Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Should melee combat be allowed at night? I generally negotiate a no night fighting agreement with my opponent. Should night melees be allowed? I don't have a problem with dawn or dusk but did Napoleonic armies fight at night? other than during sieges and storming operations?

FM Sir 'Muddy' Jones, KG
2nd Life Guards, Household Cavalry

The same, I generally make the same agreement, and even if I don't, the ONLY time I've ever engaged in Night Fighting intentionally that I can recall is in a Early American Wars scenario of Lundy's Lane, and that's partially because the battle continued well into the night (which, incidentially is the only battle of this era that I know of which did so)

Feldmarschall Freiherr Gary McClellan
Generalissimus Imperial Austrian Army
Portner Grenadier Battallion
Allied Coalition C-in-C

Since the actual night hours in a Campaign Waterloo campaign is so short, I allow no changes.

For longer normal nights, say more than 6 hours, then I would say no melees as well.

Colonel Al Amos
1erè Brigade Commandant
2ème Division de Dragons

If I can get the Night fatigue rule added that might help keep the night fighting to a minimum...

Bill Peters
Armee du Rhin - V Corps, 5ème Division, 20ème légère Brigade de Cavalerie, 13ème Hussar Regiment
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

[url="http://www.fireandmelee.net"]Fire and Melee Wargame site[/url]

Muddy,

Given the lack of a fatigue penalty for night marches (other than the inability to recover from whatever fatigue has already been accumulated), I like to negotiate for no movement after an agreed upon "curfew." [|)] Obviously, a ban on movement also blocks fighting after the curfew.

Night assaults where actually quite frequent during the Revolutionary Wars (1789 - 02), since they were thought to offer an opportunity to close with the enemy while suffering minimal casualties to defensive fire. Invariably, however, they degenerated into chaotic brawls in which the attacker lost all unit cohesion, units got lost and "friendly fire" inflicted as many casualties as the enemy's. [B)] Given their poor track record, almost all commanders eschewed them during the Napoleonic Wars in all but siege warfare. There were some notable exceptions, such as Victor's night attack at Talavera in 1809, but they were uniformly unsuccesful.

My own experiences with "night fighting" in the BG and HPS games are remarkably true to the historical model. Granted, "friendly fire" and/or units getting lost is not a problem. The reduced effectiveness of leaders and the added penalties for morale rolls at night, however, mean that units are quicker to rout and take longer to reform/rally which means that an attack quickly loses all cohesion. [xx(] Hence, although I will consider a night attack to gain a specific, key position, I generally avoid a general engagement as not worth the candle.[B)]

Regards,

Paco

<i>Maréchal</i> M. Francisco Palomo
<i>Prince d'Essling, Grande Duc d'Abrantes et
Comte de Marseille
Commandant - Ecole Militaire
Commandant - Division de Cavalerie de la Vieille Garde </i>

Frederick the Great's "Instructions for His Generals" states that bridges being guarded at night should be well lit with a giant bonfire to prevent surprise night attack. From that, we might infer it was in contemporary commander's minds as possible. Therefore, it should be possible in game terms, but just have the accurate penalities too that model the reason it was rare in the real thing. That seems to be what Paco listed below and seems pretty reasonable, although adding fatigue for night movement would be a great addition. (Speaking of which, continuous turn-after-turn of day movement should invoke some fatigue or at least the possiblity of it.)

Col. Dirk Smith
1e Bg, 16 Dv, V Corps
Armee du Rhin

Muddy, I agree with Paco´s point of view. In addition I´d like to say that although they are out of the game scope, "guerrilla" style night operations were very common in Spain.

Podporuchik Paco Berenguer
Nizhnegorodskiy Pekotny Polk
26 th Infantry Division
7th Infantry Corps

And speaking of bonfires ... wouldnt it be nice to have bonfires in the game? They would disclose that the enemy is nearby but you wouldnt know how many or what types. Just a bunch of ?s on the map in your normal LOS (no more than say 40 hexes).

Bill Peters
Armee du Rhin - V Corps, 5ème Division, 20ème légère Brigade de Cavalerie, 13ème Hussar Regiment
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

[url="http://www.fireandmelee.net"]Fire and Melee Wargame site[/url]

Regarding night action, I am in a Jena game and night has come. At the end of the day I am in contact with a part of the Prussian army that has suffered heavy losses. They were already attempting to withdraw as night come so I know that they will continue in the dark. The question is how should i pursue if at all. I have fresh troops to press them. It is my feeling that I can push troops forward in order to maintain contact but I should not be aggressive with combat actions. Opinions.

Marechal Jonathan Thayer
Commandante Moyenne Garde
Duc de Saalfeld et Prince de Friedland
1/10/III
Armee du Nord




jonathanthayer@bellsouth.net