I forgot to mention a feature of this system which is the Reserves handling. Basically you have some units in reserve near the sides base line and assign them to division leaders by actions from the commander in chief. It gave me a very nice feel as the British CinC assigned two then one more unit to the Portuguese Div to bolster them up and allow for some counterattacking. I think he just managed to assign the last one or two reserve units to the other Divison before the game ended. Very nice handling of reserves in simple effective rules. In the older set of rules I compare it with (Shako - similarly named), reserves are placed similarly and are simply quicker to respond to initial orders than other units who already have orders. The handling with Drums and... is nicer because of the graded die number activation system there is some uncertainty in activation of the reserves (as with all other actions).
nice breakdown of the mechanics. i have the skirmish version and was wondering if it might we worth it to go for the larger battles. looks great! thanks.
The counters are poorly printed printouts, I can't remember where from. The scale is such that one unit (three infantry counters, two cavalry) represents an inf. battalion or cav. regiment of 400 - 800 men and a turn represents 20 - 30 mins. I understand that, as is common with miniatures games, the distance scale is distorted since realistically sized units would be tiny at the required artillery and musketry ranges relating to the movement of the units. The rules thus don't say exactly how much terrain a tabletop covers but I think it is in the region of several square miles. It is interesting that with hex and counters we don't have a problem in the counter representing a relatively tiny or small body of men in a large space. They are just presumed to be 'somewhere appropriate' in the space. But with minatures rules the concept is that the body of men are actually situated there behind the hill on the table and able to fire so many inches from that. Hex to hex abstraction does not exist so a distortion of time to space relationships is necessary. I hav'nt quite got my head around it but it is something to do with realistic ratios of movement to fire ranges would result in a most boring game since the units would move much too slowly (or something), and as previously mentioned would be miuch too small to be painted and seen in any detail.
I find that occasionally alternating between minis rulesets and boardgame rulesets whets my appetite for the other one. If boardgame rules are getting too stodgy the minis one's feel refreshing and free. Once the latter start to feel limp and vague the boargames rules come back into their own - tight and clear (at least relatively!).
ciao a tutti...qualcuno potrebbe rispondermi su alcuni dubbi che ho sulle regole di questo regolamento...l'ho ripreso in mano dopo un po' di tempo è ho un dubbio sulla fanteria che combatte in Linea piuttosto che in colonna di attacco....
I forgot to mention a feature of this system which is the Reserves handling. Basically you have some units in reserve near the sides base line and assign them to division leaders by actions from the commander in chief. It gave me a very nice feel as the British CinC assigned two then one more unit to the Portuguese Div to bolster them up and allow for some counterattacking. I think he just managed to assign the last one or two reserve units to the other Divison before the game ended. Very nice handling of reserves in simple effective rules.
In the older set of rules I compare it with (Shako - similarly named), reserves are placed similarly and are simply quicker to respond to initial orders than other units who already have orders. The handling with Drums and... is nicer because of the graded die number activation system there is some uncertainty in activation of the reserves (as with all other actions).
nice breakdown of the mechanics. i have the skirmish version and was wondering if it might we worth it to go for the larger battles. looks great! thanks.
What is the ground/unit scale? Did you make your own counters?
The counters are poorly printed printouts, I can't remember where from. The scale is such that one unit (three infantry counters, two cavalry) represents an inf. battalion or cav. regiment of 400 - 800 men and a turn represents 20 - 30 mins. I understand that, as is common with miniatures games, the distance scale is distorted since realistically sized units would be tiny at the required artillery and musketry ranges relating to the movement of the units. The rules thus don't say exactly how much terrain a tabletop covers but I think it is in the region of several square miles.
It is interesting that with hex and counters we don't have a problem in the counter representing a relatively tiny or small body of men in a large space. They are just presumed to be 'somewhere appropriate' in the space. But with minatures rules the concept is that the body of men are actually situated there behind the hill on the table and able to fire so many inches from that. Hex to hex abstraction does not exist so a distortion of time to space relationships is necessary. I hav'nt quite got my head around it but it is something to do with realistic ratios of movement to fire ranges would result in a most boring game since the units would move much too slowly (or something), and as previously mentioned would be miuch too small to be painted and seen in any detail.
I find that occasionally alternating between minis rulesets and boardgame rulesets whets my appetite for the other one. If boardgame rules are getting too stodgy the minis one's feel refreshing and free. Once the latter start to feel limp and vague the boargames rules come back into their own - tight and clear (at least relatively!).
ciao a tutti...qualcuno potrebbe rispondermi su alcuni dubbi che ho sulle regole di questo regolamento...l'ho ripreso in mano dopo un po' di tempo è ho un dubbio sulla fanteria che combatte in Linea piuttosto che in colonna di attacco....