Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

provisional Corps are they open to any one and can you list them????

Tirailleurs et Dragons is simply four officers who have chosen to be battle partners in team play. Sharing information and helping each other become better generals in the Napoleonic Wars.

Battle On

Does this mean that when you partner with other players as a Brig team you are able to player better? Just how many Provisional Corps are in the French Armee ? I have a team in training are there any more and how come Command doesn't encourage this!

Oh just one more question can the Provisional Corps ban together to have a Big game say like that 1805 255 turn game where there's huge Corps? Then fight a Allied Corps. Do all the players on the winning side share in points and advancement in Rank ?

Col Dumas, salute!

The provisional corps concept comes from their use by Napoleon during the wars. Often, in mid-campaign in order to accomplish some specific task he would create a temporary, or provisional corps composed of various units borrowed from other commands, and upon completion of the task, they would return to their parent organization.

The Tirailleurs et Dragons! was formed to provide a structured continuum if you will, for a group of officers who were interested in MP gaming.

We were looking for a format wherein we could establish esprit de corps , as would be found in a team composed of officers all from the same official Corps/Div/Brig (such as is found in your own well established III Corps Artillery Brig combat team, with whom I have been working beside). When that effort failed to succeed, we came together on our own. Hence, the use of the term provisional corps.

Technically speaking, every time a group of officers play a game in the MP style, they could refer to themselves as a provisional corps if they so desired. At that level, it is merely semantics. However, we in the Tirailleurs et Dragons! as I indicated above seek to experience a more on-going relationship with one another, as is found in your Artillery Brigade Team - but was unavailable to us in our parent organizations.

Officers who join the Tirailleurs et Dragons! for a MP game are still able to play solo games, as well as a member of another team of officers at any point in time. You are a member of our group as long as you are playing a game with us. Hence, officers are free to come and go, which is the true nature of a provisional corps.

There are other discussions in the Tavern about what is called a Divsional Tournament. This concept is founded upon the idea that the teams involved will come from specific official command organizations - such as your combat team - from the III Corps. By this definition the Tirailleurs et Dragons! would not fit in, and there has also been expressed some concern that teams would be created consisting of the best officers an army has, or killer teams. I would point out two things: one, this is already allowed under the regular format of MP games, and two, in the case of the Tirailleurs et Dragons!, we were formed specifically because the efforts to form teams from officially established commands were not successful.

As far as the DOR goes, there is no difference between a provisional corps and a regularly composed MP team. In both situations, all the officers share alike in the reward of points for Victory and Turns played.

Regards,

Whereas it is true that killer teams can certainly be formed under the existing MP structure, the main difference in the Divisional Tournament concept would be that the performance of such teams would be officially recognized by the club and specifically tracked for army prestige. These teams have certainly existed in the past, and are sure to continue into the future as well, but the Divisional Tournament concept would take the exploits of such provisional killer teams to a higher level of club wide recognition. I do fully understand and support the reason for the formation of the Tirailleurs et Dragons, I am simply pointing out that the provisional concept lies open for abuse, particularly in association with Divisional Tournments held for individual army prestige. I would prefer to see a more level playing field where everyone has a chance and the games are close, as opposed to a field utterly dominated by three or four teams of deadly, hand picked assassins. This runs counter to the development of esprit de corps in the organized units who are simply playing with the officers they have at hand and, at least in my opinion, should be avoided.

Well said and well explained anyone is able to form his own in his own Div or Corps. If you really want to feel the Bon relationship you get in MPG I for one suggest that you form one and become one of the many Provisional unites. The bon thing about these units if you unable to play someone will tack you place till you are ready and also the Mentor's will establish you were as you are able to win victories over Allied or French single play or MPG it a club not a singles place were you just play to advance your own ego.

Monsieur de President as far as a killer Brig I doubt any Armee can mount such a Brig with out any one knowing that they are such . All if any one has to do is look up their win lost in the doc. If the Great Marchall's of the Armee had such a MP group am sure the Allies can counter it. I for one would not fight you and Sir Hill but they who did felt they could defeat you and that Ugly King's Dragoon !

I agree Cliff, everyone would know that it was a killer brigade and yes, I am sure it would be countered. I guess my real point is this, if the killer officers are assigned as unit commanders in their respective armies, which all of them are, I would rather see them leading the units in their Brigade/Division/Corps than banding together as an elite unit of assassins under the claim of a provisional unit. I want to see the leaders of this club lead their men. I do not want to see the junior officers abandoned and left behind to fend for themselves. I want to see this club grow together. I expect every officer in this club who has accepted the responsibility of a leadership position step up and do their job to help our club grow and be a fun place to spend our leisure hours.

Simply put: If you are in a leadership position, lead. If you don't want to do so, step aside and let somebody else lead. I am not a person who believes in entitlement in any form or fashion. The day I quit leading, I expect the members of this club to vote me out. One flaw that I do find in this club is that the Office of the Club President is the only one in which the members have a direct say.

Now, none of this applies to the Tirailleurs et Dragons. That provisional unit was formed in the right frame of mind. They are not a killer elite. They are simply four, very talented active and valuable officers for our club. I fully support thier formation and their intentions. I can just foresee the provisional unit designation being utilized in another fashion if we are visibly recording high profile bragging rights for the individual armies using a Divisional Tournament system. We are competitive men. It accompanies the nature of our hobby, and competitive men will find ways to win.

I think you might also have been refering to Sir Hall, rather than Hill. I must admit that I have not had the pleasure of partnering with Lucky Jim to date, but I am quite pleased with Sir Muddy and his singularly magnificent steed on the rolling steppes of Russia. I really do owe the Gzhatsk thread an update.

Oh sorry Sir Hill is always on my mind he plays a excellent game and Gen Moss as well miss playing the CC . An I agree one game a month keeps many ole Marshal's in the club. Many I think would love leaving their Villa's and the Grand Palace and tack up the sword and raise the junior officer up but many leave the Armee and never hard of again. I thank if you are a Army Commander or a Corps commander the need is not to keep up a web page but bring the troops to the front. The Standard for the old Guard is set so high I would have to play 25 short games to just had the wins to get in but I like long games that tack a year to play not a few months. Now how many garcons out there would play that many????