A Savage and Romantic War: A Wargamer’s Guide to the First Carlist War, Spain, 1833-1840

In the quarter-century after the fall of Napoleon, there were several wars in Europe, and this Spanish civil war was the lengthiest, and most varied. It was the first of a set of conflicts that split the nation, and would continue to do so for a century and more. This book gives the wargamer all the information needed to play games set in Spain in these tumultuous seven years, and to make and paint the armies that fought.

The war is one that is becoming more familiar to English-speakers, and can be gamed in any scale, with dedicated ranges available in 28 and 18mm. Although taking place only two decades after the latter stages of the Peninsular campaign, and sometimes over the same landscape, it has a quality all of its own. It was big enough to have full-scale battles with two dozen or so units a side, and small enough that it can all be played with a brigade or two, and with no need to compromise on scale-every pair of guns or battalion can appear on the table. There were numerous skirmishes, with Carlists in their huge berets and irregular bands facing militia, guardsmen and everything in between. The sheer variety and picturesque appearance of the soldiers of four nations who fought, the involvement of larger-than-life generals on both sides, and the spectacular scenery over which it took place make this a perfect conflict for re-creating in miniature.

Those who play most Napoleonic rules will be able to use them for this war, and this work is not linked to any particular set.

The book has a short history of the war, then full details of the Spanish, French, British and Portuguese forces, including organization, tactics, uniforms, weapons, equipment and flags. Then there are descriptions of 13 battles, each with the map and orders of battle that will make it easy to translate onto the table-top. Finally, there is a lengthy account of the Oriamandi campaign of 1837, culminating in the dramatic battle which saw the largest involvement of British troops in Europe since Waterloo.

Throughout, there is detail of which regiments did what and how they did it.