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| Detached units and Melee http://www.wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24079 |
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| Author: | Richard Coyne [ Tue Jan 06, 2026 9:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Detached units and Melee |
I am currently playing an MP game in which detached units cannot Melee. What a wonderful idea. I wish the game would enforce it automatically. Seems easy enough, it already reports a unit being Detached and will not allow a disrupted unit to melee I know some say it's a game, but it is an AMERICAN CIVIL WAR GAME why not try to make it as accurate and curb gamey moves to boot. If not, then why give points for captured wagons. The loss of supplies is bad enough without adding on a ton of points IT REWARDS VERY UNREALISTIC/GAMEY PLAY P,S YES I DID LOSE A SUPPLY WAGON TO A 30 MAN UNIT WAY BEHIND MY LINE |
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| Author: | Quaama [ Tue Jan 06, 2026 11:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Detached units and Melee |
'Detached units cannot melee' sounds like a good house rule to me. It would prevent commando style raids, and stop units that rout the wrong way' becoming an infiltration force behind your lines. VPs for supply wagons vary across titles, and across scenarios within titles. In two scenarios I'm playing they are worth 0VPs, in another 2VPs (per supply point). |
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| Author: | RichWalker [ Thu Jan 08, 2026 11:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Detached units and Melee |
Richard Coyne wrote: I am currently playing an MP game in which detached units cannot Melee. What a wonderful idea. I wish the game would enforce it automatically. Seems easy enough, it already reports a unit being Detached and will not allow a disrupted unit to melee I know some say it's a game, but it is an AMERICAN CIVIL WAR GAME why not try to make it as accurate and curb gamey moves to boot. If not, then why give points for captured wagons. The loss of supplies is bad enough without adding on a ton of points IT REWARDS VERY UNREALISTIC/GAMEY PLAY P,S YES I DID LOSE A SUPPLY WAGON TO A 30 MAN UNIT WAY BEHIND MY LINE I don't agree that they should be worth zero. However, some scenarios have excessive VP levels. In a recent Corinth game, they were worth 5 pts for every 25 loss. I think in my titles, they are mostly all worth 1pt. I think it might also depend on the scarcity of the available supply. When abundant, more VPs, when scarce, less. In the 3-day Gettysburg, supplies are not abundant and are worth zero. For me, I would still give them a 1pt. As for detached units being able to melee. Unlike earlier wars, units in the ACW could and did operate with more independence. I would certainly exempt cavalry for this notion of no melee if detached. Also, unlike the M&P and S&S titles that do have the no detached melee option, those titles allow melee with Disordered units. In the CWB series, disrupted (Disordered is not used) cannot melee. So, there is already a certain limitation in who can melee when compared to titles that have the detached no melee rule as an option. Lastly, it would be difficult to fully enforce with FOW using a house rule. And WDS is not going to implement this for the CWB series any time soon. |
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| Author: | nsimms [ Thu Jan 08, 2026 9:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Detached units and Melee |
Some scenarios reduce the Union command distance to as much as half of the Reb command distance. That alone has the Union primarily on the defensive for the battle. Also, this house rule would depend solely upon the trustworthiness of the opponent since there is no way (in most circumstances) for an opponent to know when it is being violated. It would require a lot of thought as to how it would impact the game, both in playability and historical accuracy. |
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| Author: | Blake [ Fri Jan 09, 2026 10:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Detached units and Melee |
I would not be surprised to see WDS implement it as an Optional Rule in a future update. As someone else mentioned, this has been an Optional Rule in other WDS series. I guess in order to really make a good decision of whether or not you would personally utilize an Optional Rule like this, if offered, is to figure out a few things beforehand. 1) What percentage of your melees are done "Detached?" If you are a veteran player, or someone that cares about command and control, then answer should be under 10%. Launching a melee while detached, though it has no effect on the melee probabilities, leaves your unit extremely vulnerable during the next round of morale checks. Any ground you gained in the melee may quickly be lost as detached units are far more likely to fail morale checks. 2) Do you believe that "hit and run" melee tactics behind the lines, or ambushes, are historically accurate in a large scale battle or do you feel they are ahistorical distractions? Everyone will answer that differently based on their grasp of Civil War history, tactics, and their gaming preferences. 3) Historically, how many hand-to-hand combat charges were made in the Civil War versus how many hand-to-hand melee combats occur in the average WDS game? If you feel the tactics in the WDS games are overly aggressive and too reliant on melees then maybe the Optional Rule might appeal to you more. If you feel the melees in the WDS games simply reflect heated combat realities then maybe you would not favor the Optional Rule. 4) Will the number of melees in the average WDS game be substantially lowered due to this rule, or are most melees done while units are attached in their chain of command? This rule may not affect things very much except on the extreme flanks of the armies or in the rear areas. At the end of the day I am rooting for WDS to make this an Optional Rule. Everyone can then decide for themselves whether to utilize it or not. Would it have a huge impact on the style of gameplay or the balance of the battles? I can't know for sure. |
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| Author: | RichWalker [ Fri Jan 09, 2026 10:45 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Detached units and Melee |
Blake wrote: I would not be surprised to see WDS implement it as an Optional Rule in a future update. As someone else mentioned, this has been an Optional Rule in other WDS series. As mentioned, in the series' that have this option, Disordered units are allowed to melee. In this series, Disrupted are not. If you have to choose, what would it be? Disallow detached and allow disrupted to melee, or the reverse. I always support optional rules and allow players to choose. However, the odds that WDS will make that change for this specific series is very low. Resources are very limited and if something isn't broke, it is not going to get fixed. It's econ 101. |
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