For next Thursday (3/14/2013)
Regiment Name: 1stRddt
Regiment Leader: Hader, Ginjar, Savs, Chromakey, Disgrntld, Ocularis, afroadam
Leader's Steam: hader102
Estimated Attendance ~40
Desired Role: cav and line
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So a few things on rules:
I think the cav rules are a bit ridiculous. A bit. I know we are more used to the hardcore battle rules and so maybe expect things to run more like that and when they don't, we're a bit taken aback, but we like the hardcore linebattles for a reason. As far as cav goes, this dismounting rule is a bit silly. It's hard for it to always been enforced when it needs to be, and really has no effect on the battle. The hardcore battles just say that as long as cav all engage together as a unit, they can do so until they all die. So even with one man left on his horse, he is the cav unit, and while in a sense it is ramboing, really it's never caused any problems in that way. Also, even dismounted, cav are considered light infantry in the hardcore rules, not skirms. Distinguishing the light infantry versus skirms type of behavior does make a big difference.
There's also the rule in the OP about cav not allowed to take muskets and mount with them. Why? Only dragoons can fire on horseback anyways, and the game won't allow an infantry musket to be fired on horseback anyways. So I see literally no harm in cav taking them and having them to use when they are downed, as they become light infantry anyways when dismounted.
For arty, remove the within 10 paces rule. That, or allow more space. 10 paces is extremely short as is. Generally arty stays near each other anyways, and if they don't it's usually because one piece is a howitzer and since they have horrible range, they need to be closer. The incentive to splitting arty with a howitzer like that is to get the best range for the howitzer, at the cost of losing the cohesion of your guard unit which is now split far apart.
You caught yourself in the battle when you talked about pistols, but I would just put in the rules that pistols are considered melee weapons and can be fired anywhere anytime. That should be the rule at least, IMO. It's a bloody pistol, if you get a kill with it from anywhere then you deserve it, lucky as hell as it may be.
Skirms I think you need to go one of two ways with. Either give them complete free reign to do whatever they want and not have to form any line at all, only making sure they move as a formation; or, make it clear that they have max of 5 man spacing and can or cannot use natural cover in any way. And in that case it needs to be clear if natural cover is allowed to be used in a way that breaks the 5 man spaced formation or not (meaning, do the skirms conform to the natural cover, or can they use it but in terms of holding a formation, act as if it isn't there).
So to put it all in one place:
-As long as they fight as a unit and melee together, they can stay mounted until killed.
-If dismounted, they may either join a friendly line, or if at at least 3-4, may form their own light infantry line. That, or they must form a regular infantry line, where only dragoons can form a light infantry line.
-They can take muskets with them anytime, as it makes no difference to their combat operations if they have them or not.
-Arty spacing rule, either get rid of it or make the spacing much larger to account for howitzers.
-Skirms need either stricter rules or none. Going in between leaves too much gray area about what is allowed and what isn't.
-Make it clear that pistols are basically same rules as melee.
-Arty could use either sappers or 2 more guards allowed. Just to make the slightly more defensible without turning them into a fortress either.
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Since I had some members both confused and really frustrated about some rules I needed to post this. Also, and this is no fault on your part, but other regimental leaders really need to pay a bit more attention to firing out of line in their regiments. It's not so bad for this battle, but there are a few more cases than normal and it gets annoying. If your guy gets a kill firing out of line, please either execute him or ask for a slay. It's the fair thing to do as both a warning to the perpetrator and consolation for rules broken.
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