From: "John Best" <jlbest@advancenet.net>
Subject: [consim-l] Using Markus Stumptner's NLC rules in a Luetzen game 

Dear Readers of Consim-l

Some time ago I had written here of my "experiment" with the old OSG
game, Napoleon at Leipzig, in which I had used a "Lanchester" combat
model. My initial shot at this lacked a developed command and control
model, which I tried to implement more recently in a play-through of
NLB. Onto the Lanchester model I grafted a C&C model in which aides
(represented by counters) conveyed various orders (represented by
chits). I had hoped to show the dynamics of Napoleon's leadership by
varying both the number of aides available to Nap. and his generals, as
well as the aide counter's movement allowance (Not that the French aides
had faster horses, just that their whole order delivery system was much
more effective than that of the Allies). I had some limited success with
my command system, but it was pretty rough. Even the combat system took
a step backwards in the sense that I feel I overdid the defensive value
of the villages in the 1815 campaign, and made it too hard (more
specifically, too costly in casualties) for the French to duplicate
their success on the first day of the campaign.

That brings me to the current excursion. Like many of us, I have really
wanted to try Markus Stumptner's orders system for games at the NLB
scale (generally, regt/brigade level, 400-500 meters/hex, usually 1 hour
per daylight turn). As I understand it, the thinking behind the design
concept is to add more accuracy and detail to games that are the low-end
of the "operational" Napoleonic scale. After some recent chat on this
list about the old S&T game, Thunder at Luetzen, I decided to see if I
could blend Markus' orders system, with the combat system I had
developed earlier. I set up Thunder at Luetzen. Sort of. TaL is an
interesting idea in many respects. But it doesn't really let you play
the battle of Luetzen per se. Rather, the game starts with the entry of
the French forces onto the map area a full 24 hours before the
historical battle. This might be ok if the actual battle were a classic
meeting engagement that could have taken place at any one of a number of
locations. But it wasn't that. Luetzen can be better described as a case
in which the Allies, for once, managed to sneak tens of thousands of
guys up on the French under Ney, who, as a result of his poor recon
discipline, did not realize they were there.

Recognizing that Thunder at Luetzen wasn't going to be the vehicle I
needed, I turned to another Luetzen game: Napoleon at Lutzen, which
appeared in the Wargamer Vol 1, #32. What follows is sort of an after
action report, in which I tried to learn Markus' rules, implement them
in a game they were not explicitly designed to cover, and make some
changes in my own combat system at the same time. The game starts at
Noon. I put all the French on board units in Reserve (no orders), except
for Marmont (VI Corps) who has a March order. When Ney (III Corps)
arrives (he isn't on the board either at the start) he will be able to
use his initiative to try to get something going. I did not really use
the chit pull system on the first several turns, because the French,
with the exception of Marmont, really didn't move. So the Allies were
the only ones who got to move. I decided that French brigades that were
attacked would go into automatic Defend orders. At 12:30, Marmont made
it to Starsiedel (a few miles west of the crucial quadrangle of villages
that the battle was fought over: Klein Gorschen, Gross Gorschen, Kaja,
and Rahna) with his lead division, at which point he went into Reserve
because the route of his march would take him through an Allied ZOC. At
1:00 PM both Ney and Marmont (who was now being opposed by Dolff's
division of cavalry) roll for initiative--no effect for either one (Ney
apparently *still* does not realize the gravity of the situation ;-) To
do the initiative rolls, I had to make up some values for each leader;
this game has counters for the leaders, but all they have is just a
movement allowance. Here are the values I made up: Napoleon, 4; All
other French leaders, 3; Bluecher, 3, All other Allies, 2. At this
point, Souham's division (Ney's Corps) in Klein Gorschen has been
attacked by the leading elements of Bluecher's Corps. There are a few
differences between Markus' combat system and my own that needed
resolution at this point. First, my movement system was just Igo-Yugo,
with a simultaneous offensive-defensive fire phase *before* movement and
charges. With the chit pull system, the formation moves first and then
attacks, if it has those kinds of orders. There is an exception to this
for artillery that bombards prior to movement, but nevertheless, the
movement/combat relationship is quite a bit different in Markus' system
compared to mine. I decided to handle this for the time being in the
following way: I used the chit pull system, with all the units of a
formation moving and firing. I moved the artillery into the same
sequence as the infantry: In Markus' system, the bombarding artillery
can disorganize people, in my system, the artillery just causes
casualties like any other fire combat. One other difference was that the
combat was not simultaneous: When the Prussians attacked, any casualties
they caused were immediate. When I would finally pull a French chit out
of the cup (I started using the chit pulls when the Allies came within
attacking range of the French), the units might have less strength than
they did at the start of the turn if they had been hit. Here's another
issue, not directly pertaining to either system, but an issue that
creates some different issues for each system nevertheless. In a lot of
these "battle level" Napoleonic games, the units are evaluated at maybe
one strength point for every 500 guys or so, to create a brigade with a
strength of maybe 4, 5 or 6. But NatL is more like 1 strength point for
every 200-300 or so guys to create brigades with strengths of 10, 12 or
16. Markus' system has a nice combat results table that could cope with
these kinds of values, but I wanted to use my Lanchester system where
the percentage to hit was tied directly to the unit strength. I handled
this situation the same way we used to do it in the beloved Napoleonic
miniatures rules system, Empire II. If a to-hit percentage goes over
100%, the "first" 100% puts an automatic hit on the enemy, and you roll
for any remainder over 100% in the usual way. So a 16 strength unit has
an expected casualty production of 1.6 hits per turn.

At 1:30, Ney managed to get the initiative, and gave Souham orders to
defend. Ney's other four divisions were strung out all over hither and
yon. I guessed my options were for Ney to travel around and give orders
to his divisions, under the premise that he now had the initiative to do
so. There is also an option in the rules to use divisional initiative,
in which the divisional commander tries for initiative on his own. This
was the option I actually took, and the doughty Ricard, commanding the
11th division managed to get initiative and begin his march south to the
battle. There is also a compliance role after the order reception and
Ricard passed this roll too. Having taking both Gross Gorschen and Klein
Gorschen, his original attack objectives, Bluecher has to be goosed with
another attack order to march on Souham's beleagured division in Kaja.
Bluecher complies with this order immediately and begins to move his
forces forward. Meanwhile, out at Starsiedel, Marmont's brigades that
have been charged have defend orders and they lay merciless fire into
Winzingerode's cavalry elements, who in turn pull back when their chit
is drawn. Dolff's division of cavalry also pulls back from Marmont's
position. Yorck's forces advance against Marmont, and Berg (with a march
order) recrosses the Elster to try to outflank Ney. Things are not
looking too good for the French.

2:00 PM. Napoleon finally appears on the battlefield. Actually, he
appears at Luetzen, which is some miles north of the actual battlefield.
For some reason, his stirring response to the situation is seldom quoted
in historical accounts of the battle, ("Dudes! This is no way to
rock'n'roll!"). Napoleon immediately barks out orders to the Guard,
including the Guard artillery. Drouot, commanding the Guard artillery,
gets going immediately, but Mortier, commanding all the rest of the
Guard decides that he can wait 30 minutes (1 turn) before complying.
Meanwhile, Yorck continues his advance in Marmont's direction, while
Winzingerode brings up both of his artillery echelons to fire against
Marmont. Ney hastens Ricard's division south to Kaja, while, at that
town, Souham's beleagured brigades, with the fire support of the III
Corps artillery, blaze away at Bluecher's forces, inflicting heavy
casualties on Ziethen's brigade. Dolff's cavalry outfit charges
Friederich's division of Marmont's corps, which is also under pressure
from Prinz Eugen's infantry brigades. For his part, old Bluecher decides
that Ziethen's outfit has had enough for awhile, but he relentlessly
presses Kluex's brigade into the attack. They surge forward, inflicting
heavy casualties on Souham's first brigade in Kaja, demoralizing it. But
still the brigade stands fast! Furious action! The counters in Napoleon
at Lutzen are back printed (in some cases, three steps), with the back
of the counter representing approximately half strength. The back of the
counter features a very prominent white stripe across the counter (as I
recall, the Napoleon's Last Battles counters are like that too.). When
the losses reach that point, I flip the counter over and use it
represent a "demoralized" unit. In my own combat system, I've
experimented in this game with a rule stipulating leaders who are under
orders to "attack" can do so with demoralized units, but demoralized
units will not charge, only trade fire with adjacent units. I'm also
toying with the idea of having demoralized units not able to fire at
units when they are charged, but that might make them too weak. When at
least half of the infantry units attached to a leader are demoralized,
then if he is under attack orders, he has to revert immediately to
something else (I'm thinking "Defend" or "Delay" orders).

2:30 PM. Souham's other brigade is demoralized when Bluecher's unit fire
on it, nevertheless, they manage to repulse one of Roder's (Prussian)
units that is trying to eject them from Kaja. Out on Marmont's front,
one of Compan's brigades is first shelled for losses, then charged by
one Winzingerode's cavalry units. But they see off the attack,
inflicting heavy losses on the Allies. It's epic! But Winzingerode is
not finished yet; another cavalry unit has been given a charge marker,
and they launch into the same brigade. The smiles of the French turn to
grimaces as they are forced to give ground.

3:00 PM Napoleon gets March orders to Brennier's division (historically,
apparently Ney bundled this division forward as he made his way
southward from Luetzen to the actual battlefield area). Bluecher is the
recipient of the "initial action" chit, meaning that you don't have to
pull his chit, he just activates first. He continues his pressure on
Kaja. Meanwhile one echelon of French Guard artillery comes up in
support of Ricard's division and fires out on a unit of Kluex's brigade.
3:30 PM Napoleon now issues an attack order to Drouot who receives it
and complies immediately. The Guard artillery immediately brings down
fire on Berg's Allied outflanking force. Brennier's division (Ney's
Corps) also immediately complies with an order to launch an attack on
Prinz Eugen's infantry forces. But Prinz Eugen is already surging
forward to attack the lead brigade of Ricard's division, upon which
substantial casualties are inflicted. Meanwhile out at Starsiedel, the
able Dolff charges again! This time he attacks the flank of a brigade in
Marmont's Corps (in my system, a unit charged in the flank cannot fire
first in an attempt to "shoot down" the chargers). The French brigade is
driven back with losses, and Dolff, having a few more movement points,
charges again, this time driving to Marmont's very position. The attack
finally loses impetus as Marmont's staff draw pistols to repel the spent
Prussian cavaliers. Yorck's Corps, which has been on the attack, is now
demoralized, and so his attack orders revert to defend orders (the way
I'm playing it). Then Winzingerode's cavalry elements are also
demoralized. Finally, back at Kaja, Kluex's brigade is also demoralized.
Both sides' Guards' units are approaching the battlefield to write the
final chapter in this titanic struggle. 4:00. Napoleon orders Mortier
with the Imperial Guard to attack towards Rahna (south of Kaja where the
most intense fighting is occurring). And he also orders Marmont to come
out of his defensive posture and also attack towards Rahna. Wittgenstein
orders Gallitzin to relieve Winzingerode's decimated cavalry force.
Marmont is too far away to receive his orders this turn--he'll have to
wait until 4:30. Mortier decides to think about his orders for 1 turn
before complying. Gallitzin complies immediately however. The French get
an "initial action" chit and a "coordinated action" chit which lets two
formations act at the same time. Neither ones seems to help them much
though as the most significant thing that happens on this turn is that
Berg's cavalry formation hits a brigade of Young Guard in the flank and
disperses them! I've begun to explore the use of a rule that would let
artillery stacked lowest in the stack (stacking limit: two combat
units--the bottom position is the "back" or second line in the hex) fire
out out on an infantry unit in an adjacent hex that is the topmost
position (which I'm playing as the "frontage" of the hex). Or the
artillery can fire from the bottom position out on an adjacent artillery
unit that is also in the bottom position of its hex. This lets the
phasing player decide whether he wants to use his artillery in an
infantry support role or in a counter battery role. Historically, I
think that all the contending nations in the Napoleonic era used their
artillery in both ways, but my reading and study suggest to me that the
French seemed to be a little more likely to use artillery in the
counterbattery role compared to other nations. 4:30 Ney finally figures
out that he better replace Souham's shot-up division (it will turn out
that he waited a little too long). Marmont receives his attack order,
but fails his compliance role and has to wait one turn while he ponders
the meaning of the order. Meanwhile, Wittgenstein, now seeing a formed
body of troops approaching the battlefield on his left flank, (this is
Bertrand's French IV Corps which hasn't actually arrived on the game map
yet) decides to try to stop Tormassov's march to the front with the
Russian Grenadier and Guards corps. Tormassov gets the order but rolls a
truly poopy "4" on the compliance table and gets himself an "R4" result.
So he'll just keep on going on his merry way to the front, at least for
another turn, gliding on oblivious of the danger to the Allied flank.

It's interesting isn't it? Without an order system, most wargamers would
position Tormassov's forces where they knew the French were going to
arrive. But with the order system in place, you can see that very
"ballistic" quality that the large formations have: Once they are
launched in a certain direction, it's very difficult to get them to
alter their course. As it would turn out for the rest of the battle,
this was a very pivotal die roll because the Allied position would be
compromised very quickly without reserves to meet the flanking force.
Meanwhile, in the action at Kaja, a Young Guard brigade attacks Berg's
cavalry, which has found itself stuck in the woods. Ejecting them is no
trouble for the Guardsmen. As we saw, Prince Eugene should have stopped
his attack earlier, but apparently Wittgenstein forgot to give him a
geographical location for his attack (it says to do this in the rules),
so the Prince just keeps attacking, and now his flank is exposed. But
the big action is that one of Berg's brigades charges into Kaja itself,
first expelling a brigade of Voltigeurs, then expelling the remmants of
one of Souham's shot-up brigades.

At this point (getting ready to play turn 19, 5:00 PM), having felt that
I had gotten a good look at Markus' rules, I decided to evaluate the
current strength of all the formations, and assess the Allies and French
chances against each other, taking into account the French forces that
were about to arrive on the battlefield. Here's how it looks in strength
points:

French                                 Inf.    Cav. Arty  Total
On Board current strength              196     20    38     254
Arriving strength                       76      0    16      92
Total                                                              346

Allies (on board)                 	105     24    67    196

The French arriving strength is made up of the aforementioned Bertrand
arriving on one flank at 5:00, and Macdonald arriving on the opposite
flank at 5:30 with his corps. Wittgenstein had no forces under his
immediate control (that is, in reserve) who could be given an order to
meet either threat, so it seemed to me that the battle could go in only
one direction from here on out. Historically, with their weight of
numbers, the initiative finally swung to the French side permanently by
6:00 PM and the Allies relinquished the villages, all of which had been
reduced to infernoes by that time anyway. Luetzen was thus a French
victory, of sorts, although the casualties were horrific on both sides.
It's significance was that Napoleon was able to continue his advance and
perhaps continue to try his "master plan" for the Spring campaign which
evidently included the retaking of Berlin.

I didn't know that much about the details of the battle of Luetzen
before I tried this game out, but as I view it now, it represents a
great demonstration of the strength of the Napoleonic system in defense.
Even though Ney could not have screwed up his initial dispositions of
his five divisions any more than he did, and the Allies could not have
done a better job of massing superior force against them, the other
corps in the area had been positioned by Napoleon so carefully, and the
leadership system of the French was so agile, that Napoleon could even
the numbers very quickly, and get superior numbers within just a few
hours. And once Napoleon had superior numbers on the battlefield, the
outcome was all but determined. I think Markus' system did a great job
of portraying these aspects of this particular battle, and that's saying
something, since his game was not designed to simulate this particular
battle. One of the things I would like to mention in particular concerns
what I'm going to call here the "mapping problem". The mapping problem
has to do with the huge number (infinity really) of possible
real-language orders that have to be reduced, or "mapped onto" a
relatively small number of game-language single words that are used to
represent these orders. Historically, the commanders of the period used
terms like "attack", or "march", and these orders are reflected in
Markus' system. But they used other terms too, and I would say that the
terms Markus used seem to capture pretty well the meanings used by the
historical commanders, and that's no small feat right there.

For me, this was a fun opportunity to explore a chit-pull system, an
orders system, and to develop the combat system that I had used in
earlier games. Some further development of this system is going to be my
next step. I've made a play test map of the battle of Dennewitz, which
occurred on Sept 6, 1813. In that battle Marshal Ney once again bungled
an attempt to drive on Berlin, losing a battle he should have won. I'll
keep the readership posted as my attempts proceed. Thanks for reading.

John Best
jlbest@advancenet.net