Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

I was doing some melee tests today and found that skirmishers both attack and defend at full strength in the Leipzig game. I had thought that they were reduced in melee. Does anyone know of the section in the rules where it says they are worth less in melee.

Seems to me that 500 skirmishers should not be worth the same as a 500 man formed battalion.

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

Special Skirmisher Resolution
When Skirmishers are defending in melee against non-Skirmisher attackers, they take losses which are 1/5 of the normal value, but always retreat. If their attackers also consist of Skirmishers, then the attackers take 1/5 normal losses, but the retreat resolution is calculated normally. These special Skirmisher rules only apply when there is no more than 1/8 of the maximum stacking limit in the defending hex, or respectively in the total number of attackers.

This rules section does not indicate that. If skirms in a hex are above the magic number they will not retreat if they win the battle.

Yes, I found that part. But for some odd reason I had thought that they were worth less when in melees with formed troops. Oh well!

Makes me wonder what would happen is we started stacking 8 counters of them like the old BG days. The old Killer Skirmisher stacks ...

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

I think that skirmishers should always be pushed back when attacked my formed units, at least in the open, without great loss to the attacking formed units. The thing that made me stop playing the Talonsoft games was the disproportionate influence and strength of skirmishers who were always able to block an attack and prevent you getting to grips with the main enemy battle line.

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Yes, I know what you mean. I can also remember one member of the club using six stacks of skirmishers to block the movement of my troops. Utterly ridiculous but hey, in those days we were not into House Rules as much ...

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

Bill, why didn't you just move up some cavalry and harvest a huge haul of vulnerable enemy infantry? Anyone placing skirmishers in front of me in that manner will just be contributing easy Victory Points to my bottom line total.

When stacked in those numbers, they also take damage from fire just as if they were formed infantry anyway, which negates their skirmisher benefit in any case.

Skirmishers also suffer minus one on morale check dice rolls. Trying to rally/reform lots of skirms spread all over the map can be a real Kommand Kopfweh, especially for non light skirms routing more than 5 hexes away from their parent bns.

Try doing it when you have Allied Leaders with a command radius of 2.

I like all the dirty tricks you can pull with skirmishers. Don't you agree Andy Moss?
Send them on a long mission, block a forest track, scout a ridge, capture a leader behind enemy lines, shoot a battery in the flank getting a gun, overtack a unit to prevent it being pushed back (max counters), hmmm what else.....

Bill keeps removing them though which is a dirty trick in its own right

Their lower morale, reduced fire, reduced melee, zoc of killability, diffculty to rally and vulnerability vs cavalry make them pretty over rated though I think.

I Like it when my opponents leaves them lying around for some easy kills. I know Anton enjoys riding them down with a swarm of cossacks. The said force normally parades the shako's of the victims on their lances. Sometimes with the heads still in .

Oh bit gross there chaps sorry.

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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 like all the dirty tricks you can pull with skirmishers. Don't you agree Andy Moss?
Send them on a long mission, block a forest track, scout a ridge, capture a leader behind enemy lines, shoot a battery in the flank getting a gun, overtack a unit to prevent it being pushed back (max counters), hmmm what else.....

Moi??? These days I'm getting paranoid about entering the Tavern. Double entendres and now "the dirty tricks of the agmoss99" revisited. I suppose when you are Number 1 you have to put up with this Glad somebody appreciates what to me is a higher artform within the game anyway. Omelettes and eggs old son.

In the BG games you can add that a Q6+ skirmisher stacked with lower quality units increases the defensive capacity of the stack - the French of course don't have to deal with crappy 2 quality units. Or there's simply the melee-a-formed-unit-to-disorder-it tactic....with the bonus in HPS you can then charge it.