KS HITS & Couriers Peninsular Campaign Battles - important gameplay notes.

UNFORDABLE WATERCOURSES

Some of the maps in use are stock maps but reworked to make some watercourses unfordable. These can be identified in the MAPS folder of the KS Mod or Supplemental Maps Mod by the notation "RM" in the dds file name. This indicates "restricted movement".

This is very important to understand. These rivers can only be crossed at the marked bridges and marked fords (where roads cross them) ONLY in road march column. Tactical control will have to be closely exercised when assaulting or even moving brigades and divisions across these rivers because the AI is not set-up to understand them. The AI will just march to the riverbank, hit it and then turn to walk along it to the nearest crossing point. During this it walks in the water so is very slow and gets exhausted quickly. Letting the AI path itself across an unfordable river could lose you the battle, please be warned.

Couriers too, do not understand the water barrier and will hit it and spend ages slowly trotting along its edge towards the nearest crossing point.

Most of you have experienced unfordable rivers in the battles of Alagon and Valladolid. It is worth mentioning it again as a refresher, and others have yet to play a game using this feature.

The KS players realise this isn't ideal in any way but we did want to try and get unfordable rivers into the game because they contribute a neat tactical edge to a defender in a campaign scenario. We put up with the awkward effects because we think they're worth it. It makes an attacker have to manage his forces more carefully and closely which is how an attack of this nature needed to be controlled.

In addition they make retreats across them more difficult.

The secret to getting your attacking force across a river is therefore to put them in road column and order them to use roads to a point across the target bridge and then ride with them to supervise their immediate deployment on the far bank as you attack. Couriers sent across rarely work so some TCing might be needed or at least place your avatar right in the action.

We have seen some variable behaviour with the new unfordable stream greyscale on the bitmap and now and then the AI will ignore it and find a way across anyway. This is another reason not to rely on AI pathing as the rivers shouldn't be crossable and AI popping up on an unexpected flank where they should not have been able to cross obviously weakens the defenders position.

So everyone please be aware and please take care.

MAGICAL CANISTER

The second gameplay issue I'd like to ask you to please pay attention to is artillery embedded into infantry lines. The problem comes about because the game does not calculate friendly fire at all. We've all done it, often without meaning to or realising its happening. Its easy for your avatar to be out of sight of your guns and not know they are firing magic canister through your own men. So if you see another player doing it, don't get mad, just make a polite comment in the text chat. If you are asked to correct it, please don't get mad either, just attend to the issue asap. Thanks everyone.

I'd like to see guns shooting from in front of supporting infantry lines. I will suggest that a supporting infantry unit should be no closer that the limber line and if enemy is shooting it should definitely be the gunners taking casualties and not the defending infantry. If you order supporting infantry forwards please make sure your guns either stop firing (you'll need to TC the battery commander and order him to cease fire or limber his guns) or at least TC him and order his unit to fire roundshot, not canister.

Otherwise please place your batteries between and alongside your infantry so they have a uninterrupted field of fire, or far behind your lines so they drop roundshot over their heads.

Even guns on a higher slope should not fire canister through their own men, but roundshot/shell is okay.

I hope everyone understands the reasoning behind this request and I hope no-one will become irritated if they see it happening. I'll check the replay and if it is occurring I'll ensure casualties are inflicted on the unit that was being fired through.

DEFENSIVE TOWN BLOCKS



Some maps contain a number of strongpoints. They are represented as a hollow square of stone walls. They have a very high defensive value. These are meant to represent buildings that could be fortified and offered good protection to the defender. Many Napoleonic battles revolved around capturing small towns that could be defended with relatively few troops. Apart from forts in the Waterloo game (which do not seem to function correctly anyway) the stock game does not allow meaningful town fighting at all, so we added this feature to try and represent the difficulty of forcing a defender out of a stone or brick structure. We place these next to other farms and villages, often in critical locations such as by road junctions and river crossings where occupying them will cause the greatest interdiction of an enemy wanting to come by.

Battalions should be placed inside these in square or column of division formation. The square gives a visual impression of a defending force facing outwards in all directions. Second, the square formation delivers fire in all directions.

For the Gettysburg mod: square has a powerful melee ability and represents well the defensive bonus of troops holed-up inside a strong building they have barricaded and loopholed. A battalion placed in square formation inside one of these will be able to hold off 2 or 3 enemy battalions for some time. Charging a unit in square formation in one of these with infantry will be suicide.

The best way to deal with a defended building is firepower, either from artillery or skirmishers. Once the enemy is weakened, then send in the assault columns.

Note: Please be aware that the tactic of bypassing strongpoints to leave them in your rear untaken is a modern military concept that came about mainly in the 20th century. It would be unthinkable for a Napoleonic commander to do this. Part of the function of strongpoints is that they MUST be neutralised when encountered and WILL soak up much attacking effort. Its why we created them. Its also why Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte soaked up so much of Napoleon's effort at Waterloo.

So no Guderian panzer corps bypassing them please

GENERALS SCOUTING

Many of the campaign scenarios begin, unlike our more casual battles, with the two sides in close proximity and even in sight so a scouting generals rule usually isn't needed, but in case troops do move off in directions away from the fight to find a flank, or your force is distant from the fighting and approaching, please ensure all generals stay within 250 yards of their closest infantry or cavalry unit. Aertillery does not count.


Thank you everyone. Let's have fun games.

One of the players has raised a concern to me that the floater players we have in this campaign are different to those in Neal's. In Neal's game there was a pool of float players who did not have access to the private forums of either side. In this camapign we have players on one team who from time to time due to shortage of numbers, will play an MP battle on the other team.

Such players of course have 100% knowledge of the planning and forces of their "real" side from the private forum they have access to.

Due to the large size of the Peninsular Campaign map and the need for many map commanders instead of only a handful as in the past, there is not a great deal I can do about this. I do trust all of you implicitely not to use any information the character/commander you are playing in such-and-such battle would not have if he were just a commander in that army. Its a classic role-playing situation. We may know things out-of-character but its the first and most fundamental rule that you don't break the fourth wall by using that information in-character.

Its also a fairly standard kriegspiel dilemma with hindsight and so on.

If you're drafted in to help side X when you normally play for side Y, just please don't exploit any information you possess. I'll usually place such players in minor roles where they can't sway the battles outcome using any knowledge they may have but that can't always be the case.

Using out-of-character information would also in the long term have a detrimental effect on the campaign and other people's enjoyment so I hope others, as I do, trust everyone to play a "straight" game.

Thanks all.

Tidied this section up to make it applicable to all Peninsular campaign games. Added a section on strongpoints since these caused an unfortunate surprise at Valladolid.

MOVING SQUARES

There was an incident at the Sesena battle where some infantry formed square and then advanced upon and initiated melee with enemy cavalry.

This never happened historically. Please don't order your troops in squares to attack enemy cavalry.

There are many historical cases where infantry did form into squares because cavalry nearby was a threat - they then advanced to attack enemy infantry.

In our games, due to limitations of the game engine our squares have a very significant melee bonus vs both cavalry and infantry. In reality a square was vulnerable to enemy infantry melee because it's formation was both deep and weak, preventing men on the sides and rear contributing quickly to the melee at it's front.

While it is okay to move your squares around because you perceive a cavalry threat (this was the main purpose of cavalry; to force infantry to form squares) I would ask all players to please change formation from square to line or column before initiating a melee. There is not a lot we can do with the AI behaviour in some cases, as it will charge no matter what formation it is in, but please make every effort to get your infantry out of square when in melee with infantry.

If you are then hit by enemy cavalry as well, this is simply tough luck and good enemy tactics.

Thank you everyone.