fixing the blitzkrieg problem w/ HPS Nap & ACW

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"When you read the designers notes for where the inflated morales came from (they go back to the Battleground series in Talonsoft days), you get explanations like the Russians at the fleches standing to get shot up by cannon fire, in favor of morale 8 for line Russian infantry (lol). With morale *10* for their guards or grenadiers (lol). This is flat crazy. The grenadiers held at the fleches by employing the reserve slope aspects of the position, or the dead ground areas ahead of it, for formed battalions or regiments. The positions were not held continually but changed hands repeatedly on every push, precisely because any formation on either side, once disordered by combat, was subject to local morale failure and ran when the pressure got too high. This required a conveyor belt of fresh good order reserves to feed into the position as men gave way."

While I agree that using the limited routing optional rule (and others) creates an unrealistic 'fight to the death' situation, that's what supposedly happened at Borodino (according to Chandler's Campaigns of Napoleon). When they took the fleches and the Great Redoubt, very few Russian prisoners were captured. This was attributed to the near hysteric morale of the Russians due to the presence of religious relics and 'defending the motherland' fervor. But this was the exception, not the rule. Many players use house rules such as 'disrupted units cannot melee', or 'units with fatigue of 7 or more cannot melee', to try to put a more realistic feel to the games.

Having melee as a seperate phase put an end to 'blitz' tactics in HPS Gettysburg, and I think restored some of the historical advantage of the defender in the game. They would probably do well to add it to the Napoleonic games as well. For the moment, players wanting less 'blitz' can agree to complete all their melees together, allowing no fire/movement till it's done, and no further melees allowed after fire/movement recommences. Takes a little getting used to, but it's effective.

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"Many players use house rules such as 'disrupted units cannot melee', or 'units with fatigue of 7 or more cannot melee', to try to put a more realistic feel to the games."

To correct myself, in HPS, it would be a fatigue of 700, not 7 (which is Talonsoft Battleground fatigue).

Or simply, if the unit fatigue is 'red'.

Interesting point about the Civil War series, and the separate melee phase... it should also be noted that in the Civil War seres that disrupted units cannot melee.