Playtest Ended, French Tactical Victory

With the victory of French ADC Baron Corbineau over the Russian ADC Pozzo di Borgo in the second battle of the upper Spree the play test phase of our game plan has come to an end.

You can read all about the details at MurdocK's MarauderS.

The victory for the French over two days of battle has resulted in a third crossing of the Spree River, meaning that a larger force of French could easily mount an assault on the city of Berlin.

With the play test now done, we have been working ferociously towards having the details mapped out for the main campaign.  Players now have their commands and are laying out the forces accordingly.

As we have a 'team' of French players it is my pleasure to state that we will be having a simultaneous movement system in the main campaign and a referee to provide the thrills, chills and spills of 'fog of war' issues in the game.

Watch the extra pages here at Campaign of Nations for the juicy details of game mechanics and in the coming weeks we shall be able to share some of what has been going on behind the scenes.  I say 'some' as we will need to keep certain details confidential so as not to spoil the game action.

Final battle of playtest ... Pozzo di Borgo vs. Oudinot

In a second clash along the Upper Spree river, this time the Russians and Swedes are outnumbered.

Strategic situation from Cyberboard map

Oudinot leading XII Corps from the south and Baron Corbineau leading XIV Corps and III Cavalry Corps from the North against three Russian Corps and the whole of the Swedish Heavy Cavalry ... battle awaits!

Question of Supply

From an answer to a question about supply from our Army of Bohemia commander:

Supply symbols at edge of map, this is one of the Austrian ones south of Prague

If you wish to set up a magazine, you may.  I will have supply data on the blog soon, basically so long as you are on or within 1 hex of a road you are 'in supply'.  If you cannot trace a road back to your supply line (because enemy has crossed that road) then you have 2 days supply to 'get back' into supply or there will be consequences (at least the spent/disorder issue may come into action).  Other than getting surrounded the allied forces do not have as many supply headaches as the French because most of the populace is not on the French side.

I will have to work out the magazine concept - basically you NAME a location and 2 days later it becomes a self-sustained supply point - with a 2 hex radius if it gets cut off from the main supply line with enough to keep it going for 10 days.  As the Austrians were the supply 'masters' you will have 3 of these magazines and can change them at will - just taking the 2 days to 'move' from location to location.  Ultimately you will only need these once you are moving out from Bohemia.

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Follow up for other players:

Army of Silesia gets 1 magazine
Army of the North gets 1 magazine

French Grande Armee gets 2 magazines

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comments or thoughts on this?

Main Campaign Warning Order

The Campaign Commanders are receiving warning orders as this post is written.

LEIPZIG Campaign Start regions

The map given is for the starting deployment areas, once the battle proper starts then the 'gloves are off' and essentially anything (within the capabilities of the units of the period) goes!

Technical Support - dividing units

During the course of the play test it has come to light to have a few more Cyberboard helper items.

While I cannot claim to know all about Cyberboard, here is one method I have been using for managing the units:

Here I have selected the Cavalry Corps of Pahlen III.

here the cursor is over the unit showing the data

With the unit selected, simply double left-click to get the text box to show.

now the corps text box is ready to edit

I copy the primary headline text and the text for the unit to be 'split out', in this case the 1st Line Division of Millesinov.

The section to be 'cut out' is highlighted the 'control x' will cut it and hold it ready to be pasted

Now go back to the pieces selection, in this case Army of Bohemia and select the unit piece to be added to the board, in this case a Russian Cavalry Division.

left click and hold while dragging the new unit onto the mapboard

Now double left-click on the new unit and paste the data 'control v' into the text box for the new unit.

after entering the cut data, I go back and copy the formation - then with the header 'detachment' to identify that the unit is not the sole or parent formation

Also worth while to correct the formation data, [1] on the new division and [2] in the Corps parent formation and to correct the Troop Strength numbers subtracting 2688 from the Corps strength of 7008.  This makes tracking the relative combat strength of the units easier for both the player and game controller.  Note that the sub-unit Division does not have the Troops Strength of the whole corps formation, for now it is only the one Division.

Then completing the change by updating the parent Corps formation data.

updating the parent Corps formation data

Finally re-stacking the whole new group, simply highlight the whole formation by left click-hold and drag out a rectangle around the troops to be included in the stack.

selecting the troops for stacking

Then click on the auto stack button or you ma use 'control a' or use the drop down menu under Actions

once they are all 'stacked' together you will be able to shift around the entire stack

I also like to see the senior officers, so I commonly will 'send to the back' of the stack some split out or other blocking units so that the wing commander or ADC is visible on the top of the stack.   You can either send the top unit (the new counter) to the back or grab the ADC/Officer and move him to the top.

I hope that you find this little tutorial on unit splitting helpful.

French Strategic Flank action

The Play test continues - now I want to see if the Allies will take direct action to stop the French flank action moving in on Berlin or not ...

After 4 moves the Allied forces are out of Berlin with French across the Spree in 2 places

If the Allies permit French into Berlin, that could be the end of the battle ... unless they are able to blast a hole in the French line and capture Oudinot!