The Leopard's Debut - Battle of Rolica 1808 from O'er the Hills at Tiny Wars Played Indoors

 

One of the best parts of blogging about wargaming is that you get to chat with people interested in the hobby from all over the world and to see the distinctive way they engage with the hobby which can only add to your own insights and view point.

About a week ago I had a very pleasant exchange of emails with an old friend and correspondent with the blog, Mr Bill Slavin, from Canada who hosts the 'Tiny Wars Played Indoors' blog and who has been in touch with me via our shared interest ever since JJ's Wargames got going back in 2012-13.

Bill's games and tables have always grabbed my attention with their rolling terrain and restricted lines of sight from ground level that when seen from the models eye view perspective really seems to capture the problems faced by the metal warriors having to manoeuvre and fight over it that their real life counterparts would have similarly had to deal with, an aspect I have always tried to bring to my own tables.

Bill's rolling terrain with restricted lines of sight seen on the recent refight of the O'er the Hills scenario Rolica 

So I was really interested when Bill let me know about his plans to fight the Rolica scenario from O'er the Hills and to see how his game looked and played, as this scenario really stands out in my mind as a really interesting one to play and one that is completely different from the normal battle line versus battle line that one regularly plays in Napoleonic games.

The battle at Rolica on the 17th August 1808 was fought between Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wellesley commanding an allied army of 14,500 Anglo-Portuguese troops and French General de Division Henri-Francois Delaborde, with a force of about 4-5,000 men, after the former had landed on the 1st of August on the coast of Portugal with orders to secure and liberate the country from a French army of invasion commanded by General Jean-Androche Junot, and the latter having been dispatched by Junot to delay the Allied advance whilst his commander pulled his forces together to resist the advance on Lisbon.

My own picture from the early nineties of the imposing ridge overlooking the plain of Rolica, with equally restricted lines of sight. 

Thus the scenario presents the French commander playing the role of Delaborde with the classic 'withdrawal in the face of the enemy delaying action' that can only be completed successfully by, in this case, doing a better job than Delaborde achieved on the day.

The map of the scenario illustrating the routes of march of the allies taken in Bill's recent replay

Thus, with a limited number of turns to play, the French force will occupy, in battle formation, various defensive terrain features, starting with Rolica Hill, looking to force the Allies to deploy off the line of march to give battle, before deftly pulling back to another feature and setting up to give battle yet again whilst avoiding being embroiled into a drawn out fight and being surrounded and cut off.

See what I mean about those sight lines Bill captures on his tables. The Allies close in on the French rear-guard position.

However the best laid plans can often go wrong under pressure from an advancing enemy in force and with the sound of cannon and musketry together with copious clouds of black powder smoke and the cries of the wounded adding to potential confusion when clear orders and instructions are needed to ensure pulling out from a position is conducted at just the right moment; something the 'orders' mechanism in the Over the Hills rule system models rather well and can lead to some interesting situations for both sides when units don't behave as their masters would have preferred.

Needless to say I smiled and winced with recollecting our own several play-tests of this particular scenario after reading Bill's equally entertaining account of his game, with some twists that seemed to mirror the historical battle that saw the death of a certain Colonel Lake and several of his men of the 29th Foot after a rather disastrous decision taken by him towards its end.

If you are interested in this period and would like to read on to see how the game turned out then just follow the link to Tiny Wars below.

Tiny Wars Played Indoors Blogspot - Rolica August 17th 1808

I have also attached the link to my own set up that Steve and I played during the play testing for the scenario book.

Over the Hills Play-test Rolica, 17th August 1808

And if you are interested in getting a copy of the scenario book O'er the Hills you can get one via Stand to Games in the link below or by clicking on the image, top right.

Stand to Games -O'er the Hills Scenario Book

Thanks to Bill for the 'heads up' on his recent game and the link to his AAR and I look forward to seeing how Vimeiro plays out.

Next Up: The run in to the Xmas holiday starts this week and like most of us I will be looking forward to spending time with family and thinking about plans for the New Year ahead which is likely to hold plenty of surprises if this year has been anything to go by.

So before signing off for the holiday I will be posting a final book review for 2020 before reposting between Xmas and New Year with anything topical and of course an annual year review and look forward to plans for 2021.

More anon

JJ

Over the Hills Second Edition - Kickstarter

A British Square at Quatre Bras takes pride of place on the cover of Over the Hills Second Edition

The second edition of Over the Hills Napoleonic Rules are up on Kickstarter since Friday and have already reached their funding goal of £2000 since they went live.

If you were thinking of getting into Over the Hills to play your Napoleonic games, and why wouldn't you after reading the games played with the set here on JJ's and other wargaming sites, then now would seem to be an opportune moment with the new updated version of the rules already funded and set for delivery in April at a UK price of £29.00 including P&P.

Over the Hills 2nd Edition - Kickstarter

Having seen a preview of the rules I can see the chaps have very much tidied up what we had originally in the first edition with a lot of the the original rules reordered into a much more accessible format with everything relating to a specific area under one section, and as someone who took the time to do that with my revised QRS that Steve M an I used for the test games of O'er the Hills I think this is great and makes the second edition much better for that.

The new rules follow the format of the latest publications and have the period map backing to each page supported with good diagrams to illustrate play and colour pictures of Napoleonic collections in action, everything expected in modern rule-sets today.

In addition the chaps have taken on board the feedback and game time experience from players that got to grips with first edition and have included that into these rules and so we see among others changes the inclusion the d10/d6 conversion table for those players preferring to roll a different set of bones and we now have a new rule for rallying brigades that have broken off due to fatigue point failure.

The latter change I was particularly pleased to see included as a Peninsular War enthusiast, as now you have a chance to rally those weak, two battalion, British brigades that appear early in the Peninsular War and are rather vulnerable to a few casualties and a bit of manoeuvre to early fatigue loss.

With a successful rally, this rule will allow those affected brigades to rally in a rear area and not go off the table thus potentially affecting the overall army morale in a negative way.

Over the next month of the Kickstarter the chaps at Stand to Games will be highlighting these and other changes to the rules  and the Over the Hills - Facebook Page is a really good place to monitor whats happening along with the Kickstarter page for any updates.

As well as getting a copy of the new Over the Hills you can also add in an order to your pledge for a copy of the AWI, ACW rules and the O'er the Hills Peninsular War Scenario book at the same time.

I really like the look of this second edition and although very familiar and comfortable with the first  have supported this updated and improved one by ordering up a copy in time for when I want to start looking at the next set of Peninsular War games I have in mind not to mention running some games from O'er the Hills at the DWG for club members interested in playing OTH.

O'er the Hills is Published!

There is nothing quite like taking delivery of a brand new book that has your name on the cover, and on Saturday I had the pleasure of opening up my parcel from Stand to Games to find my brand spanking new copy of O'er the Hills, Early Peninsular War Scenarios written by yours truly.

Of course the book, the culmination of few years gaming, is not just down to one person, as friends I know personally and others I have met through this daft hobby across the globe via the net, have all contributed in enabling a collection of twelve separate scenarios form the core of the work alongside some other goodies that were contributed by Adrian McWalter and Quinton Dalton, the chaps from Stand to Games to be brought together under one title.

I have also had feedback from friends who have just received their copy together with comments on Facebook from others who have similarly just received copies all saying how pleased they are with the look and first read through of the content so I thought, bearing in mind that I have also received and seen comments of disappointment from those about not getting in on the Kickstarter in time, it would be helpful to show what the end product looks like and to invite those interested in getting a copy to get in touch and I will see where we are in arranging things.

The cover of O'er the Hills was a deliberate choice showing as it does the 3rd Guards in action at Talavera as depicted by C.C.P. Lawson and courtesy of the Regimental HQ Scots Guards.

I first saw this picture on the cover of 'Talavera, Wellington's First Victory in Spain' by Andrew W. Field which formed a significant reference in my work reconstructing the five scenarios that cover this very important battle and really does mark the end of this first phase of the Peninsular War.

The picture captures the intense fighting that typified Talavera and with the mountains of the Sierra de Segurilla shown in the extreme background seemed to echo the title of the book itself.

I had the pleasure of discussing the cover of O'er the Hills and the battle with Andrew and I am really looking forward to walking the battlefield later this year about which I am planning to share my thoughts here on JJ's.

For those that have purchased copies of other recent titles from Stand to Games, the production quality is sound and nicely produced, following a similar pattern to the other books, composed of  heavy glossy pages and with the type setting set against a period map backing.

The one-hundred and one pages consist of the following sections;

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Background - British Involvement in the Peninsular War
Timeline of Events in 1808-09

The Twelve Scenarios
1. The Leopard's Debut, The Battle of Rolica 17th August 1808
2. Vimeiro Hill, The Battle of Vimeiro 21st August 1808
3. Flank Attack at Ventosa, The Battle of Vimeiro 21st August 1808
4. Elvina Ridge, The Battle of Corunna 16th January 1809
5. The March to Oporto, 10th - 11th May 1809, Retreat from Albergaria
6. The March to Oporto, 10th - 11th May 1809, Rearguard at Grijo
7. Assualt River Crossing - Second Battle of Oporto 12th May 1809
8. Casa de Salinas - Battle of Talavera 27th July 1809
9. Night Attack - Battle of Talavera 27th July 1809
10. Dawn Attack - Battle of Talavera 28th July 1809
11. The Pajar Vergara Redoubt - Battle of Talavera 28th July 1809
12. The Afternoon Attack - Battle of Talavera 28th July 1809

Army Lists 1808-09
The Peninsular British
The Peninsular French
The Peninsular Spanish

The text is accompanied by colour photographs of battle sites and figures from my own collection, Warlord Games, Perry Miniatures and Stand to Games and each scenario comes with a colour map illustrating the set up positions of the forces involved together with a picture of the table during one of our many play-tests to help give an even clearer idea of the look of the table envisaged.

Along with the pictures and artwork each scenario is structured in the same format with;

The Background account to the battle and why the forces were there to help give players that all important context.

The Scenario, laying out the forces involved and their set up positions ordered by the respective commanders, together with a description of the table, its size, key terrain features and a detailed order of battle giving the recommended specifics for using Over the Hills (OTH) to play the game.

The Battle Notes then looks at why specific formations were deployed as they were and what the respective commanders had in mind on how they were going to fight the battle, again designed to give the players as much background as possible to help them get into the minds of the commanders they are representing and the range of likely options they faced.

The Terrain section then describes the impact of key terrain features on the battlefield and translates them into the types identified in OTH.

Then The Objectives for each side are summarised together with which side takes the first turn as Player A as detailed in OTH and the number of turns allowed for the completion of the scenario before an assessment is made of who won or lost and the method described to determine that.

An example of the orders of battle laid out for a particular scenario with the respective sides colour coded and units grouped with their respective commanders

As well as the twelve scenarios the book comes with three new troop listings for OTH, British, French and Spanish specific to this period of the Peninsular War and offering some really interesting new Army Special Rules for depicting the Spanish on your tabletop.

Three new Army Lists for the Peninsular War in 1808-09

For those that have now got their copy of O'er the Hills, I really hope you like the end product and will see that I have attempted to put in this book aspects that I wanted to see included, to allow gamers to play, as close as is possible with a set of wargame rules, an historical scenario.

The scenarios are designed to present the players with the forces that each commander had on the day, the terrain they were either forced or chose to fight over and the background situation that drove them to make the choices they did.

How you decide to meet the same objectives they chose or were forced to meet is up to you but you will be constrained by the factors described and in some situations you will find it difficult to win the battle but if played thoughtfully still win the scenario by outperforming your historical counterpart and making better choices than they did, not to mention perhaps a little bit of fortune thrown in for good measure.

Just as importantly, we had a lot of fun testing these games to destruction, and the book is not an academic exercise in asset management but hopefully a series of games designed to allow the players to explore the history and have fun at the same time.

Two of the scenarios have been designed to link up as a mini-campaign, and I could see all five of the Talavera scenarios being fought in the same way to recreate the battle as a whole, but in more manageable bite sized chunks for those with a small collection and/or limited table space.

If you want to delve deeper into how we played these scenarios during the design and testing I can suggest no better place to start than referring back to the series of posts here on JJ's that were running at the end of 2017 and early 2018 and can be found by clicking the tab at the top of the page.

In addition you can find other stuff relating to Over the Hills in that tab that might be useful including a description of the materials we developed during play-testing to aid our games and the link to the folder where you can download them; or just use the link in the right hand column under 'My Resources and Downloads' and click on 'Over the Hills Resources' which will take you straight to the file.

The Over the Hills tab can be found at the top of the page

If you are looking for painting and modelling inspiration then click on the respective nation tabs for the Napoleonic forces I have modelled where I also give a bit of history together with ideas on how to create the look of the unit.

In addition to that you can check out my YouTube channel, that still sounds a bit weird every time I say or write that! But yes JJ's Wargames has a YouTube Channel, where I take a bit of time to talk about modelling specifics when creating units, such as paints, the colours I have chosen and the references I have used.

Finally for those who feel they need to contact me about a specific point then there is a contact form to be found on the blog which will allow us to correspond via email, and I try to respond promptly, and all email addresses are confidential to me.

You will have to bear with me if I am oversubscribed and I would ask everyone to take the time to scour this blog for the relevant information where it is very likely to be found before dropping me a question.

And for those interested in getting a copy of O'er the Hills who missed out for some reason, then feel free to drop me a line via the Contact Form stating your name and address details together with how many copies you might be interested in and I will look into getting that sorted and get back to you accordingly.

Thanks to all those who supported this, my first venture into publishing, and I hope you enjoy the book and let me know your thoughts, your first impressions and the games you have a go at playing.

JJ

O'er the Hills, Early Peninsular War Scenarios - Up and Running

Last night the Kickstarter campaign to publish 'O'er the Hills' finished, raising £1,840 against the required £1,500 from 58 supporters of the book. Wow!, I was amazed to see that people who wanted to see the book published hailed from ten countries across the world, from the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Portugal. Thank you to everyone who backed this publication and I hope you enjoy the read and playing the games presented as much as Steve and I had in putting them together.

I thought in anticipation of the publication I would share some thinking about why this collection looks specifically at the time frame indicated as this has come up in other forums and it might help those that have not followed the blog to get an understanding of my thinking behind it.

The book is very much a culmination of the project started pretty much when the blog did, back in 2012 when I set myself a plan to put together a series of games looking at and recreating the early battles in the Peninsula of Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington.

Followers of the blog have seen the collection and a series of games unfold together with a focused look at the armies involved, their commanders and the individual units that participated in those early battles that reached a crescendo at the Battle of Talavera where Wellesley wielded the largest British army committed to the theatre so far.

Massed ranks of French infantry assault the British line during the Afternoon Attack scenario in O'er the Hills

The battle marks a watershed in the Peninsular War in that it was the last time that the main force British army operating alongside Peninsula allies would fight as a solely British force and that from 1810 onwards, the Duke of Wellington would lead an Anglo-Portuguese army organised in the divisional structure first used at Talavera, but with Portuguese brigades attached to those divisions.

This partly explains the cut off point for this particular book which sets out a series of engagements that I think shows the development of the British component of that Anglo-Portuguese Peninsula Army that Wellington would lead over the Pyrenees in 1814.

Of course the development of that British component was not entirely led by Wellesley and we have the period of oversight led by Sir John Moore who differed form Wellesley in that he never considered Portugal defensible from French incursion and a suitable operating base for conducting a war alongside the Spanish.

The Corunna play-test in full sway

His command was short lived when his plans to operate as an allied contingent alongside the Spanish evaporated as Napoleon carved through the Spanish armies and set Marshal Soult off in pursuit of Moore as he led his army north west towards an evacuation rendezvous with the Royal Navy at Corunna and where his death in battle led to the resumption of Wellesley's command.

The British army depicted in these early battles is very much re-learning battle skills lost since the close of the American War of Independence and grappling with a new drill book imposed following the disastrous campaign in Flanders led by the Duke of York prior to the turn of the century.

After the damaging retreat to Corruna and the shattered army that was repatriated back to the UK, Wellesley was left with a new army largely composed of second battalions and inexperienced troops and commanders as the cream of the British army that survived Corunna was shipped off to another disaster in the fever ridden dykes of the Walcheren campaign in 1809.

French columns thread their way forward through the trees at Casa de Salinas

As Sir William Napier described the poor British rearguard at Casa de Salinas just prior to the main battle of Talavera and the failure to set a proper picket line;

"We were by no means good soldiers in those days!"

Those were the guiding words that I had in mind whilst working on this set of scenarios and, I think, rather defines the British army of this early period that I have chosen to close on Talavera.

Veterans from Austerlitz, Jena-Auerstadt and Friedland

The army that marched back to Portugal after Talavera was quite different from the one that had fought in the earlier campaigns. They had gone 'toe to toe' with I Corps led by Marshal Victor and arguably the most powerful corps in the French Imperial Army at that time composed as it was of veterans from Austerlitz, Jena-Auerstadt and Friedland led by very experienced and capable commanders.

I Corps - Arguably the most powerful corps in the French Imperial Army

The two days of battle had exposed glaring weaknesses and poor command and control and a new realisation on the part of Wellesley about the reliability and capability of his Spanish allies.

The Spanish forces at Talavera - a question answered about their reliability and capability

However at the end of the battle the Anglo-Spanish army were left in control of the field with several captured cannon and casualties inflicted on the enemy that were significant and punishing even when set against the casualties suffered.

The 2/83rd - British infantry in line capable of delivering telling musketry accompanied by an irresistible bayonet attack

In addition the reliability and steadfastness of British infantry in line capable of delivering telling musketry accompanied by an irresistible bayonet attack had been thoroughly proved as a battle winning concept and would haunt French aspirations for the rest of the Napoleonic conflict.

The Portuguese - Relatively untried, but a formidable addition to the new army that emerged in 1810

The British army that would emerge the following year to contest the advance of Marshal Massena into Portugal, supported by relatively untried Portuguese allies operating to the same battle practises, now coupled with a commander free to give battle independently on terrain of his choosing, though not the finished article, was by far a much more potent force than that that had marched along the valley of the River Tagus the previous summer and marks a perfect new paragraph in the career of Wellington, as he now was, and the army that would develop under his leadership.

I hope this little post goes some ways to explaining my thinking behind this collection of scenarios as at first glance the casual reader might think why 1808-09 as a specific period to focus on and why not look across the war as a whole.

By looking at a narrower period in the conflict one is able to get a better feel for the army that was operating at that time and that principal applies equally to the French, Spanish, Portuguese and other minor forces involved.

In addition I have tried to look at some very familiar battles with a different slant and have attempted to model aspects that I wanted to see included that I feel captures the essence of those particular actions very much with the focus on trying to put the players in the 'hot seat', occupied by their historical predecessor who did not have the luxury of balance, points or force selection and had to make the best of the situation as it presented on the day with the forces he had.

My feeling is that playing an historical scenario is all about that comparison between the result achieved historically and that result achieved in the game as a marker of success or failure and there lies the intellectual challenge of this type of game. If in the process we can have some fun and learn to appreciate some of the challenges faced by these warriors from history then we have the basis of a good game.

The final caveat to this however is that I have put these scenarios together based on my own biases, based on the books I have read and the priorities I have chosen to model. I think I am not unusual in joining the ranks of all scenario writers, past and present, in saying, if you don't like something in a scenario, change it, as I certainly would, and if it seems to work and give a better feel for the battle as you see it let us know in the various forums so we can all have a go.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have got behind this book with their support on the Kickstarter and also the very kind messages I have had from friends, people I know personally and those I have never met in person but have come to know through this blog and who share a passion for the hobby and the period. Those include many friends from the Carnage and Glory community and especially Nigel Marsh who has greatly influenced my thinking around the project as a whole and who provides an excellent computer moderated platform for players who would like to use the book with C&G II.

I should also extend a huge thanks to Adrian McWalter and Quinton Dalton for their input into creating this book and the rules 'Over the Hills' that Steve and I had a lot of fun playing them to. Thanks chaps for a great set of rules and your humorous support and approach to the hobby in general, I look forward to catching up at Legionary.

If you would like to know more about the book, the scenarios, the armies, my approach to the modelling or stuff regarding rules then drop a message on the blog.

Thanks you all and onwards and upwards

JJ

O'er the Hills Kickstarter - Resources for Carnage & Glory II and Over the Hills

With the Kickstarter currently running for 'Oer the Hills' I have pulled together a resources page should you choose to use the book using either Over the Hills or Carnage & Glory II.

Both sets greatly influenced the thinking and design of this book being excellent vehicles for modelling historical Napoleonic scenarios.

If you are interested in finding out more about Oe'r the Hills and supporting the Kickstarter then follow the link below and if you would like to see what resources are gathered here then read on, with the first section covering Carnage & Glory II (C&G II) and the second section Over the Hills (OTH).

Kickstarter - Oer the Hills Early Peninsula War Scenarios 1808-1809

Carnage & Glory II Resources

To use O'er the Hills with C&G II you would normally need to tap in all the units to start with, setting up the unit values together with the commander ratings beforehand or instead you could make use of the source files that I have already prepared and were used in our games.

The units and commanders are the same as listed in O'er the Hills, all you need to do is adjust your final list of units in your game order of battle as per each scenario and you are good to go.

In addition I have included the event cards that we used in our Talavera games that add that little extra Talavera flavour.

We simply issued three cars to each player and allowed them to play just one card each turn having that card replaced at the end of the turn. Alternatively they could opt to throw a card back into the deck and draw an alternative.

Cards could also be used to moderate another players card in addition to the one played for their side but we allowed only one card to be returned to the hand each turn.

White label cards are non force specific, coloured cards can only be played by the corresponding side which adds another option in that by keeping ones hand out of sight of the opposition a certain level of bluff could be achieved and if that card is in you possession you know it can't be played against you.

The cards are designed to be flexible enough to allow you to use them how you want.

Carnage & Glory II Talavera Files

'Yes but what about the other scenarios listed in the book?', I hear you say.

Well you should find the other pre Talavera actions are covered by previously released Orders of Battle for games such as Oporto, Vimeiro, Rolica and Corunna.

Carnage & Glory II Rolica Files

Carnage & Glory II Vimeiro Files

Carnage & Glory II Corunna Files

Carnage & Glory II Oporto Files

For the other scenarios I'm afraid you will have to tap in your own data, but the good news is that the really big ones are already covered by the lists I have made available and setting up the smaller extra scenarios should be straight forward given the data I have put together in the others that you can then work from.

Over the Hills Resources

And for those who follow JJ's Wargames using Over the Hills, don't forget you can access the OTH Resources file that carries copies of our OTH QRS and Brigade Morale cards we used in the play-testing.

All the test games and more can be accessed here, just scroll down to look back.

Over the Hills

These aids included our own version of the QRS, designed around 15/18mm figures that we were playing our games with adapted from the rule book and from other versions produced by other players of Over the Hills.

We decided to play all the extra rules and wanted those readily available on the QRS and these took several games to make sure we had captured everything we wanted.

Over time we added a few changes of our own that we played as house rules and I have included copies of the standard and JJ's house rules options in the folder.

You will also see the Force Morale cards we used together with our orders dice. I have included the twelve cards we produced for both French and Allied forces and you can either use dice or order tokens with them to indicate a force's set of orders.

Over The Hills Order Tokens

Finally, because we were using the orders system regularly we decided to put together an Orders QRS which outlines the can and can't do requirements for each order together with the issuing summary.

Over the Hills Resources

So there you are, pretty much everything you might need other than the rules, figures and terrain to play any of the scenarios in O'er the Hills using Over the Hills or Carnage & Glory II.

Kickstarter - Oer the Hills Early Peninsula War Scenarios 1808-1809

Kickstarter Launch - O'er the Hills, Early Peninsular War Scenarios

Kickstarter - Oer the Hills Early Peninsula War Scenarios 1808-1809

I have a little announcement to make about a little project I have been working on with the chaps over at Stand to Games.

As of this evening the scenario book 'O'er the Hills', by me, covering the early Peninsular War period 1808 to 1809 has been launched on Kickstarter.

As many of you will know I have spent the last six years putting together various scenarios and games that covered the early British involvement in the Peninsular War up to and including the Battle of Talavera.

Those games have culminated in the book that is now on Kickstarter designed for using with 'Over the Hills' Napoleonic rules but very easily converted to other similar level systems should you prefer.

If you were following the series of play-tests run over the end of 2017 and start if this year you will have seen the development of this book and the testing done in the games we presented and both Steve and I had a great time working through the historical challenges presented in them.

If you are unfamiliar with those games you can follow the series in the link below where they are gathered together with our review of Over the Hills just after they were launched.

Over the Hills

If you would like to have a go at the challenge of doing better than Marshals Soult and Victor and driving the British Leopard from the Peninsula then you need to get over to the Kickstarter page in the link above.

Of course should you chose to support the Kickstarter and we pass the magic number you wont have to work from the 'Word' draft copies of orders of battle and scenario specific rules such as night fighting that we had to use, with all my scribbled notes, oh no, this is going to be a shiny colour tome from the chaps at Stand to Games with the scenarios and force specific army lists for the period to help you design your own. 

The description of the book is:

'The 101 page supplement includes twelve action packed scenarios that allow you the gamer to recreate some of the greatest battles of the early Peninsula War. Battles such as Roliça, Vimeiro, Oporto, Corunna and Talavera are all included. Each scenario comes complete with orders of battle, detailed map and deployment lay outs and scenario special rules. Also included within this supplement is the authors notes on the scenarios and helpful hints on how to game using the Over the Hills ruleset. The supplement also contains three detailed army lists for Anglo/Portuguese, Spanish and French forces.'

And if you need to gather any information on the units represented in the book you should find most of them covered here on JJ's to help you put them together with painting and modelling ideas as well.

Kickstarter - Oer the Hills Early Peninsula War Scenarios 1808-1809

So as of now we have thirty-three days to get this book up and running.

Cheers all
JJ