Campaign Diary up to Turn 1

The campaign diary will capture the umpire's musings and observations behind the scenes that the players would not always be aware of at the time.  I will publish an update roughly each week which will be about 3 turns behind the current turn (so 6 campaign days).  I will only publish it when the information can no longer help players unfairly.

18/19 August 1813 (Turn 1)

The campaign begins with a massive French push north to try and knock Prussia out of the war before the Allies can join forces. 

But not everything goes to plan for the French.  On their left, there is a mix up with orders and the corps of Bertrand, Dumoustier and Poniatowski  end up on the same road to Treuenbritzen and are slowed down as they disentangle themselves.  By the end of the 19^th though, they have managed to do this and are pressing aggressively north. 

However, Marmont’s marching orders never reach him and his men are left kicking their heels around Wittenberg, wondering when the war is going to start.  The Emperor is witnessed chewing the rug is his tent and spitting invective at all who will listen (but especially at the gods of war who have to wipe the spittle from their faces).

Ney and Oudinot make contact with a Prussian corps around Baruth, but the Prussians are in a good position across the river and the country here is very marshy and forested, not suited to Oudinot’s cavalry corps.  There are some desultory skirmishers, but the French do not attack.

Prussian Landwehr, hastily raised, prepare to sell themselves dearly for the Fatherland.  The regulars, are sensibly hanging back towards the rear.  This is what Superior Conscripts are for, they tell themselves.

In the south, the Austrians start the campaign at a snail’s pace, the whole army leisurely marching to war along the same road, stopping at every inn on the way for refreshments. 

Meanwhile, the Russian advance from the east is also hampered by multiple corps marching along the same road.  There is some cursing from the generals, and once again the gods are railed against.  The Russians take out their frustration on the local population .

The first 2 days of the campaign close with the French feeling annoyed at the mix up with orders, but sensing they have stolen a march on the Allies.  The Prussians have quickly realised that they are up against it, and messengers are despatched to the Austrians and Russians to get moving if they hope to have any Prussians left to fight with them.

Meanwhile in Spain...

A Christmas armistice has been declared so there is no update coming out of the campaign in Germany this week.  However, some players who have their priorities right and do not put family ahead of wargames, have been whisked down to Spain to fight the battle of Vitoria to see in the new year (well almost - being fought on the 30th).

Everything is ready to and bayonets & swords are being sharpened and muskets cleaned.  As an appetiser, here is a photo of the battlefield taken with the troops in their starting positions.  Most of the British and Portuguese are still to arrive, but Hill's column is just arriving through the Puebla defile.

The view from Stewart's Division as it enters the Vitoria plain.  The Zadorra river is on the left.  The French are spread out back to Vitoria in the far distance.



A birds eye view of the battlefield with Stewarts division entering bottom right.  The Zadora river flows along the bottom of the picture and then does a 90 degree turn up the left.  It is uncrossable except at the bridges. The French are deployed in successive lines, but are unclear where the British and Allies will be arriving from.



The look on Marshal Jourdan's face when he hears the Allies will be arriving from 3 directions.  General D'erlon pats his men goodbye.  General Gazan is trying to remember if he renewed his life insurance...



Stewart's men crucially grab the village of Subijana.  This will be the linchpin to unlocking the French defence on their right.  But until reinforcements arrive they have to contend with a lot of French fire.  The French, however, do not attempt to eject them from the village.



Stewart's attack develops, with 2 brigades preparing to storm a French brigade on higher ground and a brigade of Portuguese in the background advancing out onto the plain.  They are starting to look around anxiously for reinforcements as there seem to be a lot of French around.



The view from the other side of the battlefield.  Stewarts attack is top right.  On the right of the picture the French are advancing up to the river hoping to catch the Allies as they try to cross the bridges.  In the centre foreground, a French brigade has crucially occupied the village near the bridge.  This will prove crucial in stopping the British flank attack breaking into the French rear and cutting off their line of retreat.

The 3rd Division and part of the light division arrive on the opposite flanks from Stewart (who can be seen top right).  The French are unable to stop the new arrivals crossing the bridge and establishing a beach head.

Another "Oh Merde!" moment for the French as still more British pour onto the field.  Just behind the woods the 4th Division arrives and rushes across the river.  The French have now decided not to contest the crossings and are desperately pulling back to establish a new defensive line on the hills.  This turns out to be a wise move and means they may be able to extricate their army.

The Light Division pushes forward.  A brigade of impetous British Hussars on the right come into range and prepare to launch a charge up hill against a disordered square but over broken ground.  You would think this to be a foolhardy move - wouldn't you?



Well, the light brigade charged impetuously, they didn't break the square, but flowed around it (a "pass through" move in FOG N terms) and then charged into the French column behind.  This column didn't have time to form square and was routed, precipitating two other French infantry brigades to rout as well (they were wavering, having taken a punding from British skirmish fire).  The light brigade was effectively spent, but they had succeeded in routing an entire French division.  This picture shows them on the hill, too exhausted to move (centre right), but with a huge whole in the French line, held only by artilery.  The routing infantry can be seen top left, heading for the Pyrenees.



The view from the French rear where 2 divisions of Dragoons are waiting in reserve.  The infantry in front of them on the hill are about to be routed by the charge of the Light Brigade and coming streaming back past them.



The French infantry in the aptly named village of Margarita look on as their comrades are routed by the Light Brigade.  Crucially they hold the flank intact and prevent the allies breaking into the rear of the army and cutting off their retreat.  (Don't you hate people who can paint like this!? - AB Miniatures figures)

The 3rd Division, supported by the Light Division, prepare to move forward now thatthe cavalry have cleared the infantry division in front of them.  They are going to take a heavy pounding though from the French artillery on the hill. (these figures are also AB Miniatures)

The rout of the French infantry convinces King Joesph to summon up his Royal Guard from Vitoria.  Here they can be seen marching up the road from the rear.  However, they appear to be too little, too late as the French army is slowly being ground back by the ever-swelling Allied force.

The only thing saving the French at the moment is the relatively slow rate of movement of the British and Portuguese.  A long discussion ensues amongst the British players about the injustice of the FOG N classification of British as unreformed for movement.  The umpire expresses sympathy for their point of view.  The French players drink more champagne from their supplies (trying to get down as much as they can before the British get it...) and are heard sniggering for the first time all day.

A view of the final positions as the Allied forces pour onto the battlefield, preparing to push through the French right where the Light Brigade caused such mayhem.  On th efar side, the French have been fighting a brave rearguard action across the heights but have finally broken under sustained British pressure.  They are at risk now of a Cannae type envelopment and decide to break off the action.  Their line of retreat is open, but the road is narrow and we anticipate a pretty panicked flight once the French troops realise this.  The British pursuit will likely only be held up once they reach Vitoria and King Joseph's treaure chests.  All in all, it felt like a pretty historical outcome.

Playing the game
We ran the game as a bit of a learning game.  We had 3 players on each side and I umpired.  FOG N stood up to this bigger scale of game (about 2,200 points a side).  We took a full day to play it, but this would have been quicker if we had all been experienced.
For the scenario I relied extensively on Rafael Pardo's excellent website which has loads of Napoleonic scenarios for wargamers. http://www.rafaelpardoalmudi.com/index.html
It was very easy to convert this to FOG N (see our orders of battle below).  For a map of the battlefield, see Rafael's website.

The terrain around Vitoria was scrubby and not suited to cavalry.  We treated cavalry as disordered at all times while all higher ground was rough terrrain.  The Zadorra River is uncrossable except at the bridges.

Arrival times for the British were unknown to either side.  I created a schedule in advance but didn't tell either side when they would be coming (or from where).  The schedule was as follows (with each turn representing 1 hour of real life - slightly telescoped intentionally):
Through the Puebla defile:
Turn 1 (10h00)- 2nd Division
Turn 2 - A brigade of light cavalry and battery of RHA from Hill's reserve
Turn 6 - The rest of Hill's cavalry and the Portuguese Division
Over the Tres Puentes Bridge
Turn 2 The Light Division, excluding one brigade of infantry, and the famous Light Brigade from Wellington's reserve
Mendoza Bridges
Turn 4 - 3rd Division and the 1st Brigade from the 7th Division
Turn 9 - The balance of the 7th Division
Nanclares Bridge
Turn 5 - 5th Division
Turn 6 - The balance of Wellington's cavalry reserve
Villodas
Turn 5 - The final brigade from the Light Division

Orders of Battle
Anyone interested in seeing how I interpeted these for FOG N let me know, and I'll email them to you.

24/25 Aug 1813 - Prussians in retreat but Napoleon loses Dresden

Despite giving Oudinot a bloody nose, the Prussian army has been forced to retreat under the weight of overwhelming French numbers.  Thoughts of holding the river line at Baruth appear to have been abandoned as Blucher has pulled his army back towards Berlin.  The Prussian Field Marshal is rumoured to be under enormous pressure from his King not to abandon the capital.   An anonymous source reports that Blucher has in turn been pleading with his King for reinforcements, but so far these requests have gone unanswered.  It is known that recruits are streaming into Prussian training depots, but will these eager men be ready for war before Prussia is forced to its knees?

Meanwhile, the concentration of French forces in the north has resulted in Dresden being encircled by Austrian forces advancing up from the south.  This move has effectively cut the French lines of supply from this city, which until now has been their main supply depot.  How will this break in supply affect the morale and fighting ability of the French army?  We can now report that Napoleon has ordered a new depot to be built at Wittenberg in the north, effectively nailing his tactics to the door of that city, as Luther did his 95 theses in the same city 300 years ago. 

The French Emperor is clearly trading space for time as he tries to deal the Prussians a death blow before they can unite with their allies. One wonders what King Frederick Augustus of Saxony makes of the Emperor's decision to abandon his capital.  No doubt he was consulted.  What will the men in the Saxon army make of their homes being abandoned to the depredations of the Cossacks? 

Talking of Cossacks, reports from further east talk of long columns of Russians marching steadily deeper into Germany.  Tales of maruading Cossacks are being told as far afield as Elsterwerda and Kalua.  The main Russian army can't be that far behind.

In the south, the Austrians are continuing their advance with glacial alacrity, and are now enjoying the taste of French champagne and wine, captured in the supply trains that they cut off coming out of Dresden.  We suspect this will have a less than positive influence on their marching pace.


Austrian troops confront French troops attempting to protect the supply train from Dresden, making short work of them.  Mysteriously the Austrians are still wearing the old style helmet.  Obviously they are struggling to equip their army with enough uniforms, possibly a sign that they have raised a very large force for this campaign? (or that Stubbs has the wrong bloody figures??)

 Clearly a major battle is brewing in the north.  The next few days will be crucial and may determine the future of Europe. 

22/23 August Germany 1813 - heavy fighting in the north

As predicted, the war in Germany has started with a crash for the armies in the north.  The French push on Berlin was dealt a bloody nose on the 21st with Oudinot's cavalry corps retreating precipitously from the battlefield at Luckenwalde.  Fortunately for him, Field Marshal Blucher's men were too tired to pursue, and also reports of a Polish corps arriving in his rear (so to speak) prompted the normally impetuous Prussian to hold his ground.  However, the Polish threat proved to be illusory and the Poles seem to have retreated as fast as they advanced.  Blucher took the opportunity to retreat back towards Baruth, where is rumoured to have joined forces with the trusty General Yorck.

The closing stages of the Battle of Luckenwalde.  Note the Prussian infantry sitting idly on the left smoking their pipes and drinking schnapps.  They hardly fired a shot all battle. The Poles were rumoured to be arriving on the road behind the Prussian infantry but promptly turned around and left. 

Meantime at Baruth, Marshal Ney ordered an attack across the river on the depleted Prussian forces defending the position, but quickly counter- manded these orders on the approach of Blucher.

Can the Prussians hold on until their allies arrive from the south?

In the south and east, the Austrian and Russian armies continue to plod along, enjoying the German sunshine, schnapps and frauleins.  Prussian grumbling at their tardiness continues. 
A major Austrian push on Dresden, the French main supply centre, looks likely.  The city remains on high alert, and panicked requests for help from the commander of Dresden to the French Emperor appear to have gone unanswered.  The Austrians, however, seem to be dragging their heels.

Rumours have surfaced of major French activity at Wittenberg, where an entire French corps remains stationed.  Also, there is an unusual flow of wagons up the main road from Dresden to Wittenberg.  Clearly the full extent of the French plans is still to become apparent.

The Battle of Luckenwalde - 21 August 1813 - The War Correspondent's take on events

News from the northern front is not good for the French. Marshal Oudinot has suffered a defeat at the hands of Blucher. A despatch from the Marshal to the Emperor has fallen into our hands and we are pleased to be able to publish it in full here. The despatch reads as follows:

"I have been defeated in a battle by the Prussians. We were in a good position to give the Prussians a bloody nose, but soon after the battle commenced, I received alarming reports of a Prussian division marching to the battlefield from my rear. They arrived around 3pm and caused me to draw off part of my force.

My men fought heroically, but they are still green and were unable to withstand the onslaught from two sides. Also, the dense nature of the terrain was not conducive to my cavalry being able to deploy entirely as I would have wished. We could see the approach of Prince Poniatowski’s men from the Prussian rear, but they were unable to arrive in time before my army broke under the weight of Prussian pressure.

My Carabiniers and Cuirassiers have suffered serious losses, and I have had some losses in Dragoons. I will only know he full extent of my losses in the next few days, as I manage to regather my dispersed forces. Fortunately, the arrival of Prince Poniatowski and the losses we inflicted on the Prussian cavalry (together with the fall of night) forestalled any serious pursuit on their part and we were able to break contact without too many further casualties.

The Prussians will be in no position to break off contact now that the Prince has arrived and I wish him and his brave men all the luck in the battle that I am sure will happen in the morning. Unfortunately, my men are too shattered to be able to assist him in his endeavour. They have become widely dispersed in the panic that followed our defeat.

I believe the division that arrived in my rear must have come from the forces that Marshal Ney was supposed to be fighting at Baruth. I am furious that he allowed some of them to withdraw from under his nose and cause me my defeat. I intend to challenge him to a duel as soon as this crisis is past! I am sure the Prussian force he is facing must now be depleted and would be urging him to attack them with the utmost vigour!

Your ever faithful servant

Oudinot"
End of despatch.

Stay posted for what looks like a lot more fighting in northern Germany. Field Marshal Blucher was heard asking whether the Austrian and Russian armies were enjoying their quiet tour of southern Germany while his men bleed in the north.

20/21 August 1813 - Napoleon stymies the Allies again!

The French have definitely stolen a march on the Allies. They are driving strongly into northern Germany and Berlin inn-keepers are brushing up on their French and dusting off the tricolors they have sensibly kept in storage.

But the Prussians are not going to go down without a fight. Field Marshal Blucher has been very forward and has the honour of fighting the first battle of the campaign. He is attacking Marshal Oudinot who appears to be isolated from the main French army. Are we about to experience a Grossbeeren all over again? Or does the Emperor have another trick up his sleeve? He appears to be reaching into his tunic for something...

There is a lot of activity around Wittenberg, but every time our reporter has tried to find out what's going on he has been rudely rebuffed. No appreciation for the fourth estate these French! And to make matters worse for the poor fellow, he was almost run over by a munitions wagon on the road from Dresden.

In the south, the Austrians and Russians are wearing out their boots with a lot of footslogging as they push deeper into Germany. Some Austrian troops are even marching back along the same road they just came up?! But then these men are used to retreating from the French so a little more practice can't hurt. But there is no sign of any French. The Cossacks are taking the opportunity to share their culture with the local population and smoke from burning villages marks the route of their cultural tour.

Can the Allies unite in time to save Prussia? Stay posted for news on the outcome Marshal Oudinot's second attempt to defeat Field Marshal Blucher.

War breaks out in Germany 18/19 August 1813

Once again the major powers are at war. Despite feverish efforts to avert war (not), the coalition of Austria, Prussia and Russia have declared war on France and are marching into Germany to try and effect a union of their forces and crush the French and their German allies (or even better, persuade the Germans to dessert).

The generals still seem to be brushing off some of the cobwebs from a lazy summer as most corps have experienced traffic jams on the narrow roads. You would have thought they would know not to march two corps down the same road and also go fast, but you live and learn (or don't)...

Early reports from the front suggest little activity in the east and south other than a lot of footslogging, but there have already been some skirmishes in the north. Could the French be using their central position to some advantage? Our ace reporters from the front will do everything they can to penetrate the fog and bring you the news as it breaks.

War Clouds Loom in Germany - 17 August 1813

News from Germany is that the great powers are fully mobilised, the commanders and their troops are eager for war and are awaiting their marching orders with anticipation (and a little fear no doubt!).

Allied commanders have been locked away in smoke filled rooms feverishly planning their strategy to bring down the Corsican devil. Orders have been issuing at a rapid pace from Napoleon's headquarters to his corps commanders.

Will the Allies be able to unite their widely dispersed forces to overwhlem the French and their allies, or will the French pick them off, one by one? Are all the Allies even striving to achieve the same objective? And are all the French commanders and their allies entirely loyal to the Emperor?

Who will make the first move? Will diplomacy be able to avert war at the last minute (I think not!)? Will someone steal a march on their opponents? Will some troops fail to get orders and not even move?

Watch out for the results of the first moves as they come in this week.

Let the war begin!

Germany 1813 - Campaign Map & Rules

Germany 1813

Background to the Campaign

The League of Ancients is a wargames club in Melbourne, who despite the name, are neither a bunch of old geriatrics (well not all of us) or focused only on playing Ancients wargames.  The club plays a broad cross section of periods (Ancients, Medieval, Napoleonic, ACW, Franco Prussian, WW2 to name only some), scales (6mm to 28mm), rule sets, and styles (Competiton, Skirmish, Historical Refights, etc) of game.

A group of us recently adopted the new Field of Glory Napoleonic set of rules published by Osprey.  To try and encourage more people to play Napoleonics and this rule set, I was persuaded to put together a campaign.  We now have 12 people playing, representing each of the major powers - France (4 players), Prussia (2 players), Austria (3 players) and Russia (3 players).  We left out Sweden as no-one has a Swedish army, but who knows, as the campaign evolves, the fiendish Bernadotte may yet be able to be convinced to join in (on one or other side!).  While based on 1813, we decided early on not to make it too historically exact as this would have involved mountains of research by the umpire, which would only be contradicted by better read players, and we would get bogged down in a ton of facts and counter-facts.  Rather we chose to run it based on the challenges faced by the histroical armies facing each other in Germany in 1813, but with more hypothetical starting points and army compositions.  The objective of running the campaign is to have lots of battles, some pleasure in moving pins and armies across a map, and not too much admin for either the players or the umpire.

Below are the home made rules we are using for running the campaign (4 pages long so hopefully short and sweer).  The battles are fought according to the FOG N rule system, and the armies are based on the FOG N lists that are available as a supplement to the rules.

Campaign Rules (the ones players need to know)

Updated 12 November 2012

Victory Conditions

·         Destruction of the enemy army or their nation’s will to fight.  Only the umpire and the respective players know what it entails for their nation to lose “the will to fight”.

Organisation & Deployment

·         Army strengths are set using FOG N points.

·         Army & corps sizes are determined at the start of the campaign by the umpire.

·         Detailed army lists are drawn up by the players using the FOG N lists (and any other umpire determined restrictions or options) and sent to the umpire.  THIS MUST INCLUDE A CALCULATION OF YOUR SCOUTING VALUE (see below).

·         CinC’s determine where they want to deploy their corps, within the parameters set in their campaign brief.

·         Only Corps are represented on maps for movement except in fortified towns (see below).

Orders

·         Each turn is two days long.

·         Orders are issued each turn per independently moving corps on a set template (see below)

·         There are 4 possible orders:

o   Rest

o   March

o   Force March

o   Engineering (build bridges, fortify towns/battlefields, build supply depots)

·         Order template must also show Line of Supply (LOS), start and end point of march and what tactics to adopt (see below).

·         Orders (see below) must always include the map reference so I know what you’re talking about – e.g. move from Spandau (2B) to Torgau (4A).

·         Orders can be given for a destination  more than one turn away and the umpire will simply move you there over a number of turns (or stop when you meet enemy to follow orders).

·         Possible tactics are:

o   ATTACK – will attack enemy up to 10% larger than self, incl pursuing enemy who retreat

o   SCOUT – will find and observe enemy, and fall back if attacked by a force within 75% of own size (otherwise may choose to stand and defend). 

o   DEFEND – will find enemy and hold your ground if attacked by a force up to 125% of own size (otherwise will fall back)
All Corps have the option of attacking enemy equal to or less than 60% of their strength

CORP NAME & CMDR: XV Oudinot			Campaign Date: 18/19 August 1813
	Rest	March	Force March	Engineering
ORDERS	Specify where & Map ref	(incl start & end points) & map ref	(incl start & end points) & map ref	Specify
	Attack	Scout	Defend
TACTICS	X
Short comment on your intentions	KISS
SUPPLY POINT & LOS	Koblenz via Ransbach & Herborn

·         You can split two tasks over the two days of the turn (e.g. build a bridge and move).

·         If you order a corps over an unbridged river, the umpire will automatically slow you down to bridge it, you don’t need to give the order.

Weather and other random events

·         These happen… but you don’t know how, when or why.  You’ll be told about it when it affects you.

Movement

·         The edge of the map is the edge of the world.  You go off, you die.

·         Approx. 12 hexes per turn (36kms) – normal road movement.  This is modified by the umpire with a dice roll (not all nations have the same modifier ;-)

·         Corps consisting entirely of cavalry and horse artillery can move 15 hexes per turn.

·         Double speed – forced march (will need a full rest day after this)

·         Half speed – off road

·         Difficult terrain (all hexes with colours) is only crossable by roads.

·         Half speed – bad weather

·         1 day to bridge a minor river, or build field defences on a battlefield

·         2 days to bridge a major river build a minor unfortified supply depot (suitable to supply 1 corps)

·         1 week to build and fortify a major depot (the original depot is abandoned and becomes unfortified once the new one is built).

·         Corps normally occupy a single hex and line of march alone.  Attempts to march multiple corps together, or across each other’s lines of march will slow you down. Simply divide the movement rate by the number of corps moving through the same hexes together to get the reduced speed.  So 1 corps moves at 12 hexes, 2 corps moves 6 hexes, 3 corps move 4 hexes and so on. 

·         Mulitple corps can move into a single hex without penalty (e.g. to give battle), but will need to move out along different routes or suffer penalties as above.

Forced Marches

·         Used to pursue retreating enemy or get to a point quickly.

·         Possible only for 2 days (1 turn) (unless straight after a battle when it is only for 1 day) and then requires 1 full day rest (so a fresh pursuing corps could catch a retreating corps that has fought a battle).

·         Umpire will roll a dice to determine losses from straggling and deserting.  Can range from 0-25% losses.
- 19 May update - a % of these are recovered after your enforced rest day with a maximum of 50% of the original losses possibly being lost.  All permanent losses are halved for Guard corps, doubled for cavalry corps (Guard cav are neither doubled nor halved).

·         Corps within 1 days march will force march to a battlefield, unless their orders say otherwise.

·         Corps retreating from enemy in line with their orders will, if possible, automatically force march to avoid contact if the enemy force march.  This won’t be possible if they are fatigued from a previous force march.

Scouting

·         Corps can see 6 hexes in all directions (sometimes varied by random events).

·         They will be able to see enemy corps as well as supply lines.

·         Corps are assigned a Scouting Value (SV) based on how many Light Cav, Light Inf and Dragoon bases your Corps contains (1 SV per base).

·         Corps that see each other will find out more about the enemy if they have a better SV.  The umpire will tell you what you can see.

Battle

·         Will start at the time of day pro rated based on when the armies met

·         Battlefield set up as determined by umpire  - either based on actual map by umpire, or random generated by players using FOG N rules.

·         Armies deployed and fought as per FOG N, with whatever additional scenario elements umpire may choose to include.

·         Defeated armies will generally retreat down LOS unless ordered otherwise.

·         Where possible players should fight their own battles J but the umpire may appoint another player if someone is unavailable or to reflect a particular campaign condition (e.g. to reflect an inexperienced general)

Supply Depots

·         Every Corps must have a town as a supply depot and a LOS along a road to within 2 hexes of the Corps position

·         The Corps will remain in good order so long as this LOS is not broken

·         LOS is broken by an enemy Corps(or Division coming out of a fortified town) occupying a hex your LOS goes through, or by your army moving off road more than 2 hexes away from your LOS.

·         If your LOS is cut, after 2 days (I turn) your Corps will start losing strength due to straggling, desertions and foraging at a rate of 10% per day from Day 3.

Fortified Towns

·         All starting depots are considered fortified as well as towns marked in yellow.  They are all occupied by a single division that cannot move other than to move up to 6 hexes to break an enemy LOS.  This is the only time a single division can move.

·         For simplicity, these fortified towns cannot be attacked.

·         Armies can fortify a town if they want to change their army’s main supply depot.  This is the only time a new fortified town can be created.

Communication between players and umpire

·         Obviously as the umpire I can’t stop players emailing each other, but if I get the sense that you are coordinating widely dispersed armies unhistorically in tandem, I may be forced to roll lots of ones on my “random generation of bad events dice”.  J 

·         Orders must be submitted on the standard form or they will be ignored (or interpreted in my own way).  These must be in by the end of Saturday each week.

·         If players do not issue their orders on time their units will not move other than as a reaction in line with their orders.  Repeated failure to get orders in on time may result in your personality in the campaign having a fatal fall from his horse.

·         I will give you your updated positions by the end of Sunday (Monday at a stretch) as well as announce any battles that need to be fought.

Sequence of Play

·         Issue orders via email (Players to umpire) – end Saturday

·         Dice for random events (Umpire)

·         Make moves (Umpire & Players – assuming players want to follow events on their own map)

·         Determine losses for Forced Marches and breakdown in supply (Umpire)

·         Determine contacts and responses (Umpire)

·         Inform players of contacts and get their responses (Umpire and Players) – end Sunday

·         Fight battles and determine outcomes (Umpire & Players) – whenever possible.

NOTE: The campaign may “pause” from time to time to allow battles to happen (or the umpire to go on holiday).  I will let you know if you DON’T need to send in orders.

Initial Deployment

The main French supply depot is Dresden (8B)and the French Corps can be deployed anywhere within the following parameters:

·         West of the Katzbach (6C), South of Wittenberg (1D & 4A), North of Koenigstein (8B)

In addition the French have detached divisions in the fortresses of Magdeburg (1C), Wittenberg (1D & 4A) and Torgau (4A) on the Elbe, as well as Glogau (6A)and Schweidnitz (10C).

The Prussians under Blucher are in the north somewhere on the road from their main supply depot at Spandau (2A), still north of Luckenwalde (2C).

The Russians under General Wiitgenstein are coming from the east on the road from their supply depot of Breslau (6D & 10B).  They are still east of the Katzbach (6C).

The Austrian supply base is Thieresienstadt (8C).  They arrive on the map through this point.

Campaign Map

We are using the map from the Avalon Hill Board Game, The Struggle of Nations

The map has hexes, though they unfortunately are not numbered.  This does leave room for some confusion, but so long as players specify towns en route, as the umpire I normally get it right.

Each hex is 3km across.  The towns highlighted in yellow are fortified and occupied by French garrisons.  Update: 19 May 2013 - we now have numbers in our hexes!  Anyone interested in getting a copy can contact me and I'll be happy to email it to you.