"Peninsula campaign" Topic

well I have started planning for a Peninsula campaign. I am looking at using Blucher to fight individual battles and using a variation of the Scharnhorst campaign system but using the Jasper Nantiat maps of Portugal and Spain to plot movement. I have downloaded the maps from link etc which will give me a huge map on which to plot the armies moves (well if it was good enough for the Duke it will do for me). what I am planning on doing with the maps is separating each of the 4 original maps into individual tiles which I will print on to individual A4 sheets which I will then mount on to a cotton backing to give something like the original maps as used by the British it should give me a huge chart to plan battles on (roughly each map will be approximately 4x3ft )

You might try these maps out. Check out Iberia.
murat.ca/maps.htm

I haven't seen those ones before they look very useful so thank you. they just don't have a massive amount of detail but they will be useful

I love those maps – haven't seen them in ages.

Second vote for the Murat maps.

55th, the map you are planning to use is a great piece of art but, you might find the Murat maps much more useful. Although the map you have is high in detail, it's still a small map of a very big country. Consequently, purpose made (for war gaming) resources are often much better (IMHO).

I know the Murat maps were designed for point to point movement (so you don't need to measure anything, you just need to come up with move rates to suit your time scale), they show basic topography, and they denote 1st and 2nd class roads (no road, no supply when it comes to armies). In fact, the Murat maps provide just about all the information you need for large scale war-game campaigns.

When things get up close, and you need to make sketch maps of particular areas, I find Google Earth provides a very detailed view of the basic topography (especially when you use the ground view, to get a feel for the hilliness, etc.) then you just need to add your own woods, downsize villages, etc. What you come up with will be much more useful (for war gaming) than the very rough idea of local terrain your original high detail big map will show.

Just an opinion, of course. Good luck, however you choose to go.

you are right in a lot of ways Olicana, but I also want to produce the maps because I have an interest in military mapping, as that was a part of my Job whilst I served in the Royal Air Force in aerial reconnaissance back in the 80's. My main issue with the Murat Maps is how inaccurate they are, for example on the British map it includes Milton Keynes. The issue is that before 1967 Milton Keynes never existed, it was built as a new town as part of the post WW2 regeneration. So would never exist on a Napoleonic map. and I know there are other errors on the British map This then casts doubt as what other places on other charts fall into the same category. as Part of the campaign I also plan to create 6x4 and up to 9x6 maps using a system similar to the Battlefinder system link but using 4in hexes which I am making from Foam and using 2mm figures on 50mm bases for the battles on which I plan to fight the actual battles

Hi 55, although I have a pretty good knowledge of British geographical history (including the New Town building program), I can't say the same about Spain – so what I don't know can't hurt me (LOL). BTW, Milton Keynes existed prior to modern Milton Keynes and is still there – I believe it's called Middleton now, and the new town is built around it.

I've seen the Battlefinder system before and did something similar for a fictional SYW campaign…

link

….which didn't work, but not because of the maps.

I plan on using something similar again, but make the maps join up point to point rather than using a grid – the 'secret orders for simultaneous moves' system did the players heads in (because the players didn't have a clue what was going on), as umpire it proved to be a nightmare and, in the end, I didn't didn't have a clue either. Much better, we all decided, that point to point movement with a limited road network, a Ugo – Igo move sequence, and much less secrecy works much, much better. Next time I'll probably work an asymmetric initiative point system and a random card action sequence into the campaign rules (if you have played Piquet you'll get this straight away) to add flavour, command ability, fog of war, etc.

The point to point map I'm planning will have a 'table map' per 'campaign map point' – so that players can 'choose their ground' – with each map being a layout of the wargame table. I might use a square table map per 'point' (12 x 12) to allow any one of 4 rectangles (my table is 12 x 6) to be chosen from it.

BTW: One thing I will keep from the failed system, is the abstracted chance of manoeuvring an enemy out of his position: When entering a 'point' on the map the first player there can orientate the base edges of the map to suit him (he chooses his ground). If the enemy enters the 'point', he might be able to out manoeuvre the defender and switch the baselines to suit him instead. I think this might work very well.

As said, I wish you luck. Campaigns, when they work, are as good as it gets. We've played several here and most have been successful and fun – winning battles is one thing, winning wars is on another level!