Peninsular battle at Warfare 2025: Sagunto

Had a fantastic day at the Warfare 2025 show, deserves a fuller write-up but this brief report will have to do. Met lots of good people, had great conversations, ran our participation game twice and entertained all the players who joined in. Big thank you to them, to W.A.R. for running the show, to my OWS comrades for running the game, and to everyone we spoke to.

The game was Sagunto (1811) (aka Saguntum), a Peninsular War battle in which a Spanish army under Blake is trying to relieve the besieged Sagunto castle north of Valencia. The French Marshal Suchet moves to meet him and an encounter battle results.

Looking west from the coast. Spanish (red labels) are advancing left to right = north. French arrive to meet them from the right. Most of both armies are on the coastal plain. However, the French have sent a force through the Sancti Espiritu pass (upper right) which will meet Spanish coming from top left, as well as more that arrive Turn 4 or 5 from top right corner. White counters are Objective locations. (This was a playtest; we since adjusted these, removing the ones behind the Spanish lines in Cartuja and El Puig and adding one to the French-held Convento del Val de Jesus.) Basically, if the Spanish hold their line, it is a draw; if either side makes a significant inroad into the enemy line, they win.

Close-up of the French emerging from the pass. All figures are Baccus 6mm from Mark's collection.

And a view of the initial French front line on the coastal plain. Note the purple label = the Poles of the Vistula Legion. On Turns 1 and 2 these will be joined by more French reinforcements, including aggressive high-quality Italian infantry and seriously good shock cavalry.

The bulk of the Spanish army: a very good veteran unit left foreground about to occupy Puzol, some decent line troops right of pic, otherwise a lot of raw stuff filling the ranks.

Arriving from the southwest is the Spanish Army of Murcia, which isn't very keen on attacking. (Rated Passive.)

Things went badly for the French in the pass. Disrupted by Spanish cannon fire, the lead brigade failed to rally. It was then charged and destroyed by overwhelming Spanish numbers. The Spanish then surged up the mountainside against the second French brigade, which repelled them with heavy losses. Still, the French threat on this wing was effectively over by Turn 3.

Boldly the French cross the Baranco del Arenal stream. They will proceed to launch a series of aggressive but poorly coordinated and desperately unlucky assaults. (Phil's dice played a significant part. As did passing player Bob, whose first roll when he joined in was 12.)

Turn 4, about halfway through the game. Assorted cubes show the effects. Yellow = Disrupted. Black = Low on ammo (the Spanish have met the French with some murderous volleys). The Vistula Legion is no longer with us. The French dragoons have been wiped out in a bloody charge (they took some Spaniards with them) and the shock cavalry, the cuirassiers, are in shock.

View from the Spanish side. There were a few more turns of hard pounding here but the French could not make any headway. A clear Spanish victory.

We reset and played it again. It was a quite different game second time round. The dice were less dramatic and the French more patient, setting up their attacks properly, preparing with fire, etc. They managed to take both the objectives in the above picture (the hillock of El Hostalet on the left and the village of Puzol on the right) and it was a more even fight around the pass as well. A French victory this time, I think.

No Reflections for you tonight, beyond saying that it's a good scenario. Both sides have to maneuver; both have to attack if they want to win; it revolves around two somewhat separate and different axes of attack and the players have choices to make about how much to commit on each axis and how. Also it offers French (and Polish and Italian) quality vs Spanish quantity, which is always a good asymmetry in a game.

Recommended!