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 2^nd 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
2 Horse Artillery 

Newline Designs Indian Spearmen

 

This unit is the last of the full blown additions to my Mauryan Indian Army's infantry arm.

These are Newline Designs figures, and very nice they are indeed!

Their shield designs make a nice variation from the previous units. 

I went with quite dark for flesh tone on this unit - Delta CC "Bambi Brown" to be precise. 

These figures actually wear some armor, unlike the bulk of the Indian infantrymen. 

They carry the ubiquitous Indian two handed sword for back up in close in fighting. 

Austerlitz a la Morschauser: Setting up the table

In April I will be running a game at the Gardiner Public Library, in Gardiner, New York, under the auspices of HMGS Next Gen. The game will be based upon the battle of Austerlitz, December 2, 1805. 

Above is a view of the terrain from the North; the Pratzen heights are off in the distance to the left (East).

Jared tells me that this group are relative gaming Novices, so Field of Battle seemed like it might be a bit too complex. View is of the Northern third of the field from the East (Allied side). 

Jon Freitag and I played and enjoyable remote game using a version of Joseph Morschauser's rules about a year ago. It was clear the rules needed a bit of modification in a few areas, especially Morale.

View is of the middle third of the field, from the West (French side); the Pratzen heights are opposite. 

Gardiner, NY, is about an 80 minute drive from me, and is located near to both Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (where Joe attended Bard College, and was exposed to Miniature Wargaming by Professor Gerard de Gre ), and Poughkeepsie, NY (where Joe lived and wrote).. Gerry de Gre was also a frequent wargames opponent of Charlie Sweet . Thus the choice of the Morschauser rules seemed particularly fitting!  View is of the Southern third of the field, from the East (Allied) side; Tellnitz, Solkonitz, and the Goldbach stream are opposite.

View of the field from the South; note the lakes (fish ponds, really) and swampy ground, which was partially frozen over and obscured by snow at the time of the battle. Next steps are to add a few trees, and then prepare the Orders of battle and deploy them on the tabletop to ensure that they fit in a reasonable fashion, and then do a playtest game. 

Map is from Volley and Bayonet: Glory Road. I simplified the terrain somewhat,

especially considering the constraints of the 4" grid. 

Newline Designs Indian Archers

The next addition to my Indian Army is this unit of Archers.

The figures are by Newline Designs. 

Note the scabbards for their 2 handed swords!

The longbows were made from Bamboo. the actual ones, that is, not the figures!

The magic was is once again doing a nice job of bringing out the detail of the figures. 

Volleys of arrows, followed by a charge armed with 2 handed swords... would have been pretty terrifying, I would think!

A Very British Painting Table

 Painting has been completed on the expansion of the Infantry complement of the Mauryan  Indian army, to be documented in upcoming posts. I expect to return to that army, with some limited expansion of the cavalry Chariots, and Elephant Corps, later this year. With that done, the upcoming items all seem to be British in one way or another. 

Last week saw the delivery of the lead for the Wars of the Roses project; a second pack of liveried Billmen was accidentally omitted from the shipment, and in the usual excellent fashion of Old Glory customer service, is already on its way to me. 

3 units of archers primed and ready to paint.

And three units of Billmen as well. 

Some British Rocket troops to do as well. Wellington famously despised them, but every British Napoleonic army HAS to have a rocker troop, right?

3 units of Scots Covenanter Foote for the ECW. I have to finish these lads first; three coklors applied to each unit so far!

British products - tokens for TTS! and FK&P, freshly arrived from the [Big Red] Bat Cave in the UK.

The biggest reason for getting the tokens was the minimal extra shipping costs when combined with the above - 3 4 x 6 foot gaming mats with 4"/120 cm cross" grid. These could easily be used with small scale TTS (15 mm figures, or small 25 mm units), but their real purpose is for a planned Napoleonic game using a grid and updated Morschauser-inspired rules.