Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Colonel Kling enters the Rhine Tavern to meet some of the other commanders of the great battle to come. He carries his Maps of Katzbach and hopes they arrive soon, for the battle has started and time is short. He sits at table near the fire and orders a bottle of wine.

He realizes he is alone and all is quiet, no French officers nor Allies. This could only mean the enemies of the Emperor Napoleon are engaged in their own battle preparations.

The Colonel opens his maps, studying them as he waits..............

...and develops this very odd feeling that someone is looking over his shoulder.

Turning his head, he is surprised (not really I'll bet) to discover a Hanoverian Guardsman standing behind him.

"Oh, don't mind me", says the Brigadier with a grin, "I am just waiting to see where you will mark the dispostion of your forces. A battle is so much easier to successfully conduct if you fully know the mind and intentions of you opponents, wouldn't you agree?"

The Colonel thinks to himself: "Hopefully the Hanoverian reads the plans carefully and if all is well takes the misinformation back to his allies and the enemies of France..."

Battle On......... or should I say "The Battle is On"

Carrying Josephine, purring softly in his arms, the Col of Tirailleurs joins the officers at the table.

Careful Al, the Brigadier knows his Art of War all too well.

Ah, wine, battle maps, and good friends.
HA!
What more can an officer of the Napoleonic Wars hope for?

Settling Josephine in his lap, sipping from a glass of wine, he studies the evirons of Katzbach, and asks,
Wonder what the weather forecast is?

Regards,

...but the good Colonel's confidence suffers a blow when the Brigadier points at the units he has marked on the map and says...

"No, no, Colonel, you have located your units incorrectly. Your heavy cavalry are here, your infantry is advancing in this concealed defile, and the movement of these batteries is in the opposite direction of where you truly intend for them to go."

A slow chill begins to creep up his spine as the Colonel thinks to himself, How in the hell does he do that?

A very astute question, Colonel Schmidgall. My compliments, sir!

Mon cher Colonel,

Agents tell me that the weather for the SON scenario will be vastly improved over the historical Katzbach weather. Whereas at the historical Katzbach the rain was so severe that infantry were unable to fire for most of the battle, in the SON scenario that will occur for only a short period of time. That said, the swollen rivers will continue to damage many of the bridges and it would behoove you to post pioneers at any bridge(s) you deem essential.

As to the Brigadier's sources, you should recall that he was instrumental in the creation of the SON scenario.

Regards,

Paco

_________________
Maréchal M. Francisco Palomo
Prince d'Essling et Duc d'Abrantes
Commandant en Chef du 1er Corps d'Armée

True enough, but even so, it was the sharp eyes of this most esteemed Marechal of France that first drew my attention to the weather as well.

There's a lesson to be learned there for all officers:

Use the F2 key to pull up the Parameter Data Dialog so you know when dawn and dusk are, and if you scroll down to the bottom, you can view the weather, visibility and impact to fire/combat. Conveniently enough, it's broken out by time so you can plan accordingly.

If only modern weather forecasters could do as good a job.

Cheers!

_________________
Marechal Jeff Bardon
Duc de Castiglione et Prince de Wagram
Commandant de la Garde Imperiale

If any of you are not regularly studying the Parameter Data, or have not indeed even basically memorized it, you certainly need to do so. There is so much more information contained in this file in addition to the weather, such as artillery range and effectiveness, movement points for terrain, modifiers for fire and melee, etc. All critical information pertaining to the mechanics of the games in which your are involved.

Mssrs.,

To follow up on Marechal Bardon and Brigadier Jones' comments, officers should realize that some parameter values change from game to game and, sometimes, even within the scenarios of the same game. One small example is the probability that infantry will disorder while moving in line ("Line Disorder Values") when the "Line Movement Restriction" optional rule is used. The probability ranges from a low of 7% in Campaign Austerlitz to as high as 20% in Campaign Leipzig.

Regards,

Paco

_________________
Maréchal M. Francisco Palomo
Prince d'Essling et Duc d'Abrantes
Commandant en Chef du 1er Corps d'Armée