Napoleon himself called it his "Spanish Ulcer", a festering wound that drained over 300,000 French soldiers and contributed directly to his eventual downfall. The Peninsular War stands as one of the most dramatic and consequential conflicts of the Napoleonic era, pitting the mighty French Empire against an unlikely alliance of British regulars, Portuguese defenders, Spanish patriots, and countless guerrilla fighters who refused to submit to foreign rule.
For wargamers and military history enthusiasts, the Peninsular War offers something unique: a six-year campaign featuring everything from grand set-piece battles to brutal sieges and the birth of modern guerrilla warfare. It was here that Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, forged his legendary reputation. It was here that the myth of French invincibility shattered on the plains of Bailén. And it was here that ordinary Spanish civilians took up arms against the greatest military machine Europe had ever seen.
This is the story of that war, and how you can recreate its dramatic battles on your tabletop.
The Road to War: Napoleon's Fatal Miscalculation
By 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte stood at the zenith of his power. His Grande Armée had crushed Austria at Austerlitz, humiliated Prussia at Jena-Auerstedt, and forced Russia to terms at Tilsit. Continental Europe lay prostrate before the French Emperor. Only Britain, protected by the English Channel and the Royal Navy, remained defiant.
Unable to strike directly at his island nemesis, Napoleon devised the Continental System, an economic blockade designed to strangle British trade. Every European port was to be closed to British goods. Every nation was to enforce this embargo or face the consequences.
Portugal, Britain's oldest ally, refused to comply. Its economy depended on Atlantic trade, and its royal family had no intention of sacrificing prosperity for Napoleon's ambitions. The Emperor's response was swift and brutal: in October 1807, he ordered General Jean-Andoche Junot to march through Spain and seize Lisbon.
The Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil just days before French troops entered the capital. Portugal was conquered, but Napoleon's appetite was far from satisfied. Spanish weakness during the campaign had revealed an opportunity too tempting to ignore.
The Spanish Trap
Spain in 1808 was a kingdom in crisis. King Charles IV was weak and ineffectual, dominated by his wife's favourite, Manuel Godoy. The heir, Prince Ferdinand, despised Godoy and plotted against his own father. Napoleon saw this dysfunction and decided to exploit it.
Under the pretext of reinforcing the army in Portugal, French troops poured across the Pyrenees throughout early 1808. By March, over 100,000 soldiers occupied strategic fortresses across northern Spain. Then Napoleon sprung his trap.
In a masterpiece of political manipulation, the Emperor summoned both Charles IV and Ferdinand to Bayonne in France. There, through a combination of threats and promises, he forced both to renounce their claims to the Spanish throne. On May 5, 1808, Napoleon announced that his brother Joseph would become King of Spain.
The Spanish people had other ideas.
The Uprising: Spain Rises Against the Eagle
On May 2, 1808, the famous "Dos de Mayo", the people of Madrid rose against their French occupiers. Armed with knives, clubs, and whatever weapons they could find, ordinary citizens attacked French soldiers in the streets. Marshal Murat's response was merciless: his elite Mameluke cavalry charged into the crowds, sabring men, women, and children alike.
The suppression was brutal but counterproductive. News of the Madrid massacre spread like wildfire across Spain, igniting uprisings in every province. Local juntas formed to coordinate resistance. Armies were raised from scratch. A nation that had seemed ripe for conquest transformed overnight into a hornet's nest of resistance.
The Shock of Bailén
The first major test came in July 1808, when General Pierre Dupont led 20,000 French troops into Andalusia to pacify the south. Near the town of Bailén, his force encountered a Spanish army under General Francisco Castaños.
What followed shattered the myth of French invincibility. Outmaneuvered and surrounded, Dupont's entire corps was forced to surrender, nearly 18,000 men laying down their arms. It was the first time a Napoleonic army had suffered such a catastrophic defeat in open battle.
The psychological impact was immense. Across Europe, subject peoples took note: the French could be beaten. In Spain, resistance hardened into determination. And in London, the British government saw an opportunity to open a new front against Napoleon.
Wellington's War: Britain Enters the Fight
In August 1808, a British expeditionary force under Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal. Within weeks, he had defeated Junot's French garrison at Vimeiro and liberated Lisbon. Though Wellesley was temporarily replaced due to political controversies, he would return the following year to begin the long campaign that would define his career.
Wellington, as he would become after his victory at Talavera in 1809, faced a daunting strategic situation. The French could concentrate overwhelming numbers against him at will, drawing on the vast resources of their continental empire. His own forces were limited, dependent on seaborne supply, and operating at the end of a long logistics chain.
The Lines of Torres Vedras
Wellington's solution was a masterpiece of defensive strategy. Rather than risk his army in pitched battles against superior numbers, he constructed the Lines of Torres Vedras, an enormous system of fortifications north of Lisbon. Behind these impregnable defences, the British and Portuguese could shelter while French armies exhausted themselves in the Portuguese wilderness.
The strategy worked brilliantly. When Marshal Masséna invaded Portugal in 1810 with 65,000 men, he found nothing but scorched earth and empty villages. The civilian population had been evacuated; all supplies had been destroyed or removed. Masséna's army starved outside the Lines through a miserable winter before retreating in tatters.
The Turning of the Tide
From 1811 onwards, the initiative slowly shifted to the Allies. Wellington began probing offensives into Spain, testing French defences and supporting Spanish guerrilla operations. Key frontier fortresses fell: Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz in early 1812, opening the road into Spain.
The decisive year was 1812. While Napoleon marched his Grande Armée to destruction in Russia, Wellington struck. At Salamanca on July 22, he caught Marshal Marmont's army in a devastating flank attack, destroying 40% of the French force in less than an hour. Madrid fell shortly after, and though Wellington was forced to retreat by year's end, the French position in Spain was crumbling.
The Guerrilla War: Spain's Hidden Army
No account of the Peninsular War is complete without understanding the guerrilla campaign, the "little war" that gave this form of warfare its name. While regular armies clashed in set-piece battles, thousands of Spanish irregulars waged a relentless shadow war against French occupation.
Guerrilla bands ambushed supply convoys, assassinated couriers, and made French control of the countryside impossible. A French officer wrote that "it takes a whole army to deliver a letter", and he was barely exaggerating. At any moment, a seemingly peaceful village might erupt in violence. Every road was dangerous; every shadow might conceal a knife.
The brutality was mutual and horrifying. The French executed captured guerrillas as bandits; the Spanish replied with equal savagery. Goya's famous "Disasters of War" etchings capture the nightmarish reality of this conflict, a vision of war stripped of glory and romance.
Yet the guerrillas served a vital strategic purpose. By forcing Napoleon to garrison every town and patrol every road, they tied down hundreds of thousands of troops who might otherwise have overwhelmed Wellington's small field army. The war in Spain was won not just on battlefields like Salamanca and Vitoria, but in countless unnamed ambushes on mountain roads.
Napoleon's German Allies in Spain
While the Peninsular War is often portrayed as a purely Franco-British contest, the reality was more complex. Napoleon's Empire drew military contributions from across Europe, including the German states of the Confederation of the Rhine.
The Rheinbund, formed in 1806, obligated its member states to provide troops for Napoleon's campaigns. Contingents from Baden, Nassau, Westphalia, Hesse-Darmstadt, and the Dutch territories all served in Spain, fighting alongside French forces throughout the campaign.
These German troops earned a mixed reputation. The Baden contingent was considered among the finest in French service, distinguishing itself at battles like Talavera and throughout the brutal campaign. Nassau infantry famously saved the French flank at the Battle of Medellin in 1809. Yet serving far from home in an increasingly hopeless cause took its toll, by 1813, several German units attempted to defect to the British rather than continue fighting for Napoleon.
For wargamers, these German allied contingents offer fascinating opportunities to add variety and historical depth to Peninsular War battles. Their distinctive uniforms, Baden's dark blue, Nassau's green, the Dutch light blue with pink facings, provide visual contrast to the French blue and British red that dominate most tables.
The End Game: Vitoria and Victory
By 1813, Napoleon's empire was collapsing. The catastrophic Russian campaign had destroyed the Grande Armée, and a new coalition of European powers was closing in from the east. In Spain, Wellington prepared his final offensive.
The campaign of 1813 was a masterclass in maneuver warfare. Rather than attacking the French directly, Wellington swept around their northern flank, threatening their communications with France. King Joseph had no choice but to retreat, abandoning Madrid and falling back toward the Pyrenees.
The decisive battle came at Vitoria on June 21, 1813. Wellington caught Joseph's army strung out along a valley and attacked from multiple directions simultaneously. The result was complete French collapse. Joseph's entire baggage train, including his personal carriage and the looted treasures of the Spanish monarchy, fell into British hands. The French army dissolved into a fleeing mob.
Within months, Wellington had crossed the Pyrenees and invaded France itself. The battles of the Nivelle, the Nive, Orthez, and finally Toulouse drove the French from one position after another. On April 12, 1814, news arrived that Napoleon had abdicated. The Peninsular War was over.
Recreating the Peninsular War on Your Tabletop
The Peninsular War offers wargamers an extraordinarily rich canvas for tabletop battles. Unlike the massive engagements of Waterloo or Austerlitz, Peninsular battles were typically smaller and more tactically varied, perfect for gaming at home without requiring a warehouse-sized table.
The conflict featured a remarkable diversity of forces: British line infantry with their devastating volleys, French veterans hardened by years of continental warfare, Portuguese cazadores, Spanish regulars and guerrillas, and the colourful German contingents of the Confederation of the Rhine. Each army fought differently, with distinct strengths and tactical doctrines.
Getting Started: The Peninsular War Starter Packs
For those eager to march into this dramatic conflict, WoFun Games offers complete ready-to-play starter sets that provide everything needed to begin your Peninsular War campaign.
The 18mm Peninsular War Starter Pack delivers 378 beautifully illustrated miniatures on 5 plexiglass sprues. You receive two complete, balanced armies ready for immediate action:
The Allied Army includes:
· Three battalions of infantry (two British, one Portuguese)
· A detachment of skirmishers featuring the famous British Riflemen (the "Greenjackets") and Light Infantry
· A regiment of cavalry
· Two companies of foot artillery
· A mounted general to command your forces
The French Army fields:
· Three battalions of infantry
· Skirmishers in the form of elite Voltigeurs
· A cavalry regiment
· Two artillery companies
· A mounted general
Both armies are designed for balanced gameplay, with the Allied force having an army strength of 31 and the French 32, close enough that victory depends on tactical skill rather than raw numbers.
For those who prefer larger, more detailed miniatures, the 28mm Peninsular War Starter Pack offers 387 characters on 10 sprues. The larger scale showcases Peter Dennis's stunning illustrations to full effect, with individual facial expressions and equipment details clearly visible.
Both starter packs include digital wargaming rules written by Andy Callan, available in both basic and advanced versions. The basic rules let newcomers fight their first battle within minutes of opening the box, while the advanced rules add tactical depth for experienced players.
Why WoFun Miniatures?
Traditional wargaming presents newcomers with a daunting barrier: months of assembly and painting before a single battle can be fought. Many enthusiasts never complete their armies, their half-painted forces languishing in boxes while life's other demands take priority.
WoFun miniatures eliminate this obstacle entirely. Each figure comes ready-printed in full colour on durable plexiglass, illustrated by renowned military artist Peter Dennis. Simply press the figures from their sprue, slot them into the included MDF bases, and your army is battle-ready. No painting, no gluing, no frustration, just wargaming.
The 18mm scale offers the best value and requires less table space, with games comfortable on a 90cm x 120cm playing surface. The 28mm scale provides greater detail and visual impact, ideal for players who want their miniatures to be display pieces as well as gaming tools.
Expanding Your Forces: The Confederation of the Rhine
Once you've mastered the basic starter set battles, you'll likely want to expand your forces with additional units. For French players, the Confederation of the Rhine collection offers an exciting opportunity to add Napoleon's German allies to your army.
This collection includes troops from Baden, Nassau, Westphalia, Hesse-Darmstadt, and the Dutch territories, all of which served alongside French forces during the Peninsular campaign. Each contingent features historically accurate uniforms and equipment, adding visual variety and tactical options to your French forces.
The complete collection is available as a 18mm Confederation of the Rhine Pack or 28mm Confederation of the Rhine Pack, giving you all the German allied units in a single, value-priced bundle.
Command Your Own Peninsular Campaign
The drums are beating across the Spanish plains. In one direction, the red-coated lines of Wellington's army advance with mechanical precision, bayonets glinting in the Iberian sun. Opposite them, French columns mass under their proud eagle standards, veterans of a dozen victories preparing to add another triumph to Napoleon's glory.
Between these titans, the fate of empires hangs in the balance. And now, you can take command.
WoFun's Peninsular War Starter Packs offer everything you need to experience this legendary conflict:
Instant armies, Pre-printed, full-colour miniatures ready for battle in minutes, not months
Complete gaming solution, Rules included, designed for both newcomers and experienced wargamers
Stunning artwork, Peter Dennis's historically accurate illustrations bring every soldier to life
Room to grow, Expand your forces with the Confederation of the Rhine and other Napoleonic collections
Whether you're a seasoned grognard seeking new campaigns to conquer or a curious newcomer drawn to one of history's most dramatic conflicts, the Peninsular War awaits. With WoFun's revolutionary ready-to-play system, you can unbox your armies and fight your first battle the very same evening.
The eagles are advancing. The thin red line is forming. History is calling.
Start your Peninsular War campaign today