I've taken the plunge into a new era for me, with my first batch of French Naps just arrived(lovely sculpts by the way). My intention is to build a Peninsula French force then follow on with Brits, Spanish, Portugese etc as they are produced
Previous experience has taught me to start small and build up, so I'm planning to build forces to fight the smaller engagements initially then add to them, rather than try to build the entire Armee d'Espagne straight off
But first up, research is required. As more of an ancient gamer, I'm astounded and a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Napoleonic material that's out there :o
Can anyone recommend any books that detail the French forces present in the Peninsula campaign's smaller battles please ?
Any assistance (and tips for painting/basing 10mm Naps) greatly appreciated ;)
OK, not the smaller battles but this is good
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=5427184638&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dmilitary%2Bdress%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bpeninsular%2Bwar%26x%3D0%26y%3D0 (http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=5427184638&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dmilitary%2Bdress%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bpeninsular%2Bwar%26x%3D0%26y%3D0)
has OOBs for all the major battles, so you can build individual Divisions, and fight battles based on parts of the big ones: I used this book to do part of Salamanca (I think): The French had two divisions, and the British were trying to flank them- the aim was to force the French Div on the Right to react- they could only move if the brits came with in musket range- British Victory was determined by how many of this reserve the French general ended up committing.
You could try the General de Brigade scenario books - I think No 5 does the peninsula
Cheers for the recommendations, I've got the Windrow/Embleton book from the library and it seems to be just what I need, likewise the GdeB Peninsular scenario set
Does anyone recommend Lachouque's 'Napoleon's War In Spain' ?
I'm not sure if this book might be of use, but I remember it getting very good reviews from the wargaming community when it first came out.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Peninsular-Atlas-General-Military/dp/1849083649/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340825575&sr=1-1