Napoleonic HITS Game March 21-22

Yes tuesday would be perfect.

Like a Corleone, "The Family" goes top of the list.

Hi All, I'm back from my travels and hope to be around to play either tomorrow or Sunday.

Regards

Tom

We still need a French CinC and at least one more player for Saturday. If we don't get the minimum number , I'll try to throw together a smaller scenario.

how come? I thought Ron and Mark volunteered? - A matter of size I believe...

Mark can only play Sunday. We will need two more to run the scenario.

Its possible that I might attend either Saturday or Sunday(most likely) but the total eclipse today and lunar activity in general appears to be interfering with all prediction engines, here:| .

Mike wrote:lunar activity in general appears to be interfering with all prediction engines, here

Hence the term lunatic.

Today is B-day for me (Big and Baby).

Enjoy the games today and tomorrow gentlemen.

Congratulations Pepe and Family!!

the best of luck to you and your family! - be sure to start military training as early as possible!

Congratulations for you and the mother - was it a boy or girl?

Hence the term lunatic. Razz

Ha!...That figures

Congratulations Pepe and Family.

I, myself, always wanted 3. Now that I've got 2, I wish I had 1

BTW, I can't make it tonight but perhaps tomorrow, if early start

Mike

Congratulations! We shall be expecting Pepe junior or Pepecita to be commanding a battery within 3 months.

Great news, Pepe! Be sure to pass along congratulations to your family from all your international admirers. ;-)

I'll cobble something together for a battle today if anyone has recovered from yesterday's marathon. Let's plan on starting at 19:30GMT, (15:30EST, 14:30CST, 13:30MST & 12:30PST).

good man! had a beautiful day up on the mountains - until I fell asleep on the mountain peak - some of the guys were rather surprised until I explained...

I'll be around this afternoon after 1pm Pacific Time. Between 1 and 1:15. If it's anything like yesterday, that should make me an hour early.

Congratulations Pepe and family!!! Now get that kid weaned and get back in the HITS saddle!

Also, can someone post a replay of the game yesterday?   I want to take a look at what happened on the French right in the first half of the battle.......

Also, Kevin, I think I need your replay viewer for the 18th time.   

Thanks!

Here's the replay of the battle: Battle Replay

Here's the Replay Viewer: Replay Viewer 1.05

This will be fought on the Alpine Map.  I'm going to try something a bit different for today's battle.  I don't know if it will work or not.  Here is the general situation map. I'll have specific maps for each side when we meet on TS.



The British hold a central ridge which commands all the E/W roads in the area.  The French don't like that.  It is thought that the British have deployed an oversized division on the heights.

For this battle, cavalry cannot enter any of the wooded areas marked on the map.  Also, they must use the roads to cross over any of the wooded ridges.  The usual no scouting more than 200-250 yd in front of your troops is in effect.

I can already see the long march around the flank

am happy to see the British for the first time in a game here though!

Can we try this scenario again this weekend? Either Saturday or Sunday? I want to command my French Division once again.

I was reusing that scenario in order to test the idea of having the cavalry fighting done by the AI. I wanted to use a wooded map where cavalry would likely not have a great impact on the battle no matter what. Instead we fought 2 battles on open ground where cavalry was free to roam. Although both battles resulted in the cavalry mostly fighting each other very early on, it does appear to allow us to field larger infantry divisions that don't overwhelm the players by the constant worry of a cavalry surgical strike.

The next test is to see how this works when cavalry really doesn't get involved until later in the battle. I'd like to try a set-piece battle this weekend. In that situation I'd expect the cavalry to stay out of the fight until the later innings. Of course my predictions on how battles go is almost always wrong.

If people really want to play Run To Ground again, we can do that instead.

I think trying to work on a method to keep the cavalry as the reserve force it was meant to be is the way to go here... - doesn't mean that another go at the scenario we failed to really play wouldn't be interesting as well!

am happy to see the British for the first time in a game here though!

Ahh, that was your first game with the British.....didn't know that.   No wonder you don't fully understand the dilemma they present in the game.  

Play a few more games with them (or better, against them) and it will make more sense.   Like many, you may feel that it is correctly modeled and perhaps it is, but at least you will understand the dilemma.   Too good at shooting to firefight with them (even with multiple battalions!) and too big to melee.   They simply cannot be defeated in a straight up infantry fight.    The French advantage as was noted in yesterday's game is the Artillery and it really should be the cavalry as well (more numerous and should be higher quality).   But in the scenarios we've played, the French seldom get any advantage in cavalry (typically, they have been outnumbered in most games) and they are attacking British on a large wooded hill where the guns can't get the clear fields of fire.  

So as a note to our illustrious scenario designer, if the British get their innate advantage in large, and often elite, battalions, the French should get their advantage in more numerous cavalry.    In the last two playings against the British, they have had a large wooded hill to defend and had more cavalry than the French.   It's a tall order for the attacking French.  Clear the trees off 'dem hills and give the French a cavalry advantage and then we'd have a balanced game I think.   

Of course, yesterday's game was something of an anomaly because 50% of the French infantry force (sorry Tom and Palmer!) was pretty much destroyed at little loss to the British.  Had that second division been intact during the assault, the French very likely would have pushed them super red coats right of that hill.