The Battle of Bern

[econ21]

Public Feedback on Early Morning Phase (Turn 1)

Heidi: From the steeple of Bern abbey, Heidi watches as Duke Hans manoeuvres his army from the east side of the city to the north. It is a major redeployment so they are unable to make any attack on the northern wall

Peter: From the mountain side overlooking the city, Peter can see rebel soldiers scurrying around the city. The defence of the eastern wall appears strengthened and a detachment is sent to the west gate. The northern wall is lightly manned. However, the distances involved mean that by the time Hans can scale the walls or smash the gate, reinforcements could arrive. If Hans were to strike immediately - without a bombardment - those rebels on eastern wall could make it in time to fire on any assault; those on the southern gate could not.

Graphical representation of this feedback:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

NB: Map shrunk for brevity - do not use to plot orders.

Additional feedback:

The map: The old map did not represent some woods that offer the possibility of concealment. I have added them onto a new version. Please use this new version to map your orders.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Please use this map to plot your orders.

Also, there was some confusion about the elevation. The eastern edge is not high terrain, but very low terrain (leading down to an off-map river). Given the arrival path of the Lutheran relief army it is important to note that the south map edge has very low lying terrain towards the east, but slightly elevated terrain to the west. This is the Swiss Alps, so slopes tend to be steep. The march along the north road into Bern will be an uphill one.

Players are encouraged to start up a custom battle on the Swiss Alps map with a huge city in order to better understand the terrain.

The grand bombard: After testing, I have decided that the grand bombard will be regarded as having enough ammunition to destroy 4 towers or wall sections. In addition, it will have enough ammunition to destroy the 4 gates (this will be in addition to whatever towers or walls it destroys). This assumes all ammunition is reserved for use against buildings. As stated earlier, the rate of fire is two wall sections or towers per turn - but breeches cannot be entered until the next turn.

Note: if the battle goes on for another day, artillery will NOT be resupplied with ammunition. Bows will be resupplied.

Failure to obey orders: In the first post, I stated that units adjacent to the general always obey orders. I meant divisions. The two divisions closest to the general will always obey orders. EDIT: If the general is adjacent to a division, it will always obey orders. A maximum of two divisions may be adjacent to a general. Place him wisely.

Deadline for orders: 20.00 hours UK time, Wednesday

Note to reinforcing generals - if you don’t hear privately from me, you are not arriving yet and don’t need to provide orders. Please do not publicly announce your arrival status, although you may reveal it in your message to your allied general.