Role of Corps Commander

Second French Army with four corps

Current Role

Carry out the objective and role ordered by the army commander

Issue orders to each of the brigades in his corps.

To do so they must remain within 8” of him

Command Points (CP)

At the start of his turn he receives 1CP for each Formed brigade under his command.

He also receives 1CP if he if Poor, 2CP if Average and 3CP if Gifted

He gets no CP for Unformed, Shaken or Routed brigades

He can move a maximum of 16”, and must use 1CP to do so

Each CP allows him to issue one order to a brigade

These include move, change formation, skirmish, volley fire or hand to hand combat

He can use 2CP to issue orders to a brigade

Half move and change formation

Half move to limber and move, or move and unlimber

Problem

He must wait for orders from the army commander to change from Move to Engage, or Engage to Attack.   This greatly restricts how he can fight his battle.   For example a brigade on engage cannot move forward to hand to hand combat.

New Role

He will be allowed to change his corps role from Move to Engage, Engage to Combat and vice versa.

He will not be allowed to order his corps to Retreat or to Move or Engage from Hold

This will allow him to increase, or decrease, the tempo of his battle. 

But the army commander will still control the increase from a defensive Hold to an aggressive Engage.   He will also have to issue orders for a corps to Retreat.

Role of Army Commander

Russian and French Army each with four corps

Current Role

Issue orders to each corps commander at the start of the game, and amend them as necessary during the game

There are two parts to each order

First state the objective, for example “take the hill in the centre”

Second confirm how he should do so, for example Hold, Move, Engage, Attack or Retreat

Only he can change either the objective or the role, and to do so he must be in base contact with the corps commander

Command Points (CP)

At the start of his turn he rolls 1D10 and adds 1 if he is a Poor commander, 2 if Average and 3 if gifted.   The total determines how many orders he can issue that turn.

He can move a maximum of 16”, and must use 1CP to do so

The number of CP required to change corps orders depends on the ability of the corps commander.  1CP if Gifted, 2 if Average and 3 if Poor.

Problem

It takes too long for the army commander to reach the corps commander and change his orders.   This in turn slows down the game and makes it difficult to increase the tempo from Move to Engage to Attack.   Even if ADC are used it can take two or three game moves to reach the corps commander

New Role

He will continue to issue objective and role at the start of the game

He will continue to change both if in contact with the corps commander

However the corps commander can now change Move, Engage and Attack.  Only the army commander can change Hold and Retreat.

The army commander can take command of any brigade within 8” and can form a new reserve or group.  For example he can group artillery to form a Grand Battery, or cavalry or infantry to form a new reserve.   However these brigades must remain within 8” for the remainder of the game.   This will reduce his ability to move around the battlefield, but will give him a new tactical role.

Any brigade within 4” of him will receive plus 1 on their morale throw.   This will allow him to influence the morale of a particular corps by his presence

Happy New Year

First a very Happy New Year to those of you who follow my ramblings.   As I start the tenth year of this blog I must thank you all for the support over the years.   I do it for my own satisfaction, but it is nice to know that you take the trouble to read it.

Jan and I have just returned from two weeks with my son and his family in the UK.   He lives in a lovely village called Rothbury, which is north of Newcastle.   It is a lovely walking area, and we usually explore the nearby hills and valleys.   However this year we have both suffered from flu, which cast a shadow over the festivities.   Fortunately we got Christmas Day over before Jan went down.   However New Year was a very quiet occasion.   It was a particular shame because the weather was sunny and even mild (by local standards) and would have been ideal walking conditions.

We have now returned to sunny Spain.   My cold is much better, though Jan is still suffering.   Tomorrow I lead our first walk of the New Year, and we settle back into our busy and enjoyable routine.

An occasional break of routine is a good opportunity to consider objectives and priorities.   Here in Spain we have a busy routine and little opportunity, or desire, to just sit and think.   Without the distractions and the opportunity to work on the campaign or wargame there is plenty of time to do just that.   Particularly if you don’t have the energy to do anything physical.  

This year I had more time than usual to read wargame blogs and forums.   At this time of year many do a review of the past year, and outline plans for the New Year.  This often involves taking on a new period, scale or project.   Many plans will not mature, but I do envy them the enthusiasm of planning.

I have not bought a new model soldier in more than 12 years, nor have I painted a single figure in that time.   Having developed my campaign system I have spent all of that time wargaming, rather than collecting or painting.   I have no regrets about this.   Instead of hours painting figures I spent hours each week running the campaign, wargaming the battles and updating the campaign blog.  

However I do miss the excitement of new projects.   I have no interest outside of the Napoleonic period, so a different period is not a possibility.   I have no desire to replace my figure collection, I have already done that at least four times over the years.   I have no interest in new wargame rules, all have proved a disappointment over the years.   This is probably due more to me than to the rules themselves.   Because we wargame so often we quickly find the flaws in new rules, or perhaps I should say rules with which we do not agree.  We then adjust the rules, which lead to further problems down the line.   Using our own house rules allows me to adjust them as necessary to provide the type of game we enjoy.  Because I have written them I am better placed to anticipate any resulting problems.

I have tried new projects over the past few years to create wargames outside of the campaign.   Although it is great fun working on the project, the games have always disappointed compared with the campaign games.

It’s a nice problem to have.   A bit like wealthy people complaining that they are bored with their lives.   But I still feel a little envy when I read about a fellow wargamers projects for 2019.