Campaign catch up... Move 58 to 67 (!)

17:00 (Day 3) to 02:00 (Day 4).....the usual reminder that the campaign map is to the left (click on it and any of the other pictures in this blog for the usual bigger view).

..yes, the campaign is still in flow, and after a slight hiatus for DG's absence on more important business, he and I are busily exchanging Berthier campaign files again, as both sides struggle to make an impact on the victory conditions set at the beginning of the campaign.

You may remember that at the Battle of Carnine, despite some appalling dice throwing, I managed to hold the British (just!) at what is now known locally as the "Night of the Long Knives" (as a result of the success of the British Dragoons that day)...

Having withdrawn to lick our wounds, both he and I are still encamped within the region of Carnine. I have pulled my units back north of the river, while he, as far as I can tell, is pulling back southwards.

I say "as far as I can tell", as to be honest I've lost contact with him - and my efforts to date have been concentrated northwards..

So, what have I been up to?

• Well firstly, I have had my troops resting and recuperating following the battle - you may remember we discussed how we would handle casualty recovery in my post immediately after the battle (here) but since then - ever the tinkerer - DG came up with a more elegant mechanism which we have now adopted into the campaign rules..
  
  We dice for recovery of lost SP’s following any loss due to skirmish or battle. To determine how long before each SP recovered would become effective once more, throw 2D6 per lost SP and apply the following formula:
  
  Time (Turns) = 2D6 -Current Morale Value (CMV)
  
  • If the result is 0 or negative then the recovery is immediate
  • If the result is positive then the SP is recovered in that number of Turns
  • However, if the 2D6 is a double the SP is permanently lost ( a 1 in 6 or 16.7% chance)
  
  In summary, lightly damaged and/or units with superior morale are more likely to recover quicker than units that have been heavily damaged and/or with poor morale .
  
  An example to illustrate how this would work:
  
  Erbprinz Regiment has 1 SP left out of it’s normal complement of 5, it’s Morale = +2, therefore it’s CMV = 3 (ie. Strength plus Morale Benefit). It has 4SP’s to be recovered:
  
  • 1st SP 2D6(10) – 3 result SP recovered in 7 Turns
  • 2nd SP 2D6(08) – 3 (Double 4) result SP lost permanently
  • 3rd SP 2D6(09) – 3 result SP recovered in 6 Turns
  • 4th SP 2D6(07) – 3 result SP recovered in 4 Turns
  
  So an Elite unit that was damned near destroyed in battle has slowly recovered 80% of it’s strength, but in just 7 hours…
  
  2/.
  23rd Foot It’s SP = 4, it’s Morale = +1, so it’s CMV = 5. It has 1SP to recover:
  
  • 1st SP 2D6(07) – 5 result SP recovered in 2 Turns
  
  Good, eh??
  
• While the main body of my army has been resting, the artillery has not - DG made the mistake of leaving some of his scouting units on the road north of Carnine, and a couple of moves of artillery fire, whilst not managing to inflict any casualties (lighter artillery at long range), had certainly caused him to break camp and disappear promptly!
  
• Then just to finish things off I sent the cavalry after him and in a couple of dashing hit and run attacks inflicted double points of damage (which he diced for using the above procedure) whilst driving him considerably north of where he is at the moment - and well out of recon range! On the way back - to add insult to injury, I also attacked his cavalry, which was on the hill just north of Carnine and drove them off with additional casualities...
  
• Lastly, DG is on a roll, and then came up with the idea of reducing reconnaissance ranges at night.. this was one of those blinding "doh!" moments, and other than some discussion about whether we should also have a third setting for dusk (abandoned at the moment as perhaps a step too far) was adopted immediately. Our recon ranges overnight (21:00 to 04:00) are now as follows:
  
  

  	Cavalry	Light Infantry	Line Infantry	Artillery
  Night Time	1	2	1	1
  Day Time	9	6	4	4

So - where are we at at the moment?? See following:



...and more to the point - what are my plans for the future?? Increasingly, I am thinking about a breakout to the north, using my overwhelming number in horse to drive off DG's recon troops and deprive him of knowledge of where I am. On the other hand - the name of the game is defeating the British and I'm not going to do that by running away!

So how to "find, fix, track, target, engage" in modern military parlance?

DG outnumbers me, so I need to pick off what units I can, until he doesn't outnumber me. If he hasn't snuck off in the night - I think I'll start with the cavalry north of Carnine.. first step - "find" - more anon..