Lasalle : Règles maison

Les règles maison définitivement adoptées :

1.  "Fall Back" as a Reaction

Units that successfully Fall Back as a reaction to a charge lose 1 cohesion.  A unit that is 1 cohesion away from rout cannot Fall Back.

2.  Artillery pivoting before fire

In order to avoid the game of "hide and seek" that units play with artillery at long range, artillery may pivot up to 1BW before firing, instead of after.

3.  Esprit

Napoleonic players like to have a wide range of unit qualities, so we have bought in 6 classes of Esprit, each level of difference giving +1 die in combat.  This avoids any fundamental alteration in the rules.  We also wanted to avoid having to rewrite the army lists.

The six levels are "Shaky", "Unsteady", "Reliable", "Intrepid", "Valiant" and "Elite".
(En français : "Chancelant", "Peu fiable", "Fiable", "Intrépide", "Vaillant", "Élite")

Each army list is amended so that a die roll before deployment may cause the Esprit of each battalion to rise or fall by one level.  For example, British units gain a level on a '6' (Reliable troops become Intrepid), and drop on a '1' (Reliable become Unsteady).  French units gain a level on a '5-6' and drop on a '1-2'.  Austrians will gain a level on a '6' and drop on a '1-2', and so forth.


4.  Discipline

For the same reasons, we have created a total of 4 levels of Discipline, combining this value and the possible amateur status of the unit.

They are : Raw (5+, Amateur), Conscripts (4+, Amateur), Line (4+), Experienced (3+).
(En français :  Bleus, Conscrits, Ligne, Expérimenté).

Once again, there is no fundamental alteration of the rules, nor of the army lists, simply a change in unit quality.

Each army list is amended so that a die roll before deployment may cause the Discipline to change.  For example, British and French armies see their Experienced (3+) troops become Line (4+) on a 4-6.  Their Amateur (4+) troops become Raw (5+, Amateur) on a '6' or otherwise retain their status, as Conscripts (4+, Amateur).



5.  Artillery Fire

Whilst we do not want small batteries of artillery to dominate the game, they do seem to lack punch, so :

-  An artillery unit causes 1 cohesion loss on infantry and cavalry as long as it scores at least one hit (instead of two).
-  A unit fired on by artillery is marked.  On its next turn, it will roll one extra die for a rally attempt.
-  An artillery unit that falls back as a reaction may also fire
-  Artillery on higher ground may fire over the heads of any friendly unit that is not Near (within 4BW of) the target.


The following rules are yet to be tested :


6.  Irregular (Open Order) troops

Having Irregular (=Open Order) troops adopt formations seems strange, but it is also important to avoid them being able to endlessly "shoot and withdraw" in front of other troops in open terrain, in which they ought to be more cautious.  Their ability to shoot at oncoming enemy irregulars in rough terrain and withdraw out of range should also be limited.  I therefore suggest that :

-  Irregular troops only use a line formation
-  They may move at March column speed as long as their move did not begin Near the enemy
-  They may move at Attack Column speed if their move began Near the enemy
-  An about face is still a formation change, and uses the normal table for calculating available movement


7.  Squares firing

The controlling player cuts the square in half by one of its diagonals.  Each triangle thus created can fire with two bases, on any enemy within the 180° arc.  The usual rules for target priority still apply, considering the "front" of the unit to be a 180° arc.