Kaunitz Project [moved over to NTW engine!]

[Flikitos]

Nice icons kaunitz!

[Primergy]

Nice icons kaunitz!

Indeed i really like this style

[bloody bill]

Everything is looking amazing buddy. Cannot wait to get some good propaganda vids up to show the clans.

[Kaunitz]

I’m glad you all seem to like the unit cards!

I’ve caught a cold and was not really in the mood for systematical artillery testing the last few days. However, I’m still working on the mod, of course, and I think I can release it in mid November.

Here’s another unedited preview video of a battle against the AI (new musket sounds! - again! ).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Note that the prussian grenadiers held out quite long, almost 4 minutes, although being threatened on the flanks and being shot into pieces. The main reason for that was that they actually “didn’t” return the fire. Instead, the AI waited until everyone was in his place. As the main part of the battalion was already standing and idle, and for they were especially drilled grenadiers (=”fatigue resistant”), their cohesion went up to “medium” even though the AI had let this unit run around before. Therefore, the battalion took most of the shock (the first volleys) with “medium” cohesion (=no morale malus). Had they returned fire, earlier, their cohesion would have been low and I presume they would have dissolved much more quickly.

I will check if the 4 ranks firing were caused by the difference in height between my bat. and their target, or by my last changes in the battle entities.

Also, I'm unsure about the chasseurs. Those two little companies (40x4=160 chasseurs) caused my battalion 13 (x4=52) casualties in less than 5 minutes at a range of over 200 yards most of the time. Also, they have hit my general - I don't know if the Ai actually targeted him or if he was hit by a stray shot.

[Didz]

Incidently, I'm not sure if this is just a false perception but I've been playing the Peninsula Campaign on NTW and I get the distinct impression that vanilla richocet fire on NTW has been improved from ETW. I just had a battle where the French army was artillery heavy, so I positioned my Spanish infantry line on the reverse slope of a ridge in true Wellington style and the French shot was hitting the front face of the ridge and bouncing over their heads just as it should do.

@Kaunitz: interesting point about the grenadiers. Primary testiment certainly suggests that firing was considered disruptive and potentially fatal to troops under severe battle stress. There are letters pointing out that allowing you're men to fire, especially at long range is potentially disasterous to their morale, as troops become dismayed if they are firing but cannot see any visible impact on the enemy from their efforts. Likewise, there are several letters arguing against firing when being charged by cavalry in square, because men with empty muskets tend to panic under the stress of trying to reload and can disrupt the formation.

So, in that respect it sounds like you have managed to get the game to mimic real life.

I was bit dissapointed with your General though, he seemed to make himself scarce as soon as the first shot was fired, not a very good example to his men and hardly honourable even if you chief of staff has just been killed.

The thing I like most about you video's is that there are moments when they look just like the period battlefield paintings you have posted in the past, and the sound effects are brilliant now. Although not sure why the Austrian's are using English commands, but at least it means I can understand them..

[Kaunitz]

To be honest I haven't been playing NTW a lot, even with Art of War enabled. The maps are better but there are many optical/immersion donturns for me: I don't like the muzzle flashes, I don't like how soldiers get carried away by cannon shot like Baron von Münchhausen, just to stand up and re-join the ranks afterwards, and I don't like the pale faces of soldiers who were exposed to the weather almost 24-7, and their super tidy uniforms. NTW is very sterile and doesn't really capture the "feeling" of the Napoleonic time.

The missing link of the "cohesion feature" (except for artillery-fire not causing a cohesion-drop) is that units never stop to open fire against your will, which would often happen in real battles. Once a side began to open fire, it required lots of guts for their targets not to fire back. But I don't need to tell you about that. So, in this mod, you will see much more actions at closer ranges, if you want to.

The general's staff in the video actually ran away when the general was shot (either by aimed fire of the chasseurs or by a chasseurs-strayshot). The unit lost 1 of 2. I'm now making generals much "smaller targets" with 2 hitpoints (for aimed rifle-fire (damagae: 2), a single hit will still be enough). There's no way to make a unit stand its ground with 50% recent casualties. What is more of a problem with generals' units: I can't seem to find a way to declare them as "non-cavalry". So, if you manage to drive your general into an enemy infantry battalion, this battalion will suffer the same shock as if a squadron of cuirassiers has just hit them and will most likely rout instantly. That's really bad.

I also got the impression that sometimes, the look of the mod resembles very much the battles depicted on contemporary battle paintings. If only we had more and more interesting maps! I'm sick of playing Bavaria, Provence and Algeria (the one with the undestroyable fences?!) all the time. I think the musket sounds are my best so far, but I'm still looking for better cannon fire-sounds. As for the commands: as the reenactment-scene in Europe seems to be much smaller than the American, there are hardly any german command sounds on youtube that I could use. I've tried to record some myself, taken from the 1750 infantry regulation: "Halt! Front! Das ganze Bataillon rangiere sich!" (Halt! Front! Dress!) and "Das Bataillon wird chargirn!" (announcement that the batallion will make ready to fire). But I don't like them ingame. They're too long and I don't like to hear the same (my own) voice all the time (there are about four alternative sounds for each order and it would be strange to keep some orders in english and some in german...). In other cases, I would need a small chorus to shout "Maria Theresia!", "Allons!" or "Vive le Roi!" rather than "Huzzah!". For these reasons, I kept the english orders.

[Didz]

Lol! I can empathise with your problems in getting authentic foreign voices for your recordings, it took me ages to find an authentic sounding Prussian cheer, and in the end it came courtesy of the East German Army of all places. Certainly the ACW re-enactment scene is the most high profile, at least on YouTube.

As for your cowardly general, I just assumed it was him making a hasty departure as I never noticed a 'Your General has died a Heroes Death' mesage come up.

[Kaunitz]

You're correct, Didz. It was the adjudant who got killed then.

Here's a preview of the rosters for the upcoming version. The detection ranges and characteristics will show up as the units' tooltips in the unit selection window.

Roster

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Schema:

Name (number of models) available for factions (AUstria/PRUssia)
cost
detection range (wood/scrubs/open)
characteristics

HEADQUARTER

General staff (2 men) AU,PRU
cost: 8
detection: 40/230/250 (AU), 40/255/275 (PRU)

INFANTRY

Chasseur company (20 men) PRU
cost: 2
detection: 45/70/80
accurate fire (rifles), detection bonus in difficult terrain, low morale, open order, ammunition: 20

Grenzer (70 men) AU
cost: 4
detection: 45/70/80
accurate fire (muskets), detection bonus in difficult terrain, medium morale, open order, ammunition: 30

Infantry bataillon (140 men) AU, PRU (slightly higher morale than AU)
cost: 4 (AU), 5 (PRU)
detection: 30/70/80
medium morale, ammunition: 60

Converged grenadier bataillon (120 men) AU, PRU (slightly higher morale than AU)
cost: 7 (AU), 8 (PRU)
detection: 30/70/80
high morale, high cohesion, morale shock resistant, ammunition: 60

CAVALRY

Hussar squadron (40 troopers) AU, PRU
cost: 3
detection: 30/85/95
low morale, detection bonus in open terrain

Dragoon squadron (30 troopers) AU, PRU
cost: 4
detection: 30/70/80
medium morale

Cuirassier squadron (30 troopers) AU, PRU
cost: 6
detection: 30/70/80
high morale, high cohesion


ARTILLERY

3pdr regimental gun / "grasshopper" (1 gun model) AU, PRU
cost: 2

Battery of 4 6pdr guns (1 gun model) AU, PRU
cost: 4

Battery of 4 12pdr guns (1 gun model) AU, PRU
cost: 11

Explanation of some “characteristics”

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

accurate fire (muskets)
higher range, higher accuracy, slower reloading, accuracy less affected by cohesion (a unit can keep up its accuracy even when it keeps firing for a long time, or moves around quickly)

accurate fire (rifles)
like accurate fire for muskets, but with bigger effects in all 4 aspects (range, accuracy, reloading, accuracy-cohesion)

open order
the unit is allowed to go into skirmish formation and can thus enlarge its “zone of fire” significantly, although with decreased fire density; the units’ regular formation might be less dense than that of ordinary infantry; the unit is more flexible (slightly faster movement, faster turning)

high cohesion
the unit can keep up its cohesion better and regains cohesion faster (a low cohesion leads to lower morale and lower accuracy)

As for the costs: You can see that the costs are set so that players should agree over the amount of points for each battle. I don't want to limit players in any other way.

Regarding the unit characteristics I have to say that there are big differences per "unit type" (infantry/cavalry/general) that are not mentioned here. For example that cavalry breaks infantry on contact, but uses a different charging-routine (once you let cavalry loose, its cohesion and thereby morale quickly drops so that determining the right moment is very important).

I think it has also become clear that the engine has immense problems when it comes to light infantry as it doesn't allow for two "modes" of firing (open ranks, closed ranks). Therefore I had to make due with a strange single "mixture"-firing mode. Apart from that, it is also hard to determine how Grenzer infantry acted historically. Judging from what I've read on the SYW and also the WAS, they often joined converged grenadier companies to form an advance guard. You have examples of Grenzers acting in loose formation, but also examples (contemporary pictures) of them acting in close order, and sometimes they are said to have gone on the offensive with drawn sabres. Some writers praised their loyalty (low desertion), some complained about their lack of order. Stereotypes? Reality? Moreover they seem to have been in action in very big numbers. The unit size (70 models) is set rather arbitrarily.

For the Fog of War's sake, I don't want to base the rosters on "regiments", so that each regiment would have its own uniform, but still the same stats. It would also lead to totally confusing rosters with lots of unit cards for technically identical units. There are two exceptions that I can think of for a later version: 1) Adding hungarian line infantry and grenadiers (so that a player can use them instead of the "german" models - for the FOW's sake it is still adviseable to use only one type - either german or hungarian); 2) I can think of adding a low morale "pressed Saxon" line infantry to the Prussians. I don't know if it is a good idea to make them identifiable for the enemy by calling them such and give them their characteristic white turnups. It would be more interesting to make them look the same as other Prussian infantry and give them the same name, so that the enemy doesn't know where they are positioned.

The rosters can be expanded in later versions (e.g. chasseurs for the Habsburgs, horse artillery for the Prussians...). There are only a few differences between Austria and Prussia. Prussian generals have a better detection range to represent the overall better initiative and performance of the Prussian generals during the war in an admittedly very abstract way. The basic high costs for generals should make players less likely to pick multiple generals and thereby circumvent the Fog of War feature. Of course you can take more than 1 general, but then you will need to make really good use of them for your army will have about 2 battaillons less than your enemies' army. Prussian line infantry and Prussian grenadiers have a slight morale advantage over their austrian counterparts but therefore cost a bit more.

Final unit cards

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

PS: I called the light troops "Chasseurs" instead of "Jägers" because a general in the prussian or Imperial army would probably call them such. There is a big french influence in the germanophone elites' vocabulary during the mid century. You can find words like rangieren (dress the ranks), deployieren (deploy), chargiren (fire), generals/officiers (the plural with s rather than "Generäle" or "Offiziere"), tiraillieren (skirmish), tambours (for drummers), cannons, etc.etc.

[Kaunitz]

Okay, I think its ready for some final beta-testing. Anyone who is interested please send me a PM. I'll be very thankful for any feedback of multiplayer games I can get, and/or, even better, replays. I'd love to play as well, but my internet connection is rather bad (until January/February). If you don't mind me being disconected in one or another battle, I'm ready to take it on nevertheless! Just contact me on Steam ("Kaunitz"; I've also set up a steam group). To be honest I can't wait to have a game against a human opponent.

If the test runs well and a few last uncomplicated things are added (amongst them the new main menu video with all the credits- including beta-tsters ), it can be released.

[Dee Jay]

Great to hear Kaunitz, and by the way, I like your unit rosters

I would play a game with you, but unfortunatly my internet has been capped for a week or so

[Kaunitz]

This reminds me of the sad fact that there is no big multiplayer community for ETW. How come that most people who are seriously interested in horse and musket warfare seem to prefer the napoleonic era? If we could just put up a small goup of sincerely interested people so that one can play a game every week or so, I'd be a very happy person. Come on, people, don't be shy! I can't infiltrate the Lordz' boards with advertisments for this mod.

[bloody bill]

I am always up for a game buddy.

[FilipVonZietek]

Wow it looks like Sid Meiers Gettysburg or Waterloo: Napoleons last battle.

Only problem are the maps which at this groundscale get even more unnaturaly hilly than they are in vanilla.

[Kaunitz]

Thanks to both of you, Bloody Bill and Filip von Zietek, for your feedback so far!

@ Filip von Zietek

"Waterloo: Napoleons last battle" was what actually sparked my interest for horse and musket warfare. But I played "Austerlitz: Napoleons greatest victory" much more. In terms of game mechanics and scope, these games are still better than ETW or NTW.

It's true that ETWs maps are a shame. Apart from them being too small, they're too few and - also due to the 4:1 scale - pretty dull and boring. How many locations can you find where you can deploy 10+ batallions in a single line in reality? There's a lack of villages (could be represented by 1-2 houses; but you should be able to set fire to them ^^), of cultivation (fields, vineyards, ditches, etc.) and other difficult terrain. The hills, on the other hand, are exaggerated, but one has to remember that the size (and the colision area) of the models are also exaggerated. If I was to make a map, I'd also put in lots of "dots" of difficult terrain, so that you'd need to put your units into column in order to move around at decent speed and without constantly breaking up your line. I still hope that some day a saviour (obviously not CA) will provide us a map pack.

[ambien]

[QUOTE=Kaunitz;10241763]

Quote collection

This is a collection of quotes that fit to this mod and will maybe be implemented into the game. I'm especially searching for quotes from the Seven Years War, although I've also added some of the American War of Revolution. I'd be very thankfull if you have some quotes too! I'm not very picky. I list quotes that are in some way interesting for me, either because they tell us something about tactics, because they give us a small glimpse in a soldiers' feelings and everyday life, or because they include some bonmots or heroic deeds. (Also, you could help me with good english translations )

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1) Feldmarschall Daun responding to colonel Thiennes’ offer to let the De-Ligne-Dragoons charge during the battle of Kolín (1757): „Mais vous ne ferez pas grand cause avec vos blanc-becs!“
Thiennes: “Blanc-becs, montrez que vous savez mordre sans avoir de barbe, montrez que pour mordre il ne faut que les dents et pas de barbe!”
“But you won’t achieve much with your greenhorns ("without beards")!” Thiennes: “Greenhorns, show how you can bite, even though you have no beards! Show that it just takes teeth to bite, but not beards!”
2) "Nebst dem könnt Ihr gäntzlich versichert seyn, und Ich verpfände Euch Mein Kayserlich Königliches Wort, daß bey einem glücklichen Ausschlag Euer große Verdienste mit allem dank und Gnaden ansehen, hingegen einen unglücklichen Erfolg Euch nimmermehr zur Last legen werden."
(last page of the letter of Maria Theresia to Feldmarschall Daun, ordering him to break the Prussian siege of Prague, Wien, 7. Juni 1757)
"I assure you and give you my word as empress and queen, that in case of success I will hold your services very dear and I will be grateful, however in the case of a defeat I will not blame you."
3) "Avez-vous entendu une semblable cannonade? Pour moi je n’en jamais entendu de pareille!" (Frederick II to General Major Syburg refering to the cannonade at the battle of Torgau 1760)
"Have you ever heard/been in such a cannonade? I haven't!"
4) „Nur einmal schielte ich auf die Seite und sah, daß ein Unteroffizier in meiner Nähe von einer Granate zerrissen wurde, daher ich um so mehr abgeschreckt ward, neugierig zu sein.“
(Lieutenant Christian Wilhelm von Prittwitz /battle of Kolín, 1757)
"Only once did I squint aside, only to see how an NCO close by got torn by a grenade. From that moment on, I didn't dare to be so curious anymore."
5) A quaker-woman to General Knyphausen before the battle of Brandywine Creek 1777: "My dear man, do not go down there, for George Washington is on the other side of the stream, and he has all this world with him."
Knyphausen: "Never mind, Madam. I have all the other world with me."
6) „I hope … that we – (I mean the English) – may be a bit more closely drawn toegether for the attack. For unless we are, I cannot yet reassure myself that infantry with its files four feet apart can capture intrenchments by escalade, or hold its ground against cavalry.”
(Hesse-Kassel Colonel von Donop in a letter to the Prince of Prussia, 2. September 1777, refering to the open order commonly used by the British during the American War of Revolution)
7) "Ich zu meinem Teil hatte die Ehre zu Anfang des Treffens, dass mir nahe über dem Kopfe vorne durch die Spitze des Hutes eine Flintenkugel drang und nicht lange darauf eine zweite durch die große Krempe der linken Hutseite derart, dass mir dieser vom Kopfe fiel. Ich sagte zu denen von Hertzberg, so nicht weit von mir standen: "Meine Herren, soll ich den Hut wieder aufsetzen, den die Kaiserlichen so gerne haben wollen?" "Ja freilich", sagten sie, "der Hut macht dir Ehre."" (Officer Ernst Friedrich Rudolf von Barsewisch during the battle of Hochkirch)
At the beginning of the battle I had the honour to receive a bullet through the front tip of my hat, close to my head, and only shortly afterwards a second one through the left brim of my hat, so that the hat fell off. I asked those of Hertzberg, which were standing close by: "Gentlemen, do you want me to put the hat on again, that (the hat) the Imperials seem to want so much?" "Why of course!", they said, "it/the hat honours you!"
8) "Auf dem Wahlplatz eignete ich mir eine österreichische Grenadier- und eine Husarenmütze zu. Von ersterer brauche ich das Bärefell vor den Bauch, und von dieser das Schaffell zur Nachtmütze." (anonymous Prussian soldier after the battle of Lobositz)
On the battlefield, I took/acquired an austrian grenadier- and husar-cap. I used the bearskin of the former for my belly, and the sheepskin of the latter for a nightcap.
9) "Der König bezahlte jedes Canon, so dem Feinde genommen wurde, 100 Ducaten, vor eine Fahne 12 Ducaten und eine Estandarte 24 Ducaten." (memoires of the royal servant Karl Gans Edler zu Puttlitz, refering to the rewards that Frederick promised before the battle of Leuthen)
The king rewarded every gun taken from the enemy with 100 ducats, an (infantry-) banner (Fahne) with 12 ducats, and a (cavalry-)banner (Estandarte) with 24 ducats.
10) Daun on the issue of making a military career in the habsburg army more attractive for the nobility: "l'honeur et le sang (...) font bien moins (...) le mouvement interieur de l'home que l'interet et la convenniance particulliere qui trespasse sur tout malheureusement che nous."
11) "Whenever the attack proves too serious, they [the American rebels] retreat, and to follow them is of little value. It is impossible on account of the thick woods, to get around them, cutting them off from a pass, or to force them to a fight. Never are they so much to be feared as when retreating. Covered by the woods, the number of enemies with which we have to deal can never be defined. A hundred men approaching may be taken for a corps. The same are attacked, they retreat fighting. We think ourselves victors and follow them; they flee to an ambush, surround us and attack us with a superior number of men and we are the defeated.” Lieutenant Du Roi
12) “A pursuing army is always impeded by the effort that is necessary to maintain its own order; while, whether from terror, for safety, or for rallying, the speed of the fugitive is unrestricted. Hence, cavalry are the military means for rendering disorder irretrievable.” Otho Williams, continental army officer

Would quotes from Marechal Maurice de Saxe be helpful? His "Reveries on the art of war" is full of interesting observations on 18th Century warfare.

[Kaunitz]

Welcome, ambien, and thanks for calling my attention to Moritz von Sachsen/the Mareshall de Saxe. Although my french is not the best, I will browse through the reveries for interesting quotes. I'm sure I will find a lot of stuff. I didn't know he already proposed the usage of amusettes! see Screen 219ff. And there are also some strange "reveries" in it, like his proposal of reintroducing pikes for infantry and heavy armour for cavalry, and his believe that light infantry can get off four to six shots per minute and that a battalion needs seven to eight minutes to cross a distance of 300 pas/paces (p. 70).

Unfortunately, it seems as if the localisation file doesn't work for other players, so I need to check this annoying issue (worst of all the unit have wrong names..) before I can add quotes.

Yesterday I finally had an online game (without any crashes!)! I've commited some "big" blunders which cost me the game early on and took the excitement out of the game (I guess I tried to "scare" my enemy with a big cavalry charge early on...*cough*), but today we're planning to get another game. A small report will follow. It turned out that the chat-window had dissappeared for some strange reason (might be connected to the fact that also the background screen for the "game paused"-information is missing). Very strange - I definitively have to solve that before release.

[bloody bill]

Hey buddy, I am back from Elk hunting and can get some mp battles in so if you see me on hit me up.

[Kaunitz]

Glad you're back, bloody bill! I'm looking forward to a game.

The release has to be delayed. If it was just for the game-mechanics, I'd be able to release it now, but there are some technical issues that showed up. And - to be totally honest - I'm too lazy/not in the mood to search for the reasons behind them right now. I rather enjoy a few mulitplayer games when I get home in the evenings. And I've already had some very interesting ones which played out really nice.

To Do-list:

Technical issues
1) My loc-file doesn't seem to work - or at least it doesn't work if you don't delete your current localisation-file.
2) The chat-window in multiplayer battles is missing, so that you have to chat via steam community which is a real nuisance. I have not a clue why it is missing. It might be related to the fact that the background screen of the detailed-unit-description-window during battles (mp as well as sp) is missing.
3) The cash for choosing your troops seem to be messed up somehow (at least that was Cangrys and my observation)

Mechanics/units issues
6pdr and 12pdr-batteries of 4 guns will come as 2 gun-models
Grenzers will get their size and morale reduced a bit
I want to reduce the effect of panic a little bit (especially for cavalry) - all too often, the second line of cavalry - supposed to be a safe harbour for the first line to rally - melts away together with the first line
implement cavalry regiments as an option

[Kaunitz]

Game Report

Here’s a short report of last Fridays' game. I was in command of the Habsburg army, Cangry lead the Prussians. The battle took place in "Bavaria" and we decided to use attacker- and defender-roles. Cangry had to be the aggressor this time. We agreed that the defender must not choose a generals’s staff unit, so that it will be more difficult for him to gather information about the enemy’s whereabouts and is forced to act more cautiously. To compensate, the defender can not only spend the 8 points that a generals’ staff unit costs on other troops, but also, he may pick a terrain feature on the map which he has to hold until time runs out (we usually make it 2 hours; including some initial “fast forward”). The spot is indicated by the defender by placing his “visible” unit (the first unit you chose in the selection screen will always be visible to the enemy) on it. As the objective, I chose a little hill in the centre of the map, but it turned out that it didn’t play any major role in the battle.

We agreed on 80 points per army. I deployed 8 battalions of line infantry, 2 converged grenadier battalions, 2 battalions of Grenzers, 3 single 3pdr-guns, and 4 squadrons of dragoons. As far as I can tell, Cangry had one generals’ staff unit, a 3pdr, a battery of 6pdrs, 2 companies of chasseurs, 2 squadrons of cuirassiers, perhaps 3 grenadier battalions and the rest (ca. 7 battalions?) made up of line infantry.

I started the game by letting my dragoon squadrons scout on both flanks. I thereby risked both of them, because enemy cavalry (which I could spot at a range of 80 yards in the open) can easily catch and rout isolated squadrons. I encountered some enemy troops on my right flank, whereas there seemed to be nothing in my centre and on my left flank. I moved up a battalion of grenzers along the wood in order to harass the units that I had just discovered on my right. The next 15-20 minutes, there was some skirmishing, which forced the Prussian guns to unlimber. There were but few casualties on both sides but I finally decided to disengage, for the Prussian guns were taking their toll slowly. However, also the Prussians had to endure the fire from my guns on the hills.

Still there was noone showing up on my left flank, so I assumed that the main bulk of the Prussian army was aiming at my right flank, and that the units that I’ve been skirmishing with were the “tail” of the Prussian column. I began shifting some troops and cavalry from my left flank to the right. Soon it turned out that my suspicion was justified. The bad thing is: while watching the replay, I noticed that my grenzer-outpost in the far-right wood was not within detection range of Cangrys column. The reason why they became visible to me was that they were moving on a “rock”-surface, not a grass surface. And units only remain hidden when they’re on grass, scrub or woods. That’s really annoying! Anyway, I started to reposition my guns in order to welcome the bluecoats.

Cangry didn’t go for a quick decision. Instead, his troops deployed in an orderly and slow manner. I didn’t dare to attack the “head” of the column either as I didn’t really know if the column was marching in a way which made it prone to an early attack. My outpost-grenzers were forced to retreat by the grenadiers’ fire, but, only having suffered a single casualty by that time, they rallied very soon.

It took quite a lot of time until the Prussians did anything active. Cangry obviously waited to bring up his guns. As the armies were now both holding a little hill, about 500 yards apart from each other, an artillery duel ensued. I drove back some half-hearted chasseur-attempts to come closer with grape shot. On the right flank of the new line, I pushed forward against what proved to be a single Prussian cuirassier squadron, but in turn, my squadrons were forced to retreat due to the fire which came from the woods. I was lucky that Cangrys cuirassier didn’t go for the pursuit here.

When Cangry had finally brought up his guns, the artillery duel clearly shifted to the Prussians’ favour. But it was also very obvious that the bombardment alone could not drive off the Austrians in time. So, finally, the Prussians attacked. The fire combat took place at a distance of about 90 yards, so it became a quite bloody affair. While I moved up the rest of my troops to envelop Cangry’s right wing, Cangrys left wing committed the battle-deciding mistake.

Here, two battalions of grenadiers, and, behind them, the single squadron of cuirassiers, advanced against my grenzer battalion in open order, supported by 3 squadrons of dragoon in their rear. Just before the grenadiers could reach the grenzers, Cangry sent his cuirassiers against them. Pell-mell, the troopers broke through the grenadiers and sent the grenzers flying. This chaotic situation, however, was an excellent opportunity for a counter-charge. All 3 dragoon squadrons sounded the charge. The disordered cuirassiers, seeing this, tried to draw back, but they were partly blocked by their own fellow grenadier battalions, that – in turn – could only fire a few shots at the oncoming dragoons. The result was a catastrophe for the Prussians. The dragoons cut through their ranks, routing the cuirassiers along with the grenadiers. This incident certainly shifted the balance of casualties into my favour, as there was no reserve that could stop my dragoons from pursuing. Also, the whole line of the Prussians collapsed, the Austrian line following them to prevent them from rallying and keep up the pressure.

The last episode of this engagement saw the Austrians take the Prussian battery on the hill, which was well supported by a grenadier and a line battalion. The Habsburg grenadiers, leading the attack, suffered terribly from canister and musket fire, losing more than a third of their strength. But as the Prussian battalions were about to get outflanked, Cangry tried to draw them back a little bit. However, they lost their nerve – having to turn their backs on the numerable enemies - and routed. The battered Habsburg grenadiers could finally take the isolated battery by means of a bayonet charge. Vivat Maria Theresia! Even though the two Prussian battalions rallied and got some more shots off, the battle was over. At the end of two hours, the Habsburg army was in full possession of the field.

Here is a video of the battle

1. Deployment of the Habsburg army (fly-over from my left to my right)
2. (1:09) Impressions of the skirmishing in the centre
3. (3:50) Building up a new line on my right flank to counter the Prussian flanking movement
4. (4:51) The failed attack of my dragoons
5. (6:00) Some Impressions of the artillery duel
6. (8:12) The battle
7. (14:50) The capture of the Prussian battery



Some confusing considerations

Attacker-defender-roles & Fog of War in general
As far as the game is concerned, we agreed that the role of the attacker is a very difficult one. Not only because he usually has to take some close range artillery fire, but also because it’s hard to use the generals’ staff unit it in a way so that it is worth its 8 points. Ideally, you have to use it in order to surprise your enemy and create local advantages (that is: outflanking). As the attackers’ army will have fewer points than the defender, surprise is his only way to bring about a clear victory. So it is an imperative for the attacker to keep the direction of his attack hidden as long as possible. In this game, I discovered Cangry’s flank movement very early on by means of some simple dragoon-scouts. So the game developed into a full scale frontal assault. It was a good example of why I consider advance-guards obligatory on the attack. Take three units, deploy them on both flanks and the centre (in order to keep your enemy guessing), and have your main force about 100 yards behind one of these advance guards (the detection range of Hussars is now 90 yards).

Still I have to say that I’m still not quite happy with the way that reconnaissance works. The main problem is that I’m really trying to combine two levels of gameplay (what I’ve called “grand tactical” and “tactical”), but the game has been designed with only one of them in mind (“tactical”). On the one hand, you will be the commander on a regimental-level (=tactical level): you’re moving individual battalions around, you let them react to sudden threats, you determine the exact spot where they are positioned, and you decide when to open fire, etc. etc. On the other hand, you will be the general who’s in command of a whole army-division (grand tactical level). The problem is, however, that a general should not have the same information as the regimental-commander. He should have to make his (big!) decisions on the basis of comparatively little (and delayed) information as he can’t be everywhere on the battle field to take a look at the situation himself.

In the current mod, a division-commander will always get too much information and will always be overpowered on the grand tactical level. Imagine how one of your units on your far right flank discovers an enemy (currently at a detection range of 80 yards). Now, based on that information and in a matter of seconds you can give the corresponding order to a unit on the other side of your battle line, which is perhaps 1500 real yards away. The point that I want to make is that the reaction time of your whole army is significantly shorter than it would be in reality, and it is also independent of the “formation”. No matter how far spread out your army is, each and every single unit can react to whatever any other unit of the army sees. In general these factors make it much more difficult to achieve any kind of surprise. It is as if your units had walky-talkies, or rather: all units carry little monitors with them that give them a satellite view of the battle. In reality, we’d have to stick to written reports carried by aides de camp, and also – quite important – the sound of cannon and musket fire, whose intensity could influence the decisions made by generals (e.g. the battle of Torgau).

So, what I’ve done so far is to reduce the detection ranges of units a lot – to a range that is far lower than plain eye’s sight. Apart from the fact that ETW doesn’t know “real” lines of sight (blocked by hills and other terrain), you also have to remember that the maps themselves are very open and boring. But the main reason for the reduced detection range is that it is the only (improvised and imperfect) means to give surprised armies less “reaction” time. But at the same time, as the army detection and the individual units’ detections are linked, it also reduces the reaction time of the unit that has spotted the enemy. So there is a certain lower cap for detection ranges. Imagine how units in line would suddenly detect enemy cavalry only at 30 yards’ distance, just in order to give the army as a whole less time to react. “We can’t form square now, we have to wait until the enemy squadron gets much closer. Only then are we – together with the whole army – allowed to react!” Needless to say that this is especially stupid when it comes to artillery: “We only fire when they’re but 100 yards away! We’re not allowed to alert the guys on the other end of the battle line, 2000 yards away, any earlier!”

Despite these unrealistic handicaps, I think that another reduction of detection ranges from 80 ingame yards (320 real yards) to perhaps 65 ingame yards (224 real, which is only slightly over the maximum musket range in this mod), is worth a try. What would this extreme reduction of detection ranges mean? Does it mean that my troops are so blind that they cannot spot an enemy until he’s only 200 yards away? Well, no! It means that units will generally try to defend the spot where you’ve positioned them. It means that your regiments’ or brigades’ commanders won’t act on their own initiative until the enemy is but 200 yards away. Once in detection/initiave range, your battalion will still be able to react very flexibly. You can go on the offensive, hold your position or you can retreat. In this respect, your battalion might even be more flexible than history would suggest. I do understand though that the effects on artillery and the building of deep formations/squares are really unfavourable. Remember though that your general (detection range/initiative range of 100, according to the reduction) as well as advance gards can act as “early warning systems”.

The next few games will show if the idea adds more depth to the game or if it makes cavalry attacks unbeatable.

Potential Gamebreaker

Watching the replay, I discovered another gamebreaker: You can actually hear the sounds of hidden (enemy) troops! How stupid is that!? Now the options are: 1) disable all marching- and “order”- and “drumroll”-sounds, 2) leave it as it is (believing into both players’ interest to have a good game), or 3) the players can fast forward or pause from time to time in order to silence at least the drumroll-sounds (the marching sounds can still be heard). ...Another well done feature of this game...

[Dee Jay]

Looks like your mod is coming along well Kaunitz

Do you think I could get your latest beta off you soon? and then we could get some games in on the weekend, like back in the good old days