Napoleonic 1814 PBEM Campaign

[thistlebarrow]

The role of the army commander is to use his four corps to achieve his campaign objective.

At the start of each campaign phase each commander is sent a starter pack.   This consists of a strategic map, a tactical map, an order of battle and a brief explaining the background to the campaign and the current situation.    It also explains his campaign objective.   This is always the capture and control of a town in the centre of the map, plus the destruction of the enemy army.   It is not sufficient to just take the town, he then has to hold it until the enemy has been defeated.

He is responsible for writing daily orders for his four corps.   There is a standard layout for these orders, which includes any movement, what to do if they meet with the enemy and whether they can supply.

At the end of each campaign day he receives an umpire report.  This confirms his location, his casualties and his current supply state.  It also warns of any enemy within ten miles (two map squares) in any direction.

Battles result when a corps enters the adjacent map square of an enemy corps.   This square is called “no man’s land” and corps can only enter it if they have orders to Attack.   The enemy will retreat unless they also have orders to Attack or to Hold.   This ensures that neither commander is forced to fight a battle unless he has written orders to do so.

The four available corps orders are Halt, Hold, Move or Attack.  Corps on Halt or Move will always avoid an enemy corps which moves into their “no man’s land” square.   Those on Hold or Attack will always fight.

In addition friendly corps within marching distance will always “march to the sound of the guns” to join the battle, unless they have Hold orders or are pinned by an enemy corps.   

So a commander who orders one or more of his corps to attack can never be sure that the known enemy will not be supported by other corps within supporting distance of which he is not aware.

[nathan]

This is just fascinating and excellent.  I'm glad that you've been able to run this so successfully over the last couple years.  The umpired campaign certainly provides the fog of war.

[thistlebarrow]

Hi Nathan

I am glad that you are finding it interesting.

The success of the campaign has largely been due to those players who have taken part.

It is not a traditional campaign, where players have complete control of large armies and can take part in a famous historical campaign.   
This is more like a very large wargame, where the players have tactical, rather than strategic, control of their army.   
But I do try to make it more interesting for them by posting detailed battle reports on the campaign diary blog
That is so that they can follow the course of their battle, not just get notification of whether they won or lost.

[thistlebarrow]

The campaign daily sequence is as follows

The Army commander writes orders for his four corps and sends them to the umpire.

Once orders for both the French and Allied commander are received, the umpire transfers both sets of orders to a master movement list and updates the master tactical map.

If a corps enters the “no man’s land” of an enemy corps the orders of both corps are consulted to ensure that both are on either Attack or Hold orders.   If one, or both, is on Halt of Move orders they will halt or retreat to ensure that neither enter the “no man’s land” square.   If both are on Attack or Hold then a battle is declared.

When all movement has been plotted a summary of the day’s movement is completed.   This is mainly for reference if a player wants to know at a later date why something has happened which he did not order.

Finally an umpire report is prepared.   This is written in the form of reports from each of the four corps commanders, plus a summary by the Chief of Staff.   In this role I can provide information not reported by the corps commanders.  For example information from spies or guerrillas.  It also contains a list of each supply depot, and the current supplies held.   Finally I summarise the day’s developments, and if necessary suggest a course of action which may have been overlooked by the commander.

The report from each corps commander confirms the corps location, strength and number of supplies held.   In addition it reports any contact with the enemy, and the results of any cavalry recce carried out. The umpire report contains sufficient information for the Army commander to update his battle plan and issue orders for the next day.   

The player is asked to check the report carefully and raise any thing he does not understand, or agree with.  If he fails to do so then the information in the report replaces all previous reports.

The player then writes his orders for the next day, and the sequence continues.