LANNES: Force set up and scenario for first battle.

Barry and I got together today to kick off our LANNES campaign, and rolled up the starting forces and Generals for each of our commands. First, here's what I rolled up for my command

FRENCH

Unit #	Unit Name	DD	CD	Routs Caused	Final UI loss	Routed, etc?	End Game Result
1	Vendémiaire Line	D6	D10
2	Brumaire Line	D4	D8
3	Angoulême Chasseur	D6	D10
4	Ardennes Light	D4	D8
5	Bordeaux Chasseur	D6	D8
6	Chaumont Chasseur	D6	D10
7	Vertu 6# Ft Artillery	D4	D8
8	Génie 6# FA	D6	D10
9	Bouches-du-Rhône Light	D6	D8
10	Frimaire National Gde	D4	D8
11	Nivôse Line	D4	D10
12	Côte-d'Or Light	D6	D8
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
General	Name	LD	Special	Hit?	Outcome	Year	End Game Result
C-in-C	Francois Faucon	D10	-
A	Simeon Souris	D12	Poltroon
B	Blaize Bassier	D8	-
C	Rene Renard	D10	Fabian
D
E
F

Next, here's what Barry rolled up:

RUSSIAN

Unit #	Unit Name	DD	CD	Routs Caused	Final UI loss	Routed, etc?	End Game Result
1	Line	D4	D10
2	Line	D4	D10
3	Line	D4	D8
4	Light	D6	D8
5	6# Battery	D6	D10
6	Line	D6	D8
7	Line	D4	D8
8	Line	D4	D8
9	Line	D4	D8
10	Light	D4	D8
11	6#	D4	D10
12	Dragoons	D6	D8
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
General	Name	LD	Special	Hit?	Outcome	Year	End Game Result
C-in-C	Boris Badenov	D10	N/A
A	M. Smartov	D12	N/A
B	Trembalalotsky	D8	Epileptic
C	Boramirov	D12	Heroic
D
E
F

Having set that up, we used the system from Field of Battle for introducing variety in to the Scenario. First, we determined the effects of  Fate. Each of us rolled 3 D4's for Fate, followed by a D12 for each.

French

D4	Decision Area	D12	Narrative	Effect
2	Strength	9	Numerical Superiority	Up1
1	Tactical Adjustment	10	Inspiration	Up 1
4	Deployment	3	Delay	Down 1

Russian

D4	Decision Area	D12	Narrative	Effect
3	Reconnaissance	5	Objectives	Down 1
3	Reconnaissance	10	Encircling Attack	Up 1
1	Tactical Adjustment	5	Outposts	Down 1

After that, each commander allocates a Die Type to each of the Four Decision Areas. As we both have D10 C-in-C's, We each had  D10, D10, D8, and a D6. The allocations were done secretly as follows - numbers in parentheses indicate the allocated die type prior to modification by the Fate process.  

Area	Fr Die	Fr Roll	Russ Die	Russ Roll	Result
Tactical	D8 (6)	6	D4 (6)	1	2 of winner’s Cmd groups may make Tactical Afjustment
Strength	D12 (10)	3	D8	8	⅛ of loser’s Cmd groups late
Recon	D6	5	D10	7	NE
Deploy	D8 (10)	6	D10	7	NE; winner gets to choose table orientation or side

Thus it appears that the French, while having overall superiority in numbers in the area, suffered serious delays due to administrative foul ups, and will be outnumbered well into the battle. Fortunately, the Russian outposts were very lax, and that combined with inspiration on the part of the French leaders, will at least allow them to refine their tactical arrangements once the Russian intentions are clear.

We decided to generate the Battlefields using our Warplan 5/5 cards. Rolling randomly, including several back ups in case a district that was all water or otherwise deemed mutually unacceptable, we determined that the battle will take place in district 28A.14, as shown below.

The Warplan 5/5 Atlas further describes this district as "Bleak rocky District - River Deep. Running through deep rocky gorges. Very poor road."  The nearby village is AINSWORTH (as in ains worth much, I think!). So this would appear to be the Battle of Ainsworth Gorge, 1799. The hills will obviously be Class III rocky hills, the River Class III fordable by Infantry only (it wouldn't make much of a game if unfordable, and Class III is bad enough!), with a single class II pine woods. When I set up the table, I will probably leave just enough room along the river banks for a unit (Light Infantry only!) to move in March Column on either side of the river. I don't think my advantage in Cavalry will prove much use in this battle!

This will be a 6 x 6 table. By the time we get to the third game, I think we may want a larger table. At that point I think we will just add one of the 2-4 adjacent squares, which we can determine randomly or by mutual agreement.