How the Battle System Works

Alright, here is a basic guide to the most complex, confusing, and (I like to think) best part of the interactive. The Battle system.

Alright, below is a battlescape. Two enemy armies have walked into the same region. For the sake of this example, we shall say it is Southern Saxony.



The map is a 28x14 Hex map, with each Hex coloured to match the terrain in that area. In this case:
White = Open plains/Farmland,etc, etc
Green = Hilly area
Light Blue = River
Brown = Bridge
Red = Town

The River is impassible, except at a Bridge. Bridges may be destroyed, by sending me a PM to do so, however not all the bridges on a map may bedestroyed during a battle.

Hills are not singular hills, rather they are an area of land of varying steepness, however all of it is suitable for defense.

Towns are just that. Small areas that are inhabitted by civilians (Who have probably run like hell as soon as they saw the armies). Note on the hills in the north, how two of them have both a green and a red part. This means that it is a hill with a town on it. This is a very, very valuable defensive position, as it gets the best of being high up and defensible.

I PM this map to both players, and they PM back where they want to deploy (I assign at top/bottom side to each player, depending on the route of approach).



As you can see, the Blue player (French) has 6 Corps, whereas the Austrian player has 4 Corps. The French player has deployed around two hill clusters, each with a town on it. In addition their V and VI Corps are deployed on the Eastern Flank, perhaps to try to effect a breakthrough, or to outflank the Austrian lines.

The Austrian player, on the other hand, has decided to take up defensive positions around the town on their Centre-left. In addition they have the IV Corps on their Eastern flank to try to defend their flanks, or destory the bridge if things get desperate.

Now the players PM to me where their Corps want to move. They have to send me three turns worth of orders for each Corps. This should be in the following format:

I Corps: Turn 1 - Force March Two South
Turn 2 - Force March One South and One South-West
Turn 3 - Hold

Remember, forced marching means you move two, however for the two next turns you are at a slightly lower morale.



After I have recieved both sets of orders (Hopefully withing 24 hours ), I update the map. As you can see, the French have advanced towards the centre-left, yet have left the V Corps as a reserve. The Austrian player has taken up positions defending two bridges, and have deployed around another one, waiting for the French, hoping they can hold on.

Once two Corps have reached the same place, a battle is fought. I am still working the kinks out of this, but suffice to say that you will not know exactly how things work. Just be advised that the more veteran your men, and the better your General in command of that Corps, the better your chances of winning.

I have decided that two Corps of the same side may join the same tile ONLY WHEN A BATTLE IS ALREADY BEING FOUGHT. So, if a battle lasts more than one day (nt uncommon at these times), you can move reinforcements in. However, the catch comes in you having to anticipate where the battles will be fought.

Alright, I am sure there will be MANY questions, so fire away.