GRANDE TACTIQUE

General Description

Infantry and cavalry units have three states: eager, shaken, and routed; artillery units can be eager, shaken, or silenced.  The game turns on forcing enemy troops into routed or silenced states, either by charging them or by wearing them down with fire (first to a shaken state, then to a routed or silenced state).  Units operate to full capacity when they are in the default state of eager; if they are beaten when fired on, or if they fail in charging, they become shaken, which in turn is half-way to being in a routed state.  Shaken troops are less efficient at firing (-1), have a morale disadvantage (-1), and are easier to charge (+1 to the charger’s morale roll).  In time, shaken troops will revert to being eager by themselves, as battalion-level officers reform their ranks and encourage their platoons; this process is faster for veteran troops, troops in square, troops in a Built-Up Area, and troops with a general attached, and slower for raw troops.  

 

Eager (normal)

The default state for units is eager, indicating that they are ready for combat, confident enough and pretty well organised.  Units begin the game eager and can be restored to that state from shaken if they pass the automatic Morale Check for shaken troops that comes first in the Sequence of Play every turn (on their own side's turn).

 

Shaken

Shaken troops have been exposed to the enemy and are beginning to waiver, with less enthusiastic soldiers drifting to the rear, everyone looking over their shoulder, etc.  The state is also used for troops who may retain high morale but have lost their cohesion, such as cavalry engaged in hunting down fleeing troops, since disordered cavalry, even if they are enthusiastic, are vulnerable to counterattack in the same way that troops with low morale are. The following troops become shaken:

 

• eager defending troops who lose (not tie) a firing attack;

• troops who fail their Morale Check when attempting to charge;

• cavalry charging infantry, if the infantry pass their Morale Check;

• cavalry who have pursued or destroyed a routed infantry or cavalry unit, after they finish their pursuit;

• cavalry who have pursued routed infantry or cavalry off the map, or routed infantry to the edge of woods;

• eager units passed through by a fleeing unit.

• infantry units that win a Locked in Combat situation.

 

Shaken troops are marked with a Shaken marker.

 

Routed

Routed troops have had their morale collapse; they are fleeing away from the fighting.  See the section below under Fleeing & Routing for how these troops behave (basically they run away).  Only infantry and cavalry become routed; the equivalent for artillery is to become silenced.  The following troops become routed:

 

• defending cavalry who are already shaken and lose a firing attack;

• defending infantry who are already shaken, lose a firing attack, and fail to pass a Morale Check;  

• attacking infantry who are already shaken, lose a firing attack, and fail to pass a Morale Check; 

• defending infantry who are charged and fail a Morale Check;

• anyone who loses a Locked in Combat situation;

• shaken units passed through by a fleeing unit.

 

Routed troops are marked with a Routed marker.

 

Firing

Infantry and artillery units can either be in a state of Firing or not.  If they are in a state of Firing, they are marked with a Firing marker (white cotton puff to represent smoke is nice).  There are three ways that units can enter a state of Firing, described more completely in various sections below:

 

• their general spent 1 PIP (command point) to make them start firing;

• infantry and artillery automatically start firing when they are fired on, provided that they themselves could hit the unit that has fired on them (i.e. you don't start firing forward if you were fired at from the flank or rear, and infantry don't start firing at distant artillery);

• infantry automatically begin firing when they pass a Morale Check when charged by cavalry (in addition to automatically forming square);

• artillery automatically begin firing when charged from the front;

 

Units in a state of Firing cannot do anything else.  Once in a state of Firing, they persist in that state until one of the following happens:

 

• their general spends 1 PIP to make them stop firing;

• at the beginning of any player's Firing Phase, they cease to have a valid target.

 

Silenced & Limbered / Unlimbered

• As described below under Artillery, artillery units can become silenced when either defeated by enemy artillery in a firing attack while already shaken or successfully charged by enemy infantry or cavalry.  

• Artillery is either limbered (i.e. the guns are hitched to their horses) or unlimbered; only limbered artillery can move, though unlimbered artillery can pivot (if not in a state of Firing).  Silenced artillery is marked with a Silenced marker and limbered artillery with a Limbered marker.