04. Battle of Valladolid - 2nd July 1808

The fourth battle of the campaign has to be fought early in the July turn. Doodle here please:

http://doodle.com/94as7vuu2q3pcwcw

We only need 4 Spanish players for this, but 9 are needed to make things run smoothly on the French side. They can make do with as few as 6 but 9 is optimal and more can be accomodated. A couple more Spanish players can be fitted in if people only want to command batteries.

This isn't restricted to those playing as map commanders. Anyone in the KS and GCM communities is very welcome.

You'll need the RoadToWagram mod by Gunship, Kevin's KSNapoleonMod (large or small versions) and Kevin's RestrictedMovement mod (there are uncrossable rivers on this map, its a converted Culps Hill map).

Andy (Sharpe55) should be playing the French commander but if he can't make it, I'll appoint one. Mike (Grog) should be playing the Spanish commander and I already know he can't make this weekend so a Spanish commander will be appointed and given the orders Mike has already sent me.



NOTE ROTATED COMPASS. The French are attacking from the south and must capture the city. The Spanish are north of the Rio Duero and must hold Valladolid.

Dark blue rivers are UNCROSSABLE except at marked bridges.

Thanks to those who've voted so far. We have just about scraped enough players to play. It'll be tricky but it's do-able. I'm mainly concerned to get this game out of the way to release turn 3 proper, so we'll go with what we have, even if its a kludge (as they say in the colonies). More players always welcome.

Saturday 2 August at 20:00 BST is where we are at right now, if more voters favour another time we may shift, but please ink this day/time into your schedules. Everyone else in the campaign please vote a yea or nay, even a 'no' helps me see who is at least active.

Thank you everyone.

FRENCH

Mark
Martin
Mitra/Davide
Sean
Stefan (maybe)
BeefStu
Digby

SPANISH

Grog/Mike = Cuesta
Kevin = Pignatelli
Sspoom = Rubacalba Bty
Hays/Niall = Daoiz
Ron = Penmuir
Morsey = Carrada Bty

FLOAT

Steve (maybe)
Knight (maybe)

I will select 2 C-in-Cs as well as all other roles no later than Friday midday my time and send on more details to players then so you will all have at least 24h-30h to study the tactical situation and discuss it in the private sections of your forums. Latecomers/non-doodle people always welcome. There will be brigades and batteries available for many more than we have.

Two vs six. Let me guess, the Spanish have fielded an overwhelming force. In light of this I really think Mark needs to transfer to a Spanish command.   

Kevin - I have an updated scenario file that uses the NEW_KS_NapMod including Grog's portraits - can we issue this to everyone for the new game?

If you don't want to issue it I can fall back on an older version of the scenario - I think you have this. I don't have a backup so please e-mail it back to me. The scenario file should be dated around 11th-12th August 2013.

@ Mitra - are you able to host please?

Thanks Niall, you will be commanding the Spanish cavalry.

@ Mitra - are you able to host please?

Yes no problem

Thank you very much. Do you know if Suchet or Berthier are able to play?

EDIT: In case anyone needs a cover story for the railroad line, we are treating it as a horse-drawn tramway, like so:



They have been around in Britain since the mid-1600s and have been horse-drawn since the 1700s so I think its fair to say Spain had a few by the early 1800s. This one brings clay in from a river valley in the SE corner of the map to be baked into bricks at the brick kilns on the east side of the city.

[/bs to cover the presence of an 1860s RR]

No Martin, Saturday i cannot be there. Sorry.

However I marked my presence in doodle.

The road to Valladolid shall run red with the blood of the French pigs. General Cuesta has ordained it so.

Digby wrote:Kevin - I have an updated scenario file that uses the NEW_KS_NapMod including Grog's portraits - can we issue this to everyone for the new game?

Yes we can. I'll put the latest version in my dropbox and put the link here for people.

Excellent! Grog's portraits and toolbar flags get their first official outing.

"Excellent! Grog's portraits and toolbar flags get their first official outing." - That's great and lets not forget the improvements Kevin and Martin have done (and Randy's flags, of course)  

I might well be able to play on Saturday. I wont be back from work until 8-8.30pm and have work the next morning but I'm not sure I can miss this one. If the start drags on past 10pm, though, I would have to pass on the reins. A small command would also suit me in these circumstances.

Mike

Here is a link for the large KSNapoleon MOd: KSNapoleonLarge

And the link for the small map version: KSNapoleonSmall

If your vertical screen resolution in the game is less than 1024, use the small map version.  Otherwise use the large map version.

Warning:
There has been a major re-work to the artillery behavior. It is much more deadly than in the past. It was the big killer in the European wars, accounting for as much as 50% of the battlefield casualties. Canister fire can reach out to 500yd in some cases. This makes a frontal assault on the guns very expensive. However, the guns cannot rotate as they do in the stock game. That means a battery can be attacked from the flank or rear with little loss.

Thanks Kevin.

Mike - well that would be good. You'd be Cuesta then of course and Kevin can play Pignatelli.

Arrival at 20:00 BST, with testing asap. Everyone has the briefings and orders already so we ought to be rolling before 21:00. So if you join at 20:30 that sounds like it'll work well.

It's been a long time since we've played Napoleonic.  Just a reminder that (I think) we still need Road to Wagram & Peninsular Mod as well as KSNapoleon and Restricted Movement.

What order should they be in please?

Martin (J)

That order.

GCM / Jolly's terrain mod works and can be slotted anywhere.

I think we should avoid GCM or Reb Bugler toolbars. They might cause unintended effects or even crashes.



That's the sequence I used while testing the scenario in MP. Seems to work.

Players will not need the restricted map mod because those maps are included in the KS mod.

It is mandatory not to use any custom toolbar as the formation buttons will not work.  The formation names have been largely changed and won't correspond to what is written in the custom toolbars.

Player update, it's now looking good. Thanks everyone.

FRENCH

Mitra = Moncey
Mark = Musnier +1 (BeefStu?)
Martin = Grouchy
Digby = Gobert +1
Stefan = Morlot +1
Sean = Rigaud

SPANISH

Grog = Cuesta
Ron = Penmuir
Hays = Daoiz
Kevin = Pignatelli
Morsey = Carrada

FLOAT

Sven (maybe)
Knight (maybe)
Sspoom/Steve (maybe)

The +1's indicate an additional player position.

There is a good chance I can make it this weekend.
What is the official starting time?

20:00 BST, but Grog can't be there before 20:30 BST, but we'll probably still be testing set-ups by then. I absolutely want to be rolling by 21:00 BST, preferably before.

You may need to play French, Steve, if that is okay.

I can play either side its not an issue for me

Thanks. If Stefan shows and I join the French we'll have 6 for that side which works okay. In that case Morsey can move back to playing a Spanish role, though it'll be a small one.

Just so everyone knows, this map contains a number of strongpoints.  They are represented as a hollow square of stone walls.  They have a very high defensive value.  These are meant to represent buildings that could be fortified and offered good protection to the defender.  Many Napoleonic battles revolved around capturing small towns that could be defended with relatively few troops.  A battalion placed in square formation inside one of these will be able to hold off 2 or 3 enemy battalions for some time.  Charging a unit in square formation in one of these with infantry will be suicide.

Here is a picture of what they look like.

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Thank you Kevin, I didn't know if you had included the map version with these.

Just to add to what Kevin says, you can place an infantry unit in there in any formation and get some bonus, but the square allows some defensive fire in every direction, although the majority still comes out of the side the flag is on (about 50% we think), plus the square gets a huge melee bonus as well.

How about a link to restricted movement mod?

(nevermind I just saw its in the KSNAPmod)