From: kzucker@charm.net (Kevin Zucker) Subject: NAB Q&A from WDM Nr. 2 PRODUCT SUPPORT Napoleon at Bay Questions & Answers From: "W. Keith Beason" To: "Kevin Zucker" Subject: Just got NAB Napoleon at Bay has always been a favorite of mine. I remember playing it often back in the early 80's. Bought the original OSG and Avalon Hill versions. Good to see you bring it up to date with your other stuff. I've just setup my first scenario, haven't finished reading the rules yet, and wanted to share a couple of things with you: 1) Regarding Karpov, Tettenborn, and Wasichew...their counters read Bohemian. Is this correct? 2) Same for Ataman and Pahlen...are they really Silesian? A) You may want to use a different Major General of the appropriate army to represent these forces; simply move the combat unit to the appropriate Major General track.. I hope this doesn't cause too much trouble. 3) I'm sure someone else has pointed this out by now but two hexes on the West map are incorrectly numbered. They are: 3744 (reads 3745 on map) and 3745 (reads as 3726 on map). If you have a EMail list for errata and other comments (other than grognard.com) please put me on it. I would enjoy sharing ideas about OSG reincarnate with others. Thanks and Good Luck! W. Keith Beason To: "W. Keith Beason" From: kzucker@charm.net (Kevin Zucker) Subject: Re: Just got NAB Thanks for your feedback. I'm guessing you bought your copy via Monarch Avalon's 800-number? Was your game delivered promptly? Did you get Wargame Design Magazine? I'm glad to hear you started setting up right away. I especially appreciate your offer to spread the word about NAB. That word is so important. Thanks and I hope you enjoy it! From: "W. Keith Beason" To: "Kevin Zucker" Subject: More about NAB Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 22:55:50 -0400 Thanks for responding to my note two nights back. I know you must be busy. You had some questions in your reply. Yes, I did order NAB via Monarch Avalon's 800 number. Delivery was prompt (3 days). I heard about the game through your Wargame Design magazine. Looking forward to future issues there. A) I'm doing a bit of correspondence, but thats what I'm here for. I must tell you the more I get into the game, the more it feels like an old tennis shoe I suddenly found in the back of the closet. Very comfortable. But with a lot of new meat. Should be fun when I start it up. I'm still cutting the dog ears off the pieces and finishing up reading the rules (I'm in the middle of Thunder at the Crossroads at the moment). A) I hope they don't bite you. 1) The Leader of a multi-hex force can setup outside EZOC as long as adjacent to Subordinate. Yet, we learn that the only way a force can exit EZOCs is via initiative. Does this mean that a Leader of a multi-hex force (himself not in EZOC) cannot issue movement commands to adjacent Subordinates that are in EZOC? In other words, if any portion of a multi-hex force is in an EZOC that force must technically break-up in order to move under a command while a portion remains stuck and is required to use initative to break free. Right? A) No, the whole force can still move under the main guy. Please give me the chapter & verse where the problem is. What about resistance modifiers in such cases? A) Use the main guy. 2) Can the Old Guard be "staked" as part of a counterattack? A) Yes. 3) Artillery "may never Pursue." Does this mean they cannot even "tag along" with a pursuing force? A) No. Make sure you have them under a Major General, and not the leader you want to lead the pursuit, before the battle. To: "W. Keith Beason" From: kzucker@charm.net (Kevin Zucker) Subject: Re: NAB Questions Page 14: MOVEMENT OF A MULTI-HEX FORCE (2nd ¶) A Subordinate Leader in a Multi-Hex Force may move into an enemy ZOC while the Force Leader remains outside the ZOC, but the Force Leader must still be adjacent to the Subordinate Leader. Page 14: EXITING AND ENTERING ZOC's Initiative for Exiting ZOC's A Force in an enemy controlled hex at the beginning of the Command Phase may attempt to move out, but may only move by Inititative. The Initiative Rating of the Force Leader is modified by the Resistance Modifier. In the light of this... Is a Multi-Hex Force required to exit EZOC only by initiative if the Force Leader himself is not in an EZOC? A) Yes Or, to put it another way, if any portion of a Multi-Hex Force is in an EZOC is the entire Force considered in EZOC for exit purposes even if the Force Leader himself s not in EZOC? A) Yes This question is conceptual in nature. I'm struggling with the exact relationship between EZOC's and Multi-Hex Forces as a whole. A) It is a very good question, and goes deep into the heart of the game. You will discover more about this subject if you examine the Optional Battle Rules. I just want to say again how much I appreciate you taking time to go back and forth with via EMail. Its rare to find a designer willing to go the extra mile like this. I plan to actually setup NAB and start pushing counters around this weekend. Hope to hear from you regarding the above questions. Hope this helps! I hope you can find an opponent!!! If not, let me know and I will see if I know of any gamers near you. From: "W. Keith Beason" To: "Kevin Zucker" Subject: Finished a few NAB Battle Scenarios Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 I've had a chance to play a couple of battle scenarios from NAB. The Reserve rules are really a must! They give the game a terrific historical feel. I'm very pleased. Anyone who has the attitude of "What? Not THAT game again!" is cheating themself of a great gaming experience. Sure, it's a "classic" game, but there's enough new meat to make the purchase more than a worthwhile. Only the basic shell is at all like the first release. On the negative side, for a game that will cost $48 (I paid $38 for mine), the counters are inferior. The graphics themselves are OK, given the mistakes with the switched-labeling of certain Bohemian and Silesian Cavalry leaders, but the typical Avalon Hill paper stock and scoring are substandard today. To: "W. Keith Beason" From: kzucker@charm.net (Kevin Zucker) Subject: Re: Finished a few NAB Battle Scenarios page 4: Exclusive Rules - Garrisons Place the appropriate quality Garrison Marker in each town... Huh? My Garrison Markers have no such distinctions. Or am I missing something? A) Ignore the reference to troop quality for garrisons. page 12: Standard Rules "For purposes of calculating Attrition, a Reinforcement Force traces LOC from its Center of Operations or the nearest Friendly Supply Source to itsentry hex. Does "its" refer to the Force itself or the army's Center? A) The Army's Center of Operations Does Friendly mean "active" Supply Source only? A) Any possible Supply Source, according to date page 5: Exclusive Rules The Silesian Army may switch freely from one Supply Source hex to another... Still costs 1AP right? A) Yes Are Campaign Supply Source change rules in addition to the Battle Scenario rules? A) Yes (see top of p. 10) page 7: Exclusive Rules The friendly unit may continue moving around, but not through, the hex containing the Vedette, ignoring its Zone of Control. Does it also ignore the extra MP's to exit ZOC's as well? A) Yes. page 12: Exclusive Rules Units in Dispatch Distance still get benefit of Accumulated AP Total when determining Attrition; they are not automatically considered out of Dispatch Distance simply because the Center of Ops has moved. Is Dispatch Distance always measured from wherever the Center Ops is actually located? That is, if it moves, is Dispatch Distance immediately traced when necessary from the new location? A) See first paragraph on p.12 page 13: Exclusive Rules - Old Guard Movement Bonus It may thus move up to 7 MP's in one Phase, without resorting to Extended March procedure (which would allow the Old Guard to expend another 4 MP's; i.e., up to 11). Does this mean that the Old Guard can always move 11 MP's without suffering attrition? A) Yes, if it pays the EXTRA AP. page 13: Exclusive Rules ...a Force which expends MP's relative to a bridge structure may not make an Extended March that phase. Does this mean just damaging/repairing bridges and deploying pontoons? A) Yes Does it include actually moving across a bridge as well? A) No. page 14: Exclusive Rules - Bridge Trains ...their Movement Allowance is 5. As infantry or cavalry? A) As infantry MAP ERRATA (Jonathan Gingerich) * Chauny (2202-w), Dormans(3421-w), Montmort (3826-w) lack secondary town symbols. * Charenton and the south hex of the Bois de Vincennes lack garrison markings. * Subtract "four" from the Paris Morale Track spaces on map to read: (end) -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 From: "mario vallee" To: "Kevin Zucker" Subject: N A B 3 Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 Bonjour Mr Zucker , Bravo for your new son. A lot of improuvements. Thank-you ! Question: Michel Ney did not have a bad campagne in 1814 . Why do you made a rule for him (even optional ) ? By the way , I am very surprised you forgot to correct the counter of the Marquis de Grouchy. Napoleon made him To: Chris Perleberg From: kzucker@charm.net (Kevin Zucker) Q) Designate the Attacking Force, Standard Rules, page 17: In the Exception, what does "eliminated" mean here? Wiped off the map, or forced to vacate the hex? I think it should be the latter ... A) That's right. Q) and the following should be added: Any part of the attacking force that does not pursue and is not in a ZOC may advance into the vacated hex. This is not considered pursuit. A) I agree that this rule makes sense. The only problem is it creates a whole new event, the "non-pursuit advance," for what is already an exceptional situation. I'd rather say, what amounts to the same thing, that the "advancing" force makes a regular pursuit but can participate in another combat if it stops its pursuit after one hex. Q) This gets around the restrictions of the hex grid. For example, two French force in 1349 and 1449, two Coalition forces in 1348 and 1448. If the force in 1448 retreats, the French force in 1449 can't do anything. This change would let them advance one hex in 1448 and join in the attack on 1348. Also, I don't know why this rule is limited to the first round -- why not any round? A) Just for simplicity. You could say those forces join in the nearby combat on the round after their pursuit. Stacking the Old Guard, page 19 Q) What does "the battle is resolved as a Pursuit battle mean? If the French win and the opponent has a Pitched chit, it becomes a pursuit instead? If the French lose and have a Pitched chit, it becomes a pursuit chit instead? A) Yes, and Yes. Rearguard Battle Type, Exclusive Rules, page 19. Q) Can a force that designates a rearguard battle pursue if it wins? If so, why pick a pitched battle when a rearguard battle gives you more flexibility? Of course, this would require the winning force to reveal the battle chit at the end of battle, but that's OK. A) You are right. A rearguard should not be able to pursue if it wins. III.b.3 The Sound of Guns Q) Does this case apply only to the non-phasing player's units? A) Yes. Q) There is no +1 to the init DR as in the past? A) No +1, but the extra die roll attempts more than make up for that. ERRATA & CLARIFICATIONS * (change) Attack ineffective units are halved on attack and defense. They may not pursue. A force with effective and ineffective units may pursue, but adds 1 to the pursuit DR and may only pursue a number of hexes equal to the number of effective SPs. * (clarification) In an attack, losses must be taken first from attack effective units; in a defense, losses can be distributed in any way the player desires. * (change) Reserves are released by leader initiative in the corresponding Designate Attacking Force step (Step 1 for the attacker, Step 12 for the defender). * (clarification) A leader may attempt to release a number of units equal to his initiative (i.e., a leader with an initiative of 3 may attempt to release 3 units). * (addition) If a force has no committed units at the start of the Designate Defending Force step (Step 3 for the Defender, Step 13 for the attacker), or the force has no committed units after all reserve commitment DRs are made in the Designate Attacking Forces step, he may automatically commit one unit. * (clarification) Any unit in reserve that loses effectiveness is immediately released from reserve status. * (change) Units used to meet the 1/2 SPs requirement of a counterattack on one hex of a multi-hex force do not go into the reserve, but they must still be withheld from the attack. Note that if attack ineffective units are used for this requirement, their strength is considered halved for purposes of matching. If this matching results in no units available to attack the single hex, all hexes must be attacked. (Clarification) CAVALRY RATIO & MODIFIER Active Player Even odds Passive Player Superior Superior 3.0:1 & up -3 1:1 exactly 1.1:1--1.9:1 +1 2.0:1--2.99:1 -2 zero mod. 2.0:1--2.9:1 +2 1.1:1--1.99:1 -1 3.0:1 & up +3 (Clarification) Examples of Play (pp. 23-24) Effects of weather are incorrect in the examples. Q) Why is there no pursuit modifier for mud? Seems like it should be more difficult to pursue in the mud. A) Well, you are absolutely right. It is more difficult to pursue in the mud, since the retreating forces have already churned-up the roads before the pursuing forces even set foot on them. You could even make the modifier depend upon the size of the force--or even use a similar modifier to slow-down forces in the movement. phase. Q) Also, tying the weather modifiers to the Initiative Comparison matrix was confusing--they are straight modifiers to the pursuit DR, and straight modifiers to the Initiative DR, with the restriction that the DR can not be less than 0. The summary on Exclusive Rules/page 6 has the right idea. A) You are right about that. To: Chris Perleberg From: kzucker@charm.net (Kevin Zucker) Subject: Re: NAB Questions Rear Guards Q) Can the rear guard rule be used if not using the reserve rules? A) You can but it is not recommended, because the reserve rules add limits on selecting Rearguard. Q) Do the minimum losses that apply to pursuit also apply to a rear guard battle? That is, if the player choosing a rear guard must retreat/take step losses, does he have to lose at least as much as the other player? A) Yes Q) If the other player has to retreat, and the rear guard player can't pursue, does the retreating player have to lose at least as many SPs as the rear guard force even though there is no pursuit? A) Yes Sound of Guns Q) The initiative movement rules can now result in a force moving 1 hex less than normal or only one hex. Does the Sound of Guns take precedence over this? That is, if a force starts within 5 hexes, it can move 5 hexes if it rolls its initiative or lower? Or can a force ignore an initiative DR and make another one later? So that, for example, if an initiative 3 leader 5 hexes away from the enemy rolls a 4 on his first attempt (meaning he can only move 4 hexes), he can just ignore it and roll again next round, and keep rolling until he rolls a 3 or less? A) Sound of guns changes only one thing: the Force can roll for initiative after each Round of Combat until it arrives. Therefore, it might move one hex at the end of one round, and maybe four the next to enter the battle. Note that Forces beyond the sound of the guns may not move; only those within five hexes may attempt Force March between rounds. Q) Also the rule implies that this happens in the Force March phase, but I don't really see that it does. It seems to me the rule deals with units that fail their DR in the Force March phase, and can then roll between rounds. A question of semantics, I guess. A) Conceptually, all phases overlap each other temporally. That is, we resolve all movement first, but we know that Marmont might be fighting a battle while Napoleon was marching, so the game chooses to sort similar activities in the same phases and try and allow for different time frames. You are right, there has never been Forced March between Rounds before, but that's what it is, a late or ongoing Forced March that spills-over the time frame. All movement we pretend to happen on day one, and all combat and/or Pitched Battle on the second day of a whole Game-Turn. According to this view, a battle begins in the morning of the 2nd day of the Game-Turn after a day of maneuver, although there are still some nearby forces converging on the battlefield during the morning pre-battle hours. Then it's just a question of when they arrive. If you want to think of it this way, imagine a force taking two hours to move one MP. That would mean a Force would take about 10 hours to cover a days' march. Now, Forced March could begin at 4 a.m., but battles (not counting rearguards and meeting engagements) began at daylight. So a Force might have moved one or two MPs before the battle begins (or more depending upon atmospheric conditions). Imagine, too that each round of battle is about 2 hours. Therefore, the maximum duration of battle would be about 10 hours (Friedland was 18, though there were lulls). Let's break the second day of the Game-Turn down into two-hour packets:-- 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1st MP 2nd MP 3rd MP 4th MP 5th MP Forced March Battle Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Rnd 5 Now, allow a little flexibility about which unit is going to come in on which round and you have the rule as published. This is the conceptual underpinning, but none of this is necessary to play the game (thank goodness). New Battles, New Forces Q) By Force Marching between Rounds new units may join battles-in-progress. Combat losses previously suffered by the units already in the battle do count when calculating battle losses for purposes of critical battles, and any revealed Pitched Battle chits do apply. A) True. As in Forced March, forces moving to the sound of the guns can't start new battles; they can only join on-going ones. Q) Well, then Suppose Napoleon and MacDonald, in separate hexes, attack Sacken in a single hex. After round 1, Blucher force marches adjacent to Sacken and MacDonald, but not adjacent to Napoleon. In the second round, Napoleon must attack Sacken, and MacDonald must attack Blucher. The way we figured it, the MacDonald-Blucher combat was a new battle. A) I think it's easier and better to tack-on to the MacDonald-Blucher combat, the number of rounds that MacDonald fought Sacken before Blucher arrived. Q) Similarly, assume that MacDonald and Napoleon start adjacent to Sacken and Blucher, MacDonald is adjacent to both, but Napoleon is adjacent only to Sacken. MacDonald must attack Blucher, and Napoleon must attack Sacken. Now, if in the first round Blucher is driven off, in the second round MacDonald can join with Napoleon to attack Sacken. We assumed that previous losses from the MacDonald vs. Blucher battle did not apply to the battle with Sacken. A) Again, I think it's easier to include the prior losses. Q) Is there some restriction on the number of morale shifts due to critical battles that can occur in a turn? A) No restriction Q) In the above examples, we figured that it was possible for as many as two shifts to occur, as two battles were fought. A) Yes. Q) Napoleon has two stars on his counter -- I presume he can modify combat and attrition results by 2 (he could in the old game, but it's not stated here). A) Yes. Kevin Zucker Operational Studies Group PO Box 50207 Baltimore, MD 21211 FAX: ORDERS 1(805)534-9127 OFFICE 1(410)455-9736