Jump to content

peterperla

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    4

  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Posts posted by peterperla

  2. Posted

    Cybernex said:

    peterperla said:

     

    Lines in the sand

    We were quite puzzled to discover that infantry in line formation cannot move. Given the undeniable historical fact that the British infantry almost invariably attaccked in line formation, this limitation seems to require some explanation.

    While on the subject of lines, I was bemused by the stricture against the French from using line in the maida scenario. The designers seem to have fallen for the old canard about maida, that the French attacked in column formation and were shot to pieces by the superior British firepower. Even Oman, who may well have created this myth, admitted his error in one of the later editions of his work, only to have subesequent editions reprint the errorpresumably because it made a better story! In fact, the French were advancing in deployed lines and Kempt's brigade caught them with one or two volleys followed by a bayonet charge (the tactic that became the mainstayof the British infantry throughout the war). This shattered the entirety of Compere's brigade, and Kempt's own command spent the rest of the day chasing the survivors off the field.

    Peter

     

     

     

    It is surely possible to have differing interpretations of how the Battle of Maida developed, and the one which was chosen to use for the scenario made for an interesting limitation to show typical tacticts of the two opponents.

     

    Whoever does not like the limitation is of course welcome to lift it when playing at home! (I don't see many tournaments played using the "Maida" scenario...)

    Oh, indeed. Sorry if I was more pednatic than even usual. One of my pet peeves, I fear. Thanks for the perspective. I still don't get the idea behind prohibiting movement in line, but the idea of showing typical tactics is certainly not a bad one.

     

    Thanks

     

    Peter

     

  3. Posted

    Artillery weakness

    Another issue that I wanted to toss into the discussion is the weakness of the artillery. For the Queen of the Battlefield (in Nappy's terms) it gets extremely short shrift here. First, there are only two guns per side, clearly representing a single battery each. But their utility is severely limited. The guns cannot fire when limbered (incidentally, another rules oddity here; the rules illustrate what appears to be the same picture for limbered and unlimbered guns, just with the image reversedthere are no counters for the state; the idea seems to be that the position of the gunner figures somehow shows whether the gun is limbered or un, but they only difference I can see in the pictures is an extremely subtle oneit looks as if the limbered gunner is facing away from the hex and the unlimbered gunner is facing into the hex. Is that it?). And of course they cannot move when unlimbered. But notice that the guns can only fire once a turn, and though they are more effective at canister range, it is not really that much and they are prohibited from attacking in melee so it is entirely possible that I can march infantry up to a battery and attack it without the artillery ever being able to fire! Unless, of course, it is attacked by a cavalry charge, in which case it rolls against its morale and if it passes it gets to shoot at the cavalry. Huh? It can shoot against the fast moving horse but not the slow moving foot. This smells like an oversight to me. The optional rule that is supposed to represent the devastating effect of canister only allows the guns to split their fire (otherwise prohibited) to fire at both adjacent frontal hexesat half rounded DOWN of its total firepower. That's it. This seems to downlplay seriously the effects and effectiveness of Napoleonic artillery and is, at first blush, the most questionable subsystem of the entire game. I would certainly like to understand the rationale behind this representation.

  4. Posted

    Lines in the sand

    We were quite puzzled to discover that infantry in line formation cannot move. Given the undeniable historical fact that the British infantry almost invariably attaccked in line formation, this limitation seems to require some explanation.

    While on the subject of lines, I was bemused by the stricture against the French from using line in the maida scenario. The designers seem to have fallen for the old canard about maida, that the French attacked in column formation and were shot to pieces by the superior British firepower. Even Oman, who may well have created this myth, admitted his error in one of the later editions of his work, only to have subesequent editions reprint the errorpresumably because it made a better story! In fact, the French were advancing in deployed lines and Kempt's brigade caught them with one or two volleys followed by a bayonet charge (the tactic that became the mainstayof the British infantry throughout the war). This shattered the entirety of Compere's brigade, and Kempt's own command spent the rest of the day chasing the survivors off the field.

    Peter

×
×
  • Create New...