Napoleonic Large Battle
Unit Types
In the game, various unit types serve different purposes:
Line Infantry - The backbone of any army, these disciplined troops move and fight closely together. Each base represents between 3,000-4,000 soldiers, providing steady firepower and a strong defence.
Light Infantry - Less common these units are capable of fighting in open skirmishes or close order as needed to harass enemy formations, screen friendly movements, and holding key positions. Examples include: Riflemen, Voltigeurs, Jäger, and Grenzers. Each base represents 500-1,000 troops,
Veteran Infantry - Elite guards and grenadiers known for their skill and bravery. Each base represents 3,000-4,000 veteran troops, bringing steadfastness and shock impact to crucial battlefield areas.
Cavalry - Highly manoeuvrable with powerful charges used to break enemy lines, exploit weaknesses, or threaten the enemy’s flanks. Each base represents 1,000-2,000 horsemen.
Artillery - Massed batteries support infantry and cavalry assaults. Each base represents 20-30 cannons, offering long-range bombardment.
General - Representing the General, along with their staff and signals. Its position highlights command focus for assaults and areas of tactical importance.
The basing of units needs to be consistent and represent a block of troops, cavalry, or cannon. I use 4 inch by 3 inch blocks for the units and a small base for the general. These work out well when playing on a 6 by 4 foot tabletop.
Sequence of play
Each player takes a turn to move and conduct combat with their units in the following sequence:
- Movement
- Combat
- Eliminating units
Movement
During the movement phase a player can attempt to move some or all their units. A unit may move up to the distances listed below in a straight line unless they are following a road. Units within 3 inches of an enemy unit cannot move, and units being moved must cease movement immediately once they are within 3 inches of an enemy unit.
Unit Type Distance Moved
Line Infantry and Artillery 6 inches
Light Infantry and General 9 inches
Cavalry 12 inches
Unit Facing. Unit facing does not matter in this game, but during combat it is suggested a player turns their units to face the enemy unit they are attacking.
Terrain. Units are affected by terrain as follows:
- Woods. These are impassable to all units.
- Towns. These do not restrict the movement of any units, only infantry can end their movement in towns.
- Marshland and Lakes. These are impassable to all units.
- Rivers. These may only be crossed via bridges or fords.
- Roads. Units moving by road increase their movement distance by 3 inches providing their entire move is spent on the road.
Interpenetration. Only light infantry may pass through other friendly units which are not within 4 inches of an enemy unit.
Enemy Unit’s Zone of Control - Units must always cease movement within 3 inches of an enemy unit. This represents the enemy unit’s zone of control and once within 3 inches they are considered to be engaged in combat and may not move, other than pivoting to face the enemy they are attacking. Units remain in combat until there is no enemy within 3 inches due to all enemy units being: eliminated, forced to retreat, or the unit itself has been forced to retreat
Retreating Units - Units that were forced to retire the previous turn due to combat results will rally and cannot move until the next turn.
Combat
Any opposing army unit within a 3-inch proximity of an enemy unit must be subjected to an attack, even if this results in one unit confronting two enemy units. The exceptions are for units in built up areas and light infantry, they are not required to attack, but if they choose to do so, must attack all units within 3 inches.
All units, excluding artillery, have a range of 3 inches for combat. Artillery have a 12-inch range and can shoot over other units at targets. Artillery units bombarding at a range greater than 3 inches do not suffer any adverse combat results.
Note - No enemy unit may be attacked twice during a player’s game turn.
A combat results table is used to determine combat outcomes. Add up the total for all attacking units, then add up the total number of defending units, ignoring light infantry who only count if they are defending. Then modify each score in the following situations:
- Add one for any defending line infantry or light infantry units in buildings
- Add one for any defending unit on a hill (this also applies to bombardments by artillery)
- Add one for each veteran infantry unit
- Add one if the attacking units are a combined arms attack with a mix of line infantry and cavalry
Subtract the defending score from the attacking score to determine the column to use on the combat resolution table. Then roll the die to determine the combat outcome.
 |
| Combat Results Table |
- A1, A2, A3, A4 - all attacking units takes 1, 2, 3 or 4 hits.
- D1, D2, D3, D4 - all defending units takes 1, 2, 3 or 4 hits.
- (R) all defending units must retreat 6 inches, moving pushing back other friendly units in the process if necessary. If the retreat is blocked by terrain (eg a river) or enemy units, then the unit is routed and removed from play. Any retreating unit must rally the following turn and cannot move. Artillery units are eliminated if forced to retreat.
- A1/D1 - all defending units and all attacking units take 1 hit.
- Artillery making a ranged attack beyond 3 inches will ignore any hits on the attacker.
Generals and Combat
Generals within 12 inches of an enemy unit being attacked can choose to direct the attack and improve the outcome of the attack providing it is not solely a bombardment attack by artillery. Roll 2 dice and select the highest value when determining hits on the combat results table.Generals involved in directing an attack are removed from play:
- In the event of the attacking units having to retreat, the General is removed from play.
- If an enemy unit moves within 3 inches of the General.
Eliminating units
A unit that accumulates more that 4 hits is removed from play.When a unit cannot retreat due to terrain, eg a river, or blocking enemy units, they are eliminated.
Artillery units are eliminated if forced to retreat.
Army Resolve
When an army has lost more than half of its units, then only veteran units or those with fewer than 3 hits can initiate movement to within 3 inches of enemy units. It becomes important to have fresh reserves later in the game if you want to capitalise on any attacking opportunities.
Examples of Combat
 |
| A cannon bombards one enemy unit, allowing two infantry to attack the enemy infantry with +1. The artillery bombards with 0, but will not be affected by any results because the range is greater than 3 inches. |
 |
| The attack by one infantry and one cavalry unit will be at +2 because of the +1 for combined arms. |
 |
| The attack by light and line infantry will be 0 as light infantry are only counted when defending. If the situation was reversed, then they could as 1 if defending. Essentially, light infantry are not used for attacks in this game. |
Peter, does the risk to generals "In the event of the attacking units having to retreat, the General is removed from play" only apply if you use them to add a combat bonus?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about, where an An or Dn result causes n hits on each attacking or defending unit that should be limited to that many hits on as many units as the opponent has. If you have more units than the opponent then because you won't take n hits for each of your units they are spread evenly across all units but choose which take the extra hit(s) where the hits are not divsisible by the the number of units.
Yes, generals are only affected by results when involved in the combat. I will look to make that clearer in the rules. An interesting idea on the combat results as the current approach can be costly for the attackers. I will have to try it out.
DeleteClarified the effects on a general when directing an attack. Thanks.
DeleteThe casualty limit idea is really sort of stolen from Jeffrey's Variable Length Bound Napoleonic rules. In that the casualties from combats are a fixed % per of the smaller force per bound (10min.s) that the combat lasted with the losers taking 10% more on top of that. A more direct copy would be to use the number of units on the smaller side to scale both sides casualties by the 'n' that each side got as a result from the table.
DeleteDo you mean the 4 or more/less limits on the combat results table?
DeleteWhat I meant in the second comment was that the 'n' on a side's result would be how many hits it takes multiplied by the number of units on the smaller side. For example 2 attacking units vs 1 defending unit and getting a result of A1/D1 would mean both sides multiply their 'n' (1 for both in this case) by the number of units on the smaller side (in this case the defender with 1 unit) so both have to take 1 hit, the attacker could choose which unit to take the hit. Normally hits would have to be distributed equally but the owner can decide where the extra hits go when not every unit can have the same number. In most cases this would make no difference as typically the loser takes the hits and has the smaller number of units. Actually, come to think of it there will only ever be 1 defending unit (correct?) therefore I'm effectively saying the 'n' is the number of hits and you never multiply by the number of units.
DeleteTypo: in the elimination section "A unit that accumulates more that 4 hits is removed from play." The second "that" should be "than".
Question: shouldn't generals move like cavalry rather than light infantry?
Question: should light infantry be allowed in / through woods?
Typo?: in the enemy ZOC section; "...in engaged combat..." should read "...engaged in combat..."?
Wording: in the combat section "..Add up the total of attacking units, and add the total number of defending units,..." sounds like you sum both sides together. Perhaps change the above wording to "Both sides total their units, defenders...."? If this is the case then the results section where it says "...all defending units..." should say "...the defending unit". Or have I got this all muddled?
Suugestion: "Artillery making a ranged attack 3-12 inches will ignore any attacking hits" should say "Artillery making a ranged attack beyond 3 inches will ignore any hits on the attacker."?
Wording: change "...may advance 6 inches ignoring enemy unit’s zone of control..." to "may advance 6 inches ignoring enemy zones of control..."?
Wording: in Army Resolve change "...then only veteran and units with less than 3 hits..." to "...then only veteran units or those with fewer than 3 hits...".
There can be occasions where there are more defenders than attackers, and many thanks for highlighting the typos and suggesting clearer wording. It is much appreciated. I never cease to be amazed at how much I miss and overlook.
DeleteFantastic stuff, Peter! I cannot wait to play these!
ReplyDeleteSuper rules, needing perhapse some fine tuning:
ReplyDeletex "Add one if the attacking units are a combined arms attack with a mix of line infantry and cavalry"; complete: or light infantry (see picture);
x Suggestion: plus one if heavy cavalry is attacking light cavalry.
Unit types needed under Cavalry.
Thanks for the ideas. I am thinking about adding light and heaving cavalry, along with horse artillery, into the rules. They were not differentiated in the Napoleon at Waterloo rules as one unit represented a division, but as one unit represents a brigade there is opportunity.
DeleteCan defending units be supported by artillery? If not, perhaps they could if within 6"?
ReplyDeleteArtillery bombardment is only used by the attacking player, unless the artillery is within 3 inches when it is attacked like any other unit.
DeleteDefending LI in the open could perhaps cancel out attacking LI? It seems unfair if both sides have LI that only one side counts it?
ReplyDeleteThe light infantry rules were a late add and this situation did not crop up in the test games. Something to think about - thanks.
DeleteHello. These look very good. When are Light infantry counted in combat? I am probably missing something but the rules say they only count when defending but the example of play says they count when attacking. Cheers Simon
ReplyDeleteHi Simon. I am flip flopping on the light infantry rules. I did start out having them only count on attacks, then changed the rule to only counting on defence and not being forced to attack (like units in buildings). But I suspect I will settle on them not counted for attacks or defence, and not having to attack. That way they are used to hold positions and harass without being a major influence in combat. Thanks, Peter
Delete... and perhaps let LI enter woods?
ReplyDeleteSomething to ponder. If not, they may get cover if within 3 inches of woods.
DeleteHi Peter, thanks for publishing and discussing the rules. A couple of suggestions
ReplyDeleteNo horse artillery units. As you say, artillery is a unit of 20-30 guns, really a grand battery. Was there ever an example of this being composed entirely of horse artillery?
Light infantry. Note that the unit is 1/4 the size of a line unit, so I wonder if it should count as a full unit during combat. I'm not sure that there are examples of deployed Skirmishers acting independently of their brigade. Except in woods where the whole brigade might be deployed. Woods being the other comment...
Built up areas. I would have to play test to be sure, but I know that towns would often change hands several times in a battle. So the combat results might need more retreats
Cavalry. I don't think your system has the granularity to separate light and heavy cavalry
Thanks
John
Hi John, Thanks for the suggestions. Differentiating between light and heavy cavalry is one area I do want to add to the rules. As for unit retreats, I have considered having units who have taken hits then rolling for retreat. Eg, rolling a dice for each hit taken, on any 1 or 2 they retreat. The (R) on the CRT would be removed. I have not play tested this rule, but I think this approach could add more ebb and flow to a game.
DeleteThanks again for taking the time to write your suggestions as it has got me thinking about revisiting this period once I am settled into my new house. I am currently reading “Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon” by Rory Muir which may also give me a reason to revisit the rules. Thanks, Peter
Looking at the rules i am confused with regard to the Light Infantry - in the combat section it says they are not counted when adding up the attackers total (i assume this means just adding up the number of units involved in the attack) but then in the image at the bottom of the rules in the caption for the attack including light infantry it says:
ReplyDelete"The attack by light and line infantry will be +1 as light infantry are counted when attacking. If the situation was reversed, then the attack would be with 0." - so the light infantry does count when attacking?
That was my mistake. I have updated the caption to the example photo. Thanks.
Deletegreat thanks okay that makes it clearer now - i like the idea of light infantry being used abstractly in this way as more of a means to lock up enemy forces rather than make a significant offensive move given the large scale being represented
Deletejust something else i am wondering - the concept of buildings int he game in the combat it can add to the defensive score but if units are around 3000-4000 men in size each they are not going all be in a building are they?
ReplyDeleteThe buildings in most games will represent towns. I generally try and avoid having too many towns and only represent the larger towns in battles.
Deleteah okay, i was thinking though whether something like Hougoumont or Auenhain farm would be representable but i suspect not and the game scale is more like the Avalon Hill Waterloo game - where its more of an operational area covered rather than a battlefield?
DeleteSPIs Napoleon at Waterloo was the inspirations for these rules. https://www.spigames.net/PDFv2/NapoleonatWaterloo.pdf
Delete