American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Re: "If no attacking units have fired in the turn or preceding Offensive Fire Phase, then 10% is added to the attacking strength."

Clearly, the above applies to infantry in line since those are the only units with the option to fire. What about cavalry, and infantry in column? Do they get 10% even though they aren't able to fire? If so, why? If so, what do folks think about a patch somewhere down the road to take the 10% away from units that don't have the option to fire?



Lt. Bill Cirillo
3rd Brigade, 1st Div.
XX Corps, AoC, USA

Yes, I believe so. I think the reasoning is if the unit didn't fire during the fire phase, it has loaded weapons to discharge during the melee. In the case of cavalry, that would probably include loaded revolvers as well. I do think it is rather silly for a unit to maintain its column formation after engaging in melee, but at the current stage of development the game has to indulge in numerous tradeoffs to make the system work. I do not advocate changing the rule.

MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA

I always thought the reason for the bonus is that a unit that doesn't stop to fire can more easily maintain its momentum in a charge and is not so easily affected by hesitation in the last moment.

Gen. Walter, USA
<i>The Blue Blitz</i>
3/2/VIII AoS

I found this quote in the design notes which may add to the discussion:

"Can you explain why units that have not fired Offensive Fire receive a 10% melee bonus in the same turn? Given the slow reload rate of Civil War weapons, leaders often found that when units were allowed to fire during an advance, they were reluctant to continue advancing with their weapons unloaded. This often resulted in the order to units that they not fire during a charge but rather advance without stopping. The additional vigor with which the advancing units conduct their attack is the basis for the modifier."

So the way I interpret this, melees that include units that fire should result in a -10% modifier to the melee. I guess overall it's rather a small point to make but I think it's valid to consider eliminating the +10% to melee strength when no units fire, and penalized melees that include units that have fired.

Lt. Bill Cirillo
3rd Brigade, 1st Div.
XX Corps, AoC, USA

I don't see it as a big deal either way - is your baseline 100% of unit strength, or 10 percent below that, etc. I prefer the baseline at 100%, then modify from there...


General Jeff Laub
Union Chief of the Army
ACWGC Cabinet Member
http://www.geocities.com/laubster22/UnionHQ/