Hello, I am making this topic title longer

Just popping in to say 'hello' before I [s]steal[/s] liberate some modwork for SOW:WL, and I saw the post about people signing up for the forum but not even saying hello.

I'm a Brit, although I typically play the French side at corps level and above. V Corps in the 1812 campaign is my particular favorite command. I rarely do MP online any more I'm afraid, although I may dip my toes in the future or at least host a few games to say thank you. No stranger to Kriegsspiel or umpired games all the same, even if I still muck up the syntax of the courier orders in SOW. As poor Jerome Bonaparte's many futile, albeit stupidly brave, attempts to capture Hougoumont on his own give witness to.

Bought SOW:WL on a whim a few days back. Reminded me of a very old game on the Atari ST for Borodino, albeit real time versus 15 minute turn based command from the saddle. Fun game back in the late 80s. Lot of digging about on the Matrix forums and Norb's own forum made me realise that I'd probably need to go find the modding community to try and get some changes made. A certain Mr.Saddletank's questions, answers, and signature link provided me with a way to here.

So that's me. Thank you for the modwork made available.

Hi, you are very welcome.

You should try an MP game or two with us, you may find we're a little different to most online gaming groups in our attempts to get the Napoleonic FOW to levels that are as realistic as an evenings cosy gaming will allow.

Thanks for the welcome Mr.Digby. Will certainly have a look and volunteer to take a brigade at some point. Looking forward to trying out the mod changes to the WL base game over the next few days.

I'll add my welcome too.

The mod greatly changes the flavor of the game. Artillery is very deadly. Any tactics you currently use when dealing with an enemy battery will likely not work. A frontal assault is not recommended.

Cavalry is put into regiments now. It makes them behave more like cavalry of the period rather than like hit and run specialists.

Infantry is much more prone to using assault columns. Also the spawned skirmishers have been done away with. They served no purpose other than to provide easy cavalry targets. Instead entire battalions form skirmishers. Usually the second battalion will fight in skirmish formation as default.

Please note, you will not be able to use the Grog Toolbar with the mod. It's not compatible. The KS mod has its own and is somewhat similar to the Grog toolbar but with fewer buttons.

Thanks Uncle Billy.

Really like the changes I've spotted so far. Feels much more coherent as a Napoleonic game.

Artillery fire is definitely more in tune with Napoleonic expectations. Never quite sure how best to deal with artillery in this engine. Typically one ends up displacing it at the moment, rather than shutting it down. But that works fine if one can flank rather than needing counter-battery fire. Advantages of normally playing corps level command from the French side I guess, with the corps reserve available for counterbattery if truly needed.

One aspect I'm keeping an eye on is the AI's ability to form square in a timely fashion. Not sure what changes you've made to things, but it's certainly better than it is in the stock game.

Anyways, very much liking what's been done so far as I've seen. Definitely a much better pacing to battles in keeping with 1815. And those alternative OOBs look most tempting.

And those alternative OOBs look most tempting.

Happiness is being on the giving end of a Russian heavy battery.

I'm glad you enjoy the mod. Squares form much earlier in the mod than in the stock game with the advantages and disadvantages that entails. Infantry is still quite vulnerable to cavalry attacks from the flank and rear.

Squares will also creep towards the enemy cavalry to drive them away if the nags are not supported by infantry.

The artillery changes in the mod are some of the most noticeable and as you're finding out, an infantry commander has to respect the enemy guns a lot more. In a couple of our campaign battles we have had long artillery duels, sometimes lasting an hour and the devastation they cause is truly of Borodino-like levels of intensity.

The most recent update gives a blind zone of 150 yards behind any friendly unit so guns must now be embedded into gaps in the line, be in front or be well behind. We suffered a few annoyances in the past where artillery could fire "magic canister" through the backs of its own men but in an MP game we tried yesterday I discovered the new mechanism worked very well forcing players to position their guns in more logical and sensible places.