"1813 Cuidad Real Campaign" Topic

After fourteen campaign days the French under Marshal Suchet have defeated the Spanish field armies twice and forced them to retreat to the river Guadiana. However they suffered an unexpected defeat just north of Cuidad Real. This allowed the whole of the Spanish army to retreat south of the river. In order to win the campaign Suchet must now attack across the defended river and take the city of Cuidad Real.

Meanwhile he has greatly extended his lines of supply, which are under attack from the Spanish guerrilla. There are nine towns and cities in this campaign and each has a militia brigade as a garrison. When the French take a city the garrison flee and become a guerrilla band. The French have taken six of the nine cities, so there are six guerrilla bands operating against their supply lines.

Each time the guerrilla attack a French garrison I roll a 6 sided dice. A dice roll of 6 means that the French have lost 10% casualties and abandon the town. This has happened recently and the French retreated back along their lines of supply. Unfortunately a second guerrilla band controlled the road they used and they had to surrender.

So things are not looking great for Suchet at present.

Ah Spain had its influence on you, not just Hamon and xeres.. Went to Baylen mueseum and it was just as if they did not free themselves nicely from the Corsican.
How often had a guerilla band bern evicted from a supplu town by a guerilla band?
They had an attrition effect, just like most 20th guerillas at least partly supported by the locals, forced to tie up numbers to avoid this risks of major drama you describe.
On the other hand they reduce desertion as the " colonial syndrome" of losing your balls wether obeying orders or fleeing them.
To me you 'd better force garrison to have a certain number, them have random attrition, which might mean needed moving of troops to update numbers… Pbs of this sort.

The campaign is designed to provide interesting battles to wargame, all at least one corps per side. So the guerrilla war is a very small part of the overall campaign. I also try to keep the administration to a minumum. However it is difficult to balance the Spanish regular armies against the French, and I wanted to increase the influence of the Spanish irregulars.

This is the first time in five years of the campaign that the guerrillas have taken a town from a French garrison. And the garrison were also very unlucky that a second guerrilla band controlled the road that they had to retreat along.

I have been fiddling with the strengh and weakeness of the Spanish armies since the campaign first started, and I still don't feel that I have it right. But I do feel it is moving in the right direction.

Link?

This link is the diary of the whole 1813 campaign.

link

Cuidad Real is the current phase of that campaign

Click on Labels on the right for more information

50 – introduction to southern Spain
51 – French order of battle
52 – Spanish order of battle
53 – campaign diary
54 – battle reports
55 – summary of campaign

It seems historically the " strength" of the Spanish armies is their never endoing re birth, no matter how many beatings. So uless they have no more bases, they just come again. A quicker re appearance would be the thing unless they lose nearly all their supply and secure bases, wheareas. Normal army would be harder to reshape up. It would either make beating them a bit pointless or push towards trying to occupy all, thining up the manpower ( considering the guerillas impacts as seen) thus engulfing armies that are just not available.

I think without the brits, Spain would have been subdued of sorts. Besides the Spanish armies, there was the need of a good ( or two as two routes) to face off the Brits. Too much with the means available and without a good trusted iron fisted central command ( boney or Davout).
So in your capaigns the aims and means should be different with the Spanish armies. But what works for you is best.
And of course we players know the events ourside of Spain, which those inside could not predict.

Each phase of our campaign is a limited mini campaign about the size and scope of Waterloo. They are designed to cover a similar area, last about ten campaign days and provide 3 to 5 battles to wargame. By then one side has clearly won, the other retreats and we go on to the next phase in a different area with two different armies.

It is important that each battle provides an interesting wargame, which is what makes it difficult to have a Spanish army which has an historical feel, but does not get defeated in battle after battle.

The Spanish have lower morale and combat ability than the French, and will usually lose in a formal battle. So I am trying to create attrition casualties and general disruption for the French with the guerrilla bands.

Getting the balance right is proving very difficult.

Day Fifteen and the Spanish occupy a strong defensive position south of the river based on the three towns of Cuidad Rodrigo, Alamaden and Don Pedro. Half of their army is deployed around Cuidad Rodrigo. The remaining two corps are spread between Alamaden and Don Pedro.

Despite his desperate supply situation, Suchet is determined to force a crossing of the river. If he can establish his army south of the river the Spanish will have to abandon Cuidad Real and retreat south.

He orders two of his corps to advance towards Cuidad Rodrigo, but not to attempt to cross the river. His other two corps will cross the river just east of Alamaden. The two Spanish corps holding this area have suffered heavy battle casualties and are widely separated.

He orders both corps to concentrate and attack.