Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Though I am very excited by the coming of Jena, as an Anglophile, I was curious as to whether or not HPS will be doing a game on the battles of the Peninsular War? It is second only to Russia in 1812, in contributing to the downfall of Naploeon, who refered to it as his Spanish Ulcer. Yes, I know Napoleon was personally only in Spain for a few months in late 1808, but it was a major theater of the Napoleonic wars from 1808 to 1814. So what say you, HPS!!

Lt. Bill Spitz
1/27th Regiment of Foot (The Inniskillings)
10th Brigade, 6th Division
Anglo-Allied Army

[:D] Good call.

Nik Butler
NWC - Capt, 2/59th (2nd Nottinghamshire), 4th Div, British Army
CCC - Maj, 2/59th (2nd Nottinghamshire), British Army

In the meantime that HPS would publish it, have a look at Cobexlaw.
They have a lot of custons scn on HPS - some on the Peninsula war. very well done indeed I think ...

<font color="orange">Kapitein Valère Bernard </font id="orange">
<font color="red">Anglo-Allied Administrative Adjutant</font id="red">
<font color="orange">Divisie Nederlandsche Kavallerie
I Corps
Anglo-Allied Army
</font id="orange">

I could have my arm twisted to design that one. [:D]

Colonel Al Amos
1erè Brigade Commandant
2ème Division de Dragons

Mssrs.,

I too would welcome a Peninsular Campaign game, but I sincerely doubt that the system's emphasis on recreating battles can ever effectively model the fact that the French were defeated in the Peninsula, first and foremost, by the continuous, unrelenting efforts of a Spanish "Nation in Arms".

The siege of Gerona, for instance, cost the French 20,000 casualties, while Wellington's greatest victory, Salamanca, inflicted only 13,000 casualties. During the last 4 years of the Peninsular War, the French lost on average 100 men a day solely from sickness and guerilla raids, a total of 164,000 men! Equally important, despite their many defeats the Spanish regular forces continued to regroup and return to the field creating a threat that the French could not ignore. "Consequently, a colossal percentage of the French army was rendered unavailable for operations against Wellington because innumerable Spanish contingents kept materialising all over the country. In 1810, for example, when Massena invaded Portugal, the Imperial forces in the peninsula totalled a massive 325,000 men, but only about a quarter of these could be spared for the offensive - the rest were required to contain the Spanish insurgents and regulars." Gates, David, <u>The Spanish Ulcer</u>, p. 34.

The issue is not how to give Wellington his "day", but how to give the heroic Spanish nation <font color="red"><b>its</b></font id="red"> due.

Regards,

Paco

<i>Maréchal</i> M. Francisco Palomo
<i>Prince d'Essling, Grande Duc d'Abrantes et
Comte de Marseille
Commandant - Division de Cavalerie de la Vieille Garde </i>

While it is not our policy to let out titles before they are published I can safely say that we are working on the Iberian campaigns. The title(s) was started some time ago, the designer had to drop but Rich H. (who mentioned this online sometime ago) has picked it up and hopefully will have it done by a couple of years at most. No promises/dates and please dont hound him about it.



Bill Peters
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

[url="http://www.fireandmelee.net"]Fire and Melee Wargame site[/url]

Bill, thanks once again for the update. Patience will be the byword. It's just good to know that somewhere down the pike it's coming.

Paco, I agree with your assessment of the fortitude of the the Spanish people. Their officer corps left much to be desired, but the bravery, stolidness, and stamina of the Spanish people were never in question.

Valere, thanks for the info, I'll check it out.

Everyone else, thanks for the support.

[:D][;)]

Lt. Bill Spitz
1/27th Regiment of Foot (The Inniskillings)
10th Brigade, 6th Division
Anglo-Allied Army