The war commenced on the 13th of June. Castanos' Army Real will try a forward defence of Aragon and Catalonia, enthusiastically sending out his left and right wings to hold back the French. Wellington begins the war in Gibraltar and will spend June assembling a depot at Oporto and then an army there. They begin to make their way across Spain toward Salamanca.

Napoleon is based out of Bayonne and Jourdan from Toulouse. They make a two pronged attack into Spain along opposite coasts.

Castanos, for all of his talk of defiance and resolve, pulls back before the French advances at every opportunity.

No major battles are fought in June but Catalonia is conquered and the fortresses of San Sebastian and Pamplona surrender to the French.

Bonaparte has marched out of Pamplona, sending Davout down the road to Tafella with five divisions. They drove in my cavalry to Tudela. Three French combat divisions, MacDonald's Corps, remain in Pamplona which suggests to me that he is intending to have them follow Davout down the same road. In the east, there are rumours that four French divisions were in Manresa on June 28th. My piquets would have reported if they had gotten so far as Lerida  so I may do well to assume that the French have a Corps at Terraga.

Another message comes from Wellington, stating that he was approaching Cuidad Rodrigo on June 26th. He tells of a naval engagement with the French in the Bay of Biscay that ended with British ships being driven into port for repairs. He believes that the aggressive French naval activity might suggest that the French are intending a march down the north coast. He asks for any intelligence on French activities and I continue to send him almost daily correspondence.

The Left Wing headquarters and three other divisions are ordered to Tudela. I confirm that Espana Cavalry, driven back on Tudela, are no longer on orders to avoid combat. Wellington has changed his center of communications to Burgos so I once more adjust my lines of communications. We are now within two days ride for couriers. Wellington is informed that we will fight at Tudela and that I will be unable to attend my proposed meeting at either Burgos or Soria. I shall be preparing to fight Napoleon with my massed army consisting of nine to twelve divisions.

My headquarters, tonight, remains at Zaragoza so that I can keep an eye on events in the east. The Zaragoza depot has not yet been destroyed. I am waiting until the last minute. Afterall, if I defeat Bonaparte, the depot will prove very useful.

On the morning of July 2nd, I expect to have 50,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry deployed to do battle with Davout's 33,500 infantry and 7,500 cavalry (as reported by Wellington's intercepted message). I may be able to get another 30,000 troops arriving as reinforcements throughout the day if things remain quiet in the east.

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I take a moment to ponder, for the first time, the defense of Zaragoza from an eastern attack. Necessarily, I envision how I would approach the problem and immediately it is obvious that Gelsa is the key to Zaragoza. They should move to  Candasnos, throw up piquets toward Zaragoza, and then begin to cross the Ebro through Gelsa. This has two positive effects for the French: firstly, it is across the river and now they can push 6 divisions from Gelsa and 3 from Candasnos when they initially attack, rather than simply three from Candasnos. Perhaps more importantly though, they are now astride the likely Spanish line of communications to Madrid. It is not terrible because there is no direct road to Badules, but if the French have a Corps at Gelsa, they threaten to march on Siguenza and cut Zaragoza off from the Spanish capital. Suddenly, Spanish troops will need to be pulled from Zaragoza back to Siguenza, at least. The loss of Gelsa makes Zaragoza almost indefensible. To defend Zaragoza, I will need to at least cover Gelsa.

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Still no change in the situation. Wellington should now be at Salamanca and must decide if he will move toward Madrid or continue up the highway. I know that he has received my message asking him to march to Calahorra and Tudela. Wellington's latest missive does not give me any useful new information. My advanced piquets have confirmed that Davout, McDonald, and Napoleon are still at Pamplona, five days after they occupied the city. The looting must be savage.

I find the points to send spies to Vinaros and Alcaniz to give me a heads up if Jourdan moves into Valencia.

Wellington

Castanos

Sent by APEF HQ from Lumbrales on June 25th 1809 Received: 28th Jun 1809 I have intercepted correspondence that indicates that 2 Corps of the French wing, Armee de Pyrenees, is commanded by General Davout. The corps is estimated to have 33500 infantry and 7500 cavalry. They appear to be operating somewhere in the vicinity of Espelette. This is no doubt many days old. I presume that is the force moving down the east coast towards the south that you reported. One of my fleets has engaged a French fleet in the Bay of Biscay, but there is no word on how it has fared against the enemy. I am moving from fleet from the Gulf of Lyon over to the Bay of Biscay as there has been no French activity in the med, and I have a report of a second French fleet off the north coast. I must protect Lisbon from invasion and seek to limit French activities at sea if I can. I may beg the Admiralty for additional fleets Wellesley   Wellington

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Still there is no indication at all of what the French are doing. I know from rumours that they remain in Pamplona but they have not come within two days of Zaragoza by any route. I have to start wondering if they might be making some kind of end run for Madrid but surely I'd have seen some rumour of it. Impatient, I advance my western and northern piquets a day further out, with orders to avoid combat.

The Tremp borderers arrive in Zaragoza and they are in worn condition so some replacements are raised in that city to bolster them.

An English courier arrives to bring word that Wellington was before Cuidad Rodrigo on the 23rd and anticipates being in Burgos by the 30th. He complains of the roads and speaks of Portuguese divisions advancing slightly ahead of his British troops. He wishes me luck.

Catalonia has fallen and my two Catalonian divisions have laid down their arms. The freed up points will go toward starting to build a new depot in Madrid. It requires a week to complete. There is no other news at all other than the confirmation that Pamplona has capitulated.

No messages yet received from Wellington but he has received my message sent on 23rd of June so he knows that I am behind the Ebro.

90, 000 Spanish troops are now within a day's march of Zaragoza. The re-consolidation has been a success. It might be argued at my trial that I have surrendered Catalonia, Pamplona, and San Sebastian without a fight but I was in positions to do battle and gather information but in every case, the French kept themselves massed against me. My army is intact and the british are approaching and we have lost little territory.

We learn a few things from reports today. We learn that Bonaparte's army is called 'Armee de Pyrenees and that Jourdan's is Army of Aragon. We learn that Jourdan's 3rd Corps is commanded by Grouchy and that this is likely the weak one that first was repulsed at Perpignan. Jourdan is dropping garrisons all over the countryside as he goes, perhaps hyper-alert to the threat of guerrillas. If he intends to keep up this strategy, there will be a long line of replacements following after him.

Over the next few days, I will set the Right Wing to the task of fortifying the Zaragoza battlefield while generally resting my troops and waiting for indications of movements from the British and Wellington. I am comfortable with my current situation.

I had a few more points available and had to puzzle over where they had come from. The division that I had left in Pamplona has been destroyed. That means that the garrison in Pamplona, alone now, will surrender within days. Actually, when I check into it, I see that the Pamplona garrison also no longer exists. The city has apparently been taken by storm and I should see movement from Napoleon tomorrow.

In the likely event that Napoleon sends one Corps down the Tafalla road to Zaragoza and sends his other Corps via Sanguesa, I must consider what options would be available to me for the possibility of putting up a defense at Tudela. Three divisions could be marched from Zaragoza as soon as I was certain that the Corps have split and three more could be sent as reinforcements to arrive during the battle perhaps. There are currently 30,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry at Tudela. I could augment that with 20,000 troops and a headquarters from my Left Wing though they are half conscripts. I will send the Left Wing HQ only to Calatayad so that it could be hurried to Tudela by the Agreda route. To do so, it needs me made certain that they are not carrying any supply trains that would slow them down.

Links to gaming battlefields for Pamplona, Tudela, and Zaragoza. We'd work out a compromise 9' X 5' table from the available grid.

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I get concrete information from Pamplona. Six divisions assaulted the walls yesterday including four infantry and two cavalry divisions. Besides MacDonald's I Corps, there is Davout's II Corps and Napoleon. Some 50,000 Frenchmen then. My Tafalla infantry division suffered a decisive loss and the garrison took a loss (likely down to worn and weakened respectively, at least).

News arrives from Barcelona as well. It seems as the one French Corps attacked southward from Perpignan, it drove my forces southward to Barcelona. That city was emptied by my Right Wing departing on orders for Lerida. As the Girona troops arrived in Barcelona though a second French Corps attacked from Vich. I should assume that these harassed troops were then forced to retreat to Manresa and that they are there now. I should also assume that the Tremp Borderers are likely in worn or worse condition. Since Barcelona will be captured any day now, the 1st and 2nd Catalonia divisions, also retreating from Barcelona, should cease to exist soon. That will give me enough points to consider a depot in Madrid. Before that though, I could raise some replacements for the Tremp Borderers to pick up as they pass through Zaragoza.

Madrid continues to be attacked by revolutionary elements but I learn that, as of the 22nd, the Madrid Defense HQ was in weakened condition and the Second Castillean division there is still Fresh.

I get receipts from two of my messages sent to Wellington that gave him news of events on June 17 and 18. I know that he knows now that the French are in San Sebastian.

The Left Wing is recalled to Zaragoza. The Reserve is despatched to Agreda, south of the Ebro, to at least provide a speed bump should the French try to cut my route to Madrid. I opt to give them all forced march orders. They can rest when we're across the river.

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I ought to be communicating with the British now about what our longer term strategies might be. If I sent him a message now, he would receive it at Cabillas (west of Salamanca) on June 28th. It is at Salamanca that the British will need to determine if they will go southeast to Madrid or northeast toward Pamplona or perhaps San Sebastian. It is difficult at this point to conjecture on what the overall French strategy might be and what weaknesses that might reveal. It may be too large an assumption on my part but I am expecting Bonaparte to push on Zaragoza. It *might* be the case that, having secured Pamplona, Napoleon will then be waiting for Jourdan to swing up and take Zaragoza. The two French wings might be trying to operate in close support of one another or they may be on distinctly different goals.

Jourdan's movements out of Barcelona won't be a definite indicator. I would expect him to go southwest and west from there simply because the roads are otherwise too poor to allow him to push straight down the coast with 2+ Corps. Bonaparte's direction out of Pamplona is the critical indicator. if he goes southeast to Zaragoza, he is playing his hand and exposing his flank to the British but more, allowing Castanos and Wellington to combine against him to his west. If his ambition is to draw us into a field battle, that will work.  

My first instinct is to propose a link up with Wellington west of Pamplona early in July, assuming that Napoleon is either still at Pamplona or at Zaragoza. But there is a problem with this: the road network is abysmal. It seems entirely unworkable. The Ebro and Arga rivers present a severe impediment to trying to force a crossing. Wellington might look at going as far north as Lizaso to get around the river. Tudela though seems to be the key and I will go back to moderate my orders to the reserve corps, in hopes of hanging on to Tudela for a bit longer. If the British and I were to try to force a crossing at Tudela, we can approach it by three minor roads and get nine divisions into it each day (6 if the French are besieging Zaragoza). It is the ideal place for a bridgehead on the Ebro. I will ask Wellington to make haste for Longrono and Calahorra, perhaps Soria and Agreda if he seeks an additional road. I do not know the size of his army.

Reserve Corps is ordered instead to Tudela but I make certain to specify that their cavalry will piquet toward Tafalla. In order to encourage them to withdraw toward Agreda if pressed, I transfer their Center of Communications to Siguenza. While I am at it, I transfer the Center of Communications for my Right Wing to Zaragoza and tear down the last of what used to me my San Sebastian to Barcelona line of communications. Wellington has advanced his Center of Communications to Cuidad Rodrigo so I can also remove two legs from my line that went into Portugal. With the points that this freed up, I'll raise some replacements that the Tremp Borderers can get replenished with (when they get closer) and consider constructing breastwork field fortifications at either Zaragoza or Agreda or maybe even Tudela.

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Generally, all seems to continue quietly. I will trust that my Right Wing is now marching toward Zaragoza. Now I get a rumour from that wing that they hear that Napoleon and the Imperials Guard are at Perpignan. So much for the reliability of rumours. Still, more rumours flitter on the air about French detachments in Tolosa and Lizaso. I can start to worry about the French trying some fancy manoeuvre around my flanks but it would seem imprudent to start imagining such without any evidence at all.

Piquets scouting Pamplona report between five and seven French combat divisions besieging my defenders there. MacDonald's I Corps is there which was first sighted at San Sebastian.

The Right Wing has orders to go so far as Lerida and everything seems secure northwest of Zaragoza so I send orders to the Right Wing to direct it on to Zaragoza by forced marches. I will expect to see them on or about June 26th. If they get to Zaragoza and the French still have not advanced beyond Pamplona (or appeared on my flanks), I can make more definite plans.

If the Right Wing will be in Zaragoza on the 26th, I will tomorrow order my Left Wing and Reserve to start moving back as well. Not today though.

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There are rumours that five French divisions were at Lizaso yesterday, including Bonaparte and the Imperial Guard. The French have not advanced from Pamplona yet but the siege is underway.

Four French divisions marched on Girona yesterday, north of Barcelona. I appear to have three divisions there, including the Catalonia divisions that I had thought I had ordered to remain in Barcelona. The French withdrew without a battle back north to Perpignan. That is surprising. Rumours tell of a garrison in Narbonne, which is not surprising.

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Piquets north of Barcelona report that on the 19th they skirmished with perhaps four divisions of French at Perpignan. Those French may be in Girona now and preparing to engage my right wing at Barcelona. In the north, I received no word of a battle at Pamplona which might mean that the siege has started and the couriers cannot get out. It might also mean that no French troops arrived at Pamplona.

In theory, my Tafalla and Sanguesa forces could safely sit outside Pamplona while the French get hung up besieging it but it seems foolhardy to leave my corps so separated in the face of the enemy. I have issues to deal with if I am decided that I cannot face the combined forces of Napoleon and I fear that he will keep them combined and mutually supporting. Zaragoza is not so important that falling back on it should open up a route for the French to make for Madrid. Similarly, as I fall back south from Bonaparte, I need to ensure that my Right Wing is not abandoned. If I intend to protect Madrid directly, the Barcelona defense will need to be abandoned.

On a side note, there is news of rioting and fighting in the streets of Madrid. I am confident that Valesco has been given enough troops to deal with whatever the French sympathizers can stir up.

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Looking longer term, the link up with the British is supposed to happen in approximately ten days. If Wellington is at Burgos on June 30th then the Spanish army should be centered on Madrid round about that time. That would put the armies in support distance of one another, or at least capable of moving into support distance. My left wing is eight days from Madrid. My Right Wing at Barcelona is ten days out. Transferring my depot to Madrid will require a week and since I haven't got the points to create an additional depot, I will need to destroy the Zaragoza depot before I can start to build the Madrid depot. This is not a major problem as with no points to spend I cannot buy any replacements in any case. I anticipate having plenty of free points once Zaragoza and Barcelona fall and all of my Catalonian and Aragon local troops lay down their arms. That does not mean that I want to accelerate or accommodate those conquests.

When the Barcelona Corps returns to Zaragoza, there are two crossing points of the Arga: at Zaragoza (and Candasnos) or back at Tortosa. It is a five day march to the bridge at Zaragoza and three to Tortosa. It also requires one day to get the courier to Barcelona ordering any withdrawal. Therefore, from the moment that a decision is reached to withdraw my right wing, if they will withdraw to Zaragoza I will need to hold Zaragoza for six days. I believe that the French are currently at least four days from taking Zaragoza but even that is wildly speculative since I have no confirmed assessment of the French strength at Pamplona.

It seems premature to withdraw my Barcelona force before it has fought the enemy but if there was a French Corps at Perpignan on the 19th then Jourdan will have had four days to march the two days to Barcelona by the time my courier from Zaragoza reaches Quixano. Frankly, I expect that Quixano will already be falling back on Lerida when he gets the order to retire to there.

So Quixano is ordered to march for Zaragoza via Lerida. I expect to see them at Zaragoza on June 26th (When the British are expected to be at Salamanca). All I have to do now is defend Zaragoza for six days but that also includes keeping the road to Madrid clear so for this, Agreda and Siguenza will become the responsibility of my small reserve Corps. Should they be required to retreat from Tafalla and Tudela, I'll want to orchestrate their retreat across the Arga to Agreda.

The Left Wing meanwhile will be left at Sanguesa for a couple more days with the intention that it will fall back toward Zaragoza before any significant French advance out of Pamplona before that city falls. It is anticipated that Bonaparte will sit atop Pamplona with one Corps and send another Corps probing toward Zaragoza. If Pamplona manages to hold out longer than San Sebastian then the probing corps may get too far forward of Pamplona and offer me an opportunity to do battle. If nothing comes out of Pamplona then I will have to assume that MacDonald is instead marching on Burgos, in which case his two corps are beyond support range again and I can still offer battle at Pamplona.

Where is Napoleon!?   

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Another crisis of confidence arises. I get a report from San Sebastian that they were crushed by a French assault and see that they have been destroyed. San Sebastian has fallen. That frees up Bonaparte to bring his entire force against me if I hit Pamplona... if he is quick enough to see it. Meanwhile, at Pamplona, it sounds like the garrison drove off the French there and are not besieged at all. The remainder of the French corps never arrived. Will Bonaparte take this as a sign that Pamplona requires serious effort and throw the whole of his army there now that it is finished with San Sebastian?

General News:

Bandits, Brigands, and Hooligans, paid with gold stolen by Bonaparte, are stirring up unrest at Sevilla, Andalucia.

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At the last minute I get cold feet and halt everyone a day from Pamplona. One division is left inside the fortress to support the garrison and the left wing headquarters is sent hurrying out at top priority for Sanguesa.

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I get exactly the message that I had expected from San Sebastian: My garrison was fighting a French cavalry division and four further French divisions arrived throughout the day. My defenders got an indecisive result and withdrew into the fortress.

A French cavalry division also arrived at Pamplona. We should expect to see its four accompanying infantry divisions there tomorrow. I got out of that fortress in the nick of time. My Left Wing is nestled happily at Tudela but when I check the units I find one disconcerting thing: the headquarters is not there. Moving at lowest priority, the headquarters would have been caught by the French cavalry and pinned. Having General Espana caught inside Pamplona complicates things but it is not yet a crisis.

Still, I begin to calculate what I could muster to throw at Pamplona if I take a couple of days.

• An infantry division, a headquarters, and garrison are at Pamplona.
• Arties mixed conscript division is four days away at Arties.
• Jaca conscript cavalry is a day away at Jaca.
• Espana conscript cavalry is one day away at Tudela.
• Sanguesa and 1st Aragon infantry divisions are two days away at Tudela.
• Madrid Defense Corps HQ is three days away at Madrid but one day must be added for the courier to reach it.
• My Headquarters is 2 days away at Zaragoza.
• By skimming, two new infantry divisions could be raised at Zaragoza that would be three days away.
• Two infantry divisions are 8 days away at Madrid so we discount them.

Some of these could be hurried along with forced marches. Each of the two roads that I would be using can carry up to six divisions. Problematically, the northern road that some units would march down is widely separated from the southern road so the two groups would be incapable of supporting one another.

So, in three days, I could have two headquarters units, two conscript cavalry divisions, a conscript mixed division,  and five infantry divisions. This would fight four French divisions and a Corps headquarters. If I lose the battle, everything is stuck inside Pamplona but they would likely sally out the next day for another battle.

I think about that fight in terms of a miniature battle. An advantage that I *might* have is an army commander and a corps commanders against only a single enemy corps commander. That could give me 2-1 artillery superiority... in quantity but not quality.

What if Napoleon is there?

No news at all comes from the area around Barcelona.

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I resolve to commit everything to a battle that will occur at Pamplona on June 22nd. All spies are discredited and my lines of communications are shrunk to the bare minimum possible. The allied division in Old Castile is disbanded. This allows me to raise the last two Aragon infantry divisions and a Reserve Corps headquarters under Navarro (a far from ideal commander but all I could muster with my resources so stretched).

I send orders out to each division individually. This will take too much precision to rely on Corps Commanders. I will muster the left wing at Tafalla, screened by cavalry piquets. My weak center I try to muster at Sanguesa, also with piquets toward Pamplona. This will hopefully screen me from any French piquets at the siege of Pamplona. All troops are ordered to not march to the sound of the guns for we expect to hear fighting at Pamplona as Espana makes a stand against the lone cavalry division there now. Instead, I am mustering as great an army as I can muster one day away from Pamplona and then will march 9 divisions down two roads to arrive near simultaneously on the evening of the 21st. My headquarters remains in Zaragoza for the time being to ensure that I can get orders to my right wing in a timely manner. This also ensures that only three units are ordered to use the west bridge out of Zaragoza tomorrow.

Hrm. If everything works perfectly, I should be painting up more Spanish infantry. The Arties Borderers are being asked to march 5 legs in two days, an impossible task, but if they are very lucky and good (not likely for conscripts), they might arrive on the battlefield at noon on the 22nd.

Sent by APEF HQ from Gibraltar on June 12th 1809 Received: 19th Jun 1809 Greetings, I am assembling my forces at Gibraltar, but expect to land in Lisbon as soon as possible. I plan on proceeding up the road towards Cuidad Rodrigo as I expect that to be a logical approach for the French when they attack. I have a line of communications running that far at the moment. The British people will come to your aid, rest assured Wellesley   Wellington Go to Top

A report comes from San Sebastian that the leading elements of MacDonald's I Corps have reached that city. It is only a division at present. My Narbonne spies reports that on the 14th of June, 5 divisions were in the area, so I deduce that these are five of the eight travelling from Toulouse. That sounds like a Corps. If they were at Carcassone (the first place that would have triggered the spy on the road from Toulouse) on the 14th then on the 18th, that French Corps might be as far south as Barcelona. If they are in Barcelona, I won't hear about it until tomorrow with my HQ still in Zaragoza. Being in the middle puts me two days from San Sebastian and two days from Barcelona. Perhaps I ought to commit.

I cannot decide yet to react to MacDonald's Corps at San Sebastian.

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My Left flank presents some problems. It is reasonable to expect that there is a second, perhaps third French Corps coming out of Bayonne. My Left Wing, on a good day, could fight a single French Corps. Discussions with the British prior to the commencement of the campaign suggested that I should expect them to appear in the vicinity of Burgos on or about the first of July. Indeed, we had agreed to meet there on that day to coordinate our plans, understanding that the situation on the ground may make that impractical. I have to fight the French for two weeks then with what I have.

With only a few thousand garrison soldiers in San Sebastian, I cannot expect it to hold out more than a few days but also, I cannot expect the French to get hung up trying to conquer it. I should anticipate that MacDonald will stop at San Sebastian and lay siege to it but at least one other corps will push on past it. Due to the nature of the roads in this sector, I can see three possible uses for the French other corps.

The first route, west down the coast, seems highly unlikely due to lack of objectives in that direction but more, would be something that I could do nothing about in the short term. This is discounted then.

The Second is the route that the British commander and I would like them to take. It would give us a central fight with the British and Spanish able to work in concert somewhere around Valladolid. We tell ourselves that surely the French will want to use that highway.

The third is the one that I should consider the most likely because the French won't want to push down the highway with Pamplona fortress in their rear, possibly housing Spanish troops. Also, from Pamplona they could swing down to take Zaragoza. The capture of Zaragoza would make Aragon captured and give them some security in their lines of communications but also would allow the northern French (Bonaparte) to link up with and communicate with Jourdan in the south. This route is the worst possible for me and is the only one that I am in a position to deal with so I will act as though this is what Bonaparte will do.

It is not in my best interest to allow my Left Wing to get caught inside Pamplona. I will leave a single division (not an Aragon division) with the garrison at Pamplona to allow them to hold out longer and will move off the rest in an effort to use them to achieve a successful battle someplace. But where?

Longrono seems a good place for the defensive situation that the roads provide but those same rivers make it difficult to attack out of there. Further, if the French march on Zaragoza and take Tudela, I will have lost the ability to communicate with my Left Wing. Sanguesa is bad because it only allows me to fight at Pamplona and if I lose at Pamplona, I will be required to retreat into the fortress. Sadly, I am looking at Tudela or Zaragoza but that seems entirely passive. I don't yet know what to do with my left wing but I will order it to Tudela (while leaving a garrison at Pamplona. Sadly, here I am fleeing before I have made any appreciable contact. 

Wellington has meanwhile switches his center of communication from Gibraltar to Operto so I take the last two legs off of my line of communication down to Gibraltar so that it only goes as far as Sevilla. Couriers from Cadiz can still employ that line. This gets me back 4 points.

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Intelligence comes in from three sources. First, I get a rumour that Jourdan is using Narbonne as his center of operations. Secondly, my spy at St Gaudens 'The Violet Hawk', has reported eight divisions in the vicinity on the 13th. My piquets from Arties report encountering two enemy divisions at Sagneres-de-Luchon  and one of them is a garrison. It stands to reason, since that is not a fortress, that the other unit is an infantry division that was sent there to place the garrison. From this, I can deduce that the French are setting up a line of communications but that isn't entirely consistent with my other information.

This will take some puzzling.

The possibility exists that Jourdan is indeed using Narbonne as his Center of Operations but that the eight divisions sighted near St Gaudens is not Jourdan. Instead, since I know that rumours are not accurate and can be a couple of cities off, and that spy reports include totals ranging one city out, and that there are two cities that are the nearest possible French depot locations (Bayonne and Toulouse), I take this series of intelligence reports to read as follows:

Jourdan has his depot and center of operations at Toulouse. I interpret eight divisions to be two French Corps but the division dropping a garrison at Sagneres-de-Luchon is not travelling with a Corps. He is intending to march at least some part of his forces south through Sagneres-de-Luchon, establishing a line of communication into Spain but it is interesting that he did not first push a Corps down that road and then drop garrisons behind them. Does he intend a feint? Is it a probe? If it is a probe, do I benefit from putting up a strong defense or should I try to draw him in and order my piquets back, making him believe the area undefended?

I will sleep on this but I note that my right Wing could be forced march to Arties from Tarrega and, if I am  lucky with force marches, and I order Tremp there as well, I could have five divisions in Arties by tomorrow evening. If I do this, I will order my headquarters and the Esquarda division to Ainsa in support. All this though for the sighting of a single division and a garrison? Would I be falling for a feint?

****************

After reflection, I decide that the French garrison in the mountains is there defensively, not for a line of communications. If it were for communications, the obvious line would have been Toulouse>Arties>Zaragoza. Using Sagneres-de-Luchon is impractical but it is a great place for a defensive line. That means that the French Center of Communications may indeed be at Narbonne. Jourdan, having put his depot in Toulouse, intends to hold in the center while swinging down the coast. I do consider the possibility of making a drive on Toulouse to capture the French depot there but it is too early to attempt any such antics. I would need to wait until the French have marched further south away from that depot.

For now, I will bide my time and gather more information. I do have a spy in Narbonne and it is notable that he has not reported in yet.

********

But no! In a fit of defiance I determine that I will defend Barcelona (the goal is to have battles, afterall). The Right Wing can be force marched there and maybe be in Barcelona on the 18th but fatigued. I hope to raise two Catalonian divisions in Barcelona. These are slightly cheaper than national units and have the 'advantage' of disbanding should Catalonia fall so that I can instantly raise new units elsewhere. The whole operation will be under the command of Quixano and one of the tough decisions I have is to set their Center of Operations as being either Lerida or Tarragona, as this will become their default retreat path should they be thrown back from Barcelona. I determine that it will be Lerida as I do not want half of my army to end up bottled up inside Tarragona fortress.

Catalonian regular infantry cost 5 points apiece and a supply wagon (to possibly remove the fatigue from the hurrying Corps) will cost 2 so I am looking to free up 9 points. Well, the Barcelona spy won't be necessary now since I'll have troops there. Another 6 points can be found in the Esquarda regiment sitting at Zaragoza. The downside to this plan (besides removing my only reserve) is that it means that should disaster descend upon me, I would not be able to destroy the Zaragoza depot until the 20th of June.

In aid of this plan, I'll send the Tremp borderers marching from Tremp to fall upon Girona (north of Barcelona) in an attempt to disrupt the French advance on Barcelona. These will be transferred to the Right Wing for this operation.

While I am dealing with spies, I discredit the Violet Hawk and send a spy to Burgos in Old Castile to let me know if the French break out onto the highway in the north.

If all goes well, I should have nearly 50,000 Spanish soldiers defending Barcelona by tomorrow night. As a final bit of administration that could matter on a  battlefield, I transfer the Barcelona garrison's command to Quixano as well.

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Due to a glitch, two days were processed. All of my forward divisions should now be in place except for the Right Wing headquarters which is likely still en route to Terraga.. The local divisions that I have raised in the interior are wandering about on their own, within their borders, looking for trouble.

So now I relax.

...and then I make a change. I am restless about the forces in Madrid not being devoted to the defense of that city. The way to stop allied units from wandering randomly is to put them under orders or within 3 of their Corps HQ. So I order General Valesco to form a Madrid Defense Corps and hurry to the Capital. The 2nd Castilian, a New Castile unit originally raised in Madrid, is also ordered to that location. It will take two or three days for that courier to reach the 2nd Castilian  so just in case something goes awry, I'll plan to send the order again in two days, once its Corps HQ is in Madrid and it may be better able to get the orders through. I am at 167/170 points. Losing Madrid would cost me 50 points.

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Another 30,000 Spanish troops march east from Zaragoza. For the next three or four days, I wait for my troops to get into place and keep an eye on reports from my troops that might indicate the direction of the French approach.

This also allows me plenty of time to second guess myself and start changing the plans. I don't want to spend my last 10 points as I want the ability to drop a division, depot, or line of communication when the situation dictates. Also, I know that I'm going to need replacements soon.

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45,000 Spanish soldiers march out of Zaragoza today, heading north and west.

Espana's forces have set off for Pamplona. It consists of three infantry divisions. Espana's headquarters remains in Zaragosa due to road congestion. I make a note that I anticipate the Left Wing to be complete in Pamplona on the 16th.

I build two infantry divisions and a mixed (light) division and assign them to Quixano. They'll be ordered to march for Tarrega, in the Catalonian Hills. This is a three day journey but will, once again, take four due to getting over the Zaragossan bridges. They'll start off tomorrow and so be ready in Tarraga on the 17th.

The Left and Right Wings are being positioned three days from my headquarters because that enables me to get instant communications if they encounter any French. With piquets and rumours, from June 17th I may be able to hear of French activity from coast to coast.

My three conscript divisions marched off to take their positions in the north with the Jaca Cavalry being in position so I am certain of piquets as far as Lascun, France.

A single infantry division is raised in Zaragoza to keep my headquarters and garrison company.

Distressingly, I am 154 out of 170 points. There is always the temptation to eliminate spies to free up points but right now, good intelligence is worth more than bad soldiers. I'll be able to free up some points spent on lines of communications once the British shift their Center of Communications out of Gibraltar to Oporto. Until they do I am paying for two long lines. Still, there is merit in keeping those lines up so that I can stay in communications with my southern and western divisions and garrisons.

As an afterthought, I raise a division of conscript cavalry for the Left Wing and send it hurrying to Pamplona with orders to send piquets toward Lizaso. 160/170.

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PRE-GAME:

Political Situation: France has most of the lesser German states allied to it. Prussia, Russia, and Austria remain neutral. Britain and Spain form a coalition against the invading French. Portugal is a minor ally of Britain. Gibraltar is considered to be a province of Britain.

Spain is composed of seven provinces: Galiza, Extremadura, Valencia, Old Castile, New Castile, Aragon, Andalucía, and Catalonia

Game situation: Initially, one player will play Britain, one will play Spain, and two French players will be played. The intention is that the war will be focussed on the peninsula so rogue landings in France or Britain would be considered unsporting. We've reduced all the players from the normal 200 point armies to 150 points each because currently our gaming club doesn't have a large number of Napoleonics players that can make it each week so this will hopefully generate smaller battles.

The Initial Plan:

I didn't want to sit back and try to defend Madrid. Instead I wish to base out of Zaragoza and maintain a strong centrally advanced position. In the event that the French try to advance on San Sebastian or Terragona, I can push out behind them. The goal is to force the French to divert energies to fighting the Spanish as soon as possible and thereby allow the British time to get into theater. If the French come right down the middle at Zaragoza, this is where I will pull the army together and seek to fight a major battle at Huesca or Zaragoza. Inflicting a major defeat upon the French early in the campaign would discourage the French and make it more likely that they would over commit to this central threat.  

It is also my intention to deploy allied units in Seville, Valladolid and Merida, to secure those provinces from guerrilla/revolutionary insurgencies. I had considered placing naval squadrons in the western Mediterranean and Gulf of Lyon but they are slipping down the priority list as the points begin to be expended. I need to start work assembling a secondary depot and that might be Madrid but that means surrendering the coasts. I will need to discuss matters with the British when they arrive in theater.

Currently the British are expected to either create a depot in Oporto, Portugal that will become active a week into the campaign, Portsmouth, or the fortress of Gibraltar.

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Castanos would begin the campaign with 150 base points and 20 points for having 4 allied nations for 170 total.

Logistics

Depot in Zaragoza - 10 points
Line of Communication from Zaragoza, Aragon to Gibraltar via Cadiz, Andalucía - 18 points (The British depot will be in Gibraltar)
Line of Communications from Terragona,Catalonia to San Sebastian, Aragon via  Zaragoza, Aragon- 10 points
Line of Communications from Madrid, Old Castile to Oporto, Lisbon - 10 points
Spies are deployed in Barcelona, St Gaudens, and Narbonne - 9 points

I assumed Military Governor duties to all Spanish provinces and so took over responsibility of seventeen garrisons. Eight of those garrisons still have no lines of communications to them.

Logistics Point total = 57 points

Depot Purchases - Zaragoza can raise 6 units per day

Left Wing Corps - Espana - 7 points
Right Wing Corps - Quixano - 9 points
 

I wanted three conscript units to deploy to my north to give me an early warning screen against French coming through the mountain roads.
Tremp Borders - Spanish mixed conscripts - 4 points
Arties Border Guard - Spanish mixed conscripts - 4 points
Jaca Cavalry - Spanish cavalry conscripts - 6 points

That left me able to raise only a single other division in Zaragoza's depot today.
Tafalla - Spanish regular infantry - 6 points

Depot purchases total = 36

Allied Purchases - each of the Spanish provinces can be used to raise troops in their capitals which are slightly cheaper but have the disadvantage of disappearing if the province is conquered.

 First, I bolstered my provincial capitals to defend against insurgencies. These are not great at that task because if they don't have a Corps HQ nearby, they will move randomly within their provincial borders.

Two regular infantry divisions in Seville, Andalucía - 10 points
One regular infantry division in Merida, Extremadura - 5 points
One regular infantry division in Valladolid, Old Castile - 5 points
One regular infantry division in Madrid, New Castile - 5 points

I suspect that these extra allied divisions may turn out to be  a bad investment.

Finally, wanting to get my Left Wing marching on day one for Pamplona, I purchased two allied Aragon infantry regular divisions in their capital (Zaragoza) and assigned them to my left wing - 10 points.

Allied Investment total = 35 points

TOTAL POINTS SPENT = 128 out of 170

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