<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mike Cox</i>
<br />Thanks for your comments Bill.
<b>Général de Division Michael Cox</b>
<font size="4"><i>Principe <font size="1">della </font id="size1">Toscana</i></font id="size4">
Comte de Moselle
<i><font size="4">Armée du Rhin</font id="size4">
<font size="2">2e battallion, 1er Regiment de Chasseurs a Pied, Inf. de l'V. Gde.</i></font id="size2">
<font size="1"><u>In Regards to Skirmisher Flop by Melee Losers:</u>
<ul><li>Make it an optional rather than fixed rule (at the very least). </li>
<li>Skirmisher stack size relative to retreating formed unit should be a factor (whether in clear or covered terrain). </li>
<li>For skirmishers, (not leaders or wagons) covered terrain (swamp, building, city, town, forest, marsh, and perhaps orchard) should negate the overrun result.</li></font id="size1"> </ul>
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Mike - I am emailing back and forth with my playtesters on this issue today. Its not like it slipped through the cracks but we went on this line before with John but to no avail. I hope to introduce the following:
(but I went the Optional rule route and he wont go for it)
1. Quantity check: 1/3 or less means that the formed unit will NOT retreat into a skirmisher's hex. 100 formed infantry could not move 300 skirmishers in other words.
2. Quality check: for each difference in morale add a 10% mod in strength for the defender or subtract 10% from the defender if the skirmisher has better morale. Thus 50 formed infantry (morale 7) will succeed against 160 skirmishers (morale 5) as the formed infantry enjoy a 20% addition in manpower (10 men) for the difference in morale and thus 60 vs 160 means that the formed infantry can cause the skirmishers to retreat (see below). However, if the morale had been the same then the infantry could not retreat into the skirmisher hex.
3. Displacement - skirmishers will be displaced if the check in #1 and #2 succeeds. They will be displaced to an open hex or friendly occupied hex if an open hex is not available. They will have ended their turn for being displaced. Has Meleed will be displayed in their Unit box. Thus the overrun would no longer occur UNLESS no retreat hex is available (and I say that any player that would put his skirmisher in such circumstances deserves to lose them!).
4. Terrain types: skirmishers would never retreat from Chateau hexes. For the rest a simple modifier for strength is checked as per above in #1.
Woods, village, marsh, swamp - add 20 percent to the skirmisher strength.
Orchards, building - add 10 percent to the skirmisher strength
Example: your skirmisher in the town hex would always retreat if faced by 200 men but if the strengths were reversed then the formed infantry would not have had a path to retreat to based on my new method. 75 formed infantry (militia morale 3) against 200 skirmishers (morale 6) would see a strength reduction of say 30 percent or 25 or so men, thus 50 vs 200 would mean that the skirmishers would hold their ground and the formed unit would not retreat.
There are no city hexes in the Napoleonic series (wish that there was as per Vienna and other big cities being much denser for buildings than a village.
A building should NOT stop a formed unit from retreating. It should help the skirmisher hold its ground to some extent. I have never liked how buildings are used in the series. They turn out to be miniature forts instead of a small farmhouse made of wood. I wish that we had stone villages/building hexes as well as wood villages/buildings as that would mean alot more historically and logically.
Skirmishers should NOT stop formed infantry from retreating when there are 1/3 to equal numbers on both sides. 700 Austrian grenadiers should not dissappear certianly with more justification just because you put a 150 skirmishers in their path. Nor should 250 Austrian grenadiers dissappear just because you have 500 skirmishers in their path.
The rule as given is a good rule with the exception of the chateau hex. It has ended alot of silly ZOC attacks by both sides (but in a higher proportion for you French members).
However, I have not been silent on the issue and am going to keep working to get this fixed.
If I had to get one thing changed it would be the overrunning of skirmishers in chateau hexes.
If John wont buy off on the above then he may at least see reason in that dept.
Oberst Wilhelm Peters
Reserves, Austrian Army