Unit sizes

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Gunfreak
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Unit sizes

Post by Gunfreak » Thu Aug 26, 2010 12:26 pm

Now I try and keep my units realstic sizes, which mean that my 1812-1814 french are mostly 24-32 stong, and my russians are almost all 24, as they have very small battalions in this period.

But the austrians are all 40-48.

So if my 24 stong french battalion meet a 48 stong austriasn, or if I do a what if battle of austrians vs russians would the 24 stong have any chance against a big 48 stong battalion.
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barr7430
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Post by barr7430 » Thu Aug 26, 2010 12:39 pm

Short Answer : YES

Long Answer YES because:

1. It will depend on the quality of the unit (s)
2. It will depend who gets the initiative that turn
3. It will depend on the quality of the Brigade
4. It will depend upon the terrain and the support from friendly units
5. It will very much depend on what orders you have given the Brigades (both sides)

If none of that helps you can - combine two smaller battalions each of up to 24 models into a 'regiment' before the game begins. Max size for a combined unit 48. Max size for a single unit 56-60

There are of course some preconditions to doing this.
Advantage:

1. Unit is bigger and can absorb more punishment and has more hitting power

Disadvantage:
It reduces the number of elements in a brigade and if you lose some the brigade will lose its Manoeuvre dice quicker.


Many choices Gunfreak.

I have seen a unit of 6 Elite-Veteran Riflemen supported by a 6pdr Horse battery hold off an entire French Division for 3 hours of gaming time (probably 5 turns or 2 hours of battle time). That was quite something!
"If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you are probably right"

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Gunfreak
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Post by Gunfreak » Thu Aug 26, 2010 1:45 pm

Well yes, I did think about combineing the units, but I like to have more units in brigade even if they are weaker, just becasue I like having a reserver.

And it would only delay the problem,

Either I have 4 24 battalions against 4 48 battalions, or I have 2 48 battalions vs 4 48 battalions, either way, the brigade will be fighting 2:1 ods

I think the russians and french are gonne need carefull use of artillery to take on those big battalions of austrians.

None of my russian units are elite or guard, it's a plane old regular division, but they will be vetran, most of them,

The french got one elite brigade, but it only has 1 regiment of two battalions, but they are 32 stong, so they got a little more manpower.
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Post by barr7430 » Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:43 pm

depends if you want a totally even game. If so then rate the Austrian Brigades as SLUGGISH and rate your French as INTUITIVE
It would be much easier to EXPLOIT with the French and so the Austrians will be at a distinct disadvantage,

This is something that R2E was 'born' to do. Very few battles saw numerically equal forces take each other on. With R2E you can have a smallish well trained force which can run rings around and beat a much larger force.
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Post by Gunfreak » Thu Aug 26, 2010 4:05 pm

Well, I'll try diffrent ratings and se how it goes, tho some of the sweetness of victory would go away if you had to down rate the enemy to get a good game, much more fun to get a real tough fight.
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Post by barr7430 » Thu Aug 26, 2010 10:16 pm

Good idea!
"If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you are probably right"

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Post by Captain Chook » Fri Aug 27, 2010 7:48 pm

Size of anything is a well balanced decision of the options.
More brigades in a division means more dice for MPs, but chances are one or more brigades will be out of the divisional generals range.
More battalions in a brigade make it more resilient to losses, but may have elements out of range of the brigade general and means you will either have smaller units or fewer brigades in a balanced game.

Decisions, decisions.
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