1/54e Regiment de Ligne - Talavera

[carojon]

The 54e Regiment de Ligne could trace its heritage back to 1657 and a very famous French regiment in the old Royal army.



Its colonel, would be wounded at Talavera, and would lead the hard fought defence of Badajoz in 1812, whilst the regiment would be in action against the British right up to the final clash in 1815.

If you would like to know more then just follow the link to JJ's

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/154e-regiment-de-ligne.html

Jonathan

[gustav]

lots of lovely info there Jonathon as well as another nice unit.

I agree wholeheartedly with your approach with regard to the history of the various units involved.  To my mind it also brings home the human element which is all too easy too forget.
Especially with standard line units.

In relation to that - may I ask a quick C&G question  as I have started to look at this system myself.  Do you generate the commanding officers down to the battalion level for your oob/army list or do you leave them at the brigade ?  Not sure which to do myself or if it affect the ways C&G works.

cheers
Gustav / Mark

[OSHIROmodels]

Beautiful unit 

cheers

James

[carojon]

Thanks chaps, appreciate your comments.

Mark, I generate commanders down to brigade level as that is the lowest level of independent commander whose command and morale effects can influence the units under him. I guess the influence of the battalion CO is taken care off in the stats you select for the unit itself, that reflect their training, confidence and ability or attitude, knowledge and skill in modern parlance.

The commanders at all levels are key to maintaining your units in the field when things start getting tough and their competence affects how effectively they and their commands will operate. In the last Talavera game, Will positioned Hill and Wellesley behind his second line on the Medellin to act as the morale backstop for units shaken by the French attack. Two units fell back through the second line and were immediately rallied and steadied by those two senior commanders and returned to the fight.

Attaching a commander to a unit can exort it to greater efforts during a combat and units on defend orders can only charge with a commander attached. The risk with this tactic is to the commander should they lose the combat and we have seen quite a few have horses shot from under them or killed or wounded. However an effective commander leading fresh good troops into close combat can be a really effective tactic to winining an important fight.

I hope that gives you an idea of how they work

Cheers
JJ

[gustav]

Jonathon
Yes that very helpful - makes it easier and simpler at least
Interesting that the higher level commands have greater influence, as it would be thinking about it.

I was finding it tricky to discover the battalion commanders for my French regiments.  May leave the Colonel's in as flavour though.

Curiously overall it appears to me that seems to have been quite a lot of flux in leadership at the lower to mid levels, battalion to division, on both sides.

Now to give a whirl when I get a few hours !