Standard game rules - Victory Point Games

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Napoleonic 20 Game Rules v2.0 8● Until revealed, a Dummy functions inall ways as normal unit and does controlthe hex it occupies (e.g., an enemyObjective or LoC hex).[16.2] Cavalry PenetrationDuring your Reaction Phase,friendly cavalry units may movethrough enemy ZOCs under certaincircumstances.ProcedureCavalry Penetration occurs only during thefriendly Reaction Phase as a cavalry unit’ssingle action. The cavalry unit must begin itsReaction phase adjacent to an enemy unit. Itcan then move into another hex that is alsoadjacent to an enemy unit (even moving fromone hex in an enemy ZOC to another), butthen it must cease its movement for thatPhase and cannot conduct a Counterchargeattack.● The Penetrating cavalry unit cannot beginin or enter the ZOC of an enemy cavalryunit.This move is, in effect, the opposite ofDisengagement (8.3).[16.3] Artillery SupportIndividual batteries of artillery wereoften detached from parks to nearbyformations to help shore upthreatened parts of the line.[16.3.1] Defensive Support: If no attackhas been declared (9.2) against an Artilleryunit, it adds one (+1) to the strength of allfriendly defending units in its Zone ofControl (if it currently has one). Thisbenefit has no Morale Point cost andapplies during Enemy Combat andReaction Phases.[16.3.2] Bombardment: Artillery unitscan attack across Major Rivers or otherprohibited terrain hexside by Bombardment.Bombarding Artillery units mayattack, either alone or combined with otherfriendly attacking units, using their normal(printed; not doubled as per 9.2) CombatStrength.When Bombarding, Artillery units enjoy alimited immunity to adverse combatresults, treating all AB or AR results asAW. If an EX result occurs, BombardingArtillery can never be Broken to satisfyCase 9.6.7; if the Artillery unit is attackingalone via Bombardment, treat any EXresults ad eNgaged instead.[16.4] Additional Rally LocationsIn addition to vacant LOC hexes, you mayalso place Rallied units (10.0) in a ‘Rallyhex’ that meet all of these conditions:● It must be an empty Town, Fortified,Redoubt or same-side’s Objective hex(i.e., a ‘natural rallying point’).● It must be ‘a safe distance’ of at least 4hexes away from the nearest enemy unitand closer to the nearest friendly LOC hexthan the nearest enemy unit is to that LOChex (i.e., ‘behind friendly lines’).● It must be able to trace a path of hexesto the closest friendly LOC that is notoccupied by an enemy unit; this path maybe of any length, but cannot pass throughany hex containing or adjacent to anenemy unit, or across impassable (e.g.,unbridged or unforded) major riverhexsides (i.e. ‘not isolated behind enemylines’).[16.5] Routed UnitsUnits that Rout receive additionalrestrictions.[16.5.1] Indicated Routed Status: Place a‘Routed’ marker on routed units after theycomplete their Rout Movement.[16.5.2] Rout Effects: Are as follows:● Routed units may only move if theycontinue to retreat. That is, anyMovement Points they spend must be inaccordance with Rule 9.8. They mayelect to simply stay in place.● Routed units lose their ZOCs.● Routed units have their combat strengthsreduced by 50% (round fractions up)when both attacking and defending. Thisdoes not affect a defender’s TerrainStrength benefits.● If all of the units of one sideparticipating in a battle are alreadymarked as Routed, they may not have aMorale Point spent to commit theirreserves to battle (12.5).● Routed units cannot Advance afterCombat.● Routed units Retreat and Rout againnormally if compelled to do so.[16.5.3] Rout Recovery: Every routed unit(even one that just suffered an ARresult) recovers automatically at theend of that Player’s turn if it is notin an enemy Zone of Control.[16.6] Unit ReductionBroken units can return to play as smallerformation, reduced-strength units called‘Cadres.’[16.6.1] Partial Rallying: When youconduct a Rally Check for an Infantry unit,you may treat a ‘No Effect’ outcome as a‘Partial Rally’ result.● Eliminate the Infantry unit that you wererolling for (i.e., it is permanentlyremoved from play), and● Receive (‘Rally’) one of the generic, 1-strength Cadre units instead.[16.6.2] Cadre Units: Cadre units functionas normal Infantry units except, if they areever Broken, they themselves cannot beRallied. When Broken, they are returned totheir owner’s available pile instead and areavailable for future reuse.[16.7] Unit Breakdown and BuildupGeneral RuleBefore it moves during itsowner’s Movement Phase, a‘large’ (i.e., having a CombatStrength of 2 or more) infantrytypeunit (only; other types are noteligible) can be exchanged for (i.e.,‘broken down into’) two Cadre units, ifavailable, at the cost of 1 Morale Point.Conversely, at the end of their owner’sMovement Phase, two Cadre units may bestacked together and then be exchanged for(i.e., ‘combined into’) an eliminated largeinfantry unit and 1 Morale Point recovered.[16.7.1] Breaking Down: A player musthave two available Cadre units in order tobreak down a large infantry unit.Remove the large infantry-type unit beingbroken down from the map and place itamong your eliminated units (i.e., it cannotbe Rallied). Replace it in its hex with twoCadre units. These newly placed Cadreunits are free to move and engage incombat this turn.● There is a minus one (-1) Morale Pointcost to break down a unit thus.● If an unrevealed large infantry unitbreaks down, one Dummy unit, ifavailable, can also be added to thatstack when it is formed.[16.7.2] Combining: Any two Cadre unitsof the same nationality can end theirowner’s Movement Phase stacked together(an exception to Rule 6.9). When they doso, they are removed from the map andreplaced in that hex by their owner’sweakest eliminated large infantry unit ofthat same nationality, which is then free toparticipate in combat that turn.● There is a plus one (+1) Morale Pointgain when building up a large infantryunit thus.GAME CREDITSGame System Design: Joseph MirandaDocumentation and Game SystemDevelopment: Alan EmrichArt & Graphic Design: John CooperPlaytesting: Mark Beninger, Nick Chartier,Michael D’Alesandro, Scott DiBerardino, JoeDonnelly, Patrick Luque, Lance McMillan, KimMeints, Stephanie Newland, Randall Shaw© 1999 Joe Miranda and © 2008 Victory Point Games
Napoleonic 20 Game Rules v2.0 9Napoleonic 20Designer’s NotesBy Joseph MirandaMy challenge was to design a realistic,playable game of a major campaign withonly 20 units or less on the map. I chosethe Waterloo Campaign as my startingpoint and designed the first game in thisseries for The Strategist wargamingnewsletter back in 1999. This new VictoryPoint Games edition is a better-tested andrefined, graphically enhanced version ofwhat I hoped would become a new‘classic’ game system – sort of a modern,miniaturized version of the old AvalonHill Waterloo game from the 1960s.Why Start with Waterloo?The Waterloo Campaignworked nicely for myinitial design goalsbecause the number ofcorps adds up to 18,because of the colorfulunits, and because of thenature of the campaign.The campaign itself wasactually a series ofbattles fought over a three day period,involving four major actions (Ligny,Quatre Bras, Wavre and Waterloo), so Idesigned this game system to give theplayers tactical and operational elements.This type of campaign was perfect for whatI wanted to accomplish.Combat StrengthsCombat strengths were based on a varietyof factors, including manpower, number ofartillery pieces, and training. By keepingthe values relatively low, the DifferentialCombat System works particularly well.The variety of combat results and theirvarious effects show the nature of anengagement in battle at this time. Resultsrange anywhere from indecisive to Routing(with the die roll nicely simulating thevarying degrees that units might fleebefore recovering) to Breaking (where aunit is not ‘completely destroyed,’ but it isineffective until formally Rallied).CavalryGiven the scale of the game system, therewas an issue to portraying cavalry. InWaterloo 20 I gave the French theirfour cavalry corps and the British get onebig cavalry unit. Thus, the British cavalryis more effective as a massed shock force,but less useful for screening and pursuit, asare the more granular French corps are.The Prussians did not get a cavalry unitbecause their cavalry formations wereintrinsically part of their infantry corps.Admittedly, we could have had a special‘combined arms’ rule or something in builtit into the Prussian units to show this, butto keep the game simple I just factored thecavalry into the Prussian unit strengths.The idea is that the French get a betterbalanced force, while the Prussians andBritish each have their own strengths.Rout EffectsPeople have commented that, because Routeffects are removed at the end of a player’sturn (i.e., the end of his Combat Phase),that the penalties seem much less severewhen an attacking unit routs than it doeswhen a defending unit routs. This is correctand intentional for the following reasons:First, as a principle of game design,performing administrative stuff at the endof a player’s turn is usually ‘neater,’especially in near-introductory levelwargames (like the Napoleonic 20system). Interrupting the flow of a player’sturn to do housekeeping chores has a badfeel and can make the game’s Sequence ofPlay clunky and hard to master.Second, let’s consider thematter of simulation ‘realism,’and for this we’ll consider theimplications of the OptionalRule concerning rout effects.Suppose you suffer a DR result; your unitrouts and essentially loses its nextMovement (it can only move back towardyour LoC) and Combat Phases (sufferinggreatly reduced strength, but more likelywill have routed far away from being inany position to attack whatsoever), allbecause it will not recover until the end ofits owners’ next Player Turn. Essentially, itis knocked out of action for a single turn(perhaps two if it routed a full six hexes).If you suffer an AR result, your attackingunits are pushed back one die roll’sdistance. Unless you roll a very low routnumber, you should not be able to get backinto a position to attack for at least anotherturn. Thus, that attacking unit is effectivelyout of action during your next Player Turn.The key concept with an AR result is thatthe attack failed. My design reflects thatwhen a defending is routed it is going to bein worse shape than when an attacking unitrouts. This is because when a defender isrouted, the attacker is making a deliberateeffort to upset that unit’s cohesion and maybe pursuing. Conversely, when the attackerrouts, he is just being thrown back out ofthe immediate vicinity of the battle.This system is designed around large scaleformations (i.e., Corps level units). Youare not seeing individual regiments rout asthey might in a more detailed miniaturesgame. My task was to consider the overallimpact of routing at higher scale.Movement RatesThe movement rates were deliberately keptlow to prevent players from conductingunrealistic outflanking maneuvers. The lowrates also show the significance of usingroads and forced-marches to enhancemaneuverability during the types ofcampaigns that the Napoleonic 20system was designed to simulate.Terrain EffectsSome players have wondered why thedefender gets only the single mostadvantageous benefit when defending, andnot all the benefits that hex might provide.That is, if a unit is in a town and behind ariver, shouldn’t they receive a cumulativebenefit in defense for both terrain types?No. This is a simple ‘design for effect’mechanic reflecting to the short range ofweapons of this period and ground scaleof each hex. Basically, a unit wouldeither defend in one position or another.Thus, a unit might defend at the stream’sedge or back in the town, but they couldnot effectively combine both.Random EventsRandom events add anelement of uncertainty intothe campaigns, help ‘tell thestory’ for each one byincluding events that are veryspecific to it, and generallyincrease the friction of war (as vonClausewitz calls it). As students of historyknow, variables such as these can bedecisive when campaigning at this scale.Because of these random events, playersmust think intuitively about what mighthappen, carefully consider how and whereto allocate their forces, which routes ofmarch to take, and where they want to fighttheir decisive battles. It’s a deliciouspuzzle that makes for great gaming.Terrain FeaturesLike everything else in this game system,the goal was to keep things simple. Thedifferent terrain types are generic enough© 1999 Joe Miranda and © 2008 Victory Point Games
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Standard game rules - Victory Point Games

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