Since I devoted the last entry to artillery, I thought I would start this one with a more in depth explanation of how I developed the different tokens used in the game.
Field artillery, both rifled and smoothbore, fired four types of projectiles: canister (red-4 per gun), case (green- 4 per gun), common shell (blue - 8 per gun), and shot (yellow - 16 per gun). canister is used at a maximum of 27 inches (450 yards) against massed formations. Case, an explosive round filled with musket balls can be used from the muzzle of the gun (0 inches) to 105 inches (1750) yards because the fuses could be set to burst from .5 seconds to 5.5 seconds.
Gun generated a lot of smoke which is when when firing a second round without halting for a turn the player has to estimate the range for case, shot, and shell and roll a D3 deduction when firing canister through smoke.
To facilitate quicker die rolls, I suggest organizing the players' dice before the game and that they keep the dice with them throughout the game.
The 9 D10s are for canister; 7 D10s for case, and 5 D10s for common shells. Referring to the blog with the firing and deduction charts will explain the others.
Infantry dice consist of 10 or more D10s to use when firing where each piece rolls 1 D10 and compares it to the range less deductions to score hits.
The 2 D6s (red and white numbered 1-2) with the hand written labels. Use 1 to determine deductions for firing in reaction, ascending a hill, and advancing beyond a wall or fence which the unit has crossed and the other is added to movement when descending a hill.
The remaining D6s are used to decide the following:
When a unit suffers casualties, roll 1 D6 per officer with the regiment and 1 D20 per officer. "Even" on the D6 indicates the officer is hit and the number on the D20 determines how many wounds he received and whether he should be removed from the game.
Note: each player has a red and a blue D10 to rally troops and prevent undesirable reactions to small arms and artillery fire.
Poker chips make great hit markers. I use them for officer and artillery crews. Officers can sustain 3 hits, with the 3rd one being the last one. Red = 1, white = 2, blue = 3, green = 4. Artillery crews consist of 2 pieces, each standing for 5 men on the guns and the limber. They can sustain 5 hits prior to removal. Each pair of guns have 1 officer, a lieutenant and each battery has a captain.
Ten hits remove an infantry piece (50 men) and requires the regiment to roll the green reaction D6. The officer(s) each roll an non-red D10 and 1 red D10 to see if the regiment panics. If the number of the red die is larger than the officer(s) die (dice) the regiment panics. When an artillery crew loses one piece, the player follows the same procedure.
This is an infantry line with a colonel, lieutenant colonel, and a major. The regiment has suffered 3 hits and rolled the big D12 to see how it would react, The "N" indicates nothing and the player has decided not to counter that by ordering it to react with the rolls of 3 non-red D10s against 1 red D10.
The player has rolled 3 D6s to see of the officers were hit. The left officer as indicated by the "10" on the D20 has gotten wounded once.
This regiment' having been hit by an artillery round and incurred 3 hits has rolled 3 D6s (for the officers) a green panic die (for the reaction to the artillery) and 3 non red and 1 red D10 to see if the reaction takes effect.
The even D6 with the "1" on the D20 means the officer was either not hit or just nicked. The red "8" on the D10 is higher than the other 3 dice, there for the regiment will retreat 9 inched ("R" on green D6).
These homemade markers stand for "Retreat" - 9 inches; "Withdraw" - 3 inches; "Prone." The Yellow marker shows that it is a panic which has to be rallied by an officer.
Units in panic may not return fire or defend from an attack. They are routed.
When in retreat, a regiment faces to the rear and moves 9 inches without terrain deductions. It will continue to retreat until rallied
The officers have managed to rally the regiment at the end of the turn because one of the non-ref dice is higher than the red die and if it had not been higher, the matching number would have stopped the retreat.
Once a regiment has rallied the player puts a small red marker on the regiment which it cannot move during the next furn but it can defend and return fire. The results of that fire require a minus D3 and the results get halved.
I will describe hand to hand combat, charges and reaction to small arms fire in the next blog entry.
Thank you for reading this and as always I welcome your constructive questions and suggestions.
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