Design Details

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="04bb9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="70" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="66"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="76" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="66" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="083a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Saxon Corps Command</B></div> <div> <B>Essex 15mm</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Old Trousers: Rules for Warfare in the Horse & Musket Era</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old Trousers: Rules for Warfare in the H"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Author"><U>The Author</U></A>   |   <B>Design Details</B>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tactical Napoleonic Warfare"><U>Tactical Napoleonic Warfare</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kriegspeil Rules"><U>Kriegspeil Rules</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Operational Warfare"><U>Operational Warfare</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News Info on Updates"><U>News & Info on Updates</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Microarmor Stuff"><U>Microarmor Stuff</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Downloads"><U>Downloads</U></A></div> <div> Design Details</div> <div> The following is a discussion of the nitty gritty regarding development of the rules & sundry details.</div> <div> Click on this lick to go to photos showing troop formations & rules usage:       <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Illustrations"><U>Illustrations</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>MOUNTING OF TROOPS</B></div> <div> The rules were designed for 15mm figures. No doubt they can be played with other scales. If one wishes to use 25mm figures then I would recommend that you follow the mounting guidelines in Empire by Jim Getz & Scotty Bowden. In such a case 1 inch will equal 32 yards. Three rank infantry will have a frontage of 1/2" per figure & a depth of 3/4". Two rank infantry will have a frontage of 5/8" per figure & a depth of 3/4". Cavalry will have a frontage of 1" per figure & Artillery 1" per gun. Depth will be as needed to fit the figure comfortably on the stand.</div> <bR> <div> Each infantry & cavalry casting represents 60 combatants while each artilleryman represents around 30 artillery crew. Each model gun can represent from 2 guns to an entire battery, depending on ones budget & time for painting. All of this is very standard for miniature Napoleonics games & leads to maximum compatibility with other popular rule sets.</div> <bR> <div> If one has troops mounted for Napoleon's Battles, by Avalon Hill, then they may also be used. Each infantry figure will still represent 60 men (though 50 would be better for purists) while each cavalry figure will represent 30 men. This means a bit more painting is in order or one must simply settle for smaller cavalry units. Each hit on a cavalry unit will kill 2 figures. My best suggestion is simply to remount the cavalry as the Napoleon's Battles mounting system for cavalry has always been a bit unsatisfactory. Each artillery battery will represent 4 guns.</div> <bR> <div> <B>SCALE</B></div> <div> Turns are 20 minutes & the ground scale is 50 yards per hex. A little math reveals that this allots a frontage of 34 inches per man & a 3 rank battalion of 720 men in line will have a frontage of 4.5 inches or 675 feet. This is admittedly a little generous as the prescribed frontage per man was between 22 inches & 27 inches which would give a spacing of 440 to 540 feet for a battalion in line. Using these figures the ground scale would be 32 to 40 yards per inch. Forty yards per inch is the ground scale chosen in Empire. I chose a scale of 50 yards per inch because it is a round number, it has the effect of forcing players to spread out their battalions in a more historical fashion, & in fact the difference will not adversely effect either game mechanics or play. Players may wish to consider this if they have special concerns regarding a historical battlefield. I will note here that Brent Nosworthy states his belief that on the battlefield troops required more space per man than on the parade ground. He says that 22 inches per man was not practical under such conditions & that 27 to 30 inches per man was the actual space allotted under battlefield conditions.</div> <bR> <div> A similar analysis can be made of cavalry frontage, but I will spare the reader. The basic fact, should one wish to pursue it, is that a single cavalryman should be allotted a frontage of  36" to 48". Our scale allows 45" per trooper.</div> <div> Guns were generally sited 12 to 20 yards apart. Our scale allots a frontage of 19 yards per gun.</div> <bR> <div> <B>MOVEMENT</B></div> <div> A pace was generally defined as being 2 to 2.5 feet. A little experimentation will demonstrate that this is a rather optimistic assumption for the usual length of a pace & supposedly tacticians of the time allowed for a pace as short as 12 inches. Given the unevenness of even the flattest cow pastures I have visited it would seem that they were wise in making such an allowance. Using this "short step" one arrives at march rate of between 25 yards per minute & up to 40 yards per minute (ordinary step of 75 paces per minute vs quick step of around 100 paces per minute. The charge step was 120 paces per minute but this was not sustainable except over the shortest distances.) Hence we have arrived at a theoretical infantry move of 500 yards (10") to 800 yards (16") in a 20 minute turn. The actual game move for infantry varies between 4" & 16". The slower move is for units moving near the enemy in line while the faster move is for units far away from the enemy & moving in column. Infantry also are given a charge bonus of 3". The reason for the generally slower movement rates are several. First off things will never go as smoothly on the battlefield as on the parade ground. Secondly a portion of the time was not spent moving. Some time must be allowed for the necessary command decisions resulting in selecting a final destination. You have to decide where to go before you can leave! The closer one is to the enemy the more distractions & hindrances there are. Inertia increases as the easiest choice in the face of danger is not to march ahead!</div> <bR> <div> Cavalry were trained to ride at a standard walk of 100 yards per minute, to trot at 200 yards per minute, & to gallop at 300 yards per minute. Using these rates cavalry would be able to move 40" per turn at a walk & 80" per turn at a trot! Here the greatest compromise was made. In the name of playability the old wargaming rule that cavalry should move twice as far as infantry was invoked. I suppose it just takes those cavalry commanders a bit more time to make up their minds as to where they want to go. It is possible, however, to move light cavalry in column up to 36" so long as they stay out of engagement range.</div> <bR> <div> Supposedly a French artillery team walked at a rate of about 90 yards per minute giving a potential movement of 36" per turn. Once again this rate was drastically reduced in order to increase playability & to reflect the necessary time for command decisions.</div> <bR> <div> <B>FIRE COMBAT</B></div> <div> Musketry range was limited to 3" (150 yards.) Tests results, under nonbattlefield conditions, suggests that the hit rate was around 40 to 50% at 150 yards with a smoothbore musket. Believe it or not there is actually some battlefield data available & estimates that incorporate it give a hit rate of 20% at 150 yards, about 12% at 200 yards, & about 8% at 300 yards. If a wargamer is given a 1% chance of scoring a hit then he is generally going to take it. To avoid the inclusion of ammunition levels with its attending complications I choose to limit musket fire to 150 yards. If one wishes to incorporate it then men generally carried from 30 to 60 rounds & could get off about 2 rounds per minute under battlefield conditions. Once a unit had empty ammo packs then I would imagine its morale would be adversely effected.</div> <bR> <div> Canister range was limited to 6" (300 yards.) There was of course both heavy & light canister with heavy canister carrying up to 600 yards but 500 being a more practical limit. The extreme range of light case was around 250 yards. The theoretical effectiveness of case at 300 yards was around a 35 to 40% hit rate. Generally 2 roundshot or 3 case rounds could be fired per minute. Batteries carried between 150 rounds & 70 rounds per gun depending on the caliber. Once again a compromise has been made & I settled on 300 yards with ever present ammo limits in mind. Effective range was limited to 800 yards. BP Huges states that it was possible to use the ricochet effect up to this range & Haythornthwaite says that the maximum effective range of all field pieces, regardless of size, was 1000 yards or less. Interestingly, a contemporary analyst, the famous Muller, estimated that a 6 lb shot was 50% more effective than a 3 lb ball, & a 12 lb ball twice as effective as a 3 pdr. The rules actually are fairly close to these estimates.</div> <bR> <div> <B>MELEE</B></div> <div> The following is a probability analysis of a melee between a charging infantry battalion & an identical infantry battalion that has chosen to not countercharge. We will assume that both infantry battalions are rated as good & have 12 figures each. The standing battalion conducted premelee fire.</div> <div> The probable number of Premelee casualties caused by musketry is 2.18 This accounts for the chance that the defending battalion may be able to conduct point blank premelee fire & assumes that the attacker is in column.</div> <div> The probability of the charging battalion closing is 50% if it has organic skirmishers & 40% if it does not. This assumes that the battalion suffers 2 hits, though it could suffer as few as 0 (60 to 70% chance of closing) & as many as 4 (20 to 30% chance of closing.)</div> <div> The charging unit will receive the +2 modifier. The defender is assumed to not be in cover or located uphill. The probabilities of the various outcomes of the melee are:</div> <bR> <div> First Round of Combat     Attacker          Defender     Tie</div> <div> Any Win                                45%                 15%          40%</div> <div> Major Win                             28%                   6%          40%</div> <div> In the second round of combat the attacker will not receive the benefit of the +2 charging modifier.</div> <div> Second Round of Combat     Attacker          Defender     Tie</div> <div> Any Win                                     28%                 28%          44%</div> <div> Major Win                                  15%                 15%          44%</div> <bR> <div> The overall chance of the attacker taking the ground from the defender is about 25 to 30%.</div> <div> Factors that the defender can manipulate to improve his defense would include such things as being in cover, being uphill, increasing premelee fire by placing a battery or other supporting troops within range. The defender could also countercharge.</div> <div> The attacker can increase his chances of success by using a second battalion to attack with or by causing the defender to become shaken prior to attacking. If the attacking battalion does not have skirmishers then the attacker may obtain  another favorable modifier by covering his attacking troops with skirmishers.</div> <div> The difference in troop classes is 2 or 3 points per class. For example, Good troops have a melee rating of  13 while Excellent troops have a rating of 15, with Fair troops having a rating of 10. 1D10 is rolled as the random factor in determining the outcome of a melee. The probability of the difference in the 2 opponents die roll being greater than 2 is 56% & of being greater than 3 is 42%. Hence the importance of randomness is substantial. This is meant to represent variables which a player could not control or anticipate. In addition troop ratings are far from perfect. Certainly not all of the line battalions of a given army would perform the same. Any given battalion may also have its performance vary with time. A commander would not know exactly which battalions should be having a good day or a bad day.</div> <bR> <div> For players who want a smaller role for luck then this could be achieved by using 1D6 to resolve melees. If this is done then the charge bonus for infantry needs to be reduced to +1 & the charge bonus for cavalry reduced to +3. In order to obtain about the same number of decisive wins on the melee table then the top winning category need to be changed to >3. A tie, or reroll result would be obtained on a 1 or 2. If this option is used then players should probably use the optional rule for variable troop quality. Cavalry would defeat a square on a difference of >2.</div> <bR> <div> <B>COMMAND & ORDERS</B></div> <div> As in most wargames the command system is designed to hinder players & to prevent them from doing too much at one time. Players will need to keep the troops of a single command fairly close together in order to maintain control of their army.</div> <div> The order point system is inspired by DBM. In DBM one rolls a die & the number obtained is the number of orders that one has. A single order may be issued to similar units whose bases are touching. In Old Trouser: Rules for Warfare in the Horse and Musket Era an Order Point Table is used as this allows for more flexibility in command structure. A single order may be issued to multiple units if they are all in the command range of their division or brigade commander.</div> <div> One will find that at the beginning of the battle, when troops are out of engagement range (8 inches), then players will generally have more than enough orders. The one exception is if one splits up a command & sends some of its combat units on a mission, such as a flanking move,  that takes them out of the commander's command range. I suggest that at the beginning of the game when troops are out of engagement range that the players roll for orders, determine that they have enough, & then just move the troops without keeping close track of the orders spent. This will speed up play.</div> <div> Once troops come into engagement range then a shortage of orders will begin to develop & players will need to keep careful track of their order points. This will be particularly true for armies other than French & British ones. The shortage of orders will become a major concern once units begin to rout. One will probably not be able to comfortably both rally troops & carry on an attack.</div> <bR> <div> Well that is a quick run down on a few important points. I intend to include discussions of formation changes before too long.</div> <div> JPK </div> <div> June 1, 2001</div> </td> </tr></table></body>