The Most
Common Question:
Q: Why aren't there any infantry volley rules? A:
In Republique, the effects of battalion and regimental volley fire has been
merged into the assault rules, resulting in a general "combat zone" within
which much of the front-line action occurs. This was done to accentuate the
grand-tactical aspect of the rules, which were designed to re-create large
battles of the period. The assault rules themselves have been given a wide
range of possible results, and their effects are distributed over a larger area
than is normal for other rules. This recreates the "spread" of a combat zone
due to nearby units being drawn into firefights, subjected to involuntary
disorder, etc.
Organization
Q: Why do units in line get a +1? This makes a French
line more powerful than a French column. A: The combined bases of a
unit in this game represent that unit's deployment area, not the
formation of the sub-units of which it's composed. This means that if a
regiment is in "Line," it does not necessarily mean that its battalions are in
lines. It could be that they are in columns marching abreast, leaving enough
room between each to deploy into line. A line is more powerful in this game
because a broad, shallow formation allows a better delivery of firepower, which
is important to recreate given the absence of actual "volley fire" in the game
(The merging of volley fire into other features is an enormous time saver and
is done to allow players to finish large battles).
Additional: In order to recreate the famous
"checkerboard" formation in this game, two regiments would merely be in line,
one immediately behind the other. While it would not appear to be a
checkerboard pattern on the game-board, its deployment area and effect would be
the same.
Command
Q: Why isn't an army commander, especially a charismatic
commander, allowed to intervene and personally change the orders of a division,
especially one which is temporarily leaderless? Isn't that what they did when
it was needed? A: If a commander knew that a formation needed the
guidance and felt that the violation of chain of command was worthwhile, maybe.
But the far more likely scenarios are; a) The commander believes the chain of
command to be intact and does not wish to embarrass or confuse (especially the
latter!) the other subordinates as to the availability of those units, or b)
the commander is unaware that the chain of command has been broken, and
believes all is well, or c) There is so much confusion that no one has time to
think about it except in an emergency (which is covered by the emergency
rallies rule). To give a real life example; at the battle of Wagram, Napoleon
had just finished issuing orders that Bessieres' cavalry be moved to support
the left flank. Moments later, Bessieres was struck out of his saddle by a
ricocheting cannonball. This occurred immediately in front of Napoleon and his
staff, and yet Besseires' troops still did not get their new orders even though
everyone at headquarters saw that the previous commander was disabled. Imagine
the average odds of quickly getting fresh orders to a formation when their
leader was disabled even further away from headquarters! The other
reason for this ruling is to inflict some limitations on the "helicopter view"
which players already have of the battle field. Miniature gamers have such a
good impression of events on the field, that this is a good way to encourage
delay and confusion without having to add other "delay and confusion rules"
which would slow the game.
Movement
Q: Can players voluntarily rout units?
A: No
Q: Can divisions in reserve be issued new orders
during the movement phase?
A: No. Orders may only be issued during the Command
phase.
Skirmishers
Q: Can artillery fire only at skirmishers without firing
at the parent unit?
A: Only if the skirmish markers and their parent unit are in
different range brackets, otherwise the parent unit is considered close enough
to become the dominant target.
Q: If artillery fire can be directed at skirmish markers,
what are the effects of the fire?
A: If the skirmishers were the only thing fired upon, the
"kill" result is applied to the markers themselves. The "M" result (if any) is
applied to the parent unit as a whole. In this respect, the marker is treated
as a conduit, by which morale and order problems are passed on to the parent
unit.
Q: What happens if a unit's skirmisher(s) is
killed?
A: A unit can lose multiple skirmish bases, even if it may
only deploy a limited number at any one time. For example; if a line regiment
loses its one skirmish marker to artillery fire, it may then deploy another new
marker during its next movement. The regiment will however, suffer a permanent
modifier in assaults, etc, for the killed skirmish marker, which still counts
as deployed. In other words, killed skirmishers represent lost resources to the
parent unit, which affect it for the rest of the game.
Q: Why are there no Cavalry skirmishers?
A: Battlefield cavalry skirmishing certainly occurred but
was more a function of operational level screening and pursuit which we have
chosen to leave in the realm of campaign play.
Q: Why are far flung skirmishers not penalized in their
ability to return to their parent units when attacked by the enemy, especially
cavalry?
A: Attacked skirmishers not able to return to their unit had
their own way of dealing with the situation. The end result was usually their
involvement in the ensuing melee one way or another. Also, in some cases
Republique skirmishers are penalized. For example: If skirmishers have
already fired during the fire phase and then are caught during a breakthrough
attack or continuing assault, they may evade the attacking troops but they may
not rejoin their parent unit because they have already committed to a
turn of firing.
Q: Can skirmish bases "kill" each other?
A: No, they only "screen" each other.
Artillery
Q: Can artillery fire at units involved in an
assault? A: Yes, so long as friendly units are not within the battery's
frontage zone (not to be confused with arc-of-fire).
Q: What is the difference between an artillery battery's
arc of fire and its frontage zone? A: The arc-of-fire is the
potential arc (in degrees) through which the battery guns may "swing" and fire.
The frontage zone is the actual area through which the battery guns are
actually firing. This "firing path" may be swung back and forth through the
arc-of-fire. A battery may fire with friendly units within its arc of
fire so long as the battery frontage zone or "firing path" is swung off to one
side to clear the friendly troops. A battery may not fire if there are
friendly troops in its planned frontage zone or "firing path."
Q: Why can't artillery "converge" fire on distant
targets? A: Artillery can converge fire, but only if there are no other
targets more immediately to a battery's front. Spotting and engaging targets on
a Napoleonic battlefield was a difficult proposition, and if we were to call
odds on the situation, the chances are that most batteries had a tendency to
conduct "area fire" to their front. Hence the strict targeting rules.
Q: Why aren't howitzers more prominent in the
game? A: One of the primary missions of howitzers was to supply
effective long range fire capabilities. As a unit came within range of
artillery, it would first encounter howitzer fire, and as it closed in range it
would encounter round shot (cannon balls) fired from the battery's long guns.
As the unit came even closer it would begin encountering heavy case fire
(incorrectly called grapeshot) from the long guns and when it finally
approached really close, the artillery would begin firing light case (also
called cannister) from both its long guns and howitzers. In Republique, the
fact that an artillery battery has any fire capability to speak of at long
range is mostly because of the presence of its howitzers. So the howitzers
actually are represented, but their effect is intergrated into each battery's
performance. We have not included howitzer's fire-starting capabilities because
they were comparatively minor in the overall scheme of a large Napoleonic
battle, the re-creation of which is Republique's prime mission.
Assaults
Q: Can units change formation during a "continue assault"
move conducted as a result of combat? A: Yes, units continuing an
assault are subject to all normal movement rules.
Q: Can units assault on the same turn they have changed
formation? A: Yes
Q: A regiment assaults and smashes several enemy units
and then ends its assault move within 1" of yet another enemy unit. Does this
last enemy unit trigger yet another assault? A: Yes, but the assaulting
unit may not move any further or even carry the position. Assault rounds always
continue to be "triggered" so long as enemy units remain facing within one inch
of each other (See continuing movement and stalled assaults).
Q: When both infantry and cavalry are attacking, which
half of the assault column is used? A: If any attacking cavalry
is involved, the cavalry attacker column is used for calculating effects
to the defender. The attacking cavalry and infantry themselves use the features
from their respective columns (i.e. - cavalry might continue a charge while
accompanying infantry only seize the position). See optional rules for
variations on this.
Q: A cavalry unit achieves a breakthrough, but the new
"target" unit is so close to the unit just hit that not all of the cavalry
bases can clear the unit just struck. Does this cancel or disallow the
breakthrough? A: Probably not. It is unlikely that attacking cavalry
would stop in mid assault due to the presence of an "ex-target" in their rear,
they would probably just try to hack their way through. Units on the assault
are assumed to make room for themselves, especially if they are bulling their
way through enemy units. In situations where unit depth interferes with assault
resolution, just use the front base of the breakthrough unit for tracking
purposes. Rarely should players end up having to adjust their lines in order to
make room for "invaders", but this, if necessary, is more realistic than
pretending that assaulting cavalry would stop short just as things are going
their way. In situations like this, use common sense. If the assault result
says that the cavalry breaks through, a breakthrough MUST happen unless the
cavalry uses up its available movement before it clears the unit it passes
through. |