How does the off line battles work?

[Kazmier]

This would be my interest in this software to run a campaign and fight the miniature battles.

What level of detail is given. (Would like battlian level)?

How does the interface work?

Does it print up a nice order of battle?

Is it easy to use?

[Didz]

Actually I had no idea how this works, so I set up a test game and tried it out.

This is how it works[:D]

When a battle occurs the game asks if you intend to resolve it using Miniatures (I assume this is up to you. You could use a Talonsoft boardgame or anything if you prefer)

As soon as you say yes the game presents you with a screen (see below) which lists the details of the opposing OOB's and the terrain etc.



As you can see its pretty basic stuff. The strengths are expressed at Divisional level so no lists of battalions I'm afraid.

Strength points are the equivalent of about 500 men or 1 Artillery battery although divisional artillery is not seperated stated so perhaps one or two strength point per division should be allocated as artillery depending upon the historic OOB.

Once, you have noted these details (A screen print is probably the easiest way) you press continue and the game instantly saves itself and closes.

End of Phase 1

You then go off and fight the battle somewhere/somehow.

[Didz]

After the Battle

Having fought the battle you then come back and reload the game from the saved game file made earlier.

The game instantly goes into Battle Result collection mode and demands to know who won the and how many hours it took to decide.

It then presents you with the following screen listing all the Divisions which took part in the battle, first for one side and then the other.

[Didz]

Recording the Casualties

You must select each Division in turn from the list, at which point a second screen pops-up asking you to adjust that Divisions strength, Fatigue & Morale to reflect its post-battle state.



As each Division is updated it dissappears from the list until there are none remaining. The screen then flips to the other army and the same process is repeated.

Once both armies have been updated the game starts and the campaign continues.

Presumably if you make a mistake you reload the game from the saved game file and start again as there is no edit facility as such.

Its pretty basic but workable and far easier than trying to run this campaign with maps and map-tacks. If I were doing it I'd probably keep more details records of battalions per division seperately and just adjust their strengths according to the Division strength points and back again before and after battles.

But then if I was using the Micro-Battles rules these are played at Divisional level anyway. The biggest problem is probably finding enough figures to play out some of the larger engagements.

The key thing for me is that this is the first wargame I've come across that allows for this and ought to make it a must have for Napoleonic Tabletop Gamers and Wargame Clubs.

[Kazmier]

Thank you that was very informative.