David R. Moody  - Oct 6, 2005 3:26 pm (#10897 Total: 10917)  
Last played: Gringo, Downtown, ASL, Band of Heroes, Grant Takes Command, 
War of the Ring, Wellington, Lock 'n' Load (ANZAC expansion), 
Brandywine (GMT), B-17, Settlers of Catan, Down in Flames. 
Reading: The Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien). 
	 
Last night at Endgame in Oakland, CA Joe Oppenheimer and I hooked up for
a game of Wellington, by GMT Games. I had never played before, nor have
I ever played Boneyonic Wars, upon which it is based; Joe had only
solitaired it, so it was a learning experience for both of us. 

As is my preference, I took the French to Joe's Anglo-Spanish-Portugese.
The game starts in 1812, skipping over about four years of some rather
messy bits of the war on the Peninsula (the French invasion of Portugal,
the convention of Cintra, the retreat to Corunna, Talavera, lines of
Torres Vedras, Albuera, that sort of thing) to get right to the end. It
would be interesting if there ever was a variant letting you game out
the whole war, like the old AH War & Peace let you do (they also had a
shorter scenario, starting in 1811). 

Anyway, Joe started by moving Nosey's army from Ciudad Rodrigo (which
the Spanish were besieging) to Salamanca, there to try and thrash
Marmont's army and drive on Madrid. Marmont managed to gather forces
together (I played a card) and both sides scrambled for Los Arapiles
(another card), but Wellington got the upper hand and soundly trounced
Marmont, wiping out his army. As Ciudad Rodrigo continued to hold out,
Wellington advanced. Betrand's force, on the road to Madrid, tried to
get away, but failed, and he and the redcoats fought a bloody but
indecisive battle at Avila, after which the French retreated into the
capital. 

Meanwhile, in the south, Drouet occupied Badajoz as Soult massed an army
at Sevilla and marched on Cadiz, defeating the Spanish there and taking
the city, its defenders weakened by dysentery (another card). He then
beat off several attempts by Spanish forces in the area to take Sevilla
and cut him off. At one point, victory was won only by a decisive and
bloody attack by the converged grenadiers (another card). Off to the
east, Suchet defeated Blake at Valencia and settled into a siege of that
place, beating off an attempt by Blake later in the year to raise the
siege. All these efforts were weakened by the recall of many veteran
troops, and the Young Guard, for the coming invasion of Russia (another
card). 

Wellington drove on Madrid as Beresford moved up to take command of the
besiegers. The French, under Bertrand and King Joseph, put up a staunch
defense; Wellington, his army worn down, had to retreat back to
Salamanca in defeat. Marmont, recovered from Salamanca, arrived in
Madrid with a new army. Combining it with Bertrands, he marched back out
to Avila, watching the passes from Salamanca. 

So the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo continued. The British, not content to be
idle while reducing that important fortress, took advantage of French
problems elsewhere (and my own stupidity in not garrisoning the place)
to land troops at Bayonne. Bertand, back in France raising troops, tried
to take it back but failed. The British, it seemed, would be there for a
bit. 

Back in Spain, Hill booted Drouet out of Badajoz, all but wiping out his
army, and also took the city after a short siege. Soult, realizing he
would be cut off at Cadiz if Badajoz fell, marched back north and
defeated Hill, then started his own siege of the fortress. Both that
siege and Suchet's at Valencia failed, with the French withdrawing (in
game terms, eliminated in the attrition rounds) to regroup. 

Thus by the end of 1812, almost all of southern Spain, save the VP
cities of Granada and Cadiz, were in the hands of the Spanish (either
regulars or guerillas). Wellington had suffered defeat at Madrid, and
his army needed reinforcement as Ciudad Rodrigo continued to resist the
Anglo-Spanish siege. Guerillas roamed much of Spain, getting close to
Madrid in some places. And the British continued to hold Bayonne. 

As is often the case, the diplomats intervened (we got a Peace
Negotiations roll). Boney won a great victory in Russia (maybe he
listened to Davout at Borodino?), forcing the Tsar to sue for peace. In
Britain, general war weariness, exacerbated by Wellington's failures at
Madrid and Ciudad Rodrigo and Napoleon's victory in Russia, led to the
fall of the ruling government. The coalition government that succeeded
it, set up in large part by the efforts of the Prince Regent, opened
negotiations, resulting in the pull out of the British from Spain and
the end of the war (I had 15 VP to Joe's 10, so I won Spain for the
Emperor). 

A great game. I think Joe's drive on Madrid with Wellington was key. If
it worked, he wins the game. As it was, it may have cost him the
victory. Furthermore, I was lucky the game did not continue into
1813--had it done so, I would have been in bad shape, with almost all of
southern Spain lost, Wellington still threatening Madrid, and needing to
rebuild my forces in the south. A near-run thing. We'll have to play
again now that we know the system. Next week, Band of Heroes. 

At home, soloing Scenario D4 of Downtown. My SEAD flights have damaged
three SAM sites and destroyed a fourth, but have lost one A-4 shot down
and two F-8s damaged. The strike (A-4s from Ticonderoga) is 'feet dry'
and inbound to attack a rail depot near Hanoi. Waiting for the next
mission in Mike Lam's PBEM B-17 game, and fighting over Gessos III in
our online operational MechWarrior game.