Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Yes, a very good summary, sir.

IMO, EM is a necessity in games like Waterloo and NRC. The movement rates in those titles allow for extremely quick marches on roads. Embedded melee allows defensive screens to at least slow down such attacks. Even with an embedded melee, it is possible to make sudden movements, such as repositioning a couple of divisions to the flank of the AA army at Waterloo.

That is why I prefer the movement rates and 10 minute turns used in Jena and Austerlitz. Bill, I think that has been one of your finest innovations to the series and come closest to producing a historical pace of action. Thank you! I wish that the other titles were converted over to that scale.

Now, options like isolation and NME is a different topic. Without NME, I do not tend to use isolation. With NME, I absolutely feel that isolation rules should be used.

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

I am just curious, Jeff, do you ever play with E Morale troops, or are you always the French player? The Isolation Rule is extremely devastating against E Morale troops who are, IMHO, a heinous liability in any case. They rout at the sound of distant gunfire, disordering every unit to which they are adjacent, and encouraging those units to flee as well. Maybe I just don't get it, but E Morale troops absolutely suck! When you combine that with the generally poor leadership structure of the Allied armies, it is a fine recipe for disaster. French players universally love the Isolation Rule for obvious reasons. It gives them a huge advantage in a game system which, IMHO, already greatly favors the attacker.

Now I know that Colin is going to post and tell us that E Morale troops for the Coalition and AAA+++ Morale troops for the French is the natural order of things, but I do seriously wonder if the French players would be so keen on the Isolation Rule if it was they who actually had a preponderance of E Morale troops and a really crappy command structure.

You will rise in my esteem if you have significant experience on the other side of the field to support your arguments. If that is the case, then my quest to become a better player must continue, which it actually will in any event. Otherwise, I personally view it as an attempt to gain yet another advantage for the French player before the battle actually ever begins and would caution players commanding Anglo-Allied armies in particular to strongly resist the use of the Isolation Rule. If you were commanding fanatical Russian units, the situation would be totally different, but in defense with E Morale troops, you are royally screwed from the beginning and have greatly compromised your chances of any victory by a poor decision on the front end.

Now, I will add that I often do agree to the Isolation Rule if the battle is a meeting engagement in which I have an equal chance to attack, often despite the fact that I have several of those heinous E Morale troops.

I would like to hear the opinions of anyone who has significant experience commanding E Morale troops within the crappy Anglo-Allied command structure.

I also agree with you on the merit of the 10 minute moves. Thank you, Bill!

I think the challenge of the E units is more a function of movement rates than the isolation rule. There is much more risk of seeing units surrounded when a commander can move cavalry up to 14 hexes in a single turn. As such, I have played a number of Waterloo and QB battles with that option unchecked. Not my preference, but a compromise given the road movement rates.

Yes, I have played with Prussian and Hanoverian landwehr enough to feel the pain of frequent routs. With isolation, you can eliminate only routed isolated units. It is relatively rare that I find them both routed and isolated and not be in a position to move reserves or cavalry up to try and extricate them before they are eliminated. Isolation is less about seeking advantage, more that it is unreasonable with NME in use for a surrounded routed unit of 500 men to occupy 6 formed units (if retreat overrun is not checked) for possibly hours until the unit is shot down to the last man.

Every army has benefits and challenges. In Waterloo, the obvious benefit to the allies is numbers. However, much of that numerical advantage is low quality. All in all not a bad problem to be faced with. Should you care to reverse roles with me at some point, I would be happy to oblige.

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

I would always want to play with the isolation rule if NME and EM is used.
Its hard to surround units in EM and a surrounded unit that is routed would surrender that's obvious.

As for using those pesky E graders I would recommend they are used only for the attack and not to hold a place in the line. When they do attack they should not reside close to any other units and must not over extend themselves.

They really are not very good I agree. Sir Muddy has used them so far with the skill of a veteran against me in Waterloo (we are playing isolation rules). I have managed to only eliminate 2btns with overun thing.

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Marechal Knox

Prince d'Austerlitz et Comte d'Argentan
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur

"What is history but a fable agreed upon"

I agree on the proper method of using the E Morale troops. I cannot claim to have perfected it yet. It is still a work in progress for me. The point was recently, actually even today, brought home to me again as I am watching my junior Hanoverian officers struggling with their E Morale troops in our ongoing Hanoverian Brigade Challenge.

Sounds like I could use some lessons from Sir Muddy to help me improve my craft in this particular area.

You do realize that your quote, "I would always want to play with the isolation rule if NME and EM is used. It's hard to surround units in EM and a surrounded unit that is routed would surrender that's obvious." is a characteristic of the attacker. Yes, I do understand your mentality.

For all you Junior Anglo-Allied Officers out there, pay attention to what the venerable Frenchman has just offered. He will normally post these bits of wisdom carefully hidden behind the password in Pierre's tavern. He said, "As for using those pesky E graders I would recommend they are used only for the attack and not to hold a place in the line. When they do attack they should not reside close to any other units and must not over extend themselves." The devil always lies in the details of the application, but commit this statement to your memory. He is entirely correct in this view.

Thanks, Colin!

Colin!

Now that has been discussed previously, so it is not new information. The logic will always hold true, whether using landwehr as the allies or the raw troops of revolutionary France in an as yet unreleased campaign (ah but we can hope... it is Christmas season after all). Use of low quality troops to hold a line yields a low quality line, one that is brittle and easily exploited. However, there are ways to deal with such a problem through spacing, defense in depth, and the like so that one's entire position does not become unhinged simply because of some militia units running to the rear.

On the counter, there are a number of ways for a good French commander to deal with that, but I will not divulge those here in the Rhine in such mixed company.

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