Beginner doubts

Hello! After a while, I came back to kriegsspiel for the second time with serious intentions, but I still have some doubts about the Reisswitz rules. I already expressed them some time ago in this forum but I need now to collect them again in a more specific way:
1) Where can I find (if it exists!) a clear summary of the exact consistence in points of each formation? (It looks to me that it will be very useful, at least for a beginner);
2) The rules stated that losses could be applicable to defender AND to the winner? In which way?
3) Black and white circles on the dice: when are they referred to the winner and when to the loser?
4) Is there a sequence in the combat "procedure"? I mean something like: I advance, receive defensive fire (how many paces away?), execute offensive fire (idem), I complete the advance and resolve the close combat.
I'm sure that my approach is too much 'boardgaming way' and this complicates the situation.
Thanks, Paolo

Hi Spock

I appreciate this will not be the answer you are looking for, but I'm not aware of any group which now plays the original Reisswitz rules.

Our group moved away from them 20-30 years ago, as we found them too detailed and too time-consuming for an enjoyable game.  They are labour-intensive to administer, which is tough on the umpires.  But they at least have something to do...........

Things are even worse for the players as, if combat is being worked-though in a detailed fashion, they are sitting around for too long waiting for an update.  A slow game is the worst of all sins IMHO.

We have developed our own rules, as have our chums in the IKS.  These emphasise speedy resolution.  In our case for example we do not track exact casualties, but talk in terms of cohesion etc.  We might also deal in time-periods of 15, 20 or 30 minutes, rather than the 2-minute increments used by Reisswitz in the 1820s.  

We still think Reisswitz is very useful in terms of overall Kriegsspiel concepts however.

Martin J