Need help with Kriegsspiel rules

I am working on a PC Kriegsspiel entitled General Staff and I have a rules question.

What should I do in the following situation?


I’ve got a jam on a road and the lead unit can’t turn fully to continue on the road. There are a couple of ways I can handle it:
1. Let units of the same side pass through each other but at a movement cost penalty.
2. Enforce strict ‘no stacking’ rule and make the entire column back up on the road until the lead unit can turn and proceed.

Is there a Kriegsspiel rule that covers this? What’s the most authentic solution? What’s the best gameplay solution?

why can't the lead unit continue. I think you are misunderstanding how the blocks are used. in the Riesswitz game universe the length of the block indicates the frontage of the unit in combat not the length the unit occupies on a road. effectively a unit marching down a road only needs to take into account where the leading edge of the unit is and how much space the unit takes on the road but this unit will conform to the road shape. since the block we use to represent the unit is rectangular we cannot make the unit conform to road shape so must abstract it when placing the block. we do this by placing the block where the front rank of the unit is and ignoring what the rest of the block is doing. so if a unit takes up 500m of road space and there is a 10m gap between units the next unit is placed 510m along the road the blocks may overlap but the only point we are concerned with is where the front rank of the first unit has reached and where the front rank of the second and subsequent units has reached

Speaking as a table top wargamer, traffic control is usually a huge headache in napoleonic games. Columns probably shouldn't be able to march through one another on a road (if roads give a movement bonus). You might choose to allow movement with 'offroad' speed (to represent the unit moving on the shoulder). You could just have the unit pathfind off the road in order to maintain a no stacking rule.

One thing to consider is the scale of the unit. On higher level games a unit would represent the area of control of a bunch of smaller units with spaces between them. In this case it's probably very much feasible for units to move through each other (but bad news if they get caught in a fight during this transition). When 'zoomed in' more, a unit is probably the actual footprint of the men so shouldn't really allow passage.

I would suggest the second option. A 'no stacking' rule. You could alternatively specify a minimum distance between units on a road so their blocks do not collide in this way. I would also suggest that your artillery 'blocks' on roads should be far longer than the symbol you are using. An artillery battery in a road column has dozens of vehicles and would occupy much more road distance than an infantry battalion or cavalry squadron. You might want to change the counter the unit uses for a road march formation.

In addition if your counters in that picture represent battalions or squadrons you should think about including a 'supply' or 'baggage' unit marker as well. These should probably be included at the ratio of one per brigade to represent the support elements of the brigade. It ought to probably take up as much road distance as all the combat units of the brigade COMBINED.

I've received good advice and excellent arguments for both options.

I am probably learning towards enforcing a strict 'no stacking' rule. This will mean the whole column will have to back up on the road until the lead unit properly situated on the road.