Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Yea working on the PDT file should basically work with every text editor program.


Indeed Column pass through fire is murderous and that is why I was against it simply because I could believe that even roundshots can do such damage eve more when closing in at ranges where case or grape shot was used.

BUT one must think how the player plays with this rule ON, I thought long about it and I think the only way would be to let the battalions make their attack behind each other and use the Column Movement feature, this would lead to:
1. The first battalion would take the brunt of the fire what isn't unrealistic.
2. The first battalion would likely block the line of sight to the units behind him unless enemy units are further on the flank.
3. By using the Column Movement feature there is only one movement for several units and only one defensive fire is triggered and not each time a unit moves a hex.
4. The attacker could still stack but delaying the attack that way would also lead to triggering defensive fire each time a bat. moves into the hex where the attack should start, again not unrealistic.
5. The attacks would likely run in waves and not necessary achieve a breakthrough on the very first melee because of the low stacking.
6. Also we could see that such battalions moving in a "chain" to attack the enemy line would leave room between other "chain" attack to the left and/or right of them, first to have some area to maneuver but also to give the disrupted or routed attack battalions a lane to fall back, again close to what I read of historical tactics & formations.

So wouldn't these points lead to more historical behavior and results in the battle?

Again an example that some of the optional rules aren't meant to depict something more realistic but to shift the behavior of the players to a more historical correct behavior.

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Yes. I see.

Basically you are saying use a batallion to screen the advance of others. And never move stacks, but individual batallions, which only stack together prior to melee. This reduces casualties. That is all true and I do that. Of course a lot depends on what and how often the AI chooses to implement the auto defensive fire. I'm inclining towards phased play again nowadays which takes longer, but reduces casualties to more sensible levels.

Again a good contribution to an interesting thread.

Thanks.

Can someone enlighten me on the movement costs for stacking units?
I didn't find details in the manual and started to toy around with the first Getting Started scenario, I moved the Saxon battalions from 16,11 to 15,12 and to 14,12 each at a time and ended with one having 10 points left while the other only has 7 points left.
I also moved the them as stack to 14,12 and ended with both having 7 points left.
But it seems only road movement is going along that way, moving units in the clear doesn't cost extra points neither moving them together a into an occupied hex.
So does anyone have a clue how the rules work here?

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You are using point for having your unit move in the same hexagon than the first unit.

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Général David Guegan

3ème Régiment de Grenadiers - Bataillon d'élite du 3ème Légère
2ème Brigade
Grenadiers de la Réserve
Réserve
La Grande Armée
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"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."
Napoléon Bonaparte

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx

Yea but it seems not on all terrain, doing that on a clear hex cost each unit 4 points and no additional point for moving into a hex that already has unit in it.

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Ah yes... In fact by stacking them on the road you're loosing the road effect...

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Général David Guegan

3ème Régiment de Grenadiers - Bataillon d'élite du 3ème Légère
2ème Brigade
Grenadiers de la Réserve
Réserve
La Grande Armée
--------------------------
"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."
Napoléon Bonaparte

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx

Andy,
that is interesting, I have been thinking of trying phased play again too.

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Ah that makes sense, thanks for the information.

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To an extent yes. But by moving individual units along a road and then stacking them at the end you can still move more men faster than on open terrain. This of course isn't realistic and there have been debates in the past about columns of march and attack columns....the engine treats both as the same.

Jim. It takes longer but I think is more realistic and cuts down on the blitz. It plays more like an updated BG game in many ways. Just not recommended for big games unless both players have a lot of committment. After years of playing both ways I'm certainly moving back towards multiphased play.

Why not? Seems that a road would just be a small part of the hex and so stacking units would lead to some simply not being able to occupy the road but having to march besides it and so they pay the normal hex cost.
But indeed having am attack and a march column would be interesting.

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