JTS Bonaparte's Peninsular War Released

[Rich White]

I thought it might be useful to post a copy of what I wrote at the NWC forum here

http://wargame.ch/board/nwc/viewtopic.ph...845#p84845

First of all, I'd like to thank Andrew Bamford for his expert knowledge in putting together the oobs for this project, Mark Adams & Joe Amoral for their excellent work with the graphics and of course our project manager Rich Hamilton for bringing everything together. I'd also like to thank the playtesters Andy Moss, Jim Owczarski, Jim Hall, Mike Cox, Joao Lima, Doug Fuller and also Atle Jenssen for all their useful comments and observations and for making sure the scenarios were balanced.

I expect many of you have been looking forward to seeing a Peninsular War title for many years now and here, finally, it has been released! I first started working on the project about eight or nine years ago, even before my first game, HPS Renaissance, was released, so it has been in development for rather a long time. At some point it was decided that there would be two Peninsular titles and that this first one would concentrate primarily on Portugal, but would also cover most of the Spanish battles of western Spain up to the British capture of Badajoz in April 1812. After the capture of Badajoz, the British focus switched from the defence of Portugal to the liberation of Spain from French control, so this was considered the best cut off point for the first game.

The scenarios range from very short to hundreds of turns, although most are in the short to medium length (eg. 10 to 40 turns). There are some 50 scenarios designed for play against the A/I and about a further 120 designed for PBEM or hotseat mode. Many scenarios have alternative 10 minute turn versions using gun sections and an alternative pdt. There are also some 6 or 7 company scale scenarios, mostly covering the various actions during Massena's retreat from Portugal.

A few notes about the standard and alternative pdts that you'll find useful. I created an alternative pdt to provide players with a different gaming experience and I reckon some gamers will find that they prefer this to the standard pdt. While a lot of thought and play-testing went into the pdt values, of course they aren't set in stone and are easy to modify, so you can always make your own alterations, as long as you agree with your opponent before starting up a game.

The Cavalry Charge Factor in the standard pdt is 3, but 5 in the alternative pdt. (Waterloo has 3 and Bill's games used to have 3 but now have 5)
Day Turn: 15 minutes (standard) 10 minutes (alternative)
Max Stacking: 1800 men (standard) 1200 men (alternative)
Cav Max Stacking: 900 men (standard) 300 men (alternative)

Movement, fatigue and Line Movement Disruption values are also different, as are ammo loss % and fire factors.

Overall, the alternative pdt values should give the advantage to firepower over melee tactics, although cavalry will be potentially more deadly.

In addition, scenarios using the alternative pdt use gun sections rather than batteries. This allows the howitzers to be represented and also means that artillery is less vulnerable to cavalry, as the gun sections can be deployed in different hexes and can stack more conveniently with large infantry units for protection. Those gamers who also play the ACW series will already be familiar with gun sections.


Dragoons and Light Cavalry

After consultation with Andrew Bamford, I made the decision to give French dragoons muskets. This will allow them to operate effectively in a dismounted role. However, I'd recommend that, under most circumstances, that players should use dragoons in a mounted role. However, British, Spanish and Portuguese dragoons are represented as either light or heavy cavalry.

Non-lancer light cavalry are issued with carbines, although only in the alternative pdt are these given a fire factor. Historically, light cavalry were issued with firearms and did skirmish, so this has been enabled; however, cavalry firepower tends to be ineffective - even against other cavalry - so players should use their discretion when using their light cavalry as skirmishers. Incidentally, heavy cavalry were also issued with firearms, sometimes pistols as well as carbines, but their role was primarily shock, so I didn't want to give them any fire capability. Players should assume that any firing by heavy cavalry is represented in the melee bonus.


Enjoy the game!

Rich White