A few questions after my first play

[Xerxes77]

Hi everyone,

Just finished my first CWB game with the demo (the "getting started" scenario). I played against the computer with EFOW and the optional rules suggested in the companion PDF, and I had a few questions that came up during my play:

a) Is there a way to check the current Morale value of a unit? I know that a yellow "Quality" line indicates a unit's morale is not optimal, but I'd like to know how badly rattled they are... is there a number or letter hidden anywhere?

b) On page 50, the manual states:

If the unit has been fired upon Enfilade, then 2 is subtracted from the Morale Base.

I searched for the definition of "Enfilade" and found the following on page 39:

A unit in Line formation that is fired upon by a firing unit that it is not facing (flank
or rear) is subject to the Enfilade fire modifier. This is true even if a second unit
is in the hex and covering that hexside. The Enfilade fire modifier also applies to
any fire against Infantry in Column or Limbered Artillery.

The bold is mine. As far as I could tell, firing upon Infantry in column does apply the "Enfilade" penalty (+50% effectiveness) but the Morale of the unit being fired upon does not seem to change. At least, the "Quality" line remains in white with no other sign that suggests the unit has suffered any effect on its morale... I haven't had the opportunity to test this with limbered arty.

c) During one of the melee phases I happened to capture an enemy gun. I was able to take control of it and fire it for the rest of the scenario, but the gun's stats remained hidden and all I could see were question marks.

Under section "Optional Artillery Capture" (I had the option enabled), the manual includes a screenshot that shows a captured gun with the label "CAPTURED" and all its stats in view: range, fatigue, etc.

EFOW or not, it seems strange that I cannot see the values of a gun that's under my command.

d) What's the dealio with the second leader in this picture?



Mr. Perry and Mr. Lang are both leaders of the same organization (a brigade), they seem to be the same rank, and occupy the same hex. However, only one of them shows as detached. Why is Mr. Lang not detached as well? Highlighting detached units doesn't work on him either. He doesn't seem to have a command range either. Who is he? Also, why are his two bottom lines in yellow - what does that mean? Couldn't find the answers in the manual...

All in all it was a fun game and I walked away with a Major Victory for the Confederates, not bad for a first try if I may say so.

[krmiller]

Have not really installed the new demo but the download has the Users Manual that is in the game so regarding your question on how Morale checks are done you'll find the answer there, 3.47 Morale page 50. 

In the Started manual there is an explanation of the unit display.

Have not used the EFOW much so I'm not sure about the lack of info on the captured guns, in the games without EFOW when you use captured guns it requires a friendly unit in the hex and you normally see the number of guns and all captured guns are rated F for Quality.

As to the two officers, Brigadier General Perry is the brigade commander and his Command Rating and Range are used for controlling the brigade.  Col Lang is what you would call a supernummery, he was actually a regimental commander in the brigade who took over the brigade when Perry was a casualty, he commanded the brigade at Gettysburg while Perry was recovering.  If you check you will see he has no Command Range and as long as Perry is on the map his only value is to assist units recovering from Rout or leading Melee for the 10% bonus an officer gives a Melee.  Should Perry become a casualty Lang would take over the brigade if available rather than an Unknown officer.  Such spare officers are indicated with the Yellow highlight to their brigade and status. 

Perry must be out of Command Range of his Division Commander, thus the Detached status.  See the Command section of Users for the effects.  Since Lang has no Command functions his Detached status is not considered.

[Xerxes77]

Have not really installed the new demo but the download has the Users Manual that is in the game so regarding your question on how Morale checks are done you'll find the answer there, 3.47 Morale page 50. 

In the Started manual there is an explanation of the unit display.

Have not used the EFOW much so I'm not sure about the lack of info on the captured guns, in the games without EFOW when you use captured guns it requires a friendly unit in the hex and you normally see the number of guns and all captured guns are rated F for Quality.

As to the two officers, Brigadier General Perry is the brigade commander and his Command Rating and Range are used for controlling the brigade.  Col Lang is what you would call a supernummery, he was actually a regimental commander in the brigade who took over the brigade when Perry was a casualty, he commanded the brigade at Gettysburg while Perry was recovering.  If you check you will see he has no Command Range and as long as Perry is on the map his only value is to assist units recovering from Rout or leading Melee for the 10% bonus an officer gives a Melee.  Should Perry become a casualty Lang would take over the brigade if available rather than an Unknown officer.  Such spare officers are indicated with the Yellow highlight to their brigade and status. 

Perry must be out of Command Range of his Division Commander, thus the Detached status.  See the Command section of Users for the effects.  Since Lang has no Command functions his Detached status is not considered.

Hi krmiller, thanks for your detailed response on how multiple leaders work. I'm surprised there's no mention (AFAIK) of this important mechanic in the manual - I didn't even know that leaders were replaced when killed. When I checked the OOB I saw both leaders were at the same level so I assumed they both had the same capabilities.

I presume the "spare" officer cannot assist with undisrupting units because he has no command range?

Regarding captured guns, I tested the scenario with FOW (not EFOW) on and the same thing happened: I captured the gun but could not see it stats nor access the back of the unit card (e.g., to check which kind of gun it was). This data was available, however, to the original side even after the gun had been captured. In other words, the original owner of the gun remains the owner of the gun card throughout the scenario and can see its fatigue, for example. Not a big deal but I have to wonder if this is intentional.

Regarding Morale: the manual does explain the factors intervening in determining a unit's morale, but I was looking for a way to just look at the value instead of trying to deduce it by piecing the different variables together. Is it B or F? The game knows, it just won't tell me

Finally, regarding the effect of firing on a column, I found a similar question on a different thread for a Musket & Pike game: apparently the "Enfiladed" status is not being applied to infantry in columns, so there is no effect on the target's morale (and the OP was able to tell because that game does have an ENFILADED status marker).

Not sure if this is intentional, or maybe the pertinent section of the manual needs to be clarified? (By comparison, the Nap games to not apply an "enfilade" status on infantry columns, instead fire upon a column is increased by a fixed 25%).

[Gary McClellan]

First of all, be cautious about comparing much of anything in the NAP or M&P engines to the ACW engine. The split between those two engines is very long standing (20+ years at this point), and while they have many similarities, the differences will always trip you up.

Column is one of the huge issues there. It really represents different things across the engines. In NAP, it represents the classic Napoleonic Column of Attack, which is a wider, shorter formation, while in ACW it is Column of March, longer and narrower. Thus, column is penalized in ACW in ways it's not in NAP. (Incidentally, that varies in M&P. In REN, Rich doesn't penalize column in the same what that SYW does, but that's to represent the different tactical formations of the different time periods.)

I haven't played ACW in years, and not with EFOW, so I can't comment on that.

There isn't ever really a display of the immediate morale status of a unit, aside from the letter grade and possible yellow text. You won't be able to see what modifiers will be applied to the next rout phase. Probably would be nice, but this is actually the first time I've thought about it myself.

[Xerxes77]

First of all, be cautious about comparing much of anything in the NAP or M&P engines to the ACW engine.  The split between those two engines is very long standing (20+ years at this point), and while they have many similarities, the differences will always trip you up. 

Column is one of the huge issues there.  It really represents different things across the engines.  In NAP, it represents the classic Napoleonic Column of Attack, which is a wider, shorter formation, while in ACW it is Column of March, longer and narrower.  Thus, column is penalized in ACW in ways it's not in NAP. (Incidentally, that varies in M&P.  In REN, Rich doesn't penalize column in the same what that SYW does, but that's to represent the different tactical formations of the different time periods.)

I haven't played ACW in years, and not with EFOW, so I can't comment on that.

There isn't ever really a display of the immediate morale status of a unit, aside from the letter grade and possible yellow text.  You won't be able to see what modifiers will be applied to the next rout phase.  Probably would be nice, but this is actually the first time I've thought about it myself.

Thanks for your answer, Gary. I get what you say about comparing the different engines. I brought up the other game(*) because it sounds like the player asking the question noticed the same I did in ACW - an infantry unit in column formation (differences of what a "column" represents in the different eras/series notwithstanding) gets the Enfilade penalty applied correctly when it's fired upon, but the status does not "stick", i.e. its morale is not reduced for the next rout phase, while the wording in the manual suggests that it should. Units in Line formation do get the penalty + the morale reduction.

(*) turns out it wasn't M&P (sorry), but EAW's Campaign 1776, see post #3 here:
https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards...?tid=74822

As for the morale status, I went looking for it in my game when I noticed the "Quality" text in one of my units was yellow, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. Eventually I concluded the unit (in Line formation) must have taken fire from the flank or rear at some point, so I assumed the drop in morale was likely to be minor, but I would've appreciated if the game had simply given me that tiny piece of info.

(I'm probably spoiled by Squad Battles , which relies on color coding quite a bit and I find it to be very visual & practical. Using different colors instead of just yellow could be a simple way of representing the different drops in morale for ACW. Yellow could mean a loss of 1-2 points, orange 3-4, red 5-6+, etc. The player would still have to deduce what exactly caused the reduction, but at least he'd have a bit more information).

[stanfc]

I have been sick for awhile and have been having memory problems. I can't seem to to find how to attack another unit except with melee. What keys or other thing do I need to have my units fire against other enemy units? I looked in the getting started and help files and did not see how to fire my units against another unit.  Any help would be appreciated losing your memory is a very tough problem.  Thanks

[stanfc]

I have been sick for awhile and have been having memory problems. I can't seem to to find how to attack another unit except with melee. I can't seem to get my unit to fire at another unit. What do I need to have my units fire against other enemy units? I looked in the getting started and help files and did not see how to fire my units against another unit.  Any help would be appreciated, losing your memory is a very tough problem.  Thanks

[krmiller]

See User Manual page 34 for explanation of fire.

If playing in Turn Mode you can right-click on the target hex while holding down the
Ctrl (control) key. Alternatively, you may switch to Fire Mode by using the Toolbar
button, in which case you simply right-click on the target hex.
(Mode button is a toggle, depressed you are in Fire Mode, not depressed you are in Move Mode)

Another advantage of using Fire Mode is you can use the Next Stack Toolbar button
to cycle through your units and make sure you have fired all units you want to fire.
In Phase Mode during Fire phases the Fire Mode button is already selected and you
merely need to right-click on the target hex.