ESR : New Campaign Guide – To Assure My Dynasty – 1808 Iberia
By Tom Gall
The Wargaming Company makers of Et Sans Résultat (perhaps better known as ESR) have started to update and release their line of campaign books. The first in the refreshed line is To Assure My Dynasty, . These new campaign books are collectively called Series 3 to set them apart from past volumes.
With the book in your hands, the very first thing you’ll notice is, it’s a hardback. The prior series were spiral-bound volumes. Definitely a noticeable increase in quality but what about the content?
The campaign guide is 184 pages, all in full color. The book is broken up into several sections, first giving you a bit of background about the peninsular war, the countries, armies, and personalities involved in the conflict.
The next section covers how to use the book, with guidance on the size of the table, players, how to set up the maps, working with rosters, and how to handle scenarios that last for an extended period of time. After that is the campaign, 13 historical battles broken up into two logical parts. Last but not least is an extensive guide to the army uniforms each unit wore.
The Campaigns and Battles
For each individual battle in the guide, there is a consistent format comprised of background, special rules, and terrain setup, a briefing for each side, a briefing for a referee (if you have one), initial deployment, a list of forces, and victory conditions for the battle. Each scenario is roughly six pages each.
The 13 historical battles in the guide can be played individually or as a set of linked games in the form of a campaign. When playing a set of linked games players accumulate victory points based on victory conditions they are able to achieve during the course of each game. The guide does not define tactical elements of a detailed campaign such as supply lines, grand tactical moment, or negative effects due to the loss of a battle. Rather the outcome of the battle awards points to each side and it is the tally of these points that decides who has won the campaign. Some players might enjoy tracking detail down to the individual wagon and how many and type of cannonballs it’s transporting as part of a campaign, others would rather put the time into the battles. The campaign guide squarely aims at getting you to the tabletop with a historical tactical situation to game out.
The first 5 battles cover the initial invasions of Spain and Portugal. These are the battles of Alcolea, Medina de Rioseco, Bailen, Rolica, and Vimeiro.
The second set of battles cover Napoleon’s arrival as the La Grande Armée continued to struggle against the British Expeditionary Force. The battles are Zornosa, Gamonal, Espinosa de los Monteros, Tudela, Somosierra, Cardedeu, Molis de Rei, and La Coruña.
Across all the battles the book gives guidance for how many players are needed (2-4) the size of table based on scale, and the “level” of the battle. The term level is a bit of a misnomer as it’s more referring to the size of force and familiarity of the ESR rules you’ll want to know. These range from Beginner to Advanced. Advanced implies generally more forces as well as a greater likelihood of encountering corner cases in the rules.
Remember these battles were not just the forces of France and Britain engaged, but also include their respective allies Portuguese, Spanish, and other minor nations.
If you’re playing with the standard ESR box set of figures, these are set at 150 yards per inch scale, which for the purposes of the battles, means you’ll typically need a 4’x6′ table to game but as much as a 6’x8′ in order to play all the battles. If you’re playing a larger scale like 15mm, 28mm you’ll need a larger space and the book continues the ESR tradition to let you pick the scale and give you values for the various choices.
The Army Guide
One is always adding to the units that make up your army. If you want to try to field the variety of units that were present on the field that day, then a painting guide is an essential need. One of the great aspects of the Napoleonic era is the many very pretty uniforms that were in use that were not only a source of pride for those that wore them, but a signal to the enemy that famed units were standing ready for another day of gallant heroism.
David and Rebecca Ensteness provide 85 pages of spectacular uniform plates. This is no small amount of research or attention to detail to put into your hands. The plates cover the French and allies, the British and allies
You will never be left wondering the color of a coat, turnbacks, cuffs, trousers, etc for your army. Those newer to historical wargaming probably will not fully appreciate the amount of time this type of research requires, the attention to detail, and the artistry needed to produce this level of work. This type of resource is an exemplar of the highest quality effort. It is also some of the most difficult to get right, after 200+ years the sands of time obscure documentation, and less than great record keeping can lead to cloudy and inconsistent answers. My compliments and admiration to the Wargaming Company for putting it together. Likewise, I want you the reader to be aware that as with all historical research sometimes new information comes to light, so don’t be in any way disappointed if a uniform plate changes at a future date.
Final Recommendation
As an active player of miniatures games set of the Napoleonic era, campaign guides like what The Wargaming Company have produced in To Assure My Destiny tend to be an auto-buy. It gives you a set of either stand-alone or linked games to play. Set the table with terrain, get the lead out, and go! It reduces the amount of prep time you would otherwise have to invest in order to have a fun gaming session.
If you’re using the Et Sans Resultat ruleset I highly recommend picking this one up. The struggle for the Iberian peninsula presented the French and British sides with many challenges. With their Spanish and Portuguese allies, and the drama for control it makes a great setting for the era. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention . Be sure to start with Sharpe’s Rifles or watch the BBC series.
If you’re using other game systems set in the Napoleonic era, is the campaign guide still worth it? I’d say yes, with the understanding you’ll need to perform conversions into the system of choice. Maps, scenario setup, player briefings are universal so it is not as if you’re taking on a project in order to use the book.
The last one of the major challenges painting your forces is addressed through the extensive set of uniform plates. To me, that’s worth the price of the guide alone. Picking up the is great, but this guide is far cheaper and more practical for painting your miniatures.
All images were provided by and used with permission of The Wargaming Company, LLC