Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Gentlemen,

I have a thought and offer a proposal:

I am not a strong player and as I read the rules and such I just become overwhelmed with numbers and statistics and if you do this, then that happens, and then modifier this, and terrain that and so on...................

I like this type of thread as it creates good thoughts from most. (I still hate horses)! Many new players can learn a lot from this type of thread!

Could we, or should we start another Board titled: HPS Gaming Plays or something like that and then just put the results of these different discussions in there and then lock that thread so we have a good data base on different units and such. Have an open discussion in the tavern and then have a "Archive" topic for the end info.

I hope this made sense and once again, it is just a thought on how to help the beginning player improve.

Gentlemen,

Excellent information.

Agree that this kind of info should be available somewhere with easy find. So much helpful info has been posted over the years that have been loss in the mass of posts.

It always appeared strange to me that Heavy and Light cavalry moved at the same rate. Should not Light be a little more mobile to differentiate between them ?

Your thoughts ?

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General en Chef Pierre D.
La Grande Armee
25ème Régiment de Dragons,
Détachement de la 3ème Corps d'Armée,
3ème Corps d'Armée

I think I do not have enough knowledge to know if heavy and light should have different rates in a game of this scale, but my initial thoughts are that yes, Cossacks and hussars should be able to run away from heavier cavalry with their heavier, larger horses etc.

However, I am pretty sure that this change is not possible in the engine, but would be possible if the scenario designer for a game built the game on the Renaissance Engine.

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Just returned

An excellent thread to be sure. This is what the NWC should be about!! I'd like to see a separate area for game tricks and tips or some such title...there must be a mass of information lost in threads of long ago.

Sadly unless the engine is changed we are stuck with the same movement rates. I'd have thought that was easy since we have REN as a template, but still I doubt it will change.

In table top play Cossack are with out a doubt the worst Cav on the table,you most roll to see if they attack, over 40% chance then roll to move them. The best is always Hussars and Chasseurs, French Dragoons the battle Cav were not as good as Prussian Cav, do to the fact the French troopers didn't know how to care for them.The saying goes that you can smell the French Dragoons miles away due to stable rut. Also the best heavy Cav to many table top players was the Saxon Guard de Corp.

There is a ton of good information stored in our Library, although some of it is a bit dated. I would suggest that would be the place to house our updated information and discussions as well. Such a database is very helpful for the development of our younger, less experienced officers.

I am also a firm believer that our senior veterans should be mentoring our young officers in multi-player games.

Cossacks are an interesting unit in this series as from my readings they were generally only engaged (directed or by choice) when the enemy were at the least disordered (both formation and steadiness) and when they had a more than 50% chance of success. Outnumbering was crucial to the Cossack willingness to engage, whether that be outnumbering with their own forces or in conjunction with supporting forces AT HAND.

They were not used to charge OR delay formed troops or troops who were steady. They would run as soon as the enemy came close to being within engagement range.

The "Guard/Elite" Cossack units, basically organized and formed troops, were the exception who were used as battle cavalry.

The vast majority of Cossacks were irregular troops, did not use formation and operated in very independent ways more often than not. Survival was the priority over some officer's orders. They had their own command structure within their "regiments" and "formations" that was loose and changeable.

I do not believe Cossacks should be used as battle cavalry at all and only be employed as scouting, harassing and opportunist mop up of lower strength, isolated, disordered or routed units.

Sure there will be the odd exception to what I say above but believe that the exception and myth should not be twisted to allow it as the norm. They were cowards and brutal thugs at the end of the day more interested in loot, food, women and survival than any idea of duty and sacrifice.

Ok that's 50c worth of opinion