Napoleonic Firefight Simulation using my Regiment system

The British line consists of Ronal Ferguson's 2nd Brigade: the 71st, 40th and 36th Foot regiments.  Opposite them in the center is the 4eme Swiss Infantry in their red uniforms.  A regiment of light infantry and the large 70eme French line regiment.   Miles Nightingall's 3rd Brigade is in reserve on the 2nd line.
Well the first run through was fun. I made some mistakes and definitely need to adjust the rules.  My biggest mistake was ordering skirmishers forward and then forgetting about them.  I don't have counters that track things like that yet but I will create them soon.

I cut the cards I created out last night and then slotted them in some protective card cases I have (see above).

The core of the game play: movement and combat was exciting. I kept things simple focusing on the formations the units were in, the discipline checks to determine order or disorder of a unit and the Rate of fire and hit accuracy combat system I came up with.

The first three turns of this encounter are listed below:

Turn 1:  

I played with a single commander for each side. Wellington the British commander has the capacity to issue 5 orders per turn.   The French General Delaborde can issue 2 orders per turn.

Order 1 British:  Skirmishers forward 36th Foot
Order 1 French:  Skirmishers forward 70e Line Inf.
Order 2 British:  Skirmishers forward 40th Foot.
Order 2 French:  Kellermans 2e Grenadiers flank in column to the British Right.
Order 3 British:  Bowes 6th Foot moves in column across the width of the formation to stand opposite the 2e Grenadiers on the right flank.
Order 4 British:  6th Foot deploys into line.
Order 5 British:  Skirmishers forward 71st foot.

Turn Summary:  Obviously not much happened.  The biggest moment of this turn is the 6th Foot's ability to deploy into line opposite the 2e Grenadiers because of the number of orders Wellington can issue.

Turn 2:

Order 1 French:  70e ordered to volley fire.  They roll 2 D6 (ROF) and need to score 1 or 2 to score casualties.  They roll 5, 4.
Order 1, 2 British: 24th Foot forward in Battle line, skirmishers forward.  They are moving forward to outflank the French line to their right.

Order 2 French:  Order to 4e Swiss Line Inf to volley fire.    Their ROF is 2D6.  They roll 2, 5. One volley hits home.  I take the total number of Swiss and then I look at their formation (Battle Line) and then determine 180 of the 250 actually fired upon the British.  180x2ROF=360 rounds fired x .2 (the historical accuracy of this unit) = 72 casualties to Ferguson's 40th Foot.

Having suffered casualties, the 40th must roll and survive a discipline check to maintain their order. The roll a 3  total with 2D6.  Well under their 8 discipline.

The 40th's casualties lower their effective number of soldiers number from 843 to 771.

Order 3 British:  Volley fire by the 71st Foot.  The 71st rolls 3,2.  One volley scores home.  Their formation is line which means 540 of their 943 men are present to fire.  540 x 2 ROF= 1080 x HA of .15 = 162 French casualties to the 2e Light Infantry on the French left.

The 2e survives their discipline check and maintains their order.  They are down to 788 effectives from 950.

Order 4 British:  The 40th Foot is ordered to volley fire against the 4e Swiss Line Inf.  The 40th rolls a 2 and a 6.  One volley hits home the effects of which will be catastrophic against the smaller 2e.

The 40th is in a Battle Line formation so 480 men of their regiment is available to fire.  480 x 2 = 960 rounds x HA of .15 = 144 casualties.  The Swiss roll a discipline check of 8 against their 8 discipline and survive the volley in order.  They are forced to retreat one card length though because they dipped below half of their effective force because of this volley.  This has opened up a hole in the French center.

Order 5 British:  The 36th is ordered to volley fire and misses on both rolls with a 5 and a 4.

Responsive Phase Turn 2:

Every unit in good order is then available to fire responsively if they have been fired upon and not fired under orders. Or they may advance one card length if their opponent has retreated or retreat one card length if they have been fired upon and suffered casualties.  Also units within one cards length that haven't been fired upon may also fire.

The French or British commander do not have to issue orders for responsive fire or responsive movement.

Responsive fire rolls 1 D6 no matter what the unit's rate of fire.

Results:

French 2e Rolls 6 and misses.

British 6th Foot: Rolls 1 against Kellerman's 2nd Grenadiers on the British right flank and inflict 162 casualties.  The Grenadiers survive their discipline check and fire back against the 29th but miss.

British 29th Foot:  Rolls 1 against the 4e Light Infantry Regt.  The French suffer 90 additional casualties and survive their discipline check.

Turn Summary:
The hole in the French line left by the retreating regiment of Swiss infantry remains unexploited by Ferguson's brigade.  If I had advanced forward with the 40th Foot they would have been exposed to flanking fire from the 1e Grenadiers who Delaborde has in reserve as well as fire from the retreating Swiss which has maintained it's order.


Turn 2 ends with the French suffering 556 casualties and the British suffering 72 casualties.

I will add Turn 3 later today...


Comments

Doug Miller said…
Looking very cool Chris! Love the artwork. Very interested to see how this evolves.
Chris said…
Thanks Doug! This has been a nice diversion from digital gaming. I started this two years ago and abandoned it for digital gaming!

I borrowed some art I found on the internet for the cards. I've tried to keep the combat and maneuver rules simple. You need a calculator to handle casualties but aside from that it works simply. The rate of fire and hit accuracy numbers are from research I did a couple of years ago(lots of variation out there in what was reported about these battles and what occurred in first hand accounts of fighting).

Discipline, ROF and HA are determined by the unit classification (Elite, Line, Militia)and then adjusted by nationality.

I am going to add skirmishers into the next dry run later this week. They should have made it into this firefight but I forgot about them.



Phil said…
Great stuff Chris. I served in The Royal Green Jackets. Our regimental history is deeply related and rooted in this period. Very interesting for me :)
Chris said…
That is very cool Phil!

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