General de Brigade

[David R]

Enjoyed the game. Battalion guns seem to have a 6'' range in both scales for cannister?, how do they fire cannister anyway if they are not really there. Why is there a -1 for having no battalion gun, this means the + for elite units is wasted, better a + 1 for having them?
French heavy horse did not wear the cuirass, do they count as dragoons, which they were not or the same as cuirassiers, which again they were not?
British dragoons were often heavy horse called dragoons to save on pay. I counted them as dragoons with superior horses, what do others do?
I look foward to clarifications, I assume I have missed something as it was the first run through.

[angus konstam]

David,

As you read in the rules, battalion guns are considered part of most infantry battalions. Their fire is already factored in. As their use was the norm, we decided to modify for the exception rather than the rule. That's why we've got a -1 if they aren't present, rather than a +1 if they are.

The only notable exception was the French army, who elected to keep their light guns brigaded together, rather than allocate them to battalions. That means that us French players have a pesky -1 modifier when firing. As you pointed out, this rather nullifies any bonus of having good troops!

Second, and this is where I apologise profusely - the reference to "battalion guns firing canister within 6" shouldn't be there. That should really be in the "Optional Rules" section, and should have been left out of the playsheet. I apologise for the confusion, and the blunder. It was a modifier which applied only to the optional rule for portraying battalion guns. It makes them less effective than a regular 3-4 pdr. - a way of reflecting their smaller numbers (as usually they operated in two gun units). However, unless you plan to use the optional rule, then please, ignore the modifier!

French players have the annoying -1 modifier, but they should be able to deploy extra light gun batteries on the tabletop - which sort of makes up for it.

On your question of cavalry factors, as you rightly spotted, French chevaulegers don't really fall comfortably into the model of Austrian, Prussian or Russian cavalry, where cuirassiers and dragoons are the norm. OK, the odd French unit wore cuirasses, but most didn't. However, I'd still tend to treat them all as cuirassiers rather than dragoons. After all, they thought they were pretty good, even when they weren't!

Similarly, British cavalry are as much a problem in SYW rules as they are for "Napoleonic" ones. I would tend to treat heavies such as the Household Cavalry and the 1st (Irish) Horse as cuirassiers under the rules, and then class Light Dragoons as either dragoons proper, or even as hussars. Of course, your solution of qualifying them by horse flesh probably works just as well.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed your first game, and thanks for getting me thinking about the definitions of French and British cavalry before we tackle the first of the scenario books!

Angus Konstam
www.edinburghwargames.com

[David R]

The lastest SYWA journal anwers the french cav question they did wear the cuirass, therefore they are now sorted under the rules, just the british to go.

David