New Expansion Pack/Mod for JTS Campaign Waterloo

Hans_Boersma · 10-19-2018, 09:43 PM,

Gentlemen,

I thought you would like to know that I have created an expansion pack/mod for Campaign Waterloo. It can be found here:

http://home.deds.nl/~1815/

Hope you find it interesting.

Best regards,

Hans Boersma

geoff · 10-19-2018, 10:58 PM,

"The British fought predominantly defensive, in line. Their 2-rank (2-deep) line formations brought more guns to bear and were thus spending more ammunition; they also fired faster."

Until wargame designer's can unwrap their heads from propaganda and our pulp fiction historian's regurgitation of that nonsense there will not be a good Napoleonic wargame involving French and British forces. Even if corrected for a 3-rank ordre mince having obviously more firepower than the British line's over extension, the map in Campaign Waterloo is an atrocity. You put alot of effort into this and I hope it gets played.

Hans_Boersma · (This post was last modified: 10-20-2018, 09:55 PM by Hans_Boersma.)

(10-19-2018, 10:58 PM)geoff Wrote: "The British fought predominantly defensive, in line. Their 2-rank (2-deep) line formations brought more guns to bear and were thus spending more ammunition; they also fired faster."

Until wargame designer's can unwrap their heads from propaganda and our pulp fiction historian's regurgitation of that nonsense there will not be a good Napoleonic wargame involving French and British forces. Even if corrected for a 3-rank ordre mince having obviously more firepower than the British line's over extension, the map in Campaign Waterloo is an atrocity. You put alot of effort into this and I hope it gets played.

I've re-read the chapter British Tactics in Practice (1809-1815) from Nosworthy's Battle Tactics etc., and you're right. In fact by 1815 the Brits fired less, not more. I had remembered only part of his analysis. I will make adjustments, thanks. I also realise I may have been too forthcoming with ammo wagons. Regarding the map, a section about that will follow.

geoff · 10-20-2018, 11:34 PM,

The +10% column bonus for non-British nations is also poor design but, not as game breaking and ludicrous as the 2-rank 150% fire mod. The code ruleset really took a dive with NB:Waterloo but, perhaps these were endemic flaws from the Battleground series. Skirmisher and square formations are also poorly handled. Still it makes for a decent competitive HtH PBEM game if you can trust your opponent not to cheat. ;]
There is a means of generating checksums for original maps by 'triangulating' the offset. It's a really convoluted process that requires using the campaign series map editor. One problem with JTS tactics maps is they don't use a variety of flora density like a scattered trees tile. Your men are either out in the open or bunkered deep in the woods.

Hans_Boersma · 10-21-2018, 04:06 AM,

As I've already disabled the extended line feature it would be easy to disable the 150% fire bonus as well. Instead I've taken away the British Musket and ditto Rifles. Do you think it would be better the other way round? The only way to simulate the effectiveness of British tactics, as I see it, is to give them a fire bonus. Unfortunately this adds to the unrealistically high casualty rates. They should get a melee bonus (in line!), or a melee bonus after firing, or something like that. Which may well open up another can of worms. Perhaps a British Musket that only fires at, say, 150% at the shortest range would do the trick.

Yes, despite it all it is still a very enjoyable game, and the ability to modify many of its features has kept me off the streets for many hours (I think for me this is where most of the entertainment lies, as with PTW and BGW).

In itself the rigidity of the map is not unacceptable to me, seeing it as part of the game's abstractions. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have a bit more variety in terrain types. Modding the map, as you describe it, would be above my capacities. But if there is anyone out there that would want to do it, I've just added an appendix about the Quatre Bras map which should be a good place to start.

geoff · (This post was last modified: 10-22-2018, 12:39 AM by geoff.)

My view is that the British army was a joke throughout the Napoleonic Wars. Their victories in the latter Spanish battles was due to it being a side-show campaign in the overall situation. The British navy which could manage more ships than all other European nations combined sealed France's fate though. The British and allied forces at Waterloo would definitely have better quality than the majority of France's reconscripted forces but, not due to Britain's desperation at covering a larger frontage by using consolidated 2-rank skirmishing lines.

An example of how I'd solve the problem is a 2-rank British infantry formation should have a musket range 1 firepower of 4. A french 3-rank infantry formation should have a musket range 1 firepower of 6. That way the two formations would have equitable range 1 firepower. The 2/3 rank functions may better be used to represent light and line infantry expansion qualities rather than muskets per file though.

Hans_Boersma · 10-22-2018, 12:56 AM,

(10-21-2018, 11:58 PM)geoff Wrote: My view is that the British army was a joke throughout the Napoleonic Wars.

A bold statement that could do with some elaboration! As it happens, I just posted the report of a Dutch officer I had lying around, in which he remarks how he, at Waterloo, "became convinced of the fine bravery of the English troops; I have never witnessed finer cool-headedness and silence."

It's not like Wellington's allies had such crack troops. But I must admit that I can't say much about the quality of the French troops.

I tend to agree that the solution is in the 1-hex range fp. Unfortunately that requires altering the weapons.dat, and I think people would be weary of that. It would require switching files again, just like in the Talonsoft days. But wait, it can be done through the pdt file, by changing the British Musket/Rifle values...

geoff · 10-22-2018, 01:33 AM,

Holland owed their nation's renewed existence to British intervention in the Napoleonic Wars. I doubt a Dutch officer would point out how their cavalry was wasted in order to spoil attacks on British infantry brigades that refused to move at Quatre Bras. He would hold his tongue about how the Dutch were thrown out in front of the British line at Waterloo and would have been sacrificed totally if the Prussians hadn't saved the Allied army.