Hi to all,
We fought our first game of ULB last night at the Napoleonic Wargaming Society in Perth, Western Australia. Enormous fun was had by the four of us and it attracted alot of interest from the other members at the club as well.
Reasonably small game - eight battalions a side, four squadrons of cavalry and a field gun each. Just to get a feel and not be too bogged down. Used all the rules except events and capturing colours for the first trial. We came up with a few situations which I would love to post and see what you think Barry as well as the rest of the membership.
Firstly, changing orders via a courier. Staff Officer travels the required distance etc , is there a chance that the sub-general will not pay any heed if a not controlled by a gamer? Is their a mechanism for that or a simple roll a six - odds and evens?
Command Control for the C-in C and his brigade commanders. Can the Cin C use his movement roll to influence a brigade which rolled poorly under their own commander? If so, should this be declared prior to movement rolls?
Can field guns be considered limbered for intial deployment or is this a simple case of design the scenario and enjoy?(the latter I think).
Infantry forming square-reading the rules it seems to be only available as a response when being charged. Are they able to form square in the normal course of their move without cavalry bounding in on them?
Cavalry iniating a charge who roll a six-FAIL. Do they simply have to remain halted or can they move somewhere else? I found in the rules where they state what they do if under fire etc but not if they simply roll the dreaded six.
Situation - Cavalry have successfully rolled to charge infantry sixteen inches away. Infantry have failed their morale and have been forced to retreat four inches. The cavalry can not hit them with the 16 inch charge. Do they simply charge the 16 inches and hope to charge again the next turn? Can they only move half-way and be a sort of "faint charge"?. In the game we moved them behind the infantry retreating and allowed them to charge again next turn.
Also, cavalry who have charged and not taken any fire. Do they still need to roll to charge home?
Does Shaken also mean disordered? Is there any modifier for shaken troops forming square?
The melee rules in Infantry state three rounds and then all fallback. Does that also include cavalry v infantry?
In the case of infantry that were in square at the start of a combat and have survived the three rounds of melee. Are they able to take their move back and reform remaning in square or must they fall back in another formation? Can they then reform in any direction and in any formation?
Is the angle or arc of fire for infantry the same as artillery e.g. 22.5 degrees?
Charging troops into enemy. I know there is a range at which infantry fire dependant upon class and a dice roll. Is there a distance where foot and cavalry halt in front of the target to first take the fire and then before they roll to charge home? I know in the Grand Manner (Napoleonics) it is six inches for cavalry and three inches for Foot.
Hope the questions are seen as positive. We really enjoyed the game and we have five members so intrigued they are busy ordering their Front Rank figures and madly painting them up. The rules had a great "feel" about them and were a huge amount of fun.
Look forward to the response.
Best wishes
Carlo