behind the Ebro River. The British are
gathered around Burgos. The challenge now is to push the French back
beyond the Pyrenees.

The French Armée du Sud is making the
long trek from southern Spain and Madrid, coming from the Saragossa
area and moving northwest. P. Soult’s cavalry is screening the
retreat at Pancorbo. The Armée du Portugal has
gathered around Vittoria, ready to make a stand. The
Armée du Midi is farther north, having to deal with all the partisan
activity, and is now making its way south to defend the territory
from the Brits. (GM side note- the French 4^th Division
was AWOL, was supposed to be at Bilboa, leaving the right flank
exposed here. Unintentionally done, but C’est la Guerre!)

The British are divided into 3 wings.
Wellington commanding the center moving Northeast, Graham commanding
the left wing heading North, and Hill commanding the Right wing
heading East. (GM note – British down the 8^th division
also AWOL from Hills command, in the south, which could have impacted
the eventual battle of Pamplona.)

Wellington issues his orders. Howard’s
1^st Division to secure Santander. Leith’s
5^th Division to secure 1^st Div right flank and
move toward Vittoria. Wellington’s wing will move
forward with Ponsoby’s cavalry leading the way up the main road.
Hill’s wing to move to the East, and attack on a broad front from
the south, crossing the Ebro and pinning the French in place.

King Joseph has his forces start to
deploy to protect the Ebro river crossings. Conroux’s 2^nd
Division takes up a forward position at Miranda. 1^st
Division commanded by Leval is moving Northwest, followed close
behind by Villattes 3^rd Division. Daricau 6^th
Division secures the environs surrounding Pamplona, a
key location. Cassange’s 7^th Division and Darmagnac’s
5^th Division head south along the main road. P. Soult is
forced to fall back due to the overwhelming British force coming at
him. Boyers Armée du Portugal Cav unit heads to support
Lamartiniere 8^th Division’s Vittoria
defenses. Both 6^th Division and 8^th Division
send out Cavalry Videttes to look for signs of the enemy.

In the North, Graham & Howard
secure Santander, being watched by 8^th Div cavalry
vidette. D’Erlon splits off couple of battalions to head to
Bilboa, while the rest of Cassange’s command makes it
way south to Vittoria. In the center, while Leith’s
British 5^th Division and Alten’s Light Division make a
pincer move toward Vittoria, Wellington bounces
Conroux’s 2^nd Division out of Miranda. French commands
of Soult & Boyer cavalry take up defensive flanking positions
next to 8^th Division at Vittoria. In the
south, the 1^st engagement of the day commences at
Calahorra, as Byng’s 2^nd Division faces
east toward Leval’s 1^st division, on the south side of
the Ebro. Villatte’s 3^rd Division takes up position in
reserve of Leval. Farther south, Pakenham’s 6^th
Division secures Tudela, and is screened by the French
6^th cavalry.

Gen Daricau, having a broken compass,
realizes he has headed north with his entire division instead of
south and does an about face.

The battle of Calahorra starts to heat
up. At Vittoria the retreating French 2^nd
Division tries to get into a defensive position as two British
divisions are already on his flanks. British 4^th Division
under Cole moves to occupy the center of the British advance. 7^th
Division is backed up on the main road because Picton’s 3^rd
Division is ahead and waiting to enter the Vittoria
table. British 1^st Division is consolidating, preparing
to move East along the coast road. D’Erlon establishes more
garrisons at Bilboa and Gdenes to shore up the French
western flank. Daricau has returned to Pamplona and
is hurrying forward to confront Packenham who is ready to cross the
Ebro but is awaiting further orders from Wellington having already
achieved his early objective.

The Battle of Vittoria
opening shots fired by the British 5^th Division as they
begin to attack the French right flank village of Mendoso
while Alten begins a push directly toward the city from on the French
left flank. Conroux’s 2^nd Division is in a salient,
with the British Cavalry directly in front of them hot on its heels
coming from Pancorbo & Miranda. The British 1^st
light horse pursue the wounded 8^th cavalry unit as it
moves south out of trouble. 1^st Division infantry secures
the town of Laredo.

Packenham advances on Tarfella
but is bounced by the slightly larger French force of Daricau who is
advancing south from Pamplona. At Calahorra the
situation is changing. Cole’s British 4^th Division
arrives on the NORTH side of the Ebro to even up the battle. Byng’s
2^nd Division has orders to push onto Pamplona.
The arrival of Cole enables Byng to take a chance to move North over
the Ebro since he controls the bridge. He leaves a rear guard to
fight off a Leval’s French 1^st Division at the South
side bridge.

At Vittoria the musket
fire is getting louder. Leiths 5^th Div is engaging both
Fr 2^nd and 8^th Divisions. Ponsoby’s elite
and guard horses are attacking Fr 2^nd division cav on
either flank of the line anchored by the village of Subijana De
Alava. 7^th Division under Dalhousie has taken an
alternate flank march and arrives to support Alten’s push to
Vittoria.

A 3^rd battle now begins to
take shape at Tudela. Daricau has forced Packenham
back to the south side of the Ebro. Both sides exchange long range
cannon fire. At Calahorra Cole’s 4^th
division now faces south while Leval on the other side of the Ebro
faces north and is forming up for an assault. Byng has left the
battle and is at the town of Estella. Villatte see’s
that Byng is threatening the French owned Pamplona and
smartly takes a parallel route over the Ebro onto Tafalla,
a town Daricau who moments before had just left. The race to
Pamplona is on.

At Vittoria the British
vice is beginning to tighten. Conroux is expertly delaying 3 British
divisions with timely Squares and positioning giving the French time
to bring in reinforcements and establish a defensive line at the
city. But his 3^rd Division is taking on casualties.
Meanwhile to the North the long-awaited British reinforcements
arrive. 6 fresh Portuguese regiments and two heavy siege guns.
Howard’s 1^st Div looks to force the surrender of the
Bilboa and Gdenes garrisons.

Graham commands the Portuguese
reinforcements and heads west to support Howard. D’Erlon has
returned to try and defend the Bilboa area and has
ordered Cassagne’s 7^th Div to about face and march back
north to San Sebastian. This will leave the French Vittoria
force outnumbered. Soult’s cav must stay on the east flank to
watch as Dalhousie’s 7^th Div is extending the British
right flank to try and overlap the French position. Boyer’s cav
begins to move across the minor river to try and threaten the British
attack by Leith’s 5^th Div. Ponsoby and Picton divsions
are applying massive pressure on Conroux in the middle. At Calahorra
Level is making a methodical attack across the Ebro while Cole’s
4^th Div holds its ground. Farther south the battle at
Tudela has subsided a bit as neither force wants to try
and make a river crossing in front of an even foe. Villatte has WON
THE RACE to Pamplona by a mere 5 minutes. Byng allowed
his troops to rest & cook a meal at Estella after
their long march and hard fighting at Calahorra.

The wounded French 8^th cav
is making it’s way back to French lines, as is the British 1^st
cav. Bilboa is about to fall to the superior numbers
of the British left wing. The steady British advance at Vittoria
continues, as Cassange and Darmagnac retreat north to protect the
route to Bayonne. Calahorra might appear to be a
stalemate, but Daricau has something up his sleeve. He splits his
6^th Div into two parts. While holding in place vs
Packenham he has put a reserve force in the town of Tafalla.
From there he sends his cav down to Calahorra to take
a look at the action there. Stay tuned…..

Meanwhile another battle has just begun
at Pamplona. Byng is beginning to maneuver (my favorite
word) to take Pamplona as Villate had won the race to Pamplona and
has secured the bridge over the minor river.

The British 1^st Div takes
Bilboa and prepares to move east along the coast to
Durango. D’Erlon is retreating toward Sen Sebastian
with the remnants of the Bilboa garrisons. The Battle at Vittoria
is raging. Alten and Dalhousie are making a push on British
right flank as Ponsoby cav is wrecking Conroux’s 2^nd
Div. Leith continues to attack but is slowed by Lamartiner’s
Artillery in Vittoria. At Pamplona Byng’s 2^nd
Div is looking for a weak spot in Villattes’s 3^rd Div.
Tudela is quiet as ½ Daricau’s 6^th division is
defending the route north vs Packenham’s 6^th Div.
Daricau see’s an opportunity at Calahorra. He sends
reinforcements there and the cavalry moves onto the flank of Cole’s
4^th Div. Cole has the French 1^st Div in his
front and 6^th Div cav on his flank. He doesn’t have
enough troops to face against the new arrivals. He sends a one word
message to Wellington. “HELP”. The Elite 2^nd
Dragoon regiment crashes into the British line near the village of
Lerma. At Tudela Pakenham makes a
flank march across the Ebro and threatens Daricau’s rear guard who
falls back to protect the road north to Pamplona. Cassange’s 7^th
Div takes up a position just to the west of San Sebastian.
Darmagnac 5^th Div arrives to back up the Cassange. They
have beaten the British to the port city.

The 4^th Division takes
flight back west thru Longrono and heads….North to
Vittoria. Leval’s 1^st Div consolidates and begins its
march east on the south side of the Ebro toward Longrono. Meanwhile
Daricau two half divisions meet at Tafalla. His timing is perfect,
as Pakenham’s 6^th Div is hot on the heels heading north
from Tudela, but is bounced at Tafalla
due to owning the larger force by +1 unit. At Vittoria
the noose is starting to tighten on the French as he British continue
a steady advance on 3 sides. Dalhousie 7^th Div realizes
it is better served at Pamplona, and heads east toward Estella.
Howards British 1^st Div arrives at San Sebastian
to find a line of French regiments awaiting. D’Erlon small
detachment arrives on the British flank with the baggage train right
behind coming from Toloso.

At Pamplona Dalhousie’s
7^th Div has changed the status quo. Villattes 3^rd
Div is now outnumbered and pulls back behind the river for a better
defense of the city. But soon Daricau arrives to bolster the French.
However, soon Pakenham arrives throwing the balance in the British
favor again. Leval’s 1^st Div soon arrives at Longrono
and begins to take out the British garrisons. Cole is at Vittoria,
witnessing the British horsemen positioning for an attack on the
French cav poised on the left flank. At San Sebastian
the British move in for the attack. Darmagnac’s cav moves on the
British right flank who promptly form square. D’Erlon is battling
to protect the baggage train, and in the process wound the British
general Howard. Wing commander Graham is there to steady the troops.

The home stretch. British make
advances towards the 3 cities, but the French give ground stubbornly
and hold the key objectives. Leval has received orders from King
Joseph to move to Burgos. Leval complies. After disposing of the
Longrono garrisons, 1^st Div moves through S. Domingo
and arrives at Burgos table. The retreating garrison
at Gamonal is quickly disposed of. Leval moves in on the garrison at
Burgos with Wellington defending with two units. They cannot hold,
and the French enter Burgos. Wellington himself is captured. This
is devastating for the British cause. Losing their leader and the
supply source will cause a cessation to the offensive. At least they
got a steak dinner.

Over all the French won on points 6 to
1. While this might seem lopsided, it really came down to the last
10 minutes of the day, as the capture of Burgos was a 4 pt swing.
Still would have been a French marginal victory 4-3.

Quote from Wellington: “Victory is
the ability to fight 5 minutes longer than any other army in the
world”. Apparetnly he was off by 10 minutes this day.

Putting this campaign together was
really a team effort. I want to thank AGMs Peter & Mark, and
James & Russ for all their assistance. I could not have done
this without their help. Also thanks to Nate & Sean help with my
pregame efforts and tables. And thanks to the Portal game store in
Manchester CT for hosting us.

After the battle of Vittoria, I
read….In the expressive language of an officer who bore his part in
the victory, “They were beaten before the town, and in the
town, and through the town, and out of the town, and behind the town,
and all around the town”

 The various native American tribes were an important factor in the development of the British (and French) colonies in North America, and in the wars between them, and the later American Revolution.

In 1722,the Tusacarora nation, which had migrated Northward top escape the expansions of the Southern colonies, joined the Confederacy.