Regiment - A Napoleonic Wars Card Game

For some time, I've been thinking about a card game that brings Napoleonic warfare to life (with an emphasis on deck building).  The game would use cards to represent brigades and regiments for OOB building and you would be able to modify units with experience mods (based on historical participation in battles and honors earned).

I've resurrected this after reading David Crook's excellent thoughts about a 19th century tabletop game here.

I've am considering cards for this because the emphasis is on simplicity and playability anywhere.

Here are some of my initial vanilla thoughts on the game called "Regiment":

General Staff
Each battle has a preset number of General Staff officer positions to be filled in an OOB.  The overall commander is included in this total plus a number of staff officers.  These officers are combined into a General Staff that as a body exerts influence over the battle with their leadership, experience and tactics through the issuing of orders.

Armies
Armies are compromised of infantry, cavalry and artillery.  Units are brigade and regiment sized.  Each unit moves, fights or resupplies based on an order issued by the General Staff. 

Orders
Units are able to move and resupply if an order is issued to them by the General Staff. The number of orders issued depends on the capabilities of the General Staff.  Orders must also be given to artillery units to fire and for cavalry units to fire.  Infantry units within a card’s length of an opponent are considered to be within musket range and do not need to be given an order to fire.
A unit under orders has a green stone (penny, piece of candy, etc) placed next to their card.  Units not under orders are capable of defending themselves.
Because movement is alternating so is the issuing of orders.  A unit not under orders to fire but which is attacked by an opposing unit is able to return fire with one die roll only even if the unit is Elite.

Movement
The distance moved each turn depends on the formation.  Units may only move if they have been issued an order to do so, or they are forced to retreat due to combat.
Combat 
Units are considered in musket range if they are within one card’s length.

Elite units roll 3 D6 and 1s and 2s represent damaging volleys
Line units roll 2 D6 and 1s and 2s represent damaging volleys
Militia units roll 1 D6 and 1s and 2s represent damaging volleys

Losses to units are then determined by the formation the unit was in and the strength of the attack. 


The result of cavalry charges are conducted by taking the strength of the attacking unit vs the formation and size of the defending unit plus the unit's formation.


Examples of "Unit Mods"

Italian Honors - Veteran unit leaders particpated in Marengo. -1 Discipline                                                           
Sun at Austerlitz - Stormed Pratzen Heights.  Maneuver double.                                                              
Telnitz Guard - Held the right flank at Austerlitz.  +5% fire.                                                           
Veteran Grenadiers - Add 1 to FP (Line or Elite units only)                                                            
Italian Light Infantry Honor - For light infantry units only.  Veterans of Italian campaign. 
Covered In Glory - Unit awarded by Napoleon +5% DMG and +1FP                                                         
Peninsula Veterans -1 Discipline Checks. +1 ROF                                               
Reinforced Grenadier Battalion 100 New Men.  Add 1 to FP rolls.                                              
Skirmishers         100 New Men.  Skirmishers double firing range of unit.

Anyway, this is just a preview of my resurrected form of the game. I have additional thoughts about battlefield conditions, weather, representing smoke, battlefield momentum and experience earned during a battle which I will share here soon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John Tiller's Campaign Series - Buy It Now

Image
John Tiller's campaign series game for $9.99 at  Matrix Games Ltd.  is a steal. There are so many great scenarios. I have been playing a Fastov scenario this morning detailing the 25th Panzer Division probe into a Soviet armor formation in 1943. If my memory is correct, the division commander is killed and the reconnaissance battalion is wiped out. The Campaign Series game lays this meeting engagement out on a beautiful map with the full OOB (over 300 unit counters are present). I have considered setting up this battle before for Panzer Battles and Command Ops, so to find it in this title's scenario list this morning was very exciting! This is a zoomed out view of the northern portion of the Fastov map in the map editor. Each hex is 250 meters. In the image below, 25th Panzer is probing north towards Fastov along both sides of the Unava river. The scenario designer set a minor victory at 600 objective points and a major victory at 1200 points. You can technically achieve
Read more

Maxwell's Marauders: Find the Observation Post

Image
Maxwell’s Marauders, 1st Platoon, C Company of the 7th Marine Regiment is a fictional unit, filled with characters that I have created to deepen my connection to my Squad Battles “ Proud and the Few ” gaming. The New York boys, Bullseye, Sgt. Rock and the rest are going to be persistent characters (unless they die on my digital battlefields) that take me through the War in the Pacific. From Guadalcanal to New Britain to Peleliu and finally Okinawa, the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment served with distinction and so too will Maxwell’s Marauders. Along the way, my hope is that by investing in the backstories of the soldiers on the map, I will play smarter and take fewer risks with them, enjoy my gaming and appreciate this great Squad Battles system in a deeper way. About these scenarios The scenarios are short (under 20 turns (100 minutes or less of combat). They are historical, even though the unit is fictional. Each battlefield map is an approximation of the terrain Frisbie’s
Read more

Edson's Ridge

Image
September 12, 1942, just before sunset: [Historical scenario] Japanese Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi has come to Guadalcanal to lead the attack against the Marine foothold on the island at Henderson Airfield. The I and III battalions of the 124th Infantry regiment are to attack from the south, along with the Kuma Battalion, II battalion of the 4th infantry regiment 19th engineer battalion. Kawaguchi will personally lead these battalions. A composite of Japanese engineers, special naval landing troops and the Oka Force, II Bn 124 Inf Rgt are to attack from the West. The Japanese objectives are the Marine bridge over the Lunga, the air traffic control tower on Pagoda Hill, the main runway hangars, and the Fighter One airstrip. Kawaguchi has grossly underestimated the strength of the Marine force facing him. The Marines have also disrupted his supply base along the coast at Tasimboko, dispersing a small reserve force, his artillery, and supplies. Special Terrain rules: The Lunga River
Read more