Napoleonic HITS Game March 14-15

The recent Austrian offensive has placed the French in the unusual position of not being concentrated while facing an opponent who is.  The Archduke has decided that the next hammer blow is to be delivered upon the enemy deployed around Ostrowitz.  The town, once an Austrian armament depot had been overrun and captured by French troops who are now using its storehouses for a similar purpose.

A French corps commanded by  General de Division Louis d’Hilliers is reportedly deployed at the town.  A town is an easy thing to defend, but the French line of communication stretches east towards Bochnia and beyond.  The defense will be a little more complicated.  Break the line of communication and the town is virtually under siege.

Fortunately, for the d'Hilliers, the weather has been miserable.  Spring rains have swollen the area's rivers into torrents.  Most crossings of the Sanok River are underwater and fording it is impossible.  Only a few bridges are still intact and capable of supporting a military crossing.  Access to the French LOC is somewhat restricted.

This 3 hour battle will take place on the Random Map 6_1.  Only the 5 roads that are circled can be used for crossing the river.  Those marked with a 'X' are considered impassable in this scenario.  Of course fording the river is also impossible.  Be careful in giving movement orders that will be for long distances.  The AI does not know about the impassable river crossings and will use them.  The usual rule of not scouting more than 200-250 yd. in front of your own troops is in effect.

We will need a minimum of 6 players for this battle.  That number assumes that the CinCs will command troops.  We can of course accommodate many more players with brigade commands.  In fact, extra commanders to take individual cavalry brigades would benefit both sides greatly.

The positions of CinCs are now open.  As is well known, competition for these highly coveted slots is fierce so don't delay in volunteering. Once the selection committee has made its decisions, individual side briefings will go out.

A doodle sign-up link is here: Doodle Sign-Up

Europe is behind the times for a while longer, so 20:00GMT is 16:00EST, 15:00CST, 14:00MST & 13:00PST.  One day they'll catch up.

sounds great - count me in for any side and any command (except CinC) - I would like to get to know the game side a little bit more before taking command... although I am already all but convinced that I may be more valuable in sending couriers as a CinC without a command than actually moving around troops -at which stage I will gladly accept punishment if I get my troops slaughtered... (if that actually warrants punishment - everyone loves a good frontal assault - guns blazing, drums playing and flags flying! )

Yeah What Roland said.

For reasons past all understanding, no one has stepped forward for the role of CinC. Likely just a simple oversight, but just in case I am opening up nomination from the floor.

I am rather surprised that being CinC seems to be something everyone dreads here... why exactly is that? - because one has to take responsibility for failure? - the absolutely beautiful thing in the PC-world is that one can actually learn from mistakes and do better next time - a luxury one hardly ever has on the real battlefield!

From what I have seen in the 3 fights I have been in:  the CinC formulates a general plan - but the subordinates stick to their own thing more often than not anyway



thus I shall rephrase my previous statement: if there are no other volunteers I will always take command of any side (being used to it more than others most likely) - the only reason I did not volunteer (and I will stick to my statements in my very first post on this forum here) is that I am VERY new to this community and I would never want to impose... there are these people that come in and think they will "lead" right away - this is not the "military" way - no matter what knowledge you might have... so I am more than willing to let others do their thing and I will follow for as long as is required of me...

so to conclude: if noone is willing to take charge (in any fight - not just this one) I will always be ready to take over - but I have no NEED to do so... I am not promising success in any way - but you can always rest assured that I will do everything I can to ensure victory on the field...

one thing should be clear however up front - if I am CinC: if I send out an order (and orders will sound differently than suggestions in the courier message) I expect it to be fullfilled - I am not a micromanager - so I will never tell you what to do with your units - but if I want a hill taken - or some guns removed or whatever - then do it - and don't tell me afterwards: "Oh - I was worried about my troops - so I stayed back in safety... - if I send someone to do something - it follows a greater purpose - I don't just move troops around for fun - but that greater purpose may not always be explained in the message - simply due to time restraints...

Well said, Roland. You've just earned one Atta Boy! And just to show you that around here, no good deed goes unpunished, I'll give you command of the French forces. The briefing will be on its way shortly.

A very Germanic response This recalcitrant Frenchman will expect a little elan and dash via his Commander. Schoolmaster orders may not elicit full enthusiasm from this revolutionary.

I need dash, slogans, and inspiration!!

Mark87 wrote:A very Germanic response... This recalcitrant Frenchman will expect a little elan and dash via his Commander. Schoolmaster orders may not elicit full enthusiasm from this revolutionary.
I need dash, slogans, and inspiration!!

If dash is what you want - dash is what you'll get: take command of this regiment of Hussars and charge the guns on that hill - yes the ones beyond that wide open field supported by a cavalry brigade and some infantry   for the Emperor Napoleon 1er!

no seriously now - the only reason I put that in was that I am stunned on how unwilling some people are to sacrifice their pixel truppen - in real life the price is even higher- here on the virtual field - who cares  

Uncle Billy wrote:Well said, Roland. You've just earned one Atta Boy! And just to show you that around here, no good deed goes unpunished, I'll give you command of the French forces.  The briefing will be on its way shortly.

lol - now I'm in for the guys who invented the tapestry, the sufflet and who are wearing girl's blouses... great... can I at least appoint Captain Darling as my Chief of Staff?

thanks for the briefing - I'll take a closer look at it later today

I'm much more likely to pounce on an enemy's perceived weakness rather than hide from combat. Unless we are playing on the Manassas map-then I just wander around aimlessly and get increasingly more hostile communication from my fellow division commanders.

I am sure this will be loads of fun and that's all that really counts - we all need to enjoy the fight - even if that means standing by the colours and go down fighting!


just in case the Frenchies are losing I have been assured by Mr Kevin that we get to call in the USS Enterprise under Captain Jean-Luc Picard to save the day! (and no - the Borg are way way off somewhere else... )

The Borgias? They were assimilated into the Austrian hive-mind along with the rest of northern Italy decades ago.

I'll take an Austrian division please - two or six legged, I'm not fussy.

yeah yeah - go run and serve under a different CinC

I just prefer attacking

Now that we have one chump CinC identified, we need an Austrian commander.

Looking at the doodle, there are not many options.

I might take the ice cream command, however I am waiting my second child any time from now to the next 2 weeks. In such an event happening during the weekend,a new Habsburg would mean an instant leave of all my military duties.

I don not want to be a CinC at all. I prefer to be giving orders and carry out the task giving to me, being in charge is overrated. Been there done that and have nothing to show for it, except for a breast full medals,a list of awards and a pension. I can't even buy a hamburger with them.

Digby wrote:I just prefer attacking Smile

who says that the Frenchies aren't attacking?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvTv-I2Y390

I'll throw my lot in with the noob commander.

that's the spirit - chaos will rule supreme!

Has the command map issue been addressed with the small KriegsSpiel Napoleon Mod 1.710 ?

Pepe wrote:I might take the ice cream command, however I am waiting my second child any time from now to the next 2 weeks. In such an event happening during the weekend,a new Habsburg would mean an instant leave of all my military duties.

Congratulations.  However, the last 2 players to be so blessed no longer play very often.  Wives actually expect the man to help out during these times.  Where do they learn such nonsense?

SJ wrote:Has the command map issue been addressed with the small KriegsSpiel Napoleon Mod 1.710 ?

Yes, I found a mistake in the small map gscreens file.  Here is a corrected copy.  Place it in the Nappy mod \Logistics folder.  It will replace the one already there: Gscreens For Small Nappy Mod Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvTv-I2Y390

Thanks Mark! I just spent a very enjoyable few hours surfing YouTube and finding all kinds of music from 60s protest songs, through Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis and Kraftwerk to end up watching "These are the Days of our Lives" by Queen. I love the internet.

We'll play the scenario today at 20:00GMT. I'll put together something for tomorrow. If the scenario is interesting, we could run it again with players swapping sides with Mark and Matt as CinCs. We would all be sworn to silence regarding the details. Let's start Sunday at 19:30GMT.

I think that would be a very interesting idea anyway - same situation - different commanders and different sides! - and one more bonus - only one scenario needs to be created per weekend

Uncle Billy wrote:We'll play the scenario today at 20:00GMT.

For those in the U.S., that makes today's game at 1:00pm Pacific/2:00pm Mountain/3:00pm Central/4:00pm Eastern with last week's time change.