Sunday, February 13, 2022

Updated Morschauser Horse and Musket Rules, Mark 3

Note: these rules are heavily influenced by Russ McFalane's  Morschauser-inspired rules for the late Renaissance era, "Rough Wooing".


Morschauser-style gridded Horse and Musket Rules, Mark 3


Organize the Army into commands, each with a Leader. Leaders only affect their Command.

Players alternate turns. Dice for who goes first at the beginning of the game. 

MOVEMENT

Unit Type

Move-boxes

Hits

Melee- Front

Melee- Other

Fire - base dice

Militia Infantry

2

4

2

1

2

Light Infantry

3

4

2

1

3

Infantry

2

5

3

1

2

Grenadiers

2

6

4

2

2

Light Cavalry

5

4

3

1

1

Heavy Cavalry

4

6

4

2

-

Foot Artillery

2

4

1

1

3

Horse Artillery

4

4

1

1

2

Guard Infantry

2

8

4

2

2

Guard Cavalry

4

8

5

3

-

Leaders

6

2

2

2

-


Counts as 1.5 boxes to move, or measure range, on the diagonal

Costs  1/2 box for each turn of 45 degrees

Increase Move by 50% if the entire move is along a road. 

Units may move directly to their rear at half speed.

Only Light Infantry may enter woods. Cavalry and Artillery may not enter buildings.

If entering an enemy zone of control [ZOC] (within the 3 boxes to the front) must stop, and

melee will result. Must face into the box of at least one enemy unit whose ZOC you enter.


MELEE

All attacking units facing into a box containing an enemy unit fight in melee.

All defending units who are attacked fight in Melee

All defending units which have an enemy in their ZOC may fight in melee. 

Resolve multiple unit melees so as to involve the fewest possible units in each. 


All units in Melee roll as many dice as they have hits remaining.

Each die that has a score less than or equal to the Melee rating of that unit is a hit!

Minus 1 to melee rating when attacking uphill, from stream, into woods, or units in buildings.

Minus 1 to melee rating if their Command is Shaken. 

Units losing a melee (causing fewer hits than the enemy) Fall Back 2 boxes, facing the enemy.


MISSILE FIRE (Shooting)

Unit Type

Range-boxes

To Hit

Firing: Base Dice

Militia Infantry

4

5, 6

2 dice

Light Infantry

4

4, 5, 6

3 dice

Infantry

4

5, 6

2 dice

Grenadiers, Guard

4

5, 6

2 dice

Light Cavalry

3

6

1 die

Heavy Cavalry

N/A

N/A

N/A

Artillery-Shot

12

4, 5 ,6

3 dice

Artillery-Grape

6

2, 3, 4 ,5, 6

3 dice


Units may Fire at the beginning or end of their move, but not in between; EXCEPTION - Foot Artillery may not fire at all if it moves, other than to change facing.  

Guard Artillery adds 1 to its score when shooting - a "7" = 2 hits at close range only

Losses: Roll 1 die less if the unit has lost 50% or more of its hits

Long Range: Roll 1 die less if non-Artillery unit is shooting from over half range

Minus 1 to shooting into woods, at targets behind walls, or in buildings.

Minus 1 to shooting if their Command is Shaken. 

Units in a stream or ford may not shoot.

Units suffering 2 or more hits due to fire in a single turn Fall Back 2 boxes, facing the enemy. 


MORALE

Command MoraleWhen ½ of the units in a Command have been removed it becomes Shaken and must

immediately retreat 12”/4 boxes. Units which are part of a Shaken Command move at half

speed, except to the rear (retreating), and suffer an additional minus 1 penalty to shooting

and melee. 

Army Morale When all the Commands in an army are Shaken the General must concede. For large battles,

could certainly use HALF the commands in the Army Shaken as the point where the General

must concede


LEADERS
Must stay w/in 6 boxes of his command; units farther away move ½ speed (round up) 

Leaders can’t shoot, but do participate in melees.

If a Leader is in a box that is shot at or engaged in Melee, roll 2D6, on a total score of 2 or 3,

the leader takes a hit. 2 hits eliminates a Leader, all his units then move half speed (round up)

May Rally 1 unit within 6 boxes at the start of their Move:

1.2 = Fail, 3,4,5,6 = unit  regains 1 hit, 7+ unit regains 2 hits!



Leader Quality 

Assigned Historically, or  Roll a D6 for each Leader at the start of the game:

1 = Abysmal (minus 2 to Rally rolls)

2= Poor (minus 1 to Rally rolls)

3,4 = Average (no change)

5 = Good  (plus 1 to rally rolls) 

,6 = Superior (plus 2 to rally rolls)



The quality roll itself could be modified -1 for armies with overall poor leadership, and +1
for armies with excellent overall leadership.



NAPOLEONIC EXTRAS

(I am as yet undecided whether to use any or all of these).


Formations: 

Cost 1 box move penalty to change formation

Column: +1 die in Melee, add 1 extra die to shooter when shot at. Increases base move to

3 boxes for infantry.

Line:  No change.

Square +1 die in Melee, no Flanks or Rear, cannot move, add 1 die extra to shooter when

shot at.

Rifles: as Light infantry, but with Range of 6 boxes

Sharpshooters: Hit on 4,5,6



National (leader) Characteristics:


Napoleon: All infantry may move an extra 1 box; +1 to all French Rally rolls (7 = 2 hits regained)

Wellington: Rifles (light infantry that shoot out to 6 boxes), British Line infantry (only) rolls an extra die when firing at close range.

Erzherzog Karl: Gets two roll TWO rally attempts, but if either is a "1" he has a seizure, and NO rallying takes place that turn.

Marshal Kutusov - Russian infantry does NOT retreat when suffering 2 hits, nor when their command becomes shaken.

Blucher - Prussian Militia infantry add 1 die when ATTACKING, only.

Spain - When a Militia unit is eliminated, a 1 hit stand of Guerillas (fight as as Militia) is placed anywhere on the table of the Spanish player's choosing, but must be at least 5 boxes from any enemy.


Army Composition:

France: Imperial Guard

Great Britain: Rifles, no Militia

Austria: Less Light Infantry

Russia: More Artillery

Prussia: More Militia Infantry

Spain: More Militia infantry, less Cavalry


Preliminary set up for the Austerlitz Test game -looking South, with Murat's Cavalry Reserve in the foreground. 

Looking Southeast

Looking North from Davout's position

Looking North from Russian side

Eagle's eye view from above the Pratzen Heights

View from behind the Russian lines

Overview from the South. Both sides have their Imperial Guard/Oudinot Grenadiers in reserve off the table 

Overall, I have decided this is just too many troops, and will be decreasing the numbers from those in the OOB below by about 13. I think the terrain needs a bit of simplification as well; less swamps/lakes top the South, eliminate all of the streams except the main course of the Goldbach, and move the Southern course of the Goldbach back 1-2 boxes. All of these changes will have the added advantage of speeding up set up of the game as well. I also think half of Davout, Soult, and Bernadotte should start off the table to simulate the fog and deception that were a key part of the battle. 

Austerlitz 


Orders of Battle are based upon the following ratio

1 unit = 1200 Infantry, 800 Cavalry or 12 Guns.


French Army - Emperor Napoleon I


Imperial Guard, Marshal Bessieres 
3 Guard Infantry
2 Guard Cavalry

2 Guard Horse Artillery
4 Grenadiers
1 Foot Artillery



1st Corps, Marshal Bernadotte
7 Line Infantry
2
 Foot Artillery
2 Light Infantry



3rd Corps, Marshal Davout
3 Light Infantry
5
 Line Infantry
1 Foot Battery
1 Heavy Cavalry
2 Light Cavalry
1 Horse Artillery


4th Corps - Marshal Soult
2 Light Infantry
11
 Line Infantry
3
 Foot Artillery
2 Heavy Cavalry


5th Corps - Marshal Lannes
2 Light Infantry
10
 Line Infantry
2
 Foot Artillery
2 Heavy Cavalry

plus

2 more Foot Artillery (deployed on Santon Mound, cannot move except to change facing)



Reserve Cavalry Corps, Marshal Murat
5 Heavy Cavalry
3 Light Cavalry
1 Horse Artillery








ALLIED ARMY - Tsar Alexander I, and General Mikhail Kutusov

Russian Imperial Guard - Grand Duke Constantine
1 Light Infantry
4 Guard Infantry

2 Guard Foot Artillery
3
 Guard Cavalry
1 Guard Horse Artillery


1st Column  - Lieutenant General Buxhowden
2 Light Infantry

2 Grenadier
5 Line Infantry
2 Foot Artillery

1 Horse Artillery

2 Light Cavalry

2nd Column - Lieutenant General Langeron  
1 Light Infantry
2 Grenadier
5 Line Infantry
1 Heavy Cavalry
2 Foot Artillery

3rd Column - Lieutenant General Prebyshevsky

1 Light Infantry
4 Line Infantry
2 Foot Artillery

(This command can be included under the same player as the 2nd Column if there are fewer than 7 Allied players)

4th Column - Feldzeugmeister Kolwrat 

2 Light Infantry
9
 Line Infantry

1 Grenadier
4 Foot Artillery


5th Column - Feldmarschal Leutnant Prinz Johann von Liechtenstein 

3 Heavy Cavalry
3 Light cavalry

2 Horse Artillery


Advance Guard of the Army - Major General Prince Bagration

2 Light Infantry
4 Line Infantry
4 Light Cavalry
2 Heavy Cavalry
1 Foot Artillery
Horse Artillery 

19 comments:

  1. Nice rules summary Peter, and they seem quite elegant in their simplicity. It is a fine line between a large battle with lots of troops and one that is too densely packed.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, hence the decision to curt back by 1/3; each command fits in one 4Lreally useful box!

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  2. This shows the advantage of a pre game practice run through, and I agree that an over filled gaming table just causes congestion and frustration for the players!

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    1. Exactly; I'll set it up again with the revised terrain and OOB after our ECW game Thursday.

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  3. Now this looks like an event I'd be interested in signing up for. (When crossing back over the border becomes easier).

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    Replies
    1. If it works out well, I might run it or something like it at Historicon as part of HMGS Next Gen.

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  4. Looks interesting, will be watching to see how it goes when you do the game.

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    Replies
    1. I wasn't able to do the test game this we3ekend, so hopefully this weekend or the following one.

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  5. Simulations Pubs captured the essence of this battle by making the allied troop counters so large as to be almost immobile compared to the more nimble French. Game designers allowed for possible allied victory by having them retreat off-map in the direction of Vienna before being swarmed by the French. Makes for an interesting 60 minutes. And sometimes less.

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    Replies
    1. It can actually be difficult to recreate Napoleon's victory at Austerlitx unless you severely handicap the Allies (especially in leadership, which is certainly justified, and in combat, which is probably justified as well; Austerlitz and Jena-Auerstadt were really the Zenith of the Grand Armee.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thank you, Dean; just needs some thinning, as above!

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  7. Awesome looking game set up!
    Best Iain

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Ian; I need to take it down for our game Thursday, the reset for a solo playtest with the simplified terrain (a bit) and pared down troops.

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  8. Thanks for stopping by, and the kind word!

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  9. Spectacular, Peter! What a treat to play that!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Aaron. We actually wound up doing a partial playtest yesterday, and it went very well.

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  10. Looks good pity you decided against FOB though :-)

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    Replies
    1. I did Austerlitz with FoB for Jared'/s game club a number of years ago, as my first game with them, and it went very well. The group I will be doing this with in April is rather inexperienced, and the location ties in so well with Joseph Morschauser's life and gaming.

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