More regular updates and thoughts on generals

Having been a bit lax on the update front, I will try and post something a few times each week to comment on progress with whatever I am doing.

My enthusiasm for the napoleonic 1809 project is still holding up. On the table at the moment is a lolly stick of 6 french generals/marshals that are half-painted. I have the figures for another base of French infantry ready to go when the generals are finished and the rivers in the garage have had another couple of coats of varnish.

I've thought about the rules and am sticking to only representing Corps commanders and generals commanding independent divisions. These are all on 30mm squares with either 3 or 2 figures respectively. At the moment, corps/independent commanders have a 3 number rating:
  • command (1-3) = how likely they are to follow orders and not do anything daft
  • tactical = how may separate groups they can divide their command into. Some corps commanders amy only be able to divide their corps into 2 or 3 groups, better commanders might be able to operate with as many as 12 groups, greatly enhacing their tactical flexibility. This is a reflection of two things, the quality of the commander himself and the number and quality of divisional commaders he had operating under him.
  • radius = how close the units of the command must stay to the commander. Generally a corps commander has a radius of 6 or 8 units (36-48cm), whereas an independent divisional commader will have a radius of 4 units (24cm), although I might reduce these for all but the best commanders
If a commander is killed in battle, he is replaced by a subordinate of lower ability (i.e. worse numbers)

At the moment, for Wagram the list of commades looks something like:

French
  • Old Guard: independent division of 1 brigade
  • Young Guard: independend division of 2 brigades
  • Guard Cavalry: independendt division of 2 brigades
  • II Corps: Oudinot
  • III Corps: Davout (includes Grouchy and the dragoons)
  • IV Corps: Massena
  • IX Corps: Bernadotte
  • Bavarian Division: Wrede
  • Army of Italy: Eugene - probably with MacDonald etc as sub-units of this rather than independent commanders in their own right)
  • XI Corps: Marmont
  • Cavalry reserve: Bessieres

Austrians

  • Avant Garde
  • I Korps
  • II Korps
  • III Korps
  • IV Korps
  • V Korps (might turn up as a "what if")
  • VI Korps
  • Grenadier Reserve as a small corps
  • Heavy Cavalry Reserve as an independent division
  • Light Cavalry Reserve as an independent division
Each army will probably also get a specific artillery commander to allow the formation of a grand battery by detaching corps reserve artillery.

I would like to do something more to represent the more outstanding divisional divisional commanders serving under the Corps command. I'm thinking of including "heroic leader" stands of 1 general on a penny base. The heroic generals would not be part of command & control but would offer combat bonuses. Heroic leaders would include the likes of St Hilaire (until he was killed), Lasalle (until he was killed)...hmm, being heroic doesn't sound too good. Oudinot as a divisional commander would be heroic (he was wounded about 40 times). Even the Austrians have a few (well I can find 2 anyway).

I'll have a think and playtest these ideas over the next few weeks.

Don't forget Partizan this weekend!
www.partizan.org.uk

cheers

Comments

  1. hello

    i wanted to ask wether you are going to make your rules public, because i am also interested n 6mm corpslevel (and bigger) games, and am searching for a good system of command and control...maybe u can send me your rules s4nftm00d@googlemail.com
    i will send you my ideas also if u are interested

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  2. hi this is my second try to leave a comment:-)
    i am really interested in your command&control rules, as i am working on my very own c&c rules for 6mm francoprussianwar atm, so i wanted to ask wether u are going to publish your rules or like send them to me per email :-) if u are interested ican also send you my ideas whicha re basically warmaster+ 'connecting lines' sorry bad english :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Josef

    I have no plans to circulate my house rules at the moment.

    The c&c rules are largely adapted from "Fast Play Grande Armee" available free from Sam Mustafa's website. You just need to create a mechanism to give you an appropriate number of command points/dice for a turn of your game. I use 1d6 + one d3 for each subordinate commander, add the totals together and that is what you have available for bidding for initiative, influencing subordinates and avoiding army morale failure.

    I'd recommend you download FPGA and go from there.

    cheers
    Steve

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