I've always liked the premise of Volley and Bayonet, a large scope game with emphasis on army level decisions. Knowing when to have a certain formation in a certain situation or how to maximize the most modifiers have been abstracted into troop "blocks". As an army commander you just point them and let them loose and hope that your subordinants are up to the task.

Unfortunately, V&B was a bit too abstract for my tastes, movement was so great and control so absolute that our battles evolved into two solid lines pounding at each other. Nothing more than dice rolling contests. I threw V&B the "Look at this a bit later" bin and went on to other projects.

Sometime later I was working on a command system that showed a lot of promise, but one which players always seemed to be able to mitigate poor comand decisions with skillful use of formations and other delays. It was then that I returned to V&B and tacked on the following command rules.

Command in Volley and Bayonet uses all the same mechanics as V&B with the exception that commander and units can do nothing until they recieve orders. Also the "to flit" number is dependent on the orders under which a unit is operating and the "To Hit' roll is done with a ten-sided di5 instead ot a six sided die. On each of the divisional order cards is listed six numbers under the letters F-fire. M-melee, N-melce. P-pursuit. B-ball and C-canister. The number under "F' is used as the "to Hit' number when infantry is firing; "M' is used when meleeing infantry or cavalry "P" is used when cavalry are meleeing disordered enemy units: "B" is used for artillery firing at long range. "C" is used when artillery is t~rn~g at short range. Artillery fires with 2 dice instead of 1 at the beginning of every turn. during the command phase, a player may issue orders from army commanders to corps commanders and from corps commanders to division commanders. Army commanders can order corp commanders to Attack, Move. Defend. or Reserve.

To successfully change an order the player must roll, on a d10 less than or equal to the sum of the two commanders' ratings (each commander is rated from 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent). minus 1 from every 10 inches between them and other modifiers based on the corps current orders.

For example; Napoleon (4) sends Ney (3) orders to attack. Ney is presently 23" away and under reserve orders. 4 (Napoleon) +3 (Ney) -2 (20") +2 (reserve orders). The French player would have to roll a 7 or less on a D10 for the message to be successfully adopted by Ney. If the player rolled 8 or higher, Ney would remain in reserve and a marker noting the "change of order number" +2 would be placed beside Ney to show his "change of order number" for next turn. The "change or order number" will rise by 2 each consecutive turn. A commander cannot be isssued another order until the first order is successfully adopted. Having a corp order only allows the corps commander to issue orders to his divisional commanders as follows:

ATTACK allows the Corps Commander to issue Assault. Engage and Bombard orders to his subordinants,

Assault causes the divisional leaders to move straight towards an enemy (direction fixed upon receiving the order). The leader does not have to move. but if he does he must move straight ahead. The units under his control must attempt to stay within command range (6"). Assault gives the units a bonus in melee but is makes changing orders more difficult. Units under Assault recieve a -2 on their "change of order number"

Engage causes the divisional leaders to move straight towards an enemy (direction fixed upon receiving the order). The leader does not have to move. but if he does he must move straight ahead. The units under his control must anempt to stay within command range (6"). Engage gives the units a bonus in volley fire. Unit under Assault recieve a -1 on their 'change of order number."

Bombard causes the divisional leaders to move straight towards an enemy (direction fixed upon receiving the order). The leader does not have to move. but if he does he must move straight ahead. The units under his control must attempt to stay within command range (6"). Engage gives the units a bonus in artillery fire

MOVE enables the Corps commanders to issue Maneuver or March orders to his divisional commanders.

Manuever allows the divisional commander to move in whatever direction he wishes. The units under his control must attempt to stay within command range (6"). (for a more challenging variant draw an error on a scratch map, for the division. The division leader does not have to move, but if he does, he must follow the arrow.) Units under Manuever orders receive a -1 on their "change of order number"

March allows the divisional commander to move whatever he wishes. His troops may take advantage of roads for movement. His troops turn with the bends in the road and move at triple speed. Each unit occupies 12" of road space. Units on roads are always considered in command. Units under March orders receive a +1 on their "change of order number"

DEFEND enables the Corps commander to issue Hold Ground and Withdraw orders to his divisional commanders

Hold Ground causes the divisional leader stand to remain stationary. The units under his control must attempt to stay within the command range (6"). At the owner's option a player may have a unit adopt a "Stationary" stance on any turn that it did not pivot. move or fight. This gives the unit substancial advantages in combat. However. once the unit moves or pivots the "Stationary" advantage is removed. Units under Hold Ground receive a +1 on their "change of order number"

Note There are two rows of To Hit " numbers listed on this card The top row is for when the unit is in normal circumstances the bottom row is used when the unit is in a Staionary" position.

Withdraw allows a divisional leader to move anywhere in a 90 degree arc away from all visable enemies. The units under his control must attempt to stay within command range (6")

Counter Attack allows a divisional leader to move up to 12" straight ahead (direction set upon receiving orders). The leader does not have to move. but if he does he must move straight ahead. The units under his control must attempt to stay within command range (6'). Units under Counter Attack receive a -1 on their "change of order number."

RESERVE enables the Corps commander to Issue Stand and Reform orders to his divisional commanders.

Stand causes the divisional leader to remain stationary. The units under his control must attempt to stay within the command range (6"). Units under Counter Attack receive a +1 on their "change of order number."

Reform allows a divisional commander to move anywhere in a 90-degree arc away from all visible enemy units. The units under his control must attempt to stay within command range (6'). Units under Reform orders may attempt to recover from disorder without being in contact to a Superior general. Units under Reform orders can even remove red "disorder" markers. To recover from disorder such a unit must pass a morale test using the usual modifiers. Units under Reform orders receive a +2 on their "change of order number"

With this system, our group has found that we put much more thought into command decisions than on micromanaging our units. There is a two turn lag between the time the C-in-C decides to do something and the time roops actually start moving. That in itself takes getting used to. Now surprise is possible. You can catch men out on the march. It may even be able to do some maneuvering. but the poor "To Hit" numbers don't change until he gets new orders. On the other hand if you want the good 'To Hit" numbers you have to march straight ahead and lose your maneuverability. You can't have the best of all worlds - make your pick and take your chances.

Jumbo Counters (slow: 320K)