Glory is Fleeting is the new name for the 3rd edition of what used to be known as
Field of Glory Napoleonic. The writers have said that's it's now moved so far from the original FOG rules it deserved a new name. It's been undergoing testing for the last year or so and the rules are now complete.
The Melbourne club League of Ancients ran a tournament for about 18 people over 2 days, 2 weeks ago. Below is my battle report of my 2 games I played.
I found the rules solved a lot of my issues I had with the FOGN:2nd ed rules. It's designed for club games but I think would work very well for any Corps level game of Napoleonic warfare - there's 120+ army lists covering.,..everyone. I think it would work really well as a multiplayer army level game where each player takes control of 1 corps of 2-5 divisions too.
It's only my 2nd game so I made some mistakes in the rules I mention below:
- volley firing from rough terrain is -1 dice (not 1/2 dice).
- having your LOC cut is -1 dice from all morale tests (but you still pass on a 5+).
The rules still need to be published so you can't buy them yet, but reading them I find them a lot easier to understand than I've tried to read Black Powder or Grande Armee, though unlike those 2, I had people around willing and able to teach my the original 2nd ed rules which of course made it a LOT easier.
Note: the formatting conversion from html to bbcode isn't perfect, so a read of this with much better formatting on
MY BLOG.
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Following the BATTLE OF WATERLOO, and the defeat of the EMPEROR NAPOLEON, The Duke of Wellington conducted some wargame exercises under new rules named GLORY IS FLEETING. The rules are a vast upgrade from the previous FIELD OF GLORY NAPOLEONIC. The Duke watched as a a corps from his victorious army from the battle of Waterloo, faced off against one representing his old corps from the war in Spain and Portugal in 1811. As the Anglo-Portuguese army forms up in a positional defence from entrenchments, the Corps from Waterloo attempts a flexible defence...
At the first official tournament for the new rules called
GLORY IS FLEETING, my first of 2 games was against another British army of a later period- 1815 British Infantry Corps. Being a 100 days army it was actually made up of more foreigners than my own, with Dutch Cavalry and Hanoverian's rounding out a smaller elite British core. There were I think 18 players from Australia and New Zealand, including the writers of the new rules and army list. I wish I'd had more time to ask more questions but I was glad I went.
The battlefield, facing North East. The brown and green hill in the centre rear is a rough hill. The far left has a graveyard and chapel. The hills on my side to the the south (right) are gentle hills. 2 roads go down the centre and centre right. A smaller gentle hill is to the north in the centre near a small village. Dutch Dragoons are coming down the centre road from the north, towards entrenchments a Portuguese brigade emplaced within them.
We rolled for location and I won, so Spain/Portugal it was.We both had skilled commanders and he blocked a flanking attack (Drat. I really wanted to use my Flank Division for it). I wanted to use my entrenchments so picked
Positional Defense. He picked
Flexible Defense so I was the defender (both British armies picked a defender mission. Huh).
A road went down the centre to my free
large defenders hill. A 2nd hill on my right flank with a rough hill on this side with another road going to a town. A churchyard was on my left flank and could act as a
strongpoint. Another hill was on his back line and a stream in the far left corner (off camera) that didn't effect the battle. I put a road in the centre right to act as my
Line of Communication to make it easier to defend.
As the defender I placed by
Spanish Guerrillas in the
Strongpoint. I figured they could act as a area denial, wouldn't matter much if I lost them, and had a chance to act as a distraction or make a run for his
Line of Communication.
I put my two entrenchments in front of my LOC and put the
Portuguese Division in it, with one unit in reserve behind the two
Lines of Torres Vedras. My Corps Commander went on top of the main hill because it was dramatic. I placed the
Flank Division on the right, the
1st Division in the centre behind then large defending hill, and the
Cavalry Division on their right, all in
reverse slope (so they didn't deploy yet).
The "enemy" army had a strong cavalry division of more heavy horse than I had (2 heavy dragoon units) and a light cavalry unit. I noted his LOC would perhaps be unguarded to my Spanish irregulars. Just like me, most of army was deployed in reverse slope so wouldn't appear to their first turn.
I figured he'd have 1 division in reserve ready to come on, and 2 behind the hills, and would come down the centre of my line. I would keep my cavalry to face his and lure him into attacking my redoubts with the flank division outflanking his advance on the right and my 1st Division holding the left. I knew I had less heavy cavalry so would need to hold them off or fight them to a draw. My infantry would then win the day holding the high ground and pivot on the fortifications in the centre, forcing him to fight on a hill with rough terrain with
disrupted units and cutting his firepower by half....
That was the plan...
and no plan survives enemy contact....or my own memory. Portuguese units in the
Line of Torres Vedrus. Conscripts on the left, regular army troops in the centre and right. The 2 line infantry units have a
skirmish attachment. The commander is competent. The very unfinished
LOC is to their rear.
Most of the army is behind the
reverse slope so isn't deployed until turn 1.
Looking towards the "enemy" advance units
Enemy Infantry on the (rough terrain) north ridge
The first enemy division to appear came over the north ridge, slowed down by the rough terrain on top of it. Five brigades with 2 batteries of artillery and an attached company of riflemen lead by a
skilled general. One of the units has a
brilliant commander attached to a rifle brigade
. but looking at it now the division is going to be hard to rally I would think if under sustained attack. The rifle brigade is very expensive and very good at shooting.
I just realized as I wrote this, is that if I'd engaged him WHILE HE WAS ON THAT ROUGH HILL, his firepower would be have been cut down by HALF!!!! I had lured him into a trap to fight on ground of my own choosing....and forgot to fire my Death Stars Laser! Enemy reinforcements come from reserve
The 2nd enemy infantry division was smaller- 4 units (one large, 3 small). They had 2 more artillery batteries. The Dutch cavalry division had 2 heavy dragoons and one light unit with an horse artillery battery attached.
My Corps HQ looks towards the enemy advance before retiring behind the hill
Doing what Wellington would do: keep the majority of the army in cover behind the hill lines
On my first turn, my units in the reverse slope appeared on the table. On the left I placed my Cavalry Division of 1
Super Heavy Shock Dragoons (with an attached Royal Horse Artillery battery), 1 Dashing
Hussar unit, and 1 Poor
Portuguese Dragoon unit in support.
On the same hill to their left I placed my
First Division: 2 large
British Line brigades with an attached rifle battalion and Royal Artillery battery, 1 small
Highlander regiment of foot and 1
Portuguese line infantry brigade.
On the far right flank I placed my
Flank Division. The
95th Rifles,
Loyal Lusteruian Legion, and a
KGL brigade with riflemen and an artillery battery.
I hoped to lure the enemy to attack my
obviously weakened centre, and then flank it with both divisions, or at least the Flank Division.
My Cavalry would hold one flank secure.
First Division with British Line Infantry brigade in front, another behind and the Portuguese and Highlander regiments to their rear
And on their left, placed one of the large British Line brigades. One Portuguese regiment is in reserve.
The 1st Division forms a more solid line to their left.
The Cavalry Division splits off to be in a position to hold the gap between the graveyard and hill.
The Spanish Irregulars defend the graveyard and church.
I didn't expect the Irregulars to do much, but holding the far left flank gave them a zone of some control, and might be in a position later to make a run for the enemy LOC.
The enemy division starts to cross the rough hill