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REPUBLIQUE GRAND-TACTICAL NAPOLEONIC WARFARE IN
MINIATURE
Optional Rules
Formations · Command ·
Movement · Artillery ·
Assaults & Morale · Other
These additional rules may help to spice- up regular games, offering a variety
of interesting variations. They are however, somewhat experimental since we
have not had the opportunity to thoroughly test all of them. Because these are
not part of the main rules, players should make sure that all participants know
which optional rules (if any) are being used. |
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- « Formations
- 101 - Debandade
- The French army occasionally deployed a formation which
has been called grande tirailleur or en débandade (which
means a mob). This involved the deployment of most or all of a unit into open
order. The formation used by Davout's 3rd Corps during the 1809 fighting around
Ratisbon and also several formations employed at Waterloo were most likely this
formation. Using this as an optional game formation would allow any French
infantry regiment of veteran quality or better to deploy 2 or 3 skirmish bases
per infantry stand. If assaulted however, the skirmish markers would not be
allowed to rejoin their parent unit, which would suffer the appropriate
(possibly large) minus while dispersed.
There is a possibility for
other nations to use this formation, but only on rare occasions, probably with
knowledge of a known event. If players decide to exercise this option, they
should include limitations such as two skirmish markers per base, inability to
pull skirmisher markers in for the duration of the game, etc.
- 102 - Cavalry Lines
- In order to conveniently portray columns and "mixed"
formations, Republique cavalry bases represent half-frontage
deployments. This does however, cause some distortion when portraying a line
formation. If fully deployed in line, each 550 man base in Republique should
actually be double its mounted frontage.
- Cavalry Lines allows a fully deployed line by
placing cavalry bases 4cm apart in line abreast. The result is considered a
solid formation despite the gaps between the bases.
- 103 - The Waterloo Column
- The very famous and somewhat mysterious packed infantry
columns employed by the French Army at Waterloo were actually the result of
long and careful planning by several French Corps commanders. These officers
had seen numerous French formations in the Peninsula shot to pieces before they
could deploy against well shielded British line infantry. The new formation
they invented was a grand-tactical departure from the normal checkerboard
formations or grand columns. It employed each battalion in line, arrayed
closely behind each other. Upon penetrating the enemy skirmish screen, these
compact divisions were able to quickly expand to more than quadruple their
original frontage, all under cover of fire from the front battalion(s) which
were already in line and thereby able to respond to enemy volleys. This
formation (it was not really a column) was very vulnerable to cavalry and
artillery, but these were two areas in which the British were known to be weak.
- The Waterloo Columns rule allows French Commanders
to "pack" up to six infantry bases into one. In essence, "zipping" an entire
division into one tiny packet which can be "unzipped" upon confronting the
enemy. To do this, move all participating regiments into base to base contact,
and then remove from the game board five of every six bases belonging to the
participating units. Place the temporarily withdrawn bases to one side of the
game board, splitting them into evenly sized groups, one assigned to each base
remaining on the board. Including the remaining base, up to six combat bases
may be compacted into each remaining base. The remaining bases of each division
must operate together on a two base frontage, and while in this ultra-compact
formation, they count as a double-enfilade target (this means that an actual
enfilade opportunity will double the existing double-enfilade condition!).
Bases lost due to artillery fire are randomly removed from the off-board pool
of bases. If involved in an assault, the units numerically count only the
number of bases present on the board. Morale and panic hits inflicted on a
"packed" unit apply to all participating regiments. Any mandatory movements
will force a packed unit to "unpack" and for all regiments to be placed back on
the board in base to base contact. The use of this formation requires a degree
of on-the-spot judgement calls which may require an umpire. Players should
agree on possible complications before including it in game play.
- 104 - Divisional Squares
- Early during the famous Egyptian campaign, the French
army used very large square formations composed of entire divisions. Using the
same concept as the Waterloo Columns mentioned above, a division may condense
all of its member regiments by half (each base counts as two bases). The
remaining bases in the division are then formed into a hollow square, with the
units facing outward. Any assaults made against a unit in one of these
divisional squares will count as against a unit in a regular square. In
addition, the nearby regiments count as support, as do the bases which were set
aside, making divisional squares a potent defense. However, they suffer the
same double-enfilade effect at the Waterloo Column (see rule 103), making them
most effective against large mounted enemies who own little artillery.
Divisional squares are subject to the same movement restrictions as normal
squares.
- 105 - Breakthrough Column
- When field commanders were confronted by numerically
superior enemies which were qualitatively inferior, they sometimes employed
"grand columns" which were design to scare the inexperienced enemy troops. If
the ruse succeeded, the attacking columns faced little opposition as they bore
down on routing enemy troops.
- The Breakthrough Column rule allows an attacking
commander to assault with up to three tandem regiments in column with primary
contact for all units. The breakthrough column must be declared at the
beginning of the controlling commander's movement phase, and all participating
regiments must have begun the turn in tandem base to base contact. If they are
victorious, each regiment follows standard assault result routine. If they lose
the assault, the surviving front regiment automatically loses one base captured
and one based killed in addition to any other losses inflicted. Breakthrough
columns are considered to be enfilade targets for the duration of their
existence.
- 106 - Grand Tactical Incompetence
- Many armies which participated in wars of this period
still practiced an antiquated method of warfare which failed to emphasize
efficient battlefield coordination of units above regimental level. As a
result, many grim events occurred when troops who were unfamiliar with each
other attempted to maneuver in the presence of the enemy. A classic example is
the Austrian cavalry at the battle of Aspern-Essling, whose attack against the
French center was sabotaged by the fact that the participating units had never
before practiced maneuvering at brigade or divisional levels. During the
attack, several of the units ran into each other, causing a great deal of
disorder and confusion. This was not an isolated case, and incidences of this
kind are known to have occurred at other major battles including Auerstadt,
Austerlitz and others.
- Forces considered to have inadequate grand-tactical
training will suffer one or more of the following penalties:
a) All units passing through each other will
suffer one morale hit. b) Any unit moving to support a friendly unit
already engaged in an assault must roll an unmodified rally test if they
approach to within 3cm directly to the rear of the friendly unit. If the player
fails the die roll, both friendly units immediately suffer one morale hit
each. c) For infantry units, only individual bases (instead of whole units)
are counted toward assault combat, and then only for primary contact, not
secondary. This makes it very easy for units thus penalized to suffer
outnumbered modifiers in local combats. Armies which sometimes
demonstrated various glaring grand-tactical inadequacies included the Austrian
and Russian armies before 1810, the French army before 1795 and the Prussian
army before 1807 (the later especially for ruling C, which helped contribute to
their defeat at Auerstadt). Players may want to bring this rule into effect on
a formation by formation basis, since various formations within any army could
have different levels of training depending on the whims of the commanding
officers.
- « Command
- 201 - Withdrawal Panic
- Breaking contact with the enemy was a risky thing. Once
set in motion, withdrawing troops had a way of taking matters into their own
hands. Such a concern may have been one consideration in Desaix's advice
against withdrawing at Marengo. He commented that withdrawing would be "at
least as dangerous" as attacking against the odds!
- Withdrawal Panic may occur if a player issues any
retrograde movement order to a division which is already within the ten inch
contact range of enemy formations (not including enemy skirmishers). Test the
withdrawing division on the Panic Index at panic level 1. If the division fails
the die roll, apply the appropriate results to the division in question. As per
the standard panic rules, failure on the part of the withdrawing division will
trigger panic tests in adjoining divisions.
- « Movement
- 300 - Dispersing
Skirmishers
- A combat unit may force enemy skirmish markers to return
to their parent unit(s) by declaring a bluff charge during any friendly
movement phase. To conduct a bluff charge, announce the unit to conduct the
charge, and move it toward the skirmish markers it wishes to threaten. The
troop grade of the bluffing formation must be equal to or greater than the
grade of the skirmish marker's parent unit and the targeted skirmishers must be
in the open. Bluffing infantry must move to within 1cm of the nearest targeted
skirmish markers, and bluffing cavalry must move to within 8cm of the closest
targeted skirmish marker. Bluffing units must be in line or mixed formation,
and may not have any morale hits. All skirmish markers which are directly
within the path of a qualified bluffing unit must immediately either rejoin or
move to the rear of their parent unit. Note that bluffing unit movement
can trigger enemy cavalry reactions and passing fire. A unit may only
conduct a bluff charge once per game against elements from any one enemy
division.
- 301 - Cavalry pass through
- Napoleonic cavalry breaking through an enemy's lines
always had to keep an escape route in mind. One "doorway" out of such a
situation was to pass through enemy artillery batteries. They were not easily
turned around (due to the presence of horse teams to their rear and enemies to
their front) and did not offer the same resistance as other units.
- Cavalry Pass Through allows cavalry to pass
through enemy artillery batteries without initiating an assault. The enemy
artillery must be approached from the rear or flank, and the moving cavalry
does not pay a movement penalty for pass through. The enemy artillery may not
conduct passing fire on the cavalry immediately upon its pass through. It must
instead wait until its normal fire phase (after the cavalry has finished its
retrograde move).
- 302 - Green/Militia Limits
- Green and Militia quality units were known for their
inability to operate efficiently in the stress of a combat environment. To
represent this, units of these troop grades have the following battlefield
limitations:
· Artillery batteries may not prolong. ·
Changing formation takes a full turn. · Double dead leader value for
panic roll. · Units may not use assault movement bonus. ·
Units may not move while in square. · Ordered units become
disordered while in woods. · Units received no bonus for being in
line.
- « Artillery
- 401 - Congreve rockets
- Congreve rockets were occasionally used by the British
artillery arm at the behest of their inventor. Wellington discouraged their
use, but despite this they found their way onto a few Napoleonic battlefields.
Because of their rare occurrence and the unnecessary difficulties it incurs on
game play, we are not going to address the fire starting capabilities of these
rockets. Their effect on a Republique battlefield will be against enemy
morale. Use the following Fire Point chart for rocket batteries. They are
incapable of scoring base hits (i.e. - kills), only morale hits (i.e. -
disorder, rattled, etc.). All base hit results involving rocket fire are
ignored. When rolling against targets, rocket batteries may not mass their fire
with that of other artillery types.
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Congreve Rocket Fire
Points |
Range |
0 |
5cm |
12cm |
20cm |
28cm |
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Fire Points |
0 |
10 |
5 |
1 |
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- Congreve rockets receive a +1 to their fire die when
firing against cavalry (this overrides the -1 value in the main fire chart). If
the Rocket battery rolls a '1' when firing, the nearest friendly unit will
suffer one morale hit. Rocket batteries move the same as their artillery arm
equals (foot moves as foot, etc.).
- 402 - Antique artillery
- At certain times during the Napoleonic wars, old
fashioned artillery was pressed into service by the various nations. The
Ottoman Turks used antique artillery as a matter of course, with newer European
type artillery being referred to as rapid fire guns! Whenever the antique
artillery is called for in organization, or otherwise used in a scenario, use
the fire point bar below for calculating effects. The main problem with these
guns was their slow rate of fire (very slow) and the poor nature of their
ammunition, which, on occasion, consisted of rocks! Antique artillery should be
considered immobile and/or very slow (i.e. - full turn to limber/unlimber, no
prolonging, half normal foot artillery movement).
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Antique Artillery Fire
Points |
Range |
0 |
5cm |
12cm |
20cm |
28cm |
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Fire Points |
14 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
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- 403 - Battalion Guns
- At various times during the French Revolutionary and
Napoleonic Wars, infantry regiments were issued small numbers of artillery
pieces for use as close infantry support. This method of distributing guns was
actually the norm for many armies still using the older Prussian/Seven Years
War influenced deployments.
Using Battalion Guns in
Republique: Before game play begins, each player may withdraw any number of
light category guns from the board, and declare their artillery pieces to be
distributed to regiments present on the field. Each battery of Republique
artillery withdrawn for this purpose will supply enough battalion guns for two
regiments of infantry. Players may record on a sheet of paper those regiments
which receive battalion guns. Regiments with battalion guns receive a permanent
+1 to all assault die rolls for the duration of the game. The only limit to the
number of guns which may be distributed in this manner is that only one
"packet" of guns maybe issued to each regiment, limiting the battalion gun
bonus to a maximum of +1 per regiment.
- « Assaults &
Morale
- 500 - Assault Averaging
- Sometimes during game play, several different grades of
troops end up fighting together in an assault, but none are present in numbers
great enough to constitute a clear majority. Or, in cases where there is a
clearly dominant block, the difference in troop grades is so great as to
warrant averaging of the troop grade modifier. In such cases, players may want
to average the values of the troops present by assigning point values to each
troop grade, multiplying them by the number of bases for each type, and then
dividing the resulting sum by the total number of bases, thereby averaging the
result. Use standard rounding to establish the final troop grade modifier to
use in assault. In such cases, an elite, militia and green units fighting side
by side might average out as a veteran assault grade. For averaging purposes,
count militia bases as 0 points, green troop bases as 1 point, average troop
bases as 2 points, veteran troop bases as 3 point and , elite troop bases as 4
points.
Example: Two bases of elite, two bases of green and two bases
of militia troops are fighting together in an assault. Their total value would
average at 1.66 rounded up to 2, which means that the entire group would fight
as average. Players may apply the same formula to order/morale status, with
ordered units counting as 0 points, disordered as 1 point, rattled as 2 points,
shaken as 3 points and demoralized as 4 points.
- 501 - Sliding Assault Scale
- Occasionally during game play, a greater number of units
are thrown into a single assault than the assault chart was calibrated for.
When these "super-melees" occur, players may apply both base hits and
surrendered base counts on a "per 25 bases engaged" basis for both sides.
For example: an assault which results in 14 average Austrian bases
fighting 16 average French bases, with an assault die roll difference of 9
would cause double the number of base hits (two instead of one) and double the
number of prisoners taken (four bases instead of two) because there were a
total of 30 bases fighting in the assault. In the case of assaults with mixed
troop grades, extra prisoner losses suffered due to lower grades should be
removed from the lower grade units.
- 502 - Slaughter Index
- The addition of a "slaughter index" increases the
casualties suffered by units which lose assaults by amounts far greater than
the 8+ result called for on the combat chart. Using the slaughter index option,
a unit suffers an additional base hit for each die roll difference point over
13. Players may also alternate the extra points between base hits and prisoner
losses. Hence, an average grade unit which loses an assault by 16 points would
not only lose the standard base hit and two surrendered bases, but an
additional three bases would also be lost, two due to base hits, and one lost
to the enemy as prisoners, totalling six bases total lost (which will destroy
most units).
- 503 - Firefights
- Infantrymen of the Napoleonic Wars did not like assaults
any more than people today. As a result, units had a tendency to become
involved in relatively long range firefights, which, after the heavy screen of
smoke formed between the combatants, was far more preferable.
- The Firefights rule limits the number of infantry
versus infantry assault rounds to one. If at the end of this point no decisive
result has been achieved, the involved units are left until the next turn, even
if they are still within the one inch assault range of each other. This
suppresses the time saving feature of the Stalled Assaults rule and
recreates the occasional occurrence of prolonged firefights. Participating
units with officers attached may "override" this effect and force additional
assault rounds.
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- British troops - A variant of the above option
is to allow British troops two rounds instead of one. This recreates the
British tendency to unload a few lethal, close range volleys followed by
decisive charges.
- 504 - Cavalry Escorts
- When both infantry and cavalry are combined into an
attack, a numerically inferior attacking cavalry may adopt the final action
result of numerically superior friendly infantry. For example; if one stand of
cuirassiers and three stands of line infantry jointly attack and score a +7
result against an enemy unit, the cavalry may "adopt" the carry position
result of its fellow infantry unit instead of the mandatory continuance
of its movement against the enemy. This allows for the cavalry to remain as an
"escort" with its accompanying infantry instead tearing deep into enemy lines
by itself.
- 505 - Trotting Attacks
- French Napoleonic cavalry practiced an option to the
standard galloping cavalry charge employed by the other nations of Europe at
that time. The basic concept was that a galloping assault would lend immediate
morale benefits to the attacker, but that the maintenance of a slower moving,
tightly ordered formation was more intimidating in the long term (minutes
instead of seconds). A major drawback was that the trotting attack was more
vulnerable to weapons fire, especially artillery. Waterloo may be the best
example of the crucial nature of this vulnerability. However, when employed at
the right time, this method repeatedly proved effective in cavalry versus
cavalry and even cavalry versus infantry confrontations. French Cuirassiers
were always said to have moved slowly, well, it was not entirely due to their
size and weight, it was also their doctrine!
- Trotting Attacks give cavalry an additional +1 to
their normal cavalry assault bonus. They do however, also cause cavalry to lose
the -1 benefit for being fired at by artillery and to actually suffer a +1 when
fired upon! French players wishing to use Trotting Attacks must announce
that fact at the beginning of a game. All of that player's cavalry is then
considered to be using Trotting Attacks throughout the game.
- 506 - Trapped Artillery
- Setting up artillery in a town or woods was a tricky
issue and it was easy for guns to become trapped against obstacles and lost
during an overrun. Any artillery batteries set up in a town or woods will be
lost if they are involved in an assault from which they must withdraw, retreat
or rout.
- « Other
- 601 - Spotting units
- The special terrain used for modern gaming repeatedly
brings up the issues of spotting. These series of guidelines are to help
establish a "standard" for Republique game play.
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- Calculating Blind Zones
- Units located on high terrain will still not
be able to see everything on the board due to blind zones behind the
surrounding terrain. This chart is for calculating how far these blind zones
extend.
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- Establish the Level of the
blocking terrain in relation to the spotting unit. If the blocking terrain is
at the same level or higher than the spotting unit, the blind zone goes to
infinity. If the blocking terrain is one-half level lower, then use the minus
½ level line, etc.
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- Use the Blind Zone Multiple to
establish the extent of the blind area behind the obstacle. Multiply the
appropriate multiple by the distance from the spotting unit to the furthest
point of the blocking terrain along the line-of-sight to the particular target
you are attempting to spot. The result will be the extent of the blind zone
behind the obstacle.
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- The blind zone chart is "set" for an
obstacle which is ½ level higher than the surface it obstructs. The
blind zone will increase by 50% for each additional ½ level lower that
the obstructed "target" surface rests.
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BLIND ZONE MULTIPLES
Level* |
Blind Zone
Multiple |
same or higher |
infinity |
minus ½ level |
1 |
minus 1 level |
½ |
minus 1½ level |
¼ |
* ½ level features: ½"
thick hill sections, woods, buildings. 1 level features: 1" thick hill
section. |
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