19th Century Principle of War, a tutorial

Copyright Lars Rössle.

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Part 5: The first shoot out

Contents:

Introduction

The Turkish fourth bound

The Greek fourth bound

Introduction

The two parties are finally closing in on each other, and it’s about time that the troops show what they are good for. Pretty soon our combatants will feel the smell of Gun powder, so let’s don’t waste our time hanging around here…

The Turkish fourth bound

Phase 1 Spotting:

The Turkish Cavalry tries to spot the Greek 1.Brig. Distance is 13”, the CC is “low terrain”. A roll of “9” gives the Greeks away and the units have to be put on the table.

The 1.Brig makes a try on the Greek 2.brig. The distance is 17”, the Greeks are on a hill, which is “high” terrain and they are hiding. Once again we have to take a deeper discussion on the rules.

If one uses the spotting charts as they are written, the Turk will find out that the spotting can’t be done (target in high terrain). This can however be argued, depending on how you define a “hill”. If one define “hill” as one single mountain with a single top, then logically, the Greeks should be visible to anyone as soon they pass the crest line. On the other hand, if one sees the “hill” more as a “highland area” covered with tops, crests and valleys, then the chart makes more sense. However, this point of view can also be argued. When rolling to determine the characteristics for the terrain it might be defined as “broken”. A “normal” hill has no effect on sight, while broken terrain does reduce it (see the reference charts). Ok, where does this leave us in this situation?

I would say that this hill is a fairly smooth “normal hill” with one single crest. The Greeks are way over the top, so for spotting, they should be regarded as being in open ground.

The Turk rolls a “2”. The attempt fails.

The distance from the Commander of the Turkish 2.Brig is almost the same, he roll a “4”, they also fails to spot the Greeks.

Phase 2 Shooting

Let’s see if we finally can get the shooting started. The Turkish R21 and R22 are armed with SB’s, which have an effective range of 4”. The Turkish player works his way down the bullets on p19 para a, to see if the units can fire. The firing range is easy to sort out; 3” from both units to the nearest point of the target, but the bullet a4 require some further explanation regarding “the Line of sight”.

Since the BUA is rolled as a “5”, it reduces the sight to 4”. Since the range is shorter, one can argue that the Turks can fire. However, referring to the rules “Line of  Sight” on p18, units outside the BUA can only fire at enemies that occupy the edge of the BUA. The 4” sight may only be applied once inside. (My personal point of view is that this rule doesen’t makes sense in this situation, but since the text is crystal clear, so there is no point arguing…)

The result: Sorry, no shooting this bound.

Phase 3

No action in this phase

Phase 4

Officer’s initiative is rolled:

CinC (Normal)                                          6

1.Brig (Normal)                                         5

2.Brig (Normal)                                         4

Cav Brig (Low)                                          4

1.Brig has 17” to the nearest enemy unit, the Greek 2.Brig. Referring to the previous discussion on visibility and spotting, the Greeks are to be regarded as being in “open terrain”, so they exercise a tactical range of 16”. The Turks uses one IP to move and one IP to hide.

2.Brig is on “Engage” order. The purpose of this order is to move close enough to the enemy so that they can open fire, but they may not charge, unless the target is shaken. The Brigadier uses 1IP to move the group into the BUA. The terrain allow a move of 4”, but the advance must come to a halt ½” in front of the CR1. Then one IP is used to deploy the R23.

The CinC Spends 1 IP for moving the group. Since the slowest component of the group is the formed artillery, the group may only move 6”. Then they spend another four IP’s to change two of the three frontal battalions into deployed and also deploy the two artillery units. Why only change two battalions? Well, to be allowed to change formation, you are not allowed to have the unit to interpenetrate other units, and since the N12 is stuck in between the artillery units it simply can’t change. Instead, the last IP is spent on changing the formation of the N22.

The cavalry has reached the end of movement arrow, they has no new orders, so they just have to hang around (their orders are automatically reverted to “Hold”).

The Greek fourth bound

Phase 1 Spotting:

The Greek 2.Brig makes a try at the Turkish 1.Brig. The distance is 16” and the target is in open terrain, but hiding (1R). The roll is a “1” and the Turks remain unspotted.

Phase 2 Firing

The first shots are fired by the Greek CR 1. They are armed with MW, giving a 0,5 factor on the Small arms chart, which is to be multiplied to the unit strength. As you might remember from part 2, we left the strength open in order to make things a bit more exciting, but now we have to establish these values. We use the procedure described on p6. The basic strength of the CR1 is 4. Add the roll a D6 for Cavalry (roll is a “3”). The strength for the CR1 is 7.

Apply modifiers according to the firing chart:

Roll a D6 against the Casualties chart, <1 column (strength of 5 and then modified one step left).

Roll is a “5”. No effect.

Phase 3 Hand to hand combat

No actions

Phase 4

Initiative rolls

CinC              6

1.Brig             3

2.Brig             6

Finally the Greek player is lucky with the dice’s and now it’s time to do some serious re-thinking. The plan to get a firm grip of the BUA has failed, and the CinC and the cavalry are in a dangerous position. The 1.brigade is facing the bulk of the Turkish army (8 btn’s and 2 art’s vs 5 btn’s and 1 art). They also have the Turkish cavalry threatening their left flank.

The CinC spends his IP’s as follows

New “Engage” order to 2.Brig: 2 IP (one extra IP since the distance between the CinC and the brigade is more than 8”)

Execute new order with his own force: 2 IP’s

Move and then deploy the CR 2: 1+1 IP

The CR 2 is in the BUA so they start moving in speed 2. Half way through the move the front is out in the open again, so one might argue that they should be able to speed up. I would argue against that. Yes, the first troopers are indeed out in the open, but the last men are still deep inside the BUA, so if you allow the front to speed up, the whole unit would be stretched out. To maintain the formation, the change of speed may not occur until the last men are out of the BUA. Is there any rule about this, or am I making it up? Yes there is one on p27, d 1. The units are moving through two types of terrain here, so we must move according to the restrictions of the slower one.

1.Brig spends 1 IP on rotating the entire group, except the “V’s”, to face the Turks. 1IP to deploy the artillery and the last IP is used for advancing with the “V11-12 group”.

2.Brig can just spend one IP on moving since the Turkish 1.Brig is within tactical range. Note that the brigade may not react to the new order during this bound (P12 Order Changes b), but they can of course “adjust their positions” as long as they doesn’t violate their current order. Then they use 1 IP to hide, and the rest of the IP’s are lost.