Skirmisher
denominator = 12 to provide minimum sized elements. Optionally, this can be done for cavalry also, to provide piquets. However, in battle it was uncommon for cavalry to skirmish so a more standard squadron division of 3 or 4 should be used according to the average regiment size (aim for squadrons of 100-175). Any piquets out at the start of a battle can be created in the scenario editor.
Fire capability for
cavalry, to be used by piquets only. This is not for use by whole regiments or squadrons. If no piquets are in use it is best to disable this characteristic.
Common PDTs for all games, in15-minute-turn and 5-minute-turn versions.
A standard winter PDT for Eylau and winter campaigns is also to be used.
Roads of reduced
speed effect - their main benefit was in crossing restrictive or difficult
terrain and the speed of units on roads was otherwise very much as on open
ground.
Standard
artillery fire tables to include all-howitzer batteries and British firing
shrapnel, one type of 6-pdr for foot and horse batteries, and regimental guns
where they were part of infantry organisations.
Increased
stacking limit to allow up to 4000 infantry per hex, as was actually used at
Waterloo.
The OOB file
Quality levels more
rational and standardised, e.g.: Old Guard
= 8, Middle Guard, British Guards = 7, Young Guard, elite line/light = 6, standard French/British, seasoned troops = 5, standard Russian = 4, Russian Gren Bns (1
per infantry regiment in 1805-7) = -4, Russian Gren Rgts = -5 ("-" means using golden morale modifier), Cossacks = 3.
All French infantry to
be type V (three ranks), Hanoverian, Brunswickers, Netherlands (1815) and British
type U (2 ranks), to deploy skirmishers even when below full
strength. However, a battalion should only deploy one company's
worth at any one time unless they are actually light infantry.
Prussian fusiliers and
some Russian light infantry formations, though they often fought in two ranks
with the third rank as reserves and skirmishers, are to be type V.
Each eligible regiment to have a strength 1 (25 men) colour party to escort the
eagle/standard, this strength being taken from the first battalion of the
regiment.
Russian musketeer regiments of 1805-10 to have one battalion of grenadiers and two of
musketeers.
Infantry such as Prussians 1806-7 and French 1812 to have a regimental gun
section per battalion, combined into battery-sized units where appropriate
but to be kept with the parent infantry at all times.
Pioneers,
sappers, etc. added or moved to divisional
or corps level, quality level 1 or 2 lower than corresponding infantry.
These are for demolition or construction tasks usually in a campaign
environment and may not appear in many scenarios, though their activities
can be umpired or agreed to make changes to the map file by removing bridges
or building earthworks even as a battle progresses.
All artillery
amalgamated into battery-sized units with battery factors as per the pdt, rather than
individual gun type factors for sections (as in Greg Gorsuch's original Eylau
files).
Artillery train units, to accompany each gun battery, which suffers lack of
ammunition otherwise.
Spelling and rank
conventions observed (e.g. Major General -> Generalmajor).
Baggage trains and
couriers, for multi-player and campaign umpired games, or scenarios where the capture or destruction of the former plays a part.
Infantry ammunition
standardised at 1 point per two units at division level, plus half this much again at corps
level, resulting in some divisions having different-sized or multiple
ammunition wagon units.
All ordinary dragoons rated as
light cavalry unless mounted and trained as heavies, such as the British,
Dutch Carabiniers, cuirassiers even if unarmoured, French Guard Dragoons, etc. which all remain heavy. The difference was in the size of the men and of the horses. French dragoons notoriously rode nags and had lower entry requirements than the heavy cavalry. Putting a dragoon brigade in a reserve cavalry corps does not make them heavier.
New
icon and units bitmaps to include depiction of the above changes and correct
regimental colours in the unit pictures.
Scenarios and game-play
Deployments conforming to
written accounts and latest maps as closely as possible.
Russian 12-gun and
other large batteries deployed in half-batteries. The game engine is optimised for standard, 6-8 gun, batteries.
Logical deployment
of skirmishers, one or two from each battalion in a brigade rather than one whole
battalion unless historically so deployed, and in numbers per hex
appropriate to skirmishing density and terrain.
Reinforcement schedules
More spaced over
time and road length in accordance with the maximum numbers per hex on roads and the reduced
road speeds.
Elimination of
differences between the schedules for two-day games and each one-day scenario forming part of it.
Artillery ammunition
Reduced to reflect the correct
number carried per battery.
Ammunition totals
adjusted proportionally for scenario lengths. The BG system is less a question of
absolute totals than of limiting rate of fire, so the shorter the scenario the less ammo
is needed in the game.
Spreadsheets for
all artillery for the recording of ammunition use on an individual battery
basis, making the overall artillery ammunition totals rather academic. A far
more accurate and realistic way to determine expenditure.
Individual Battle Files
Eylau
Latest
update: 23 March 2005
These are
now only loosely
based on Greg Gorsuch's second edition of the game. The units.bmp and icons
have been amended further, and these files will not work with the original game. The OOB file is more of a general
1805-7 campaign file, for use in other
scenarios besides Eylau.
Changes additional to the standard ones listed above:
OOB
Prussian
heavy batteries moved
to Prussian OOB and under command of Major Huguenin.
Golden
morale modifier reduced to 1 and used for Russian Grenadiers.
Scenarios
No need
for a separate OOB for 8th Feb
scenario, as "V" units not at full strength are able to detach skirmishers, and
absence of the wounded Barclay de Tolly is provided for by promoting Lieven
III
Fixed error in 8th Feb
scenario of one unit arriving AM instead of PM.
Unfortunately the
original map shows some anomalies, mostly to do with streams flowing over hills and lakes
having hills in them. These have been amended to downhill streams only (though a few still
cut through higher ground) and the lakes flattened out. See also the new 2D map, which
includes these changes and visual improvements.
The complete improved maps, with other embellishments such as scrub covering
the marshes and dotted in the landscape (this is East Prussia, not Antarctica)
can be acquired from me.
To simply update the existing map, you can use some .bmp patches and replacement text files. Just ask.
Eylau in summer
The scenarios for this map are
adaptations of the original battle, so use the same OOB and leaders. The pdt is
different, of course, to reflect summer conditions. See the map page for more information. Files are available from me.
Friedland
Two scenarios
are available for the battle: Bennigsen's attack in the morning and the main action in the
evening. The game uses the same
units and icons as Eylau, allowing both to be placed in the same game as
scenario sub-folders.
So far, no deductions from unit strengths have been made for casualties in
earlier parts of the battle (overnight and early on the 14th), as information is
scarce. As they seem to have been fairly even, relative strengths varied
little.
Waterloo
These files are also
undergoing revision and the availability of new versions will be posted soon with the changes shown
below additional to the standard
ones listed above. You are welcome to contact me for the latest working examples.
LOS file
A new LOS file has been made for the original map. This file takes into account the fact that hills are not a series of flat sections, but are rounded, undulating and with crests near the centre. With the original LOS, Wellington's reverse slope is mostly flat ground the same height as, and so visible from, the French positions. The new file gives it, and all other ridges, a crest beyond which very little can be seen. This also has the effect of making more distant ground less visible from places of the same nominal height if there are hill crests intervening.
PDT file
Artillery conform to NHWC scale of artillery types, including factors for
shrapnel fired by British guns and howitzers.
OOB file
Quality levels for
Prussian Landwehr are mixed 3 and 4, reflecting their being composed of veterans and
previously trained conscripts as well as new recruits.
Brunswick contingent command
restructured after the loss of the Duke at Quatre Bras.
French 1st Bde, 1st Div,
I Corps led by Colonel Charlet
Whinyates' rocket troop
given the appearance of rocket launchers when unlimbered (though they were of course armed
with 5 x 6pdrs also and have appropriate factors for these guns).
The Prussian
cavalry commander for IV Corps, Schwerin, was famously one of the first
Prussians killed, some distance from the battlefield. His place is taken by
his senior regimental commander in the new OOB.
Scenarios
Deployments adjusted to
conform to revised maps and the latest sources.
Order of arrival of the
Prussians changed to their historical order of march
and include those who originally arrived too late to fight, just in case the
battle lasts longer.
Pultusk
To be further updated soon as for the Eylau files, using the same units and
icons, allowing it to be treated as a scenario in the same game.
Scenarios
Cossack skirmishers
reduced in number to represent thin screens of piquets and placed on tracks when in
forest or marsh, to allow easy movement.
An alternative scenario in which the French
start deployed on the map at 10.00am.
Napoleon in Russia
Enhanced unit pictures for the original
BG game. This was modified on 11th April 2005, to correct some minor points and
replace some units with those common to other units.bmp files. Ask for your copy.
A major revision of the game to bring it into line with NHWC conventions is planned. When files and scenarios are ready the fact will be posted here and you will be able to get these from me too.
