Carnage & Glory: Infantry, Artillery, and Terrain

 Continuing our introduction to Carnage & Glory...

Prince Bagration at the Battle of Borodino by A.Y. Averyanov

Infantry

Infantry, like cavalry, have a type (heavy or light), a strength, a number of subunits (in this case companies--all infantry units are battalions), weapon type (some type of smoothbore or rifled musket; very backward troops may also have some proportion of pikes or even simply hand weapons), and may have one or more colors. Infantry units may also be assigned battalion guns--small, light cannon that are dragged by hand with the infantry as it advances or retires. 

Infantry, like cavalry, are also rated for combat, fire, class, and experience. And, also like cavalry, infantry may be trained to fight in extended order (a large part of the unit dispersed in a loose firing line with the remaining portion in close order behind them) and/or capable of skirmishing defensively (small numbers of skirmishers protecting the unit from other skirmishers) or offensively (larger numbers acting both defensively and aggressively to disrupt opposing units with fire).

French Imperial Guard Artillery artist unknown

Artillery

Artillery units represent batteries (their subunits are sections), which were generally company-sized units. They are either horse artillery (in which not only the caissons and limbers have horse teams, but all the gunners have riding horses as well) or foot artillery (in which most of the the gunners must trudge along on foot). Artillery are also rated as having military or civilian trains. Most armies had stopped using civilians to manage the teams that pulled their artillery limbers and ammunition caissons, as they would often leave untimely, taking the horses with them and leaving the gunner high and dry. Some armies, however, could not afford to replace the cheaper civilian teamsters with expensive military units and had to take the chance that their guns might suddenly find themselves stranded.

Artillery unit strength is computed by multiplying the number of artillery pieces in the unit by 25. They can be assigned a variety of different types of cannon or howitzers as the primary battery pieces (even rockets are available!), and a battery assigned cannon can also be allotted a number of howitzers. These latter are deducted from the total number of guns input from the battery and assigned an appropriate type based on the main battery strength; so, for instance, a six-gun battery composed of light six-pounder cannon that is allotted two howitzers will end up with four light six-pounders and two light howitzers. Many nations assigned howitzers in this way to supplement a battery's cannon, while some formed batteries entirely of howitzers. Like cavalry and infantry, artillery are rated for combat, fire, class, and experience. 

Closing the Gates of Hougomont by Robert Gibbs

Terrain 

In Carnage & Glory terrain affects line of sight and movement. Line of sight is important both for fire and because units can only charge units they can see at the beginning of a turn. You, the player, may know that there's a line of enemy infantry on the other side of that ridge, but until your cavalry crest the ridge, they can't declare a charge on the blighters. 

For movement purposes, terrain either doesn't materially affect movement (unobstructed open ground that's either flat or very gently rolling) or slows movement and disrupts formations. The latter types of terrain are further divided into either linear obstacles (hedges, walls, streams, creeks) or disruptive terrain (area terrain such as swamps, brush, woods, or much more significant linear barriers, like entrenchments, fordable rivers, or ravines). Included among disruptive terrain are BUAs (built-up areas--villages and towns) and strongpoints, one of the most famous of which is the Belgian ferme-chateau of Hougomont, shown above. Linear obstacles include deployed artillery batteries (a relatively narrow band of obstacles that need to be passed), while disruptive terrain includes limbered artillery (a much broader area that has to be navigated). Linear obstacles can be affected by engineering work during a game; for example, pioneers might be detailed to break a hole in a stone wall for artillery to pass through.

In our introductory scenario, I want to keep complexities to a minimum, so I'm inclined to keep the terrain pretty simple--nothing as complex as buildings or fortifications, maybe some woods, a stream, and some gentle hills.

Next Time: Charges, Firing, and Rallying!