Monday, January 02, 2023

2ND EDITION: GENERAL d'ARMEE

 

GENERAL D'ARMEE

SECOND EDITION

BRIEFING

The 2nd Edition of General d'Armee Napoleonic rules aims to focus the wargame more on the aspect of the senior divisional commander than the battalion commander. The player is now viewing the battle more from afar and spending less time down in the dirt leading  and micro-managing his regiments on the frontline. Therefore he does what he can to ensure success and to achieve objectives, but nothing is guaranteed.

When an attack goes in, he is viewing this through his telescope, muttering to himself; "Come on Maitland, keep pushing, keep going!" The result is not predetermined;  as there are no guaranteed lists of positive and negative factors,  only superior morale, supporting brigade units, good generalship and luck. These might go in your favor or they might not, but the better the plan, the better the situation and above all if the attack is supported, it should have a real chance of success.

 


The 2nd Edition concentrates less on the peripherals of the wargame, such as column or square musketry fire, which is minimal at best and concentrates far more on command decisions. The player's time is taken up with C-in-C Commands and ADC takings, prioritizing brigades for offensive action or stout defensive. He cannot spread his command across his entire front, therefore must concentrate on a few critical decision points each turn that will win him the battle.

Reserves are now vitally important. He who commits his reserve at the right place and at the right time is likely to gain a significant battlefield advantage. This all links into your previous command decisions and if your battalions have been able to dominate the battle, to force the opponent to react to your moves, then the committal of a reserve could prove decisive and break not only the opposing battalions but also your opponent's will to fight.

What's Changed?

 1. Command & Control.  

"The marshal, indignant at the hesitation of the general, sent me to tell him to carry the position at the charge!" ADC Levavasseur, Waterloo 1815. (Or perhaps a game of General d'Armee using a Brigade Attachment ADC tasking!)

The ADC system remains at the heart of the command and control system in General d'Armee; this has been updated and augment with what are termed C-in-C commands.

These commands represent the C-in-C personally intervening in the battle to lead his troops or steady his men, and as such are limited to either two or just one opportunity per game, depending on the C-in-Cs ability. These include rallying a faltering brigade or leading a charge from the front rank akin to Marshal Ney! The player chooses when to use these vital interventions but as in the words of one film general, should "take careful timing" as to when he chooses to ride out and personally intervene, as these actions can have a significant impact upon the outcome of the battle.

ADCs remain very much as before but have been slightly expanded to provide greater command choices in the game, such as an opportunity to influence the initiative. Ammunition resupply is no longer a tasking and is replaced with actual model caissons that represent ammunition resupply.

Initiative now has an added twist. The winner of the Initiative may now remove one hesitant marker from any currently hesitant brigade but then must immediately pass the Initiative for this turn over to the opponent! This can provide quite a command dilemma as the player will gain a localised advantage on one side but be on the back foot for this turn across the division, on the other.

 Finally there are expanded rules on Corps commands and how to play corps sized battles with multiple divisions.

Charges

″Pakenham, you will carry that height where the enemy's left is posted by storm and when you have gained it, go at them hard and fast with the bayonet!″  Wellington, Salamanca, 1812.

Charges in General d'Armee were straight forward however it is appreciated that they could be quite involved and take up valuable battle time when there were numerous charges launched in a single turn.

So, two significant changes have been applied to the charge procedure. The first change involves the actual charge rule mechanics and creates a faster, more intuitive and slicker charge process yet keeps all the nuances inherent in the first edition. This means the amount of text devoted to charge rules had been reduced considerably and the entire charge process is now much quicker.

The second and slightly more radically change in the 2nd Edition is that players are now limited to one charge per brigade. You can no longer launch multiple charges from one brigade, akin to a firework, shooting off charges in all directions. There are several reasons for this.

First I could not find a single historical example of a brigade launching multiple charges at different targets all at the same time. Yes, charges were supported by additional units, but I've yet to read of any account where a brigadier ordered multiple charges in different directions against different targets. It appears to have been beyond the command scope of the officers commanding a brigade and for good reasons.

One reason may well have been that infantry brigades regularly deployed with a regulating battalion, which meant all battalions took their direction and alignment from this one battalion. If this were so, how does one launch a charge when the regulating battalion is charging off in another direction?

Finally by imposing a one charge one target rule we neatly avoid that old wargame bugbear of numerous columns ganging up in melee against a single line. So under the 2nd Edition it's now one charge against one target but of course this charge can be supported by the usual flank and rear supports.  The balance to this change is that defending supporting units may either fire or support when defending a charge, not both as before. So the defending player needs to think carefully about firing with supports as this will denude his support rerolls in the actual charge.

Movement

Few changes have been applied to the movement and terrain rules. The main highlight is that the charge bonus is now only gained via ADC taskings, which includes using the full Forwards movement bonus for charges as well as normal movement.

Skirmishers.

"The tirailleurs of the 17th Legere, dispersed among the trees and bushes, undulating terrain and garden walls...slipped along the brook and suddenly opened fire."  Capt. Bressonnet, 1806.

The main skirmishing rules have been overhauled. The size of a brigade skirmish screen is now based on the general size of a brigade and not linked to every battalion.

Skirmishers are now permitted to move even if a brigade is hesitant.

Skirmishers now fire with Skirmishers Casualty Dice, which hit on scores of 4 or more, bringing their firing in line with all casualty dice, the down side being that skirmishers require two "hits" to cause one casualty, as opposed to the standard one hit equals one casualty rule. Thus heavy casualties from skirmishers is unlikely unless a tasking is in play, while merely wear down an opponent more likely.

Infantry & Artillery Firing.

"It was the first time the noise of an English fusillade had reached our ears....never had we heard a rolling fire as well fed as that." Lt. Girod, 9th Legere, Talavera, 1809.

There are now no lists of positive and negative modifiers. This has been replaced with a slicker system where fire benefits, such as Elite and Veteran volleys or firing at a column or square target receive extra Casualty Dice; while fire negatives, such as unformed or firing at skirmishers moves your volley down the volley chart. So, if a battalion in line has no negatives this means you fire on the Standard Volley line, one negative modifier such as firing unformed moves the unit down to the Inferior Volley line. Two or more modifiers sees the unit fire with just 1 casualty dice, this is the lowest a volleying unit can go.

Columns and squares fire with just one casualty dice to reflect the fact they are manoeuvre or defensive formations and not firing formations.

Artillery has undergone similar treatment.

This means that firing is far quicker but produces similar results to the first edition

The 2nd Edition retains the "casualty chart" as opposed to introducing a "handful of dice" fire mechanism, as the chart conveys four pieces of vital information to the player. These are; casualties, fire discipline, discipline tests and Destiny results. Also add a fifth, Low on Ammunition for artillery. Presenting all this information in a logical and consistent manner cannot be done when rolling handfuls of dice

Combat

This system is essentially the same, but we now have greater chance of prolonged cavalry melees, allowing supporting regiments to be fed into the melee. This makes cavalry melee more interesting and cavalry supports more important. And, as Hesitant regiments cannot reinforce this means that ensuring that your cavalry brigades are obeying orders becomes an important command element for the player.

Morale

"Retire general? If we take one more pace to the rear, we are done for." Col. Pouzet, Austerlitz, 1805.

Discipline Tests have moved to a simple system of troop grade promotions and demotions as opposed to lists of positive and negative modifiers, producing quicker results.  For instance an unformed Line unit testing would be demoted to Recruits and so on.

Brigade Morale has been improved, so Faltering brigades are no longer as prone to sudden withdrawals but nonetheless continue to produce a significant drain upon the divisional commander and his ability to control his formations.

To conclude the 2nd Edition continues to provide a Napoleonic game with all its tactical nuances, although rules changes are significant the game still very firmly remains General d'Armee, creating skirmisher fire fights, infantry volleys and sweeping cavalry melees. However victory now relies slightly less on these tactical combats and slightly more on the player's ability to command his division successfully, to identify his tactical objective and to concentrate his command effort in the right place at the right time.

Vive l'Empereur!