Roll Call 1999

Napoleonic Principles of War Rules

Napoleonic Competition Notes

The Rules used will be Napoleonic Principles of War.

The players should bring a pair of armies, which are historical opponents these armies should be selected from the army lists in the rules. Please see the itinerary in your Delegate pack for game duration. Time starts from the start of the Game set-up.

Game Set-up.

This phase of the game must not exceed 30 minutes.

The player with the lowest points in the Swiss chess system may select which pair of armies will be used in the game, the second player may choose which army they wish to use.

The game set-up will be as page 13 in the rules, the number and type of terrain pieces will be determined by the umpire.

Roads through woods and built up areas do not negate the line of sight or strategic movement penalties for the terrain, also roads through built up areas do not negate movement penalties.

The crest line of a hill continues off the hill and units must cross this crest line to see units behind the crest and on the hill.

French Player will choose their reserves after ascertaining the nationality of their opposition but before having sight of the terrain.

British players will decide whether to use battalion guns when writing their orders

If a Prussian system army gains the initiative they may choose to position their army up to 12" onto the table but all movement bases must be fully deployed. They still count as having the initiative (Their 1st move being to move on and deploy). Their opponent may still deploy up to 9" on to the Table, and will start their move in Phase 1. If this option is taken the terrain objective and orders are decided once both players have placed their movement bases onto the table.

All orders and terrain objectives once written should be placed in the envelope provided by the umpire, and if the players have any questions about their opponent’s orders during the game the Umpire should be called and he will adjudicate. The Umpire may examine any player’s orders during the course of the game.

End of Game.

1) The player with the initiative may not start phase 4 of their bound within 15 minuets of the end of the game.

2) The results calculation will be as page 13 of the rules. The requirements for holding a line of communication at the end of the game are the same as any other objectives.

3) The Swiss chess scoring system will be as follows.

Points Difference	Winner	Looser
00	5	5
01 - 15	6	4
16 - 35	7	3
36 - 60	8	2
61 - 90	9	1
over 90	10	0

Officers and Command Control.

1)

a) Orders should be written for each officer, leader or dummy base (this includes C-in-C's who have any troops directly under their Command).

b) C-in-C's with any troops under his direct control will have to change his own orders in the same way as he does with other officers.

2) Staff Officers.

Staff Officers may do one of the following.

a) Put in charge of up to two other officers, and use their initiative to influence troops under their command.

b) Be given direct control of their own troops, in which case they cannot influence troops under another officer’s command. If his command contains only artillery batteries then he becomes an artillery officer with the associated benefits

3) If a player decides to place a subordinate officer on one movement base with the C in C or a senior staff officer then the spare movement base becomes a dummy and is allowed to operate as a normal dummy base. Two equal officers cannot occupy the same movement base unless a higher ranking officer is also present as each is not allowed to command the others troops. The movement base can only be moved by the senior officer.

4) Game Orders.

a) Orders should be linked to an arrow on a map of the terrain.

b) The officer or his troops may not voluntarily move more than 6" away from this line. (Cavalry divisions may move 9" from their arrow). Troops will be allowed to move round impassable terrain.

c) No troops may voluntarily move out of their normal move distance from units in their own command, except for troops left in a position with hold orders.

d) Units within the brigade may be held in reserve to protect the rear and flanks of the other units in their officer’s command.

e) Troops should not just be given orders to hold an objective they should also be given orders on how to get there (i.e. Attack or engage).

f) To prevent confusion players may also draw the position that the officer’s command should occupy at the end of the game.

g) Only once a command has reached the end of its arrow then the orders will revert to Hold, NO units may advance beyond this point.

5) How a Command will act if prevented from reaching their objective or final position by the enemy, will depend upon what type of orders they have been given.

i) If they have attack orders then the command should attempt to move to their objective at all costs, and depending upon the troop type must charge or fire at close range at those enemy preventing them from achieving their final position.

ii) If they have engage orders, then the units will if missile armed fire at the enemy preventing them reaching their objective at the range stated in their orders and will only advance nearer if the enemy is driven back or their line of march becomes clear. Non Missile troops must advance to within charge reach of the enemy who are preventing them from reaching their objective, and then charge or use the threat of a charge to engage this enemy.

iii) Troops with engage orders may retire along their line of march if threatened by the enemy but they must stay within their engage distance, i.e. Stated firing range of missile troops or charge range of non missile troops.

iv) Cavalry with engage orders may not charge movement bases or infantry in squares.

v) Troops with hold orders may engage or attack enemy troops that come within 2" of the position they are ordered to hold.

Reminder.

The player may not give orders for a command to move to an objective the C-in-C or commander himself cannot see at the beginning of the game.

Miscellaneous Notes.

1)Artillery other than Horse Artillery may not move and fire in the same bound.

2)Opposition movement bases being spotted because they are in the automatic spotting distance of friendly troops, do not count as the officers one spotting chance that bound.

3)Tactical Movement.

a) A formation change (including a 180 degree turn) does not count as movement for tactical movement. So when in tactical range a deployed artillery unit may limber, move and then deploy again.

4)In the army lists the French troops get a +1 if they have an attack order, in order to get this moral bonus they must be advancing upon, charging or counter charging the enemy. i.e. a French unit in square may not count the moral bonus when being charged by cavalry. Once they have taken their terrain objective the orders become hold and the moral bonus will only be taken if the unit is charging an enemy who is threatening the terrain objective.

5) How to define / measure what portion of a movement base or unit is in sight or in a specific terrain type.

a) For movement calculation, if any part of the front edge is in the terrain or will enter the terrain then it counts the reduced movement effect, otherwise it may move normally.

b) For claiming the benefit of cover from firing or for spotting then more than half the base must be in the terrain or behind high terrain hills, or other troops.

c) For strategic movement if any of the unit is in the open or not behind the obstacle, then the strategic movement range will be the full 16", if their opponents are also in the open.

6)In the rules some unit modifiers are ignored if the unit moved through terrain that would slow down their movement this is still the case if the unit is in melee but did not move. i.e. Napoleonic columns fighting in terrain that would effect their movement will not count the x 2 for being formed even if they choose not to counter charge.

7) The +1 initiative for all infantry firing at short range (except for British trained troops) should read all infantry who fired at short range earlier that bound. This is only counted when a unit who fired earlier that bound wishes to perform another action i.e. move or change formation. It does not cost 1 initiative point to fire.

8) A firing unit or group may not single out a single unit as a target if the units frontage is narrower than the fierier and it is part of a larger group of units.

9)To count as supporting a friendly unit’s flank in order to prevent it being attacked a unit must be within 2" of that part of the flank without having to interpenetrate the supported unit.

10) French and British system infantry with attack orders are allowed to slow their movement in order to fire their skirmishers skirmishers at 4", but they must continue to advance once they start firing.

11)

a) When charging an enemy unit the charging troops must have the movement allowance to contact the enemy with a full 3cm element but once initial contact is gained they do not have to conform to their opponents' frontage.

b) The unit may still charge the flank of a deployed infantry unit even though it is only 1.5cm deep as long as it has the movement allowance to contact the target with a full 3cm of its frontage.

12) If an officer is in base to base contact with any unit in the target group he will count as part of that group when calculating officer casualties.

13) The casualty chart on the playsheet will be the one to use rather than the one in the rules.

14)British units who deploy skirmishers over the crest of a hill should provide individual skirmish figures to denote this on the table.

15)Officers on their own do not affect strategic movement, and may be shot at only if target priorities allow.

16)The Attacker decides the melee groups and what order the melees are fought in.

Rule Modifications.

1)Movement bases.

a) When deploying troops from a movement base in column of march the troops must deploy from the front edge of the base and all units must be in base to base contact one behind the other.

b) When deploying from a Formed movement base all troops must be deployed with each unit’s front edge within 6" of the front edge of the movement base. All units must be facing (and parallel to) the front edge of the movement base.

c) When deploying from a deployed movement base all troops must be deployed with part of the unit’s base within 6" of the front edge of the movement base. They may face in any direction. All units must be deployed (except artillery who may be limbered), when troops under Prussian system officers deploys from a deployed movement base.

d) If a unit declares a charge against a movement base, all troops on the movement base must be declared and deployed on the table at the beginning of the next turn prior to any charge reaction being taken in the defenders bound. This is because the troops must be deployed in order to see if a charge reaction is required.

e) Only deployed movement bases may be interpenetrated.

2)Troops firing at Deployed batteries count 1 column shift left as a dispersed target.

3)Steady deployed British or KGL foot contacted frontally +2.

4)Formed Horse artillery may evade if contacted and pass the moral test.

5)Steady cavalry contacting or contacted by equal or lesser class now +4.

6)It costs 2 initiative points to move non-French trained foot when formed.

7)Troops may not move in the initiative phase if they moved earlier that bound. i.e. retired, persued or evaded.

8)It costs +2 initiative points per 8" to change an officers orders.

9)Mounted Infantry.

i.These should be based on regular cavalry bases with a mix of mounted and dismounted figures.

ii. They move as Class 3 cavalry in the open and as regular foot in terrain.

iii. They count as regular foot for Firing, hand combat and moral.

iv. They count as poor fire discipline because some of their number must hold the mounts

v.No initiative is required to mount or dismount as this is done automatically by the unit commander

Umpire this year : (Due to Paul Fox having to go to a wedding )

Richard Denning richard@rdenning.demon.co.uk

16 Boldmere Drive 0121 373 8522

Boldmere web site with some NPOW stuff:

Birmingham http://www.rdenning.demon.co.uk/napwar/npow.htm West Mids

B73 5ES