Advanced Rules II
More detailed and less commonly used optional rules
Formations · Command · Movement · Artillery · Assaults & Morale · Other

« Formations

101 - Time Saver: Rally from Unformed

General opinion is that real life Napoleonic units could be quick to reform from what were considered predictable setbacks. In order to help save game time, players can omit the Rally die roll test for unformed units of average grade or better and instead have them automatically revert to formed status at the next standard opportunity. Players could even take this one step further and have Rattled units more than one normal move from enemy formations also auto-rally at the next standard opportunity.

Technically green formations were also fully trained and could fairly be included in this rule, at least for unformed conditions. If so, note that before the start of the game. Militia units are not fully trained and lack the drill training to quickly reform, and should not benefit from this optional rule. The following options for auto-forming from unformed or rattled can include:

A) Average or better automatic rally from unformed.

B) Average or better automatic rally from unformed/rattled.

C) Average or better automatic rally from unformed/rattled, Green rally from unformed.

103 - National Differences

Troops may fight better at some times than other. Or, they may have some particular cultural traits and favor certain battlefield conditions. Some options for this include:

A) Russian units fighting inside Russia: Rally at one level higher than their troop grade rating.

B) French troops fighting in Spain: Rally at one level lower than their troop grade rating.

104 - Mixed Regiments: Cavalry

In cases when different grades of cavalry must be brigaded together into the same formations, do so by bases (for example: two bases of light cavalry and one base of medium cavalry). For purposes of assaults, the formation may continue to use the medium cavalry rating until a base hit is suffered. In the case of any base hit, the heaviest (i.e., most valuable) base type is lost first. Once the supply of heavier grade bases is lost, the formation may only use the assault modifiers for the remaining base types.

106 - Cavalry Skirmishers

If 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. Cavalry skirmishers may only be used to block enemy skirmishers, not to attack and put morale hits on enemy formations.

107 - 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, 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 regiments 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).

108 - Grand Tactical Inexperience

Many armies of this period still practiced an antiquated method of warfare that 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 can 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 that has already moved into assault range against an enemy formation must roll an unmodified rally test once they approach to within 1" 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 if they are individually within assault range. This makes it very easy for units thus penalized to suffer outnumbered modifiers in local combats.
D) May not use the Mixed formation option.

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 abilities of the regimental colonels.

109 - 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 Attack Column with primary contact for all units (which often places the defending unit as Outnumbered). 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.

110 - The Waterloo Column

The very famous and somewhat mysterious packed infantry column employed by the French Army at Waterloo was actually a well recognized formation at the time, and used as a result of 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 fresh, well shielded British line infantry. The formation they used was a grand-tactical departure from the normal checkerboard formations or grand columns. It employed each battalion in line, arrayed closely behind each other. This is known as a battalion column (a column that is one battalion wide). Battalion columns were known to have been used in previous Napoleonic battles, and were not a strange or new thing. Upon penetrating the enemy skirmish screen, the idea at Waterloo was for these compact divisions to quickly expand to more than quadruple their original frontage, all under cover of fire from the leading battalion which was 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 not considered to be strong.

The Waterloo Columns rule allows French Commanders to "pack" up to five infantry bases into one. In essence, zipping an entire brigade or regiment into one tiny packet which can be unzipped on any of the controlling player's future moves. To do this, have all participating regiments (if more than one) into base to base contact, and then remove from the game board four of every five bases belonging to the participating units. Place the temporarily withdrawn bases to one side of the game board, splitting them into evenly sized groups, each one assigned to a base remaining on the board. The remaining bases of each division must operate together on a two or three base interval, and while in this ultra-compact formation, they count as a double-enfilade, deep 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.

111 - 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 as the Waterloo Column (see rule 103), making them most effective against large mounted enemies who possess little artillery. Divisional squares are subject to the same movement restrictions as normal squares.

112 - 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.

113 - Seconded Battalions

Regiments can send one or two individual combat bases to join other regiments of the same troop type (infantry to infantry, etc.) for the rest of the game. Neither unit can have suffered any base hits. The reassigned bases must be of the same troop grade and must march at normal speed to join the unit in question. The best way to merge them into the new unit is to pull the two loaner bases from the field (once they arrive) and add two bases that have the same regimental number as the receiving unit. This helps avoid confusion on future turns. Lacking that ability, place a marker to show that the unit has extra bases assigned to it. Seconding manpower may never take total regimental strength to more than six bases. Use the existing rules for breaking-up and reassigning units to make this rule happen.

« Command

202 - British Cavalry

British cavalry was known for its enthusiast and aggressive attacks. At one battle in the Spanish Peninsula, a British cavalry attack broke-up and pursued a fleeing French formation six miles up a road before being ambushed, abandoning the entire French siege artillery park they had captured in the process (French infantry closed in behind them and retrieved their artillery - not a single British trooper had been left to guard it).

Using this rule, the following restrictions are placed on British cavalry formations: Once a unit successfully moves into assault contact against enemy troops, their maneuver roll suffers a -5 die roll modifiers. Basically, letting British cavalry assault at a grand tactical level can become a one-way trip.

203 - Withdrawal Panic

Retiring a major formation was a risky operation during which troops might individually take matters into their own hands, or become victims of a general panic. Consider this account from the Battle of Marengo:
"...I must add his having particularly desired I should tell you that it was useless to send any other order than that he should attack or retreat - one or the other ; and the latter movement would be at least as hazardous as the first."

A division is vulnerable to Withdrawal Panic when moves to fall back or retreat (retreat is advancing away from the enemy). Roll once on the Panic table Pass column in the same manner as a standard divisional panic test, except in case of a failed die roll, the results are drawn from the Panic 4 column instead of the Panic 5 column. A failed roll also causes an additional M hit on each unit.

204 - Nervous Troops

Sometimes an entire army can begin a battle slightly nervous or rattled by events. It may be the knowledge of things not going their way elsewhere in the region, it may be the knowledge of pending danger such as an outflanking enemy army, or it may be an army that feels trapped. Napoleonic examples of nervous or rattled armies would be like Dupont's force at Baylen or Mack's army at Ulm.

Using this rule, consider all formations for that army to be Unformed (for nervous) or Rattled (for rattled) for the course of the game. Cross out the F or the F and U columns on the rally table for the combat chart(s) used by that side, depending on how severe you want the problem to be. The units in the army always suffer assault modifiers as unformed or rattled and the highest level they can rally to is Unformed or Rattled. There is no need to mark the units with the unformed or rattled marker blocks, although shaken and demoralized units must still be flagged.

205 - Desperate Army

Sometimes an entire army can begin a battle with a desperate sense of imminent destruction, but only if they do not stick together. This will usually be in a situation where normal supports are not present and some combination of weather and enemy threats are dire. A Napoleonic example of desperate army would be situations like the French at the Beresina and British at Corunna.

Using this rule, consider all formations for the desperate army to be immune to demoralized combat results for the course of the game. Cross out the D column on the rally table for the combat chart(s) used by that side. Any morale hits beyond shaken are ignored.

206 - Leadership Differences

Some armies of this period had just come out of a period of deep reappraisal and selection (forced other otherwise), other armies were just as deeply entrenched in traditional methods which they felt to be immutable. There were also broad differences in leadership selection, with many armies of the period still selling officer's commissions to the highest bidders or awarding leadership posts to members of the aristocracy. The resulting combinations of inexperience and ambition could have unwanted effects. All this is piled onto a reactionary desire by some nations to turn back the clock by several decades. The result of this complicated mix could be some armies tending to have well developed officer corps, and others tending toward poorly developed officer corps.

Using this rule, apply the following national differences modifiers to the set-up page's Leader Traits die rolls. There are three types of modifiers: a minus modifier (-1) which lowers the final die roll total, a plus modifier (+1) which raises the final die roll total, and a normalizing modifier, which moves the final die roll toward a nominal or average rating. For example, a normalizing value of "+/-1 to 0" would mean that the die roll is changed either plus or minus one-point toward the zero rating. A dash means no modifier applied either way.

National Leadership Differences
Nation	Period	Class Modifier	Rating Modifier
Austria	All	-2	+/-2 to 0
France	Pre-1800	-	-
	1800 to 1812	+2	+1
	Post 1812	-	+1
Great Britain	All	+/-1 to P	+/-2 to 1
Prussia	Pre-1808	-2	+/-1 to 0
	Post-1808	-	-
Russia	All	-1	-

« Movement

301 - Dispersing Skirmishers

A combat unit may force enemy skirmish markers to return to their parent unit(s) by declaring a bluff assault during any friendly movement phase. To conduct a bluff assault, 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 1" of the nearest targeted skirmish markers, and bluffing cavalry must move to within 3" of the closest targeted skirmish marker. Bluffing units 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, assaults and/or passing fire. A unit may only conduct a bluff charge once per game against elements from any one enemy division.

304 - 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 can have the following battlefield limitations:
· Green artillery batteries may not prolong.
· Changing formation takes a full turn.
· Green units may not use the assault movement bonus.
· Green units may not move while in square.
· Ordered units become unformed while in woods.

305 - Transitional Maneuver Doctrine

Nations which started converting over to the French system of formation change did so with varying degrees of progress. To reflect this in the game, players may add a Transition system, which has the following effects on movement and formation changing:
· Cost of formation change is 3" or 4", depending on nation and time period.
· Wheeling and oblique movement are free (per the French system).
· Passing through friendly formations counts as rough movement (per the Prussian system).
· Moving sideways counts as rough (but not double rough as would happen in the Prussian system).
· Units on the Transitional system may not change formation within 3" of enemy units.

Approximate dates that countries other than France began transitioning are (based on adoption of the floating pivot for formation changing):
Austria = 1808
Russian = Unknown, but for game play consider 1812.
Prussia = 1812
Britain = No, Great Britain followed a very Prussian system of maneuver regulations.

306 - 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

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.

404 - 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.

A congreve rocket battery counts as light artillery. It cannot save fire. When rolling against targets, rocket batteries may not mass their fire with that of other artillery types. Congreve rocket fire against cavalry will move one range column left instead of right. 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.).

405 - 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 a "Right 1 Column" or "Right 2 Column" modifier for their use, depending on size and type. For particularly old guns, even a Right 3 or Right 4 mod might even be accurate. 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 large stones. Antique artillery should be considered immobile and/or very slow (i.e. - full turn to limber/unlimber, no prolonging, half normal foot artillery movement).

406 - Inexperienced Artillery

Some artillery services seem to have been routinely rather subpar on overall training and experience. Batteries belonging to such services suffer from the following game effects:

a) Cannot use the Joint Battery modifier.
b) Guards and other equivalent formations do not use the Elite artillery modifier (see below) although they may still have elite morale, etc.
c) Must use five batteries each for Mass Battery fire instead of four.

408 - Mass Battery Formation

Mass artillery batteries were an increasingly common feature on Napoleonic battlefields, but their formation required special skills and extra work on the part of the command teams to order them. In some cases their formation was driven by the direct influence of corps or army level artillery officers. In other cases, armed forces policies seem to have worked against their formation under any conditions.

Using this rule, artillery mass batteries are limited to being formed under the following conditions:

French: Formed by an artillery officer automatically, by a corps commander or higher or senior aide-de-camp with the successful roll of a maneuver die roll..
Austrian, Prussian & Russian: Formed by an artillery officer or senior column/army commander with the successful roll of a maneuver die roll.
British: British forces had an unusual command relationship between the general command and artillery branches which seems to have precluded mass batteries. Cannot be formed.

« Assaults & Morale

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 - 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.

504 - Slaughter Index

The addition of a "slaughter index" increases the casualties suffered by units which lose assaults at levels beyond that listed on the combat chart. Using the slaughter index option, a unit (or group of units) suffers an additional base (B) hit for each point difference above or below the listed range. Hence, an attacking unit which loses a Pitched Battle assault by 11 points would not only lose the standard two base hits, but an additional base hit would also be inflicted, totalling three bases removed. This presumes that the "-9>" entry would actually be "-9,-10" for the sake of this rule, with another "-11" line below it. Another example might be a defender who loses a Defender Advantage assault by 14 points; according to this rule, the unit would suffer two extra base hits, for a total of 3B.

508 - 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 major 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.

509 - 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 within 1" 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.

510 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).

510 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.

510 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).

510 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.

510 E - Battlefield Finesse: Blank 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.

511 - 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 captured if they are involved in an assault from which they must fall back, retreat or rout.

512 - Emergency Rally

The brave leader who just watched his troops route out of an assault can try to stop them with an emergency rally attempt. It is dangerous...

Upon losing any assault, the commander of the losing side may use any officer figure within the standard 2" support range to attempt an emergency rally of units which lost the just-ended assault. Emergency rallies are conducted before moving the losing unit(s).
Step 1: Announce the Rallying leader.
Step 2: Roll on the hors de combat chart, with any doubles being a debilitating hit (10% chance). Not subject to any modifiers, just roll.
Step 3: If the leader survives, he may roll to rally the friendly unit(s), applying double his normal value and any other modifiers which apply. If at least one unit rallies to formed status, a new assault round is immediately resolved with the rallied unit(s) occupying their original positions, and the bonus for the leader applied.

Leaders may only conduct one emergency rally per assault phase. They may however, simultaneously emergency rally several units who all participated in the same losing assault round. Assaulting cavalry may ignore successful emergency rallies and continue with an overrun or break-off move. In either case, the rallied unit will reform in its original position and facing, behind the assaulting cavalry if necessary. Infantry who successfully emergency rally against cavalry may form square. An officer may not attempt an emergency rally for a unit which has been destroyed or suffered a Panic 5.

514 - Officer Casualties

A unit hit badly enough by accurate skirmish fire can lose so many officers, that they lose some of their ability to maneuver or recover from morale hits.

Using this rule, units which suffer the 2M hits result from excellent skirmish markers will be marked with the Hors de Combat marker usually used to show division or corps level officer hits. In this case the marker stays with the unit for the rest of the game. The result of that block is that the unit suffers an extra minus on rally equal to the 20% loss modifier, and also a minus on movement equal to the changed formation modifier. Another 2M hit by excellent skirmishers will cause accumulation of the marker blocks and further cumulative modifiers for the movement and rally tables.

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601 - Gameboard Line-of-Sight

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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

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.