Armchair Dragoons Forums
Wargaming => Age of Gunpowder => Topic started by: Cyrano on November 30, 2019, 07:11:19 PM
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http://www.johntillersoftware.com/NapoleonicBattles/WellingtonWar.html (http://www.johntillersoftware.com/NapoleonicBattles/WellingtonWar.html)
A lot of interesting little scenarios in this one...plus the usual big battle or two.
I do believe this will be the last of the line, bringing to a close a series of games that stretches all the way back to 1996's Battleground 3: Waterloo.
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Salamanca is one that I'd like to understand better.
The important factor in this battle would be the wounding of Marmont right at the start of the british responses. With no overall commander, each French division fought the battle in an independent manner.
Unlike other French armies, this one fought with no corps d'armee structure. The original corps commanders had such personal infighting, that Marmont sent them home before the start of the campaign. If he had not been wounded, Marmont planned to go to the point of contact and control the action himself.
This sounds like the way Wellington fought his divisions as Keegan described it in The Face of Battle.
If there had been a corps commander on the ground, the other divisions in the corps might have been close enough to support Thomieres when his division was attacked, or the commander might have restrained Thomiers from charging too far forward without support.
Gaming this out could be very different.
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I'd be happy to help with any specific questions you have on the battle. Also, there is a small museum in Los Arapiles village, run by a friend of mine, and he could probably answer any queries that I can't. If you get the opportunity, pay the battlefield a visit. Fortunately, when the authorities deemed a road should be run through the battlefield, my friend was able to influence its routing and construction and it now forms a path with historical signposts rather than a scar blighting the site. Much like the Civil War battlefields are treated in the USA.
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Very nice of you, Mike. I'll have to think on the battle a bit to come up with some questions.
Unfortunately, at this point in life, I seriously doubt there are any overseas trips in store. You are right that walking a battlefield can be so helpful in understanding what happened. Glad to hear that the battlefield has had some preservation.
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Very nice of you, Mike. I'll have to think on the battle a bit to come up with some questions.
Unfortunately, at this point in life, I seriously doubt there are any overseas trips in store. You are right that walking a battlefield can be so helpful in understanding what happened. Glad to hear that the battlefield has had some preservation.
My pleasure. Salamanca is a beautiful city and well worth a visit but I am now in my 80s and am not able to tramp the hot, dusty countryside of Spain in 40 degree temperatures nor afford the cost of foreign travel any more - so we may have something in common. However, the battlefield is close to the city and fairly easily accessible if you can find a way of getting to Spain.
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At last - we have someone who is older'n me ;)
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At last - we have someone who is older'n me ;)
Nice try but none of us believe that.
My Christmas reading includes the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. I just read the bit where you scolded Alfred the Great because he burned your Hob Nobs while he was on the run from the Vikings.
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Cocoa and burnt hobnobs just don't go together at all.
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Cocoa and burnt hobnobs just don't go together at all.
Neither do burnt Saxons
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Slightly singed, maybe.
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At last - we have someone who is older'n me ;)
I'm older than EVERYBODY!!
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They (whoever 'they' are) say that with ago comes wisdom, so what we are doing here, heaven alone knows...................
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Slumming with the plebs?
I suspect all this talk of being old and flying the Luftstasche, is all a cover.
The Nine Unknowns, who secretly rule the world, need a laugh now and then.
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At last - we have someone who is older'n me ;)
I'm older than EVERYBODY!!
On mornings like the present one, this prompts all kinds of Schadenfreude :).
Glad you’re here.
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So am. i. This group is a real find for me.