Outstanding video, thank you !

I really love this. Great series and this overview will really help me work out an epic sized CCN scenario for this part of the battle.

Where is Grouchy?!?

Only just acquired this game so not that familiar yet with how it plays. Re approach fire: I think one reason it's not too powerful is the -3 modifier for fire v 'moving targets'. I'm no expert on the ACW, but my take from studying combat is that moving, for the sake of this game, into contact with the enemy, was more dangerous than taking fire in a fixed position. Troops would assume the safest possible position, whereas those advancing to contact would be much more exposed. I'll stick with the rule as stated when I eventually get around to playing the game, but may modify it in the future. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this. Also, why is there no Walton artillery counter? 😊

While your were at it, you could Greatly improve the rules

I have NO Idea Why you're criticizing your map!?!?!? "I'd like a better map"....MAN, you must be spoiled, cause That map is Great

"not tooooo bad"?!?!?! YOUR PIECES ARE AWESOME....PERFECT

I said, "That's OUT!" too with pub battle prices

their games are So overpriced

I’ve seen in various places comments by would-be purchasers of a Pub Battles game who balk at the price tag. Your exercise in producing a home-made game - which includes comments on your cash expenditures and labor time - puts a new perspective on the value of a Pub Battles game. Now admittedly yours is a large version, with more components and a large map, but I expect even if cut in half your overall cost might not have dropped much. Perhaps your video may inspire some to make a purchase of their first Pub Battles game. Then perhaps they’ll see the real value of a game is it’s cost divided by the number of hours of entertainment it provides! Cheers.

where do you get the actual info on corp/division make up of order of battle? I find majority of my search is the same old stuff, despite trying different wording.

Seeing the high Boardgame Geek rating, and watching a few KZbin videos, I just decided to pull the trigger on purchasing the game. Looking at those "unstable stacks," it appears to be a game that may require the use of a tweezers. Those stacks remind me of the (very) old Milton Bradley game, "Tip-It." 😂

If they maintain good order, yes. Meaning, if they stand before the charge OR form square. If they fail they disorder or rout then the retreat, recall, and all of that process takes precedence.

After 10' when the two allies' cavalry unit attacked the French near Gross Gorschen why didn't Artillery battery have a defensive fire? The disordered inf battalion could not do defensive fire beacuase of its disorder, could it?

Hello, when cav charges inf does infantry have time for defensive fire before melee with cav?

Hi there, thanks for an excellent video. I wonder how losses are shown on units after fire and melee?

It beggars belief that the "kedging" B.S. wasn't quashed the first time a player attempted it. The regroup chit is obviously there to help units separated from their formation-at-large get into command range. I thought this crap was only in the Marie Louise rules.

Loving this ENTIRE series. Feel like I've learned the systems without having to read the rule books.

Jeff, at 14:45, you state that retreating through a ZOI due to Melee, Disorder or Route doesn't cause a surrender. But then you show a unit taking casualties, failing a Morale Check, and surrendering because its retreat is blocked by ZOI. The unit is retreating because it is Disordered, yet you said Retreat because of Disorder through ZOI is OK. I'm completely confused.

Next time I play OCS, all units will be hidden unless there is an enemy adjacent, there will be setup zones for both side, and only a few minutes to study the situation.

The main problem with OCS is that there's too much planning and movement point counting.

Russians and Prussians still stubbornly hanging in there. Marshall Blücher ("Marshall Vorwärts" = Marshall Forward, leads a Landwehr Light Cavalry unit into battle. What fun).

Appreciate this, do you do any how to play tutorials for this system?

We really need more divisional level Napoleonic wargames and less unmanageable battalion-level monsters that take weeks to finish. I doubt that even a corps commander (much less an army-level leader) would be worrying about tiny tactical details like when exactly to form square, line or column. At the divisional level, these details can be abstracted away so you can focus on more important issues. I really enjoy all the various Zucker designs for this reason. They’re clean, simple and produce accurate results. Meanwhile, for ~25 years La Bataille was unable to even get the basics right (units would engage in close combat for literally an entire battle without a decisive result). Napoleonics as a whole really needs a big dose of Design for Effect, and a lot less tactical chrome.

By the way, us new players in 2023 thank you!! This was incredibly helpful. CoA should hire you to do some tutorials.

The most important constraint in Napoleonic warfare was command and control. In Premier, it’s easy to do all sorts of unrealistic grand maneuvers where multiple corps can simultaneously coordinate their actions (as if they had radio comms). Similarly, in Premier there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t mix and match battalions from entirely different corps (or armies!) right next to each other. If you’ve ever wondered why Napoleonic commanders did one thing at a time during a major battle, it’s because that’s all their command system could handle. The idea that you can simply ignore the subject of command and control is pretty ridiculous. We use 5th Ed as a result.

What an incredible round. French firing terrible, left flank cavalry pretty much a disaster, the upcoming support (incl. the Guard) not enjoying marching, L'Empereur probably getting a fit, whereas the Coalition have good firing results creating quite a few losses, squares form, heavy French cavalry regs get blasted, pretty much hold the lines and rally a good handful of units. Not bad, not bad at all. BTW, thinking about the French cavalry charges. Haven't got the rules at hand `cause I'm not at home.Having played other rules incl. miniature tabletop rules, I'm used to have to declare which unit will charge which enemy. No changing the target while the charge is unfolding. Keeping in mind that the charges (if like here 4 (?) regts) are charging simultaneously, changing the direction would create a total chaos within the charging units are are therefore not allowed. After declaration one would roll for the bad weather effect (mud). If the result is bad and the charger get's s"stuck" or slowed down, that's hard luck.

Thanks for doing this series. This game has been, by far, the most difficult one for me to learn. It makes OCS look like checkers. Plus, I’m stuck with the vague, poorly laid out 1984 rules set. They REALLY need player aid cards to help with all the little modifiers and exceptions that are everywhere in this system.

BTW I just love your chiming clock in the background which can be heard every now and then. I think nearly in every video.

Fascinating situation at 03:04: 1) The French Cav sneaking around the flank and rear of the Allies. 2) Napoleon arriving with the Guard on the board. Naturally L'Empereur rriding ahead ... probaly still drenched from the previous rain, yelling "Allez les Bleus. Plus vite!" 3) Horrendous ground conditions all over. A day in the filed can be such fun ... 4) A sneaky and mischievous ambush attack by the Allies (?) at the rear of the French? Or divine intervemtion An earthquake? 😏

Thanks but you miss the point. If you want an operational east front board game it must be week turns and detail air. Like any effort more in more out. There are good strategic east front games out there. You want a great operational east front game you can play without expending frustration try Gary Grigsby (?) war in the east 2. You get the monster without the hassle and it safe from the cat and wife.

There is also a set of Battalion scale rules from Command Post Games. Just got them earlier this week

Jeff, can I get your template for the labels? The blank one

Best rules out there!! Thanks for the commentary. I like how the designers show how spread out units were in actuality, especially the allies. We've adopted these rules to miniature gaming - they work well!

Interesting to watch how the cavalry charges developed on the French left flank. All in all the Coalition is holding on quite well. Mon Dieu, the Emperor won't be happy when he reads the reports of what's going on. Whereas Blücher will be rather impressed with the Russian defence so far, not to mention that he must receive reports that the front defence line can hear firing from the Vauchamps. Prussians still fighting to their bitter end.

So the Prussians are still defending Vauchamps for nearly 2 1/2 hours now. Weather conditions have really hampered the French cavalry coming from the North. But I guess their hooves are about to thunder towards the Russians/Prussians soon ...

So the Prussians are giving the French a pretty hard time holding Vauchamps. Fun to watch .

Routing offboard at 00:05. Couldn't find any mention about untis routing of the map edge in the scenario rules either. The July 2021 Premier rules state: "If the presence of enemy formations, force a plus grande disorder unit to move to the map edge and it has movement point remaining, the routed unit is considered to have routed off the map and is eliminated. (Some scenarios provide for off-map recovery. See the scenario rules.)" It's rather typical for boardgame (or miniature tabeletop too) rules anyway, that if a unit leaves the board it's a "gameover" for them.

So just read the exclusive rules. The ground conditions are indeed taken into account (§6.3.1 - 10). Right from the start of round 2 the Fench need to roll for the impact of the ground conditons ( "... making it less difficult to move upon in the morning, but once the sun heated up the ground, movement became more difficult ... ), resulting at times in severe MA reductions. So as soon as the infantry, and especially the arty (cav anyway) start slogging down. EXCEPTION for the French: Roll not done on Movement Round 1 ("This takes account their earlier movements and approach to Vauchamps." I like that. Creates tension every turn. Depending on how one sets up the individual units (attach them or not), this will result in indiviidual battalions etc, straggling, or possibly an entire brigades. Sounds like fun.

So here goes .... hopefully watch another 23 videos (incl. this one). Will be interesting to find out if the (probably exclusive rules for this battle) rules assume the muddy ground and circumstances are taken into account, which hampered especially the French deployment of their cavalry and artillery at the beginning of the battle. Had that not been the case the Allied defeat would probabyl been even worse. Also if this retreat battle will have loads of especially Prussian square /caree formations in order to survive. And in effect the French cavalry (quite a few elite and Curassiers) pestering them all the time) ...

Again, thanks so much for the effort and time for uploading this battle. I'm about to buy the game but wanted to go through your video before. Quite sure I'm going to enjoy it. Hey, only 24 parts in total. *laugh* So far I guess this scenario will be a good introduction to the La Bataille system. I know that I'm also going to convert the game to play it as a miniature tabletop game. Not that many units (probably go them all painted up anyway) on the table. Should be quite a challenge and fun to both sides. So, let's see. ....

Very interesting how some of the rules played out. Thanks for showing and comparing both rules.

Turn 2 allready creating some interesting developments. Well done video NTW.

Again, well explained/compared rules video. Thanks for sharing and uploading. Cavalry in Napoleonic games is for me the best and fun part of each game. Often very tense for both sides. Another reason why I'm opting for the 5th edt. rules. Prefer their cavalry rules. Will be great fun when I try the Grand Charge rule. Clearly will be a good learning experience.

I cannot say I have any of these games but Bulge 81 which you have not shown. I better start looking for Bulge games

Superb video again, So helpful. I hadn't seen the "Assaut e Melee" chart anywhere else before (at 19:40). I only recognize it from an Lghy 2nd edt. unboxing because it has the boxed 1/1 where other cahrts have a blank space. I've searched if it's downlaodable anywhere. Any known source soemwhere else? BTW, I actually like the boxed 1/1 ruling because it's obvious that when two units go into melee there will always be casualties until the combat ends.

Couldn't find anything on "About Face" movement in the 5th Edition rules either. Reglement XXX rules mention it in §9.2.2. mentioning that one turns the counter 180 degrees, it doesn't cost a Movement Point and it also doesn't trigger an opportunity fire action for the opponent. BTW, again a great detailed discussion of the rules. Most helpful and insightful. (edited for typo).

At 08:46 you mention that you don't see the sense of the artiilery action chit. Mind you I'm a newbie to the 5th edition rules. You probaly overlooked rule 8.8.3 which states:"Only Mortars (sic!), howitzres and artillery batteries belonging to a Grand Baterry may make a fire attack at this time, This, however. is a BONUS FIRE ROUND for the Prussian howitzer battery and the Grand Batteries on the field of battle, WHO MAY ALSO FIRE OFFENSIVELY AND DEFENSIVELY DURING THE SEUQUENCE OF PLAY:." (my emph.). So if wanted they get an extra/bonus fire opportunity. I take that as a kind of pre-game or pre-round bombardment opportunity. Which BTW doesn't seem to be part of the rules otherwise. I know that some rules, at least miniatrue tabletop games cater for pre-bombardmenrt fire to "soften up" the enemy.at the beginning of a game.

As a bonus and thank you for uploading this scenario one may want to get a better idea what Halle actually more or less looked like when the French approached the outskirts/walls of Halle. Being totally surrounded by walls and a handful of very narrow gates. Check this video (5 mins) of the Halle Town Museum. Quite a challenge for the French. Seach for "Video Stadtmauer Halle Museum." Notice the rather high amount of towers along the walls. Also, the boxed map shows no walls on the western side which is totally wrong. The fact that the entire larger map from the box doesn't seem to show any bridges at all (AFAIcan see) is indeed weird. Overlooked? Funny enough the actual map itself at 07:10 !) mentions the name of the long straight structure as "Hohe Brücke" (engl. High Bridge). And not "Hohe Strasse/High Road "or the likes. The actual .booklet fot the boxed version mentions that there werde bridges, See under the Halle scenario. It mentions an actual French battle report: " Historical Commentary THE ACTION OF HALLE-17TH OCTOBER.BY F. LORAINE PETRE “NAPOLEON’S CONQUEST OF PRUSSIA1806:".The town of Halle lay at the foot of, and on the slope rising about 100 feet above the right bank of the Saale, which, opposite the town, divides into several branches, across which the road from Querfurt enters the town by a series of covered bridges, the Hohe Brucke. These bridges are reached, on the left bank, across the marshy low ground, by an embankment about half a mile in length. This open low ground made a plain of considerable extent, opposite to and above the town, whilst a little below it the river, again united in a single stream, flows between steep banks." BTW I actually prefer the PnP map. Halle itself with the surrounded cultivated hexes, marshes (?) etc. contrary to the larger map.

Thanks for uploading and sharing this video. This looks like a very high value game box. I'm especially intrigued by the Halle scenario. I'm sure that scenario can be a lot of fun with a lot of replay value. BTW, congrats that you are one of the few people that pronounce Halle and Auerstedt in the proper way. I'd love to get hold of this box, but it's next to impossible. Especially since I live in Germany. Asking prices on Ebay or dealers between $350 - 650. Doesn#t even incl. postage and import taxes. Nuts. I can see the scenario info and game booklet on ME's website, but not the counters and map. Can'tt find them also on the internet. You mention at 01:48 a Print & Play version. Any link? Can't find anything.