The Portable Napoleonic Wargame: Progress and changes

Despite being very busy on the Masonic front and having a heavy cold that I just cannot seem to shrug off, I have been doing some work on THE PORTABLE NAPOLEONIC WARGAME book. Thanks to some very good feedback from Arthur Harman, one or two cosmetic changes have been made to the text as it currently stands in order to improve a reader's understanding of the exemplar battle reports. More importantly, the Close Combat mechanism has been altered to make it less counter-intuitive to use.

In the original mechanism, which I have used in my previous PORTABLE WARGAME rules, getting a high score was bad and a low score was good, and the bonuses and penalties were written to take this into account. However, as players throw for their own unit in the Close Combat, it has been pointed out that it was possible (even probable!) for them to misunderstand the way the mechanism worked. I have therefore turned the whole thing on its head so that getting a high score means that a unit is less likely to be affected by the Close Combat and getting a low score means that they are increasingly likely to suffer an adverse effect.

The current mechanism for the BRIGADE rules reads as follows:

Close Combat Rules

• Both sides roll a D6 die for their unit involved in a Close Combat and add or subtract any relevant modifiers.
• Increase the D6 die roll score of the unit initiating the Close Combat by 2 if it is a cavalry unit in line attacking an infantry unit in line.
• Increase the D6 die roll score of the unit initiating the Close Combat by 1 if it is an infantry unit or cavalry unit in column attacking an infantry unit in line or an artillery unit.
• Increase the D6 die roll score by 1 if a friendly commander is in the same grid area as the unit for which the D6 die is being rolled.
• Increase the D6 die roll score of the unit initiating the Close Combat by 1 if the attack is being made against the flank or rear of an enemy unit.
• Reduce the D6 die roll score by 1 if the unit is being attacked in the flank or rear by an enemy unit.
• Reduce the D6 die roll score by 1 if the enemy unit is uphill, in cover or in fortifications.
• Reduce the D6 die roll score of the unit initiating the Close Combat by 2 if it is a cavalry unit in line or column attacking an infantry unit in square.
• Results:
• Modified D6 die score = 2 or less: The unit is hit.
• Modified D6 die score = 3 or more: The unit is unaffected.

The following extract from one of the battle reports explains how the mechanism works:

Both sides threw a D6 die. The British – who initiated this round of close combat – threw 1 and the American threw 2. Because the British were uphill of the Americans, the American D6 die score was reduced by 1. As a result, they both had to resolve the effect the close combat had upon them.

The 3rd Foot Regiment threw a D6 to resolve what happened and a D6 die score of 1 meant that the unit lost 1 SP.

The 4th US Infantry Regiment threw a D6 to resolve what happened and a D6 die score of 3 meant that the unit lost 1 SP. As the unit had already lost 3 SPs, it was destroyed, and the survivors fled the field of battle.

The 3rd Regiment are engaged in close combat by the 4th US Infantry Regiment.

On the face of it, the change is not drastic, but with luck it will make the mechanism easier to understand and to use.