After Action Report 10/12/2024
Saturday, I had a Napoleonic game, to test my rules. It was the French vs Spanish & British. Yes, it was the Peninsular Wars. The year was 1809, we didn't choose any other specific date, because it was just a rules test. In the rules there are only 3 basic attributes: Combat Effectiveness (CR), Moral Rating (MR), and Fatigue Level (FL). Combat Effectiveness is the ability, training, experience, and weaponry a unit has. Moral Rating is the mental and emotional quality of the unit, CE can boost this value. Fatigue Level is the amount of fatigue a unit accumulates during the course of doing physically strenuous actions, like charges, melees and the like. Two of these values are rated between 1 to 100. FL is rated 1-10.
I'm including only the units used in game testing, here are their attributes ratings.
UNIT--------------------ATTRIBUTES---------------NATIONAL CHARACTERISTIC
French
Line Infantry - CE: 50, MR: 60, FL: 4 (MR +10 when under an Assault order)
Jagers - CE: 52, MR: 62, FL: 5 (CE +10 when skirmishing and in forested terrain)
Light Cavalry - CE: 48, MR: 58, FL: 5 (MR +10 when charging Disordered Infantry)
6-pdr Cannon – CE: 55, MR: 60, FL: 5 (CE +10 when supporting an Infantry Attack)
Spanish
Line Infantry - CE: 40, MR: 50, FL: 5 (CE: +10 in rough terrain)
Militia - CE: 25, MR: 35, FL: 3 (MR +10 in cover)
Medium Cavalry - CE: 43, MR: 53, FL: 5 (CE +10 when flanking)
6-pdr Cannon - CE: 42, MR: 52, FL: 5 (CE +10 when defending, in returning fire)
British
Foot Guard - CE: 58, MR: 75, FL: 4 (MR +15 when defending key positions)
Line Infantry - CE: 48, MR: 63, FL: 5 (MR +10 when in a square vs cavalry charge)
Jagers (rifle) - CE: 50, MR: 65, FL: 5 (CE +10 when used as skirmishers vs Infantry)
9-pdr Cannon - CE: 53, MR: 60, FL: 5 (CE +10 when firing on fixed positions)
The French initially chose the Assault order and quickly closed the distance, while the Spanish and the French chose the Defense order and held their ground. The British were guarding a key crossroad junction while the Spanish were dug into the sides. The French headed straight for the crossroad, setting up their artillery on a couple of nearby hills. Having only light cavalry the French commander refused to charge the British, instead he decided to threaten the Spanish on the left with the possibility of a charge supported by artillery. The French infantry moved steadily forward toward the crossroad. The Spanish had positioned their cavalry on the opposite side of where the French cavalry had moved. They were slowly making their way toward the French cavalry, but they were moving through rough terrain, thus the going was slow. This encompasses the first 3 turns.
In the 4th turn the French finally moved their cannons withing range of their targets and they prepared to open fire next turn. The infantry still had some distance to go before it could fire or close with the enemy.
Now, here's the deal, if a unit fires at an enemy unit, then the defending unit can return fire only to the unit that fired upon it. So, if a French infantry unit opens fire at a Spanish infantry unit, then the Spanish have the option to return fire. However, if the French infantry unit fires on a Spanish infantry unit any Spanish unit can fire on the French infantry unit that fired. And the French unit that fired cannot return fire, as it has already fired. Also, there is no combined fire, unless the friendly units are literally next to each other, each unit fires separately, even if it's at the same enemy unit.
These two rules rattled the French player, and he made mistakes using them, but he kept on playing. He's got heart!
Once the French artillery opened fire on the Spanish infantry, the Spanish artillery used counter-battery fire, to ensure that they locked in the attention of the French artillerist. The French had 3 x 6-pdr batteries and all 3 became engaged with the Spanish artillery, meaning the French infantry no longer had the support of their artillery. On the British side, the Brits didn't have enough batteries to fully engage the French, so I French battery was able to support one of the French infantry units in its charge on the 5th turn.
By the end of 7th turn the French had lost 2 artillery batteries, and the rest of their force was battered as well, they retreated several times and routed once. The British had lost a battery, and their infantry was also battered but unbroken.
The Spanish kept breaking but enough of the Spanish force held on to stop the French offensive.
It was not a pretty battle, but a good test of the rules. We had a lot of fun testing the rules.
Sorry, it slipped my mind to take pictures.