Robert Hennes - 01:37pm May 31, 1999 PST (#616 of 634) Last played: Montcalm and Wolfe Jon, My reading of the rule is that cavalry always become disrupted if they engage in Shock combat, but the disruption doesn't take effect until the end of the Cavalry Continuation Phase (or the end of the Shock Phase, if the cavalry don't continue their charge). Yet more Vimeiro questions: 1) Does 7.31 - Stacked units are treated as one unit for Shock Combat mean that if the top unit becomes disrupted, the entire stack cannot shock? 2) Do the English really have to make a Morale check if the French shock in column (9.1)? 3) I assume units cannot exit the map? 4) Say the English had the initiative last turn, and in the Initiative Determination Phase they play their 9 card; does this mean the French have no possibility of gaining the initiative? In short, what happens if there is a tie in the card play? 5) When a unit retreats through a friendly unit, 7.5 says they both check Morale, 9.41 says just the friendly unit checks. Which is correct? 6) 9.3 says Shock cohesion hits are applied to units of the player's choice; 7.31 says the top unit in a hex suffers combat results. Does this mean that the player can choose which stack will take the hits, but they always apply to the top unit in the stack? 7) If a command makes its Command Effectiveness roll, do none of the effects listed apply or do the other effects apply, but each unit doesn't have to make a Morale check? 8) I assume you can change stacking order during the movement phase? As a gamer, my motto is: No rules that questions cannot be found for. charles vasey - 02:19pm May 31, 1999 PST (#617 of 634) This Space For Rent I thought you had to beat the player with the Initiative, so a tie is a failure, but typically I cannot find my copy of the rules. Jonathan Gingerich - 10:39pm May 31, 1999 PST (#618 of 634) Okay, ran through a few turns on my own and now I've even more questions!-) After looking things over, I decided the most lethal attack would be with the French Cavalry Division using Junot's continuation to attack twice. I came in B, swept around Vimiero Hill blowing away the 20th Dragoons, and turned around and crashed into the rear of the British line with a dull thud. The +2 on the rear attack really doesn't count for much. Wellington activated the whole army, surrounded most of the cavalry, and shot them to bits. The way to victory appears to be to disrupt the enemy, then get another moral check on them. It is one game where surrounding the enemy and forcing them to retreat is not very useful. The extra cohesion hit is hardly noticable. You really do want them to retreat, because it makes a hole in the line and you can concentrate fire on the enemy to either side. Which brings up the first set of questions: When may Junot enter? Are units in command when they enter? May cavalry move in the regular step, move during cavalry continuation, and move in a continuation step? When are morale checks taken - as soon as they occur in the results, or at the end of the Combat? Is Offensive Barrage a different Combat than Offensive Fire - i.e. if a unit suffers an M during Barrage and again during Fire, does it check once or twice? Is the cavalry charge/French column attack morale check separate from any Shock Combat M results? Does Morale Recovery come before or after Command Effectiveness Check? I have mixed feelings about the "home publishing" of the game. A standard map with charts and tables would be nice, and backprinted counters are noticably lacking. I would put line on one side and column on the other, and issue separate Disruption counters. This would ease the problems of distinguishing 24 different infantry orientations half of which are face down... Also, there should be separate M counters either to note that the unit must take a later morale check, or to indicate it already has (depending upon which way the rule goes.) Another noticable thing is the effect of the hex spline orientation. This means the "natural" way to move is zig-zagging back and forth over the hexes. But the roads tend to run along the hex grain. Therefore columns move along the roads like Indy cars. They can easily turn to one side, but will fall over if you try to turn them the other way... May columns make free facing changes while traveling along a road? While looking at that, I noticed there was no boilerplate about how MPs and terrain works. I assume you only get the road bonus when entering along a road... Does road movement negate the effects of slopes on artillery? The game is fairly simple for a tactical treatment, but with facing and so on, there are going to be a lot of rules. It seems to me that a lot of the boilerplat was just assumed and left out the make the rules shorter. Leaders are going to fall into enemy hands often and there needs to be a definitive rule on it. The 2 hex bonus to columns comes out to 4 hexes with road movement, and both sides will find themselves in situations where they want to squeeze every hex they can, so a precise explanation of the bonus is a must. The composition of attacking and defending units in a shock combat is guessable, but the permissability of multiple shock attacks is not. I assume Cavalry continuation consists of two sub-phases, movement and combat, but it is not spelled out. The retreat rules are open to abuse if played RAW - you can "retreat" around an open flank. And anytime you have LOS rules, you must deal with LOS down a blocking hex hexside. Is LOS blocked if it passes directly along a hexside of a hex containing blocking terrain, but the hex on the other side does not? Is 3.0 C. 4 or 8.3 correct? May defending artillery fire at any units, or only attacking or off. bombarding units? Is cavalry continuation available to cavalry which advanced after combat, or to cavalry which could have advanced after combat? Must an attack be allocated to Wellington as an officer for the 20th dragoons to attack? Jon. Rob Markham - 04:37am Jun 1, 1999 PST (#621 of 634) 1) Does 7.31 - Stacked units are treated as one unit for Shock Combat mean that if the top unit becomes disrupted, the entire stack cannot shock? Yes 2) Do the English really have to make a Morale check if the French shock in column (9.1)? Yes 3) I assume units cannot exit the map? Yes, they may not. 4) Say the English had the initiative last turn, and in the Initiative Determination Phase they play their 9 card; does this mean the French have no possibility of gaining the initiative? In short, what happens if there is a tie in the card play? Tie goes to the player with initiative. 5) When a unit retreats through a friendly unit, 7.5 says they both check Morale, 9.41 says just the friendly unit checks. Which is correct? Both. 6) 9.3 says Shock cohesion hits are applied to units of the player's choice; 7.31 says the top unit in a hex suffers combat results. Does this mean that the player can choose which stack will take the hits, but they always apply to the top unit in the stack? Attacker applies to top, defender chooses. 7) If a command makes its Command Effectiveness roll, do none of the effects listed apply or do the other effects apply, but each unit doesn't have to make a Morale check? None apply. 8) I assume you can change stacking order during the movement phase? Yes Rob Markham - 04:40am Jun 1, 1999 PST (#622 of 634) When may Junot enter? With any of his troops. Are units in command when they enter? Yes May cavalry move in the regular step, move during cavalry continuation, and move in a continuation step? Yes (in cav continuation only if charging). When are morale checks taken - as soon as they occur in the results, or at the end of the Combat? As soon. Is Offensive Barrage a different Combat than Offensive Fire - i.e. if a unit suffers an M during Barrage and again during Fire, does it check once or twice? Yes twice. Is the cavalry charge/French column attack morale check separate from any Shock Combat M results? Yes Does Morale Recovery come before or after Command Effectiveness Check? After Rob Markham - 04:43am Jun 1, 1999 PST (#623 of 634) May columns make free facing changes while traveling along a road? Yes While looking at that, I noticed there was no boilerplate about how MPs and terrain works. I assume you only get the road bonus when entering along a road... Yes (did this question really needed to be asked?) Does road movement negate the effects of slopes on artillery? No Rob Markham - 04:45am Jun 1, 1999 PST (#624 of 634) Is LOS blocked if it passes directly along a hexside of a hex containing blocking terrain, but the hex on the other side does not? Is 3.0 C. 4 or 8.3 correct? May defending artillery fire at any units, or only attacking or off. bombarding units? Both, you have to reread the rules since there are different occurences for each. Is cavalry continuation available to cavalry which advanced after combat, or to cavalry which could have advanced after combat? After combat. It does state that in the rules. Must an attack be allocated to Wellington as an officer for the 20th dragoons to attack? Yes Rob Markham - 09:58am Jun 2, 1999 PST (#636 of 643) 1. Precisely how is the +2 MP bonus for column moves handled? (I note this can be a 4 hex different and will have a significant impact on game play.) When a unit goes into column two is added to its movement allowance. 2. Can you shock combat a defending hex more than once in a phase? Yes 3. A new attack may be designated after the results of an earlier one, correct? Yes 4. Does cavalry have 1/2 its movement allowance during cavalry continuation as stated in 3.0 C. 7. or full allowance as stated in 10.3? Half 5. Which cavalry is disrupted at the end of the Cav. Continuation phase? (I assumed only cavalry that shock combatted during Cav. Con. but Robert reads it as all cav. that shock combatted this turn.) Any cavalry that charged during the combat phase. 6. The moral check that a retreating unit takes when passing through a friendly unit is in addition to any it took during shock combat correct? Yes, and remember that you make morale checks at the point that they occur. You don't save them up for one large morale check fest. 7. Is LOS blocked if it passes directly along a hexside of a hex containing blocking terrain, but the hex on the other side is clear? No Rob Markham - 10:10am Jun 2, 1999 PST (#638 of 643) 8. I did not understand your answer about the defensive fire phase. My copy of the rules has 3.0 C. 4. as: [Sic]Defending player may fire at any units adjacent to attacking enemy units or defending artillery may bombardment against any other units. Using common sense, I gather defending artillery may bombard any unit. That appears to be in contradiction with 8.3. I am less interested in the proper interpretation as in the simple answer!-) You got it. 9. Let me motivate this question as it is more on the spirit than the letter of the rules. Suppose the French player charges the 20th Light Dragoons with the 4 Portugese Dragoon regiments. The 20th is sent packing. The French player can only advance two regiments into the target hex. He now wishes to cavalry continue with them, and argues that all 4 have "gained the hex" and all 4 should be allowed to continue. His opponent argues that only the 2 in the hex have "gained the hex" and only they may continue. Who is right? All 4.