Snappy Nappy Campaign in a Day, Spain Spring 1813: The Scenario

We fought the latest Campaign in a Day with Snappy Nappy this past Saturday October 18, 2025. The Portal, a wonderful game store in Manchester, CT, was once again our host.  The scenario follows. As usual subsequent posts will tell the story of the campaign with many pictures, followed by player reports and than the GM's summary. Mike Seibert was the GM for this one once again, with myself and Mark T. as assistant GM's. 

“My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won”.   The Duke of Wellington

 

 

June 1813: The French army was under the main command of Joseph Bonaparte, who had replaced the throne of Spain with his relatively ineffective rule, whilst his younger brother, Napoleon had kidnapped King Ferdinand, his supposed ally, in order to extend his power grab in the Iberian Peninsula. Marshal Jourdan acted as chief of staff.  Some ‘foreign’ regiments of the French Empire are serving in Spain, and include a limited Spanish force, due to Joseph’s title. The French army was around 68,000 strong with 151 guns.

 

Napoleon was draining away drafts of experienced veterans from the regiments in Spain to re-build the French army destroyed in the Russian campaign.   Napoleon told Joseph, he must not retreat and hold the line of the Ebro River, or Austria sensing weakness would join the anti French coalition.  Napoleon already had his hands full with the Russians and Prussians in Germany.

 

The French hope was that Wellington would be unable to resume the offensive for some time, leaving the French armies across Spain to deal conclusively with the Spanish insurrections that were such a drain on their resources.

 

Clausel was operating against Spanish insurrectionists in Navarre in the north-east of Spain, with a significant part of the ‘Army of North’.  General Clausel was fully occupied in trying to keep open the route between Madrid and the Pyrenees. Wellington's success had encouraged the Spanish guerrillas.

 

Joseph and his chief of staff, Marshal Jourdan, were advised by all the French generals with knowledge of the country, that if Wellington was to advance in 1813, he would be forced to use the well-trodden route from Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca, Valladolid and Burgos. The French needed only to repeat their strategy of the previous year and hold that road to bring Wellington to a halt, as they had in 1812.

 

Jourdan saw that the South and the North West of Spain would have to be abandoned, whatever the Emperor might wish, there were not troops available to control all of it. The vital area was the old Castille and Navarre, the route to the Pyrenees, Bayonne along with the ports of Santander and San Sebastian.

 

With Madrid no longer tenable, Joseph dispatched two substantial convoys of valuables and money to the north-east of Spain. These convoys reached Vitoria and it was there that Joseph was forced to confront Wellington’s army.

 

 

 

In March 1813 Wellington began to get the news which proved that the French were making large drafts from Spain for the new Army of Germany, and that Soult, Caffarelli, and other generals were summoned to Paris. He knew, a few days later, that the enemy was evacuating La Mancha, and that the King was moving his head-quarters from Madrid to Valladolid. Everything indicated conscious weakness on the part of the enemy—it would be well to take instant advantage of it.  Wellington’s scheme for the campaign of 1813 was going to be a very ambitious one—aiming not at local successes in Castile, or on recovering Madrid, but at driving the French right up to the Pyrenees.

 

 

Player Map - Northeastern Spain, 1813

 

On 30^th May 1813, British divisions crossed the River Douro, and entered Burgos a few days later, preparing for a new offensive against the French.

 

 

Campaign situation

 

 

Campaign Objective Scoring

 

Control the following

Burgos                        +2

Vittoria                        +2

Pamplona                   +2

San Sebastian            +1

Santander                   +1

 

 

Division Exhaustion

casualties exceed 75% =      -1

 

 

Enormous Train of Booty.

French earn if wagons gets to Bayonne     +1

 

 

Control of main road from Burgos to Bayonne

British earn if they can control 3 of the 5 tables      +1

 

British Capture Bayonne        +10

 

The Opposing Forces

 

British Army Order of Battle
Duke of  Wellington	Steve Tarro*	C in C
General Kenneth Alexander Howard	Nathan Seibert	1st Division
Major-General John Byng	Mitchell Abrams	2nd Division
Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton	Peter Villani	3rd Division
Lieutenant-General Sir G.L. Cole	Kevin Roller	4th Division
General Sir James Leith	Sean Seibert	5th Division
Major General Edward Packenham	Brian Carmody	6th Division
Lieutenant-General Earl of Dalhousie	Doug Ozelius	7th Division
General  O'Callaghan	Bill Brown*	8th Division
Major-General W. Ponsonby	Brandon Shaw	Cav Division
Major-General Baron Alten	Alex Parish	Light Division
French Army Order of Battle
King Joseph Bonaparte	James Carmody	C in C
Général de division Leval	Bob Rossi	1st Division
Général de division Conroux	Chris Burr	2nd Division
Général de division Villatte	Rob Painter	3rd Division
Général de division Surrat	Ron Keech*	4th Division
Général de division Darmagnac	Dick White	5th Division
Général de division Daricau	James Sulzen	6th Division
Général de division Cassagne	Russ Lockwood	7th Division
Général de division Lamartiniere	Mark McLaughlin	8th Division
Général de Cavalry division Boyer	Steven Currie	Cav Division du Portugal
Général de Cavalry  P Soult	Karl Newbauer	Cav Division du Sud

 

*= Had to scratch shortly before the event. Brandan Shaw took over as Wellington. Ponsomby's Division still made it into the campaign, but the other two were dropped. 10 years of experience has taught us to expect a 15 - 20% attrition rate. Life happens! 

British Army

Commanding General: Field Marshal Wellington   +3

Engineers  ENG  Vet

Cavalry Major-General W. Ponsonby  +1

10th Hussar Regiment  CAV  LT  ELITE

15th Hussar Regiment   CAV  LT  VET

1st Regiment Life Guards (2)  CAV  HVY  GUARD

5th Dragoon Guard Regiment  CAV  HVY  ELITE

A Troop - Lt. Col. Ross  HORSE ART  ELITE

D Troop - Cpt. Bean (light 6pdrs)  HORSE ART  SEASON

3rd Division: Lieutenant-General Sir T. Picton  +1

1/45th Foot Regiment  VET    

1/74th Highland Foot Regiment  LT  ELITE

1/88th Foot Regiment (Connaught Rangers)  LT  VET

1/5th Foot Regiment (Fusiliers)  VET  

2/83rd Foot Regiment  VET

9th Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

21st Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

12th Cacadores  Port  VET  

Cpt. C. Mosse's Battery  ART  SEASON

4th Division: Lieutenant-General Sir G.L. Cole  +1

3/27th Foot Regiment  VET

1/40th Foot Regiment  VET

1/48th Foot Regiment  VET

1/7th Foot Regiment (Fusiliers)  VET

1/20th Foot Regiment   VET

1/23rd Foot Regiment  VET

11th Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

23rd Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

2 Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

Cpt. R. Douglas' Battery (9pdrs)  ART  VET

7th Division: Lieutenant-General Earl of Dalhousie  0

1/6th Foot Regiment  VET

3rd Provisional Battalion  SEASON

1/51st Foot Regiment  ELITE

1/68th Foot Regiment  VET

1/82nd Foot Regiment  VET

7th Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

19th Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

Cpt. R. Cairnes Battery (9pdrs)  ART  VET

Light Division: Major-General Baron Alten  +1

1/43rd Foot Regiment  LT  ELITE

1/95th Foot Regiment (8 coys)  LT  ELITE

1/52nd Foot Regiment  VET

2/95th Foot Regiment  LT  VET

17th Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON  

1st Cacadore Battalion  LT  Port  SEASON

Major Sympher's KGL Battery (9pdrs)  ART  VET

6th Division: Pakenham  +2

1/42nd Foot Regiment  VET

1/79th Foot Regiment  VET

1/91st Foot Regiment  VET

1/11th Foot Regiment  VET

1/32nd Foot Regiment  VET

1/36th Foot Regiment  VET

8th Portuguese Line Regiment  Port  SEASON

12th Portuguese Line Regiment  Port  SEASON

Cpt. T. Brandreth's Battery (9pdrs)  ART  VET

I Troop - Cpt. Bull (light 6pdrs)  HORSE ART  SEASON

Wing Commander

Lieutenant-General Roland. Hill  +2

Engineers  ENG  Vet

2nd Division: Major-General Byng +1

1/50th Foot Regiment  VET

1/71st Highland Light Foot Regiment  LT  ELITE

1/92nd Highland Foot Regiment  ELITE

1/3rd Foot Regiment (Buffs)  VET

1/57th Foot Regiment  VET

1st Provisional Battalion (2/31st & 2/66th)  VET

Cpt. L. Carmichael's Battery  ART  SEASON

1st KGL Hussar Regiment  CAV  LT  ELITE

8th Division: O'Callaghan  +1

1/28th Foot Regiment  VET

2/34th Foot Regiment  VET

1/39th Foot Regiment  VET

6th Portuguese Foot Regiment  Port  SEASON

18th Portuguese Foot Regiment  Port  SEASON

6th Portuguese Cacadores  Port LT  SEASON

Cpt. W. Greene's Battery  ART SEASON

3rd Dragoon Guard Regiment  CAV  HVY  VET

E Troop - Maj. Gardiner (light 6pdrs)  HORSE ART  SEASON

Wing Commander  Lieutenant General Graham  +2

Engineers  ENG  Vet

1st Division: Howard  +1

1/Coldstream Guards  LT  GUARD

1/3rd Guard Foot Regiment  ELITE

1st KGL Infantry Battalion  VE

2nd KGL Infantry Battalion  SEASON

1st KGL Light Infantry Battalion  LT  VET

2nd KGL Light Infantry Battalion  LT  VET

Cpt. C. Michell's Battery (9pdrs)  ART  VET

12th Light Dragoon Regiment  CAV  LT  VET

5th Division: Leith  +1

3/1st Foot Regiment (Royals)  VET

1/9th Foot Regiment  VET

1/4th Foot Regiment  VET

2/47th Foot Regiment  SEASON

3rd Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

15th Portuguese Regiment  Port  SEASON

Cpt. J. Michell's Battery (9pdrs)  ART  ELITE

F Troop - Lt. Col. Webber Smith (9pdrs)  HORSE ART  VET

1st KGL Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  VET

1st Portuguese Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  SEASON

British special conditions

 

Wellington coordinates with the Royal Navy.  The British fleet in Lisbon was ordered to sail North to an undisclosed destination. Corunna. Wellington had no doubts that he would soon need the stores that were in Corunna.  This is where the siege artillery was sent, to Corunna.

 

Wellington must tell the Royal Navy British squadron led by Captain Home Popham when & where to meet the Army.  The RN will deliver from Corunna TWO HEAVY ARTILLERY pieces to that port. This order is to be sent before campaign begins. The Duke may also send 1 or 2 of the Portuguese reserve brigades.  These Army units will disembark after the port is controlled by the Army. 

 

The Fleet will wait 1 hr to meet up with Allied units at the Port.  Otherwise the Navy will leave with the Artillery reinforcements.

 

Additionally, the fleet can use it’s ships to bombard any garrison in the port city (only).   It of course would receive return fire from defending coastal defenses.  4 ships hit will = +1 VP for the French.

 

 

Portuguese reinforcements:  Two Portuguese brigades will arrive at Burgos as a reinforcement sometime in the afternoon.  These can be assigned as garrison or attached to any command Wellington decides.  Alternatively, they can be assigned to the RN to arrive with the Heavy Artillery from Corunna.

 

 

The British have a long supply line back to Portugal.  They will suffer a supply penalty until they occupy a Bay of Biscay port (Santander or San Sebastian). Until a Bay of Biscay port is obtained, a random division may be forced to take a single supply check at the top of each hour.  1^st check will be at noon.

 

Roll one D6= 1-3, one random division will be selected, each unit will roll a single supply check. 

At 1pm D6= 1-4

At 2pm D6= 1-5

At 3pm+ roll two D6= 1-5

 

 

British Wing Commanders:  In addition to Wellington, Lieutenant General Rowland Hill and Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Graham are two wing commanders who each command two divisions each.  They are an extra commander for rolling for morale.  However, they can only rally units assigned to their wing.  Wellington of course can roll for anyone.  The wing commanders would be the senior commander for initiative purposes also.

 

Guard Unit: The single Guard unit under Howard is indeed a powerful unit.  If however it fails its morale rolls and routs all units on that table would take one morale check, similar to supply.

 

Intelligence Report

 

The French Army has been in retreat the last two months and is a bit scattered throughout Northern Spain.  They are divided into 3 Armies, The Army du Portugal, Army du Midi, and Army du Sud.  The Army du Sud had the farthest to march from southern Spain and is lagging behind the other two armies.  The Wellington’s British and Portuguese Army has been pressing forward and has moved north from Valladolid and taken Burgos without firing a shot.  A series of flanking maneuvers by Graham have compelled the French to pull back to the Ebro River.   Wellingtons success has encouraged the Guerillas to be more active and are causing communication and supply problems.  The Guerillas are also able to mask the British movement while providing  help locating the French infantry.  French cavalry has been mobile and it is hard to provide exact locations for them.  There seems to be a large concentration of French infantry at Vittoria as well as a large wagon train of stolen Spanish artifacts.  The Army du Sud is moving northwest from Saragossa to Pamplona.  The Army of Portugal has a garrison at Bilboa.

French Army Joseph Bonaparte  +1

Army_of_the_South Gazan  +1

1st Division: Général de division Leval

9th Légère Regiment  LT  VET

10th Légère Regiment  LT  VET

24th Line Regiment  ELITE

88th Line Regiment  SEASON

96th Line Regiment  SEASON

97th Line Regiment  SEASON

98th Line Regiment  SEASON

1 Battery (3/163)  ART  VET

1 Batteries RESERVE ART  HVY  SEASON

Brigade Général de brigade Rignoux (39/2,539) 

27th Légère Regiment LT ELITE 

63rd Line Regiment VET 

64th Line Regiment VET 

94th Line Regiment VET 

95th Line Regiment VET 

96th Line Regiment VET 

97th Line Regiment VET 

1 Battery (4/179) ART VET 

1 Horse Battery HORSE ART VET

4th Division: Général de division Conroux  +1

32nd Line Regiment  VET

41st Line Regiment  VET

42nd Line Regiment  VET

43rd Line Regiment  VET

55th Line Regiment  SEASON

58th Line Regiment  SEASON

59th Line Regiment  SEASON

60th Line Regiment  SEASON

1 Battery  ART  VET

16th Dragoon Regiment  CAV HVY  VET

21st Dragoon Regiment  CAV HVY

6th Division: Général de division Daricau  +1

20th Légère Regiment  LT  VET

21st Légère Regiment  LT  VET

100th Line Regiment  SEASON

101st Line Regiment  SEASON

28th Légère Regiment  LT  VET

29th Légère Regiment  LT  VET

103rd Line Regiment  SEASON

104th Line Regiment  SEASON

1 Battery  ART  VET

2nd Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  ELITE

4th Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  ELITE

Cavalry Division: Général de division P. Soult  +1

2nd Hussar Regiment  LT  CAV  VET

5th Chasseur à Cheval Regiment  LT  CAV  VET

10th Chasseur à Cheval Regiment  LT  CAV  VET

21st Chasseur à Cheval Regiment  LT  CAV  SEASON

1 Horse Battery  HORSE ART  VET

Artillery Reserve:  1 Pontooneer Company  ENG  VET

Wagon Train

Army_of_the_Center D'Erlon  +2

Division: Général de division Darmagnac  +1

28th Line Regiment  ELITE

75th Line Regiment  ELITE

1st Nassau Line Regiment  German  SEASON

2nd Nassau Line Regiment  German  SEASON

4th Baden Line Regiment  German  SEASON

5th Baden Line Regiment  German  SEASON

Frankfurt Battalion  German  SEASON

1 Batteries RESERVE ART ART  HVY  SEASON

13th Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  VET

18th Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  VET

Division: Général de division Cassagne +1

16th Légère Regiment  LT  SEASON

17th Légère Regiment  LT  SEASON

8th Line Regiment  SEASON  

9th Line Regiment  SEASON

51st Line Regiment  SEASON

52nd Line Regiment  SEASON

53rd Line Regiment  SEASON

54th Line Regiment  SEASON

Nassau Chasseur à Cheval Regiment (1 sqn)  CAV  LT   SEASON

Foot Battery CORPS ART  ART  SEASON

Foot Battery CORPS ART  ART  SEASON

Foot Battery CORPS ART HEAVY  ART  HVY  SEASON

3 Train

Engineers  ENG  SEASON

 Army_of_Portugal Reille  +2

Foot Battery RESERVE ART-PORTUGAL  ART  SEASON

1 Pontooneer Company  ENG  SEASON

4th Division: Général de division Sarrut (146/4,656)  +1

2nd Légère Regiment  ELITE

3rd Légère Regiment  ELITE

35th Line Regiment  SEASON

36th Line Regiment  SEASON

4th Légère Regiment  VET

5th Légère Regiment  VET

64th Line Regiment  SEASON

65th Line Regiment  SEASON

1 Battery  ART  VET

Foot Battery RESERVE ART-PORTUGAL  ART  SEASON

6th Division: Général de division Lamartiniere  +1

117th Line Regiment  SEASON

118th Line Regiment  SEASON

119th Line Regiment  SEASON

120th Line Regiment  SEASON

124th Line Regiment  SEASON

121st Line Regiment  SEASON

122nd Line Regiment  SEASON

123rd Line Regiment  SEASON

1 Battery  ART  VET

Foot Battery RESERVE ART-PORTUGAL  ART  SEASON

13th Chasseur à Cheval Regiment  CAV  LT  ELITE

Division: Boyer  +1

6th Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  ELITE

11th Dragoon Regiment  CAV  HVY  ELITE

3rd Hussar Regiment  CAV  LT  VET

1 Horse Battery  HORSE ART  VET

Army_of_North Clauzel  +1

1st Division: Général de division Abbé  +1

1/5th Légère Regiment  LT  VET

2/5th Légère Regiment  LT  SEASON

1/1st Line Regiment  SEASON

3/1st Line Regiment  SEASON

1/62nd Line Regiment  SEASON

Artillery Co/5th Légère Regiment  ART  VET

8/6th Foot Artillery Regiment  ART  VET

2nd Division: Général de division Vandermaesen  +0

1/34th Légère Regiment  LT  SEASON

1/34th Line Regiment  SEASON

2/34th Line Regiment  SEASON

Det/34th Line Regiment  SEASON

1/40th Line Regiment  SEASON

Artillery Co/34th Légère Regiment  ART  VET

• All in Reserve at Bayonne

 

The French have additional 3 Army commanders:

 

The Army du Portugal (Reille), The Army du Midi (Drouet) and the Army du Sud (Gazan).

These commanders will provide additional rally capabilities for their respective army only.

In addition, they would be the senior commander on the table for initiative rolling.

 

 

French special conditions.

 

The Guerillas are wreaking havoc on the supply lines and communications.

 

As throughout the Peninsular War, the French commanders were unable to obtain reliable information on Wellington’s movements or even communicate effectively with each other, due to the operations of the all-pervasive Spanish guerrillas, while Wellington was well informed on French movements by the same guerillas.

1. The French must occupy Spanish towns along the main road* from Burgos to Bayonne with an infantry garrison to try & maintain order.  Failure to garrison 1 table will cause a random French Division to take a supply check at the top of each hour.  For each table greater than one that is not garrisoned,  there will be an additional 50% chance that other French divisions will have to check for supply.    (example= if 3 tables lack garrisons, 1 Division plus two 50/50 die rolls have a chance of being forced to take a supply check) 

*The main road includes Toloso, San Sebastian, Vitoria tables.  Additionally  the important cities of Pamplona and Bilboa will be included..

 

2.. French messages have a 5% chance of failing to go thru, and a chance of being captured.  This will be greater for every table not properly garrisoned (same as above)

 

Clausel Division is in reserve and is positioned at Bayonne.  Alternatively, the C in C King Joseph may split apart and order these units to perform garrisons in any town if he so desires.  This consists of 5 Infantry units and an Artillery unit.

 

Enormous train of booty is located in the city of Vittoria.  It will begin to start moving north around noon.  It moves at a speed of the sum of (3) D6 dice every 15 minutes along the main road until it reaches Bayonne. It must stay on the road. This will block any other unit from using road column trying to use the same road.  The cost to change to attack column is free when the unit leaves the road.  But you have to pay the formation change penalty when converting back to road column.  +1 VP to the French if Wagons reach Bayonne.

 

 

Intelligence Report.

 

The French Army has been in retreat the last two months and is a bit scattered throughout Northern Spain.  The Army du Sud had the farthest to march and is lagging behind the other two armies.  The Wellington’s British and Portuguese Army has been pressing forward and has moved north from Valladolid and taken Burgos without firing a shot.   Wellingtons success has encouraged the Guerillas to be more active and are causing communication and supply problems.  These Guerillas are preventing accurate reconnaissance of the Allied army.  The British Army is split into three wings, with Wellington in command of one of them.  The allies are composed of veteran British regulars and Portuguese troops.