Rereading the Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte rules this morning I realized that I'd misinterpreted the Artillery bombardment section (note to self: read the instructions carefully). Having revealed this error, I thought I'd better have another go just to make sure I hadn't messed up elsewhere (any excuse for a wargame).
Battle of the Pyramids
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Note regarding the units; the French are all Column Infantry but are formed in squares. The Mamluk Cavalry are all Elite. The Mamluk Infantry are all Unreliable (see query at the end).
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The game started rather predictably with the French squares holding off the charging Mamluk cavalry which was replaced by some shaky Infantry.
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However, things started to go wrong for the French
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Queries for readers:
1. When (as in picture 4) two units are facing blank grids and effectively only flank attacking each other, I shunt one along a grid so that they can face one another - Is that correct?
2. When a unit that starts off Unreliable (ie does not become unreliable due to circumstances of the battle) wins its reliability roll does it still become Reliable as the rules suggest? In this game I allowed an Unreliable unit of Mamluk Infantry to become reliable after a successful roll, however I feel that if they started out as unreliable, they probably would stay that way (?)
2. When a unit that starts off Unreliable (ie does not become unreliable due to circumstances of the battle) wins its reliability roll does it still become Reliable as the rules suggest? In this game I allowed an Unreliable unit of Mamluk Infantry to become reliable after a successful roll, however I feel that if they started out as unreliable, they probably would stay that way (?)
1. No - Under Rules for Deployment: “Once deployed in a Sector units do not move. The only movement is from a Reserve to their battleline.” So the two units stay where they are. When one of the units’ Sectors is chosen for combat, then the unit in that Sector can do an outflanking attack on the other unit. The unit being attacked cannot attack back at this point. If it survives when its Sector is next chosen then it can then perform an outflanking attack itself on the enemy unit. Note that the battlefield at this time in the battle is assumed to be a most confusing place (all the noise and smoke!), with I suspect units not always sure where they themselves were, let alone where the enemy were!
ReplyDelete2. Under Unreliable Units: “On a roll of 4, 5 or 6 the unreliable unit is no longer unreliable - remove the unreliable attribute from it - and fight that round’s combat as normal.”
An unreliable unit that makes its unreliable roll is no longer unreliable and from this point on is considered as a normal unit of its troop type. For the infantry in this case they were of very dubious quality so it is unknown if they will stand and fight or not. If they make the unreliable roll successfully then they have summoned up the courage to fight and from then on get stuck in as any normal infantry unit would. If they fail it, then they have run at the first whiff of combat!
Hope this helps
Steve
Steve
DeleteFantastic, thanks for clearing up those issues! I sort of assumed that the Fellaheen had been encouraged by their success and stood their ground!
When I first started writing Dominion of the Spear, I used a larger grid with units moving around but I found that units outflanking other units was my biggest headache with sometimes a whole chain of units outflanking an enemy unit but they themselves being outflanked by another unit! Hence the ruthless simplicity of the current rules, which hopefully though still manage to produce a plausible but interesting narrative of a battle.
ReplyDeleteThough I'm obviously still getting to grips with the game, it's working well for me - I get quite invested in the success or otherwise of the units!
DeleteSoldiers! 40 centuries look down upon you! I rather think defeat at the battle of the Pyramids would have cut Napoleon's career short...
ReplyDeleteMinor setback only... He had to rush back to Europe early to deal with those pesky Austrians.
DeleteThey were a rather masochistic lot, no matter how many times you beat them they kept coming back for more. Incidentally, being Hungarian ( and Irish) on my mothers side, I must admit to a certain fondness for them.
DeleteThats an interesting heritage Mark.
DeleteItalian, with A little French on my fathers side. Typical American mongrel...
DeleteThe "melting pot" aspect has a lot to say for itself
DeleteAnother fine report, Commander 🙂👍🎲🎲🎲⚔️⚔️⚔️.
ReplyDeleteAnd many thanks to you for asking the Q.s and to Steve for answering so swiftly 👍
Cheers Martin - Yes indeed, many thanks to Steve for his help
DeleteWell, that saw Napoleon’s Egyptian adventure ended rather early 😂🤣
ReplyDeletePerhaps, if your Column infantry units were 4 figures, you could depict a square as having 1 figure facing in each of the 4 directions. Of course, it might be tight to fit ‘em on your bases though.
Cheers,
Geoff
Cheers Geoff - I like that the rules are not geared to make a reconstruction but leave it more open (especially with my terrible dice rolling)
DeleteThe Battle of the Pyramids is an interesting battle. The Mamluks had some antiquated cannons and originally I gave the Mamluks a unit of unreliable Artillery to represent them. However, under the rules Artillery gives Cavalry +1 and this made the Mamluk cavalry too powerful so I removed the Artillery. Historically of course the Mamluks fanatically charged and I doubt very much that they would have been willing to wait while their cannons disrupted the French squares. If they had waited though the battle might have gone very differently - assuming of course the Mamluk cannons actually fired and managed to hit!
ReplyDeleteSteve
Steve - Yes I think they are quite a tough prospect already without artillery support! Mon Petit Caporal suffered enough of a defeat - I may have to have a refight of this battle...
DeleteThere is something absolutely genius about these rules. I keep thinking, oh...it could be expanded in ways like... Then I realise, noooo, it's perfect as is. More please, with grand campaigns for French dominion of Europe ...POUR LA GLOIRE! ;)
ReplyDeleteOh, if you insist! 🤣
DeleteYou're right, it's very clever and rather addictive