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Organization:

One stand in the expanded game equals two companies of foot (or the old fashioned "division"). One battalion is four bases, three of LN, one of ET. This gives an 8 company battalion. Not always the right number for each army, but given the fact that companies were rarely at full strength, it is, I think, a reasonable abstraction especially given the fact that you get a real square out of four square bases. The ET base contains one line company and the grenadier company. To deploy LT units, mark the unit of LN they are coming out of and deploy a LT base in front of the on line battalion or attack column as appropriate. For "ordre mixte" use two battalions on line with a battalion in column (in the French case attack column) on either end. LT troops will block line of sight for shooting, probably using the new line of sight rules or a modification of them.

Ranged Fire:

There will be shooting, but damage will be cumulative with no rallies, though I have a neat idea in mind for reinforcements. Each regiment will have a commander as will divisions and corps. These will be used to facilitate movement, which will be governed by the morale clock, but in a different manner.

Let's see, every unit has firing ability at rough equivalence, except Brits (who are better at it in their two line formation) and Russians (who are worse at it due to their penchant for the 'cold steel' of bayonets). These are both compensated for in melee as you'll see.

LT troops (tirrailleurs) may either fire en masse or 'snipe' at enemy leaders. They change facing for free, move through terrain at no movement cost, and can quickly be re-integrated into their respective battalions. French and British get some sort of elite light troops that can form unit base squares and have a greater influence on the battle. LT troops other than these elites are dispersed on contact with cavalry.

For artillery, I think I'll ignore battalion guns as they are small and few in number. Their effect should be integrated into normal firing, I think. I'm more interested in 'grand batteries' and horse artillery so the ART and LTA types will probably still apply.

Morale Clock:

My thoughts on the morale clock are leaning toward it determining the number of units and groups without a leader that can be moved in a phase. Since the scope of the game is broad, changing the clock every turn should work better when more than a division is involved on both sides.

Focus:

Robin asked what the focus is. I think I'd like to have the battalion of four bases be the fundamental building block for armies, so that one could conceivably scale the game from regimental actions to full armies on each side. In big battles, I think command of a corps would be my goal for individual players as this gives enough combined arms action to be fun, but not unmanageable.

Melee:

Melee would be unit against unit, with d6 rolls + the number of ranks. So, for instance, the Brits would add 2 while most other european nations would add 3. If there is a 'destroyed outright' roll it should only happen in extreme cases. Most of the time I'd like to see units get whittled down, reinforced, whittled down, and so forth until the point of collapse. For example:

     A1    A2

     A3A4A5A6
     B1B2B3B4

     B5    B6
	 

Infantry lines A3 - A6 and B1 - B4 are locked in close combat. As A3 takes losses (it would have three possible prior to destruction), A1 can move the loss counters onto itself. This shows that A1 has reinforced A3. As you can tell, A1 could cease to be in this way without combat simply by having its constituents parceled out.

Cavalry:

     C1A2
     A1B1B2
         B3B4A3
             A4
			 

Battalion B1 - B4 has formed square. Cavalry group A1 - A4 is attacking the corners of the square. In the upper left A1/A2 have horse artillery unit C1 in support (the square is clearly in trouble!).

My question is: Assuming we have a battalion square, what is the equivalent cavalry unit size to have four bases and fit the above scenario?

C1 gives big bonuses to the cavalry; otherwise, depending on the level of the morale clock, the square will be tough to crack. Forming square will depend on the morale clock as a leader or a morale clock point will be necessary for its execution.

The square (spoken as in Monty Python - "The Larch"):

Consider the Regiment AB as below:

A1A2A3A4B1B2B3B4

Battalions A and B may form square in the following way at a cost of their entire movement for the phase:

    A2A3        B2B3
    A1A4        B1B4

Note that A1A4 and B1B4 will be facing in the opposite direction from A2A3 and B2B3 when the formation change is complete.

Regiment AB can form square using the battalion squares above as their first move. After that, at a cost of their entire movement for the phase, they may form any of these three regimental squares:

    A2A3B2B3          B2B3          A2A3
    A1A4B1B4          B1B4          A1A4
                              A2A3          B2B3
                              A1A4          B1B4

Forming up damaged battalion squares:

Assume A4 has been destroyed, but the battalion wishes to form square. Its easy to do, really. Count up the ranks still existing in the battalion as a whole. Now form the square as outlined above by adding back in a "new" A4. Then distribute damage markers among all four units until the battalion has the same number of existing ranks as before. Note that this means a battalion must have at least 4 remaining ranks in order to form square.

Movement:

I think we'll keep the 4" for infantry and 8" for cavalry movement rates of LPE.

Firing:

ETs and Brits have a range of fifteen inches. All others have a range of 10 inches.

• From 10 inches to 15 inches a roll of 6 on a d6 causes one rank of damage.
• From 5 inches to 10 inches a roll of 5+ causes one rank of damage.
• From 0 inches to 5 inches a roll of 4+ causes one rank of damage.

Email Chip with any thoughts or suggestions on this scenario or any playtest rules.