skirmishers

[augustus]

I'm probably in the minority here, but on thing that drove me crazy about Battleground: Waterloo was having to create all those tiny 75 man skirmish units, and dealing with them throughout the scenario. Will these annoying little bastards still be wish us in the Matrix version?

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: augustus

I'm probably in the minority here, but on thing that drove me crazy about Battleground: Waterloo was having to create all those tiny 75 man skirmish units, and dealing with them throughout the scenario. Will these annoying little bastards still be wish us in the Matrix version?

I'm sure you can count on it, as you will also see the same thing in the HPS Napoleonic Campaign Series of games.

At Waterloo, for example, the crucial battle for Hougumont(sp?)was fought with the British feeding in company size units to defend the chateau. Deployment of light troops as skirmishers to shield the main body as it approaches in massed columns was a central part of that era of warfare.

Don't feel bad though, I also am not a big fan of messing with all these little units, let alone the hassle of trying to reintegrate them into their parent units! However, it is central to the game if it is to be at all faithful to that era of warfare.

[Rhetor]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

ORIGINAL: augustus

I'm probably in the minority here, but on thing that drove me crazy about Battleground: Waterloo was having to create all those tiny 75 man skirmish units, and dealing with them throughout the scenario. Will these annoying little bastards still be wish us in the Matrix version?

I'm sure you can count on it, as you will also see the same thing in the HPS Napoleonic Campaign Series of games.

At Waterloo, for example, the crucial battle for Hougumont(sp?)was fought with the British feeding in company size units to defend the chateau. Deployment of light troops as skirmishers to shield the main body as it approaches in massed columns was a central part of that era of warfare.

Don't feel bad though, I also am not a big fan of messing with all these little units, let alone the hassle of trying to reintegrate them into their parent units! However, it is central to the game if it is to be at all faithful to that era of warfare.

Some time ago I have proposed a differentiation between the skirmishers - an option either to detach them from the mother battalion altogether - then they would act the same as in current napoleonic BG games - as independent small unit; or to deploy them as a screen before the mother battalion - then they would act similarily to the skirmishers in the CW games, ie their would move with the mother battalion. Of course the bonuses the skirmishers currently give to a battalion (-1 when fired through a skirmish unit) should be retained, and the skirmishers could even be shown somehow in the 3d view.

The idea behind this is to limit the number of units player has to control. In Napoleonic era skirmishers were mostly used as a screen for formed infantry, and as such they stayed in front of the battalion. When it was needed to give them an independent task (hold a farm or a castle, clear some woods, scout behind a hill when there was no cavalry on hand), they were detached, and operated independently on the battlefield.

Allowing players to keep their skirmishers with the formed infantry would also exclude another annnoying feature - when routed skirmisher company, instead of rejoining the mother battalion, which IMO is logical, runs away to the rear.

[Rhetor]

Oh, and there is one little thing about skirmishers that ought to be straightened out. Namely their ability to block movement of formed infantry. It is really annoying when a 25-men strong skirmisher company stops cold a 800-men strong formed battalion

[augustus]

I always liked the skirmisher system from Age of Rifles: A unit can have skirmishers deployed or not, but they don't appear on the map, yet they do effect how combat works. No hundred tiny units to deal with. Oh, well.

[Rhetor]

ORIGINAL: augustus

I always liked the skirmisher system from Age of Rifles: A unit can have skirmishers deployed or not, but they don't appear on the map, yet they do effect how combat works. No hundred tiny units to deal with. Oh, well.

Exactly what I had in mind; but the possibility of detaching the company from the battalion must also be retained.

Oh, and one more thing came to my mind - in current napoleonic BG it is impossible to deploy a whole light battalion into skirmish formation, because one loses the possibility to reform the separated companies into a formed battalion. A crucial consideration when one wants to form a square from a few skirmish companies.