Section 0: Introduction to the Game

0.1. Introduction

Look, Sarge, No Charts: grew from the immensely popular, devilishly elegant, and astoundingly clever Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII system. These rules are designed to replicate large battles in the Napoleonic Wars. Having said that, we think that Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars will work for other horse and periods with only small changes. In Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars, each player can manage easily up to a division, composed of two or more brigades. In order to facilitate this span of control, we have gone to great lengths to streamline the mechanics and remove charts so that the players can fight the battle, not the rules. Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars can involve several players on each side. Each player should control a division-sized force. One player, in addition to commanding a division, is also designated the overall (e.g., corps) commander.

0.2. Basic Information

0.2.1. Game Scale The ground scale is 1 inch = 50 yards. The time scale is abstract, because a deck of cards controls the turn sequence, and units may act more than once before another unit acts. In general, however, the nominal time scale is about 15 – 30 minutes to run through a deck of cards. This notion of cards to control the game will be discussed in subsequent sections of the rules.

0.2.2. Figure Basing In Fate of Battle: Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars an battalion or regiment is representedSample by two 1.5”x1.5” file bases that can be arranged to depict a , line, or in the case of infantry, square. Formations are discussed in Section 2: Formations. A single 1.5”x1.5” base with one or two and some artillerist figures represents a battery of . A single 1.5”x1.5” base, consisting of some number of dismounted or mounted figures represents a headquarters. Headquarters bases can contain a mounted figure and some infantrymen or whatever is aesthetically pleasing to you and your club. By convention, the authors put one mounted figure on brigade commander bases, two on division commander bases, and three on corps commander bases. We use 10mm figures, but any scale figures will work as long as your figures are based as described in the previous paragraph. With 10mm figures we recommend that infantry that fought in three ranks be mounted with three rows of figures on each “half base.” Two-rank infantry should be mounted with two rows of figures on each half base. Cavalry bases should contain four or five figures on each half base, arranged as you see fit. See example photos throughout the rules that show how we have mounted our figures.

0.2.3. Layout of the Rules You’ll notice that the section numbering is a little unique, starting with Section 0.1. It looks awkward in Section 0, but makes more sense – at least to us – in subsequent sections.

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All chapters will be organized in the same fashion. In any section, X, section X.1 is a description of the aspects of Napoleonic Wars maneuver warfare covered in that section. X.2 contains the basic rules, and X.3 contains examples. For players using these rules for the first time, you only need to read through section X.3 of sections zero through seven, and you can play the game. Section X.4 contains designer’s notes for why the rules work the way they do, and you can freely skip that section. Section X.5 contains optional rules. Finally, if there are examples to go along with rules in X.5, there will be a section X.6. You may freely choose some or all of the rules in sections X.5 once you have become familiar with playing the game using sections X.1, X.2, and X.3.

0.2.4. Base Labels Each unit has a label Defensive value Hill Bonus Skirmish Number (fire/melee) on it that indicates the • In heavy cover Unit Name • In medium cover (optional) attributes of that unit. Since a • In light cover Firing Factors unit is represented by two • In open terrain 1.5”x1.5” bases, the label is 6 7 9 10 + 1 1 1 2/30th Ligne Fire: 2: 2, 4: 0 cut in half along the gray 6 9 4 3 +2 +2 MV 4 6 1 Melee: 3 2 0 vertical line, and half of the Movement MV • In open terrain MV label is affixed to each half of Melee Values in •Along roads column, line, and the unit. •Through woods square There are four defense • Through rough factors, indicating a defensive • Column movement bonus value for that unit in open • Straight movement bonus terrain, light cover, medium Morale Value (MV) in Base Label for column, line, and square cover, and heavy cover. There Infantry Battalions is also a hill bonus indicating the defensive benefits of a unit Figure 0-1: Example infantry base label being on a hill when receiving Sample file fire or in melee, respectively. The unit’s skirmish Skirmish Number number is shown to the right Defensive value Hill Bonus Firing Factors of the hill bonuses. This is the • In heavy cover (fire/melee) (may be blank for • In medium cover cavalry without number (from zero to three) of • In light cover carbines) skirmish bases the unit can • In open terrain deploy. 6 7 9 10 + 0 1 1 1st Chasseurs Fire: 1: 1, 2: 0 There are four 8 12 2 3 +3 +3 MV 6 7 Melee: 2 3 vs. -3 movement boxes, which Movement MV indicate the number of inches • In open terrain MV • Along roads the unit can move in different • Through woods Melee Values types of terrain: open, on road, • Through rough Unit Name column, line, and (optional) in woods, and through rough • Column movement bonus against square) terrain. There are two • Straight ahead bonus movement bonuses indicated, Morale Value (MV) in Base Label for column and line. one for column movement and Cavalry Regiments one for straight-ahead movement. Figure 0-2: Example cavalry base label

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The label also indicates the fire factors of the unit. Morale Value (MV) Fire factors are shown for Defensive value Hill Bonus short-range and long-range • In heavy cover (fire/melee) • In medium cover fire. • In light cover The unit label indicates • In open terrain Melee Value the morale value of the unit in 6 7 9 10 + 0 0 MV: 4 column, line, and (for Melee Unit Name 6 9 2 1 +3 -3 MV infantry) square formations. (optional) 12-lb Guns Fire: 6: 3, 18: 0 Artillery batteries have just one morale value. Firing Factors Movement The unit label also • In open terrain MV indicates the melee attack • Along roads factor of the unit in column, • Through woods • Through rough Base Label for line, and square. For cavalry • Straight ahead bonus Artillery Batteries units, the melee attack factor

is for being in column and line Figure 0-3: Example artillery base label formation or against a square formation, regardless of the Movement Parent Unit Attached Leader cavalry unit’s formation. • Through rough terrain Name Modifier (some MV • Through woods (optional) leaders may have Artillery batteries have just • Along roads one or both of these) one melee value. • In open terrain +1 to morale rolls Leader (or +1 to melee rolls headquarters, the names are 1st used synonymously in the 8 12 4 3 Corps Radius: 8 rules) bases do not have 1st Brigade: Steinmetz MV: 4 formations, fire factors, or SampleLeader Name file defensive factors. They (optional) cannot participate directly in Command Radius

combat. Leader bases have Morale Value (MV) used to resolve two additional attributes: Base Label for the skirmish fight and morale checks command radius (“Radius” or Leaders CR) and morale value (MV). Leader bases may also have one or both of two additional Figure 0-4: Example leader (or headquarters) base label icons, indicating that that leader provides a melee or morale benefit to units to which he is attached. We have provided a sheet of data labels with these rules. In addition, color copies of the data labels may be downloaded from www.bucksurdu.com and at our Yahoo Groups site: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/LookSargeNoCharts/.

0.2.5. The Game Master The Game Master (or GM) is the person who creates the scenario, designates attributes of the various terrain pieces, creates the orders of battle, assigns objectives to each side, and adjudicates rules issues. In some, more congenial clubs, a GM may not be needed,

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but in other clubs it is very wise to have this impartial referee to keep the game moving – and perhaps he should be armed.

0.2.6. Special Dice To facilitate play and eliminate the need for chart cards that clutter the table and spoil its aesthetics, players use a number of special dice. Seven special dice are needed to play the game. Each will be described in the appropriate section of the rules. These can be made from wooden cubes easily found at your local craft store. They can also be made from blank dice available from many manufacturers. For ease of finding the right die when it is needed, we recommend that these be color-coded black, white, blue, yellow, red, purple, and green. Each player needs one of each color and a ten-sided die to play the game. Sheets of labels for the special dice may be downloaded from www.bucksurdu.com and at our Yahoo Groups site: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/LookSargeNoCharts/.

0.3. Examples

0.3.1. Examples of figure basing B Figure 0-5 shows A examples of how figures should be based in Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars. Infantry that fought in three ranks is depicted by three lines of figures on each base. Two 1.5”x1.5” bases are used to represent a battalion of infantry C or a regiment of cavalry. The Sample file arrangement of these bases indicates the battalion’s Figure 0-5: Examples of Figure Basing (infantry in line, column, formation. In Figure 0-5, the and square) unit marked “A” depicts a battalion in line formation. The two bases are side by side, facing in the same direction. The unit marked “B” shows a F battalion in column. The bases D are placed one behind the other, facing in the same direction. G I “C” depicts a unit in square formation. The bases are back to E back. In Figure 0-6, the unit H marked “D” shows a cavalry regiment in line formation. Note that four or five figures fit nicely Figure 0-6: Examples of Figure Basing (cavalry, leaders, and on the standard 1.5”x1.5” half artillery)

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base. The unit marked “E” shows a cavalry regiment in column formation. In Figure 0-6, the units marked “F,” “G,” and “H” show headquarters, or leader, bases. By convention we denote brigade commanders (regimental commanders for the Prussian army) (e.g., “F”) with one mounted figure and some aesthetically pleasing number of dismounted figures. Division commanders (e.g., “G”) are denoted with two mounted figures. Corps and higher headquarters (e.g., “H”) are denoted by three mounted figures. This is just a convention and is not fundamental to the rules. In Figure 0-6, the base marked “I” is an artillery battery. It is shown by a gun model on a 1.5”x1.5” base and a number of gunner figures that the players find appearing. Turning the base backward can show limbered artillery. Alternatively, if the is not permanently mounted to the base, just the gun model can be turned backward to denote limbered artillery.

0.4. Designers’ Notes

In designing a set of war-gaming rules, our approach is to enumerate a list of goals before beginning. We were looking for a set of rules that would allow players to represent the larger battles of the Napoleonic Wars in a reasonably short period of time while presenting division commander challenges to the players. Our goals for these rules were: • Making large formations do what you want is hard, and • “Realism” is gained through simple mechanics and lack of predictability that stress the players’ decision making, not intricate mechanics. So while we went to great lengths to remove as many charts as possible, we have also spent considerable time “reducing,” abstracting, and tuning the underlying concepts so that this does not become “lots of modifiers, but sixes always hit.” Hopefully all that effort to reduce lots of information to the essence of Napoleonic warfare and reduce the number of charts needed to portray a reasonably realistic battle is apparent in the end result. In addition to our major objectives,Sample we wanted file to ensure that these rules did not feel like skirmish rules or regimental rules. There are many good sets of Napoleonic rules on the market, but we were trying to create a set of rules that felt different from a skirmish or regimental game and provided “tactical,” vice “skirmish,” challenges to the players. We have tried very hard to not let “skirmish” modifiers show up in our “tactical” game. We decided that the basic maneuver unit would be the infantry battalion or cavalry regiment for two reasons. First, division commanders maneuver battalions. Second, this kept the ground and time scales the same as Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII. Of course, we decreased musket and ranges from what you might expect to account for “effective” ranges rather than theoretical maximum ranges.

0.5. Optional Rules

0.5.1. Orders to divisions The focus of these rules is on divisions and commanding a division. At the beginning of the game, the overall commander on a side should issue an order or objective to each of his subordinate divisions. Objectives should include a task and a purpose. For instance, “attack those guys” is not a proper order. “Attack that force to destroy them,” “attack that force to block them from reinforcing their center,” or “attack that force to push them out of

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