Advanced Rules
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Formations · Command · Movement · Artillery · Assaults & Morale · Other

« Formations

101 - Crack Troops

Some troops just happen to fall into the category between veteran and elite. For game player purposes these crack troops can operate as hybrids between the two levels. Some options for this include:

A) Secondary Elites: Crack assault modifier of +3, Rally level is as elite (Historical matches: French middle guard, British highlanders, Russian foot guards).

B) Crack Veterans: Crack assault modifier of +3, Rally level is as veteran (Historical matches: Austrian reserve grenadiers, British fusiliers and light regiments, some (very few) famous/senior line regiments).

 

102 - Cavalry in Line

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 one base-width apart in line abreast. The result is considered a solid formation despite the gaps between the bases.

103 - Cavalry Skirmishers

If the cavalry skirmishers option is used, each light cavalry base may deploy one cavalry skirmish marker at a time. The marker must remain within 6" of its parent unit and other skirmish movement rules apply to cavalry skirmish markers. Cavalry skirmish markers may always rejoin in the case of an assault that involves the parent unit. Each cavalry skirmisher can automatically block two enemy infantry skirmisher markers within range (6"). They may not be used to make skirmish attacks on enemy formations.

104 - 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 two 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. The parent regiment must assume open order by spacing its combat bases at one base-width intervals. Any artillery fire against the parent unit counts as firing at packed skirmishers. A unit assaulted while dispersed like this counts as outnumbered 3:1 and disadvantaged, on top of any penalties for deployed skirmish markers.

There is a possibility for other nations to use this formation. In some cases British light infantry brigades in the Peninsula likely used this, and some veteran Russian jager units in 1812 were seen to have used this (one of them was caught in the open by French cavalry and wiped out, use this rule with caution).

 

105 - Mixed Units: Infantry/Cavalry

Some countries formed units made up of small numbers of infantry and cavalry assigned together. These could be militia, advanced guard or guerrilla units but they typically have in common a place in the line that is generally given to screening or flanking formations. When use of such formations is forced by an order of battle or scenario, use the following guideline:

For mixed bases (cavalry and infantry literally sharing a base), use a cavalry base with one or two cavalry figures and one or two infantry figures, depending on actual ratio. The resulting base must be assigned to another division in the army and can operate as a unit of its own - typically a one or two stand formation in the case of small mixed units, which were probably the most common of this type. Each of these mixed base units may deploy one infantry skirmish marker and one cavalry skirmish marker at a time (see Cavalry Skirmishers optional rule). This mixed formation does not receive a cavalry bonus for purposes of assault, and its movement rate is that of an infantry formation. Essentially, a mixed formation is a group of infantry with a small escort of light cavalry skirmishers.

For mixed regiments/brigades (dedicated cavalry and infantry bases combined into a regiment or brigade), use the required bases needed to assemble the formation and operate them together in base-to-base contact, in the same manner as other battlefield formations. As noted previously, this rule is best used in conjunction with optional rules #105 Cavalry Skirmishers and also rule #507 Cavalry Escorts. Any line and light infantry bases brigaded together using this rule may end up exhibiting unusual combinations of skirmishers. For example, an Austrian advanced guard brigade might include one or two bases of line infantry and one or two bases of light infantry. The light infantry bases may (for example) be able to deploy one good skirmish marker per infantry base, but the line infantry bases may be able to deploy only a single poor skirmish marker for all of the line bases present (if any). That, plus a possible cavalry skirmish marker can result in a hodgepodge of participating skirmish markers. However the parent unit must still move and operate as a single formation within their division, including the participating cavalry base(s), which must remain attached to the infantry at all times.

« Command

201 - Alert Infantry

An infantry unit may be placed on alert, which gives it a reaction move during the enemy movement phase, much like cavalry can do. In order to place an infantry unit on alert, it may move no more than one-quarter of a normal move during its own movement phase. Once the unit is positioned, it receives a game marker showing that it is on alert. A standard wood marker cube with an exclamation point works well. Alert status is lost if the unit moves again (in any way) or if it suffers any morale or base hits. Units with morale hits may not become alert.

During the enemy's attacker maneuver phase, if any enemy unit moves into, through or across the alert unit's 3" assault zone, the alert unit may immediately conduct a pro-rated reaction move in order to counter-attack the enemy unit. This can be used to intercept enemy units before they reach a certain point on the field, or to move in support of a nearby friendly unit. For example, an alert unit may make a flank attack on an enemy unit attempting to flank another friendly formation. An alternative action for alert infantry is to change formation to square, it may not make any other moves (technically an emergency square).

 

 

« Movement

 

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). Cavalry may not pass through packed batteries.

302 - Road Movement

The Republique rules focus on grand-tactical battlefields and as such, already deployed divisions have less use for roads than troops approaching the battlefield, especially given the poor quality of many roads. As a result, road movement is not addressed in the main rules.

In order to conduct road movement, the unit must be in a road column and must be lined up on a road. Movement while on the road in road-column is doubled. Note that in many scenarios, roads may not be in a usable condition due to rain, etc. and may even slow the unit down if other formations have passed down the road before it (think quagmire).

303 - Artillery Deployment Shadows

The basic assumption about artillery in a 40 minute game turn is that it should actually have had enough time to fire for effect. If artillery attempts to unlimber and fire from a position too close behind advancing friendly units, it may either interfere with the other unit or - more likely - be prevented from having set-up by the passage of the unit before it.

In order to reflect this possibility, horse artillery may not unlimber and fire within the bonus assault movement path of cavalry units (it may unlimber and not fire). This would primarily apply to artillery attempting to set-up and fire to either side of the advancing cavalry. If the artillery sets-up to fire forward in direct support of the cavalry, it is not limited by this rule.

« Artillery

401 - Preliminary bombardment

After set-up is complete and before game play begins, all artillery may fire repeatedly and continuously until one or both players decides to start the regular turn sequence. Both sides must mutually agree to the bombardment. No saved fire steps may be executed during a bombardment and no other phases such as movement or assaults may be conducted during this preliminary bombardment.

402 - Pattern AN XI 6-Pounders

In order to make the production and supply of artillery more efficient, the French army began to phase out the Grimbeauval 4-pounder and 8-pounder artillery, replacing them with a single general purpose 6-pounder gun. It was not as powerful as the existing 8-pounder artillery, but it still outranged most opponents and was easier to produce in large quantities, something that senior leaders felt would be increasingly needed.

Using this rule in Republique reflects the slightly better range of the Pattern AN XI gun. It remains an L category piece, but has a basic range of 8" instead of 6". Consider the "n/e" normally at the L/8" range column cell to read "1M" for the Pattern AN XI 6-pounder.

403 - Attached Artillery

During battle it was common for some of a large formation's artillery to be broken up and attached to regiments for local support. This could be used to bolster defensive positions or support assaults.

To attach artillery, remove any one battery of choice from game play, and replace it with the number of Attached Artillery Markers per the table below. Each artillery type creates a certain number of markers as shown in the table, and each marker is worth a +2 assault bonus for defense, and a +1 assault bonus for attack. A maximum of two markers may be assigned to any one regiment.

Artillery Type	Attached Markers
Heavy	4
Medium	4
Light	3
Very Light	2

The breaking up and assignment of artillery can be done before game play begins, or at the start of a player's movement phase. The attached artillery no longer engages in artillery fire during the normal artillery phase, it becomes part of the regiment and only acts within the parent regiment's assault operations through contribution of its assault bonus. Attached artillery type must match the host troop type; foot artillery must be assigned to infantry units, horse artillery must be assigned to cavalry units. Cavalry with assigned artillery may assault squares with full cavalry bonus. Each base hit to the parent unit causes one attached artillery block to be lost. Each time the parent unit routs (due to panic hits, etc.), one attached artillery block is also lost.

The best way to create an Attached Artillery marker is to draw a tactical artillery "dot" symbol on a 3/8" natural wood block (same size as the morale marker blocks). Markers may be left unassigned and stacked next to the division command base, to be allotted to regiments as required during movement using normal movement speeds. Unaccompanied marker blocks will be automatically captured if physically interdicted by any enemy bases (including skirmish markers).

413 - Ammunition Shortage Die

A variation on the attrition die, it is applied to the artillery die roll as an ammunition supply limit. As with the attrition die, roll the 1D20 concurrently with all artillery die rolls. A result of 13 on the die results in the battery being unable to fire on the next player turn (this turn's fire is normal). Mark the battery as out of ammo after completion of the current artillery phase, and remove the marker after the next player turn's artillery phase is completed. Bases conducting joint battery fire rolling a 13 experiences the effect on only one battery. Exception: A battery which began the turn with Saved Fire is immune to a 13 Ammo Shortage die roll, because the crew just spent the entire last turn making sure the battery was fully stocked from the reserve ammunition supply.

« Assaults & Morale

501 - Unopposed Overlap

Attacker adds two (+2) to the die roll if the assaulting infantry unit frontage is at least one base wider than their primary opponent and the opponent's flank on that side is unsupported - in this case unsupported is defined as no enemy units in opposition to any of the overlapping base(s). Opposition is defined as any enemy combat bases facing within 6". Attacking cavalry units qualify for the unopposed overlap bonus if their frontage overlaps the primary opponent's formation at all, even if the overlap distance is less than a millimeter. Note that the attacking formation must be entirely wider than the defender; having overlap on one flank and not being at least matching frontage on the other flank does not qualify. Unopposed overlap cannot be used by cavalry assaulting solo against infantry declared to be in square.

Modifier Type	Assaulting in/through Rough Terrain	Assaulting in Buildings	Solo versus Square	With Infantry versus Square
Unopposed Overlap	Yes	No	No	Yes

502 - Modifier Averaging

Sometimes several different sets of modifiers apply to different blocks of troops fighting together in an assault. Or maybe no one block of troops is present in numbers great enough to constitute a clear majority. Even if there is a clearly dominant block, the difference in current modifiers for each block may be so great as to warrant averaging. In such cases, players may want to average the modifiers according to the corresponding number of bases. Use standard rounding to establish the final modifier to use in assault.

Example #1: Two bases of elite, two bases of green and two bases of militia troops are fighting together in an assault. Their respective minus and plus modifiers would average to a -.33, which would result in no troop grade modifier for them during the assault – the low quality of the militia and green troops effectively cancels out the benefits of the elite troops.

Example #2: Twelve bases of infantry from four regiments are attacking a block of enemy troops. Seven of the bases are from units with no morale hits, three of the bases are a unit that is shaken and two of the bases are a unit that is unformed. By multiplying the shaken and unformed modifiers by the respective number of bases for each, and then dividing by the total number of bases (twelve), the averaged morale hit modifier for that side in the assault is a 1.16, which rounds down to a -1. Using the standard rule, this block of troops would not have suffered any morale hit modifier because the majority of troops in the block were formed. Other modifiers may also apply, but for this example are ignored in order to concentrate on the averaging application.

 

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 long range firefights, which, after the heavy screen of smoke formed between the combatants, was 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 assault range of each other. This suppresses the time saving feature of the Stalled Assaults rule and recreates the occurrence of protracted firefights. On the next player turn, the assault is pressed through to completion per the normal rules. This prevents an anomalously long firefight while still allowing a temporary stalling of the local situation.

 

504 - Trotting Assaults

French Napoleonic cavalry practiced an alternative to the standard galloping cavalry charge employed by other continental nations of 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 effective and intimidating in the long term (minutes instead of seconds). A notable drawback was that the trotting attack was more vulnerable to weapons fire, especially artillery. Waterloo may be the best example of this. However, when employed at the right time, this method repeatedly proved effective in cavalry versus cavalry and even cavalry versus infantry engagements.

Trotting Attacks give cavalry an additional +1 to their normal cavalry assault bonus. They do however, also cause cavalry to lose the benefit for being fired at by artillery. 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, or players can stipulate which branch of cavalry (just Cuirassier, or Cuirassiers and Dragoons, etc) is using it.

505 - Armored Cavalry vs Half-armored Cavalry

Some Napoleonic cuirassiers (armored cavalry) wore full armor and some wore only frontal armor. The difference was not so much when either was pitted against luckless infantry, but when put up against each other the troopers wearing only half of a cuirass were at a disadvantage. Using this rule, both types of armored cavalry receive the corresponding assault bonus when opposing other unarmored troops. If however, armored cavalry with only half of a cuirass (like Austrian cuirassiers) find themselves in an assault against any fully armored cavalry (like French cuirassier) the half-armored unit reverts to heavy cavalry status. The fully armored enemy must be in base-to-base contact or at least within all-out assault range of the half-armored unit in order to nullify its status. Otherwise the fully armored troops are considered too far on the other side of the assault to adequately counter actions made by their half-shell counterparts.

506 A - Battlefield Finesse: Point Blank Volley/Countercharge

Many known differences in national doctrine have been left clear of the core Republique rules, but there were numerous tactical "tricks" that could be drawn upon by more experienced battlefield leaders:

The Point Blank Volley: A neat trick of holding volley fire until extremely close range, commonly (but not always) followed by a prompt bayonet countercharge. The French did this at Austerlitz and the British made regular use of it in the Peninsula (careful selection of defensive terrain being a necessary prerequisite to making this work). This method contrasted with the continental doctrine of establishing fire superiority at long range in order to attempt suppression and demoralization of the enemy (a policy the French also often used to great effect). Generally speaking the close range volley/countercharge doctrine only really worked when the defending unit was protected against suppression and disorder by terrain or other friendly troops, and the troops themselves typically needed to be steady.

The Point Blank Volley optional rule takes the form of a +2 bonus in Assault, but only under the following circumstances: The unit using it must be the assault defender, in single line or two line formation, on alert (Rule #201), average troop grade or better (probably should be veteran or better - player discretion) and it cannot have any morale hits on it. Any violation of these conditions causes the benefit to be completely lost. The point blank volley option may be compounded with the battalion guns or divisional artillery optional rules (403A and 403B). Mark a unit lying in wait for point blank volley with a "PBV" marker block (may be placed upside down to avoid disclosure of the unit's intent).

506 B - Battlefield Finesse: Prepared Defense

Many known differences in national doctrine have been left clear of the core Republique rules, but there were numerous tactical "tricks" that could be drawn upon by more experienced battlefield leaders:

The Prepared Defense: Well handled troops had ways of making best use of local conditions to improve their defensive positions (if any). This could be as simple as preparing positions in rocky ground by piling-up rocks, building roadblocks or loopholing walls in heavy structures.

The Prepared Defense optional rule takes the form of a +1 bonus in Assault as the defender only, if the following conditions have been met:

1) Preparing a defense counts as a formation change and may not be done if the unit conducted as assault move that turn.
2) The unit may be in single line or two line formation and can have no morale hits at the time the defense preparation is conducted.
3) The unit must be more than half within specific terrain, including combinations of woods and steep hills, rocky hills, town blocks or other terrain known to offer this type of benefit (cemeteries, etc.).
4) Once these conditions are met, the unit gets a "P" marker (not to be confused with a P5 marker, which is for panic) to show they are in a prepared defense. The P marker remains on the unit so long as it remains stationary at that position, even if it then suffers morale or base hits. If it is forced away and another unit from either side occupies that space, they must conduct their own preparation per the above list in order to also have a prepared defense.

506 C - Battlefield Finesse: Unexpected Resistance

Sometimes when a unit executes a certain higher risk maneuver, events do not go as they prefer. These can result in a sort of tactical Russian Roulette, here are a few possible options:

Formation Change Surprise: Units on the French system of formation change are able to change formation when within general assault range, something that often works to their advantage - but not always. Using this optional rule, when a unit actually attempts such a maneuver, they gain a +1 assault modifier on any odd numbered natural die roll (regardless of other modifiers). However, if the enemy formation is using Tactical Finesse 509A or 509B, the +1 turns into a -1 modifier. If both 509A and 509B are in effect, the negative modifiers compound into a -3 die roll modifier (all of these modifiers being applied after-the-fact as it were).

506 D - Battlefield Finesse: Tactical Surprise

Sometimes when a unit executes a certain higher risk maneuver, events do not go as they prefer:

Tactical Surprise: Units which move into assault contact against a unit that was not in line-of-sight at the start of the maneuver phase may end up with either side being rudely surprised. After the move into assault contact, each side rolls a 1D10 die. If either side loses by more than four points, they are tactically surprised. A unit gains a +2 on the die roll if they have any skirmishers deployed between them and the enemy. They gain a +3 on the die roll if they were on alert (optional rule 201).

A tactically surprised unit suffers a minus two (-2) modifier on the assault die roll. They also suffer an extra morale hit if they lose the natural assault die roll.

506 E - Battlefield Finesse: Dummy Marker Blocks

Units can give false impressions of their intent, here's how:

A player may place a blank marker block next to one of his units. The block means nothing, but the other players don't know that (could be a different Battlefield Finesse marker). A maximum of one blank block per finesse marker is permitted in use at any one time.

507 - Cagey Veterans

Some Napoleonic troops - especially after experiencing one or more of the high-attrition periods of the wars - could become cautious and circumspect rather than braver and more aggressive. Such units might even be noticeably less likely to press attacks than less "educated" green troops. To re-create this effect in Republique, either assign certain divisions as "battle fatigued" before the game as part of the scenario design, or roll 1D10 before the game for any veteran divisions, with a die roll of 9 or 10 resulting in a fatigued division. Fatigued veteran division units will never conduct All-Out assaults (General Assaults only) and do not get a leader bonus for assault, but they also do not experience casualty minuses for rallying... they've seen it all and don't really care any more!

513 - The Attrition Die

Even when units consistently win assaults over the course of a battle, the steady grind can eventually start to take its toll - especially across an entire division or corps. To depict this (in an admittedly abstract fashion) each side in an assault adds a 20-sided "Attrition Die" to their existing 10 sided assault roll. If a natural 13 comes up on the 1D20, the rolling player summarily loses one base from a participating unit - no modifiers, no appeals, no saving rolls. Just... bang.

The die roll creates an underlying level of attrition across the field, applying to both winners and losers. Even if a formation tends to win, they can still suffer from the overall grind of the bigger fight purely by dint of having been involved in numerous assaults. The attrition roll is considered simultaneous to the main 1D10 assault roll, so the effect is best applied after the rest of the competitive roll results have been applied. Players can moderate the effects of the attrition by using dice with more sides, like 24 or 30 sided dice. Or, if it doesn't seem to be happening enough, 12 or 16 sided dice can be used.