KS 1824 and KS Waterloo Scenario by Command Post Games: HELP

Hi,
I am learning the 1824 KS rules, as well as the new CPG's KS Waterloo Scenario.
What I cannot figure out is how to track casualties when using the 1824 KS rules and also how to do the same when using the Pub Battles Rules KS Battalion scale supplement.
Anyone here also using these products (KS Scenario Waterloo from CPGs).

Apologies chipset35, but I'm not sure I understand your question.  Anyway, here goes......

In the 1824 Reisswitz KS rules, casualties are read off from either the dice or the combat results table.  In the Prussian training games, they would have been recorded, unit by unit, on paper.

When we run Reisswitz scenarios however, we no longer track casualties at all, but instead track general cohesion in a simplified manner.  The reason is that the former is time-consuming, and we are not officers in training but just folks looking for a fun and reasonably speedy game.  As it happens, the Prussians too streamlined the game as time went on.

Sorry if that's not what you were looking for.

I'm afraid I have never played the Pub Battles series, but perhaps someone else can comment.

Martin J

Actually, you are close!
Can you tell me how you accomplish "track general cohesion"?
In the Prussian training games, they would have been recorded, unit by unit, on paper.
we no longer track casualties at all, but instead track general cohesion in a simplified manner.

Thanks!

That depends on the scale of the game and the period, but a system we use in our army-level games is to distinguish between a temporary loss of cohesion (perhaps from being flanked, or being pushed-back without heavy loss), and more permanent losses in terms of casualties and/or morale (perhaps after a hard fight and a serious repulse).  

The way we track these is to write in washable pen on the unit counter.  At this level that's normally a brigade, of a varying number of battalions or squadrons.  If a unit needs time to reorganise, the combat umpire will write that on as well.  It's quick to implement, and all the info needed by the umpires is there on the map, so there's not looking up.

NB none of this information is available to the player.  After a fight, he will receive qualitative information re the state of his formations, which will be updated and become more specific as time elapses and they get their act together again.

PM me your email, if you would like a copy of our Napoleonic army-level rules.  Actually guidelines would probably be more accurate.  We trust our umpires to run games fairly and competently, and leave a fair bit to their discretion   .

Martin J

Great question!

I usually just use the Battalion scale rules for Pub Battles with the little KS blocks. That gives a similar result, is quicker and easier.

That said, I have been starting to use the KS dice more recording the casualties in the official way. It's not quite as bad as it looks at first. We are working on a YouTube video now to show the mechanics of how that works. Hopefully we'll have that up soon!

Basically, each side rolls for infantry fire as they close into range. The OB shows you the starting strength for each block. I subtract the losses and write in the new current strength in the open boxes there on the OB.

If you use a pencil, you can erase and write in the new strength as they take more losses. There are other boxes there you can use if it gets too messy. It works pretty well. It's not as much of a hassle as I thought it would be.


The Cohesion is tracked by flipping the blocks over. Very cool!!!!! I must have read this 10 times before it finally dawned on me how this works. It is actually very simple and quick. We'll cover this in our video too!

This is in the rules under Assaults. So after an assault, the loser flips blocks to show the disruption level or cohesion. If you just got Repulsed, you flip 1 block. If you were Defeated, you flip 2. If Totally defeated, you flip all of them!

They don't really say how to do this in the rules, but what they are doing it marking how many 'turns' that unit is no longer operational. Presumably, at the end of each turn, you would then flip 1 block back up. So a Repulsed unit would recover in 1 turn. Defeated in 2. See?

It is a really slick system! We've come up with a new variant using this concept. Instead of writing down the casualties on paper, we get rid of that and just count them by flipping blocks. We dispense with the disruption. It is a handy, quick way to track that on the fly.

We'll do another video soon on how to do that also, using the KS dice. -Also on how to calculate the odds for an assault. It is a lot easier to do than the rules make it sound. It's not bad to use at all. We really like the system.

Marshall