WPW - forest on the Salamanca map

[mezentius]

Hi -- I recently purchased Wellington's Peninsular War and am enjoying it immensely. However, I was surprised to see on the Salamanca map the presence of large forested areas north and west of Calvarrasa de Ariba. In other maps & games in which this battlefield is depicted, these areas (around the British deployment) are generally depicted as a plain, or perhaps "rough" or "difficult" at most—with the forested areas being limited to the area of the French deployment.

I'm sure this wasn't an arbitrary choice and was based on careful research. If the designer is lurking, would it be possible to hear more about this, or perhaps see the sources for the contemporary state of the battlefield?

Thank you!

Nick

[RichWhite]

Hi -- I recently purchased Wellington's Peninsular War and am enjoying it immensely. However, I was surprised to see on the Salamanca map the presence of large forested areas north and west of Calvarrasa de Ariba. In other maps & games in which this battlefield is depicted, these areas (around the British deployment) are generally depicted as a plain, or perhaps "rough" or "difficult" at most—with the forested areas being limited to the area of the French deployment.

I'm sure this wasn't an arbitrary choice and was based on careful research. If the designer is lurking, would it be possible to hear more about this, or perhaps see the sources for the contemporary state of the battlefield?

Thank you!

Nick

W. Faden’s plan of the battle, published 1st Jan 1813. George III’s military map collection. See militarymaps.rct.uk

[mezentius]

W. Faden’s plan of the battle, published 1st Jan 1813. George III’s military map collection. See militarymaps.rct.uk

Hi Rich — thank you for the reply. This collection is a great resource.

In Faden's plan, I can see the forested areas north of Calvarrasa de Ariba (although they seem more scattered than in the game map), but I don't see the forested areas to the west between Calvarrasa de Ariba and the Arapiles. This map seems closer to the more traditional depictions of the battlefield—but, as an amateur, possibly I'm missing something?

Here's the relevant detail from the Faden map:



From the Neele map:



And in the game, which includes these forested areas between Calvarrasa de Ariba and the Lesser Arapile which I can't find on the above maps:



Just interested to learn more about your historical detective work in reconstructing the situation, as the presence or absence of forest here seems fairly important from a tactical standpoint!