Looking to the future of the Regimental series, a project was started to combine the regimental sub-series rules with the foundation rules in the Brigade series to make a series rulebook specifically for the regimental games, making it a series in it's own right. The new series rules, titled Civil War, Regimental Series v3.0, will be available in future games after A Fearful Slaughter (Shiloh). What follows, are the proposed changes and clarifications being considered, and a discussion of concepts pertaining to these rules in both civil war series.

In CWR 3.0, the presentation of the rules, the order in which they are presented, has been arranged in a more logical sequence, starting with the basics and advancing up to the Command rules. Hopefully this will benefit new players as they learn the system, but it also helps organize the rules and makes it easier to find answers to questions that come up during play, even with experienced players.

Some issues in the Brigade series rules themselves need clarification. For one thing, order writing is being looked at and explained more clearly. The content of orders, what they cover, when more than one order is required, and the scope or limitations of an order are being addressed. Many players have different interpretations of the Command system and order writing, so the rules governing this area, the heart of the system, must be as clear as possible. The section on Order Writing is being given special attention, with a bit more structure imposed on the rules and a clear understanding of the two types of orders and how they govern what units can and can't do.

Note: The orders section of the rules is still being worked on and is not covered in this article. No changes are being considered on Order Writing, only on how it is presented and explained in the rules.

The last section to be worked on covers Defensive Orders. This is, or was, potentially a hot topic. Rumor has it, there was heated debate over whether Defensive Orders should be part of the standard series rules, or left up to the players as Optional Rules. Every game I've played, face to face or via email has always been with Defensive Orders, by consensus of the players. So my view is to make Defensive Orders a part of the standard series rules. It can easily be incorporated into the rules governing orders, with Attack Stoppage applying to both offense and defense.

Please note the following sections are proposed changes, and in some cases, just suggestions to be considered. The final word on any of these changes is open to discussion! Please send comments to cwb_honcho@multimanpublishing.com or post a message on the Gamers discussion board (gamers-1@eskimo.com) or on ConsimWorld (www.consimworld.com). A draft of these rules are available for review on the MMP website at: http://www.multimanpublishing.com/theGamers/archive/rss.htm.

Note: the numbers in parentheses (10.1c) refer to CWB v3.0 rules, any reference to regimental series rules are prefaced as (RSS 10.1c).

Command

1. Pre-Set Orders (10. 1 i)

To establish your own set of orders at the beginning of a game, use the procedure for holding a Conference at the Army HQ. Assume the conference was held just prior to the start of the game, and all leaders, including leaders entering later as reinforcements, have already returned to their HQ. Begin checking for acceptance on the first turn of the game, with acceptance handled normally from that point on. This retains some uncertainty in the execution of the new orders, and forces players to take some risk. The Pre-Set Orders rule is also made Optional, so players should agree on its use before play.

2. Corps Attack Stoppage (10.3)

The term Corps Attack Stoppage is shortened to Stoppage since it applies to every type of command - Corps, Division, and Brigade. The optional Defensive Orders rules should also refer to Stoppage instead of Corps Defense Failure to keep things simple. The modifier for Defensive Orders will be clearly listed on the Stoppage Table.

3. In Person Orders (10.6b)

The term "in Person Verbal (IPV)" is changed to simply "In Person (IP)". This type of order has it's own modifier on the Acceptance Table and will be listed with the other 'Methods' on the Order Costs Chart - Oral, Written, or In Person.

In Person orders can be issued anywhere, even at the Army HQ. What difference is there if the leaders are adjacent to the Army HQ or in the same hex? The original restriction was probably given to highlight the need to "recharge" the IP allowance. So the tricky part with this change is to remember when an IP order was issued and allow one turn to recharge before issuing another. Note: the turn an IP order is issued at Army HQ does not count as the one turn needed to 11 recharge".

4. Force in Orders (10.1a, 10.6d)

Force is no longer used. The order costs and modifiers for this attribute are eliminated and the number of available Command Points has been reduced slightly to compensate for a nominal amount of Force in each order.

Force in orders was abused in early CWB editions, as most players would simply make every order F2. In CWB 3.0, additional rules were added to control the use of Force by giving column shifts on the Acceptance Table as more and more Force was applied to poor leaders. Tracking the Force points and calculating the effect - total Force minus the leader rating squared - was troublesome. Removing this mechanic still leaves plenty of variation with outcomes on the Acceptance Table and the range of Leader ratings.

5. Procrastination (10.1d)

Procrastination is incorporated into the command system. Orders must be implemented immediately when accepted no future start times are allowed. Procrastination was optional in CWB. Without it, players could issue orders to several Corps to start attacking later in the day. By the time "later in the day" came around, all the Corps would have accepted orders, and could start one big massive attack. Procrastination was an attempt to control this. Now, the Army commander issues orders when he wants something done. And when the Army commander wants something done, you do it now (given normal delay status, distortion, etc).

One issue here is with orders given in a Conference at Army HQ. Common practice is to hold a Conference at night. But if the orders are accepted and acted on at night, you are faced with the adverse negative modifiers on Attack Stoppage. A simple solution is to let players come to this realization themselves, to hold Conferences at a reasonable time in the early morning hours, allowing some time for order acceptance and assembly (movement) before the action starts. Unless you want to attack at night!

6. Minor Orders (new)

Orders creating a Divisional Goal, or recalling one, and orders detaching units for reassignment, by themselves, do not cancel an existing order.

This is as much a clarification as it is a rules change. In CWB, accepting a new order replaces an existing order. Rolling for acceptance and getting a Delay even replaces a pending order that was in delay. The proposed change allows a command to accept a "minor" order without replacing an accepted order. For example, let's say a Corps is acting on an accepted order to attack, and the Army Commander issues another order to the Corps instructing it to detach one of it's divisions on a divisional goal. You would not want the Corps to stop attacking when it accepts the divisional goal order.

OK, so the Army commander could send the order directly to the division. This always seemed kind of strange, to bypass the normal chain of command and not inform the Corps leader that one of his divisions is going away. It seems that the Corps commander would be the one to make that call, or at least direct it. In the game, the player is the army commander, and everything is known to him. In the historical world, I don't think the army commander would be keeping track of every brigade. His focus would be on the overall situation and controlling the major commands in the battle, assuming his able commanders are controlling their own subordinate commands. Going down this road brings up "chain-of- command" issues, that are being looked at, and are touched on in the next section dealing with recalling divisional goals.

7. Recalling Division and Brigade Goals (RSS 10.5c)

The regimental series handles this differently than CWB, in that commands on division or brigade goals do not automatically revert to higher command when the goal ends-, they must accept an order from the Army commander or use initiative to rejoin their parent command. Initiative in the regimental series is much harder to come by, and can take quite awhile to generate a new order.

This shifts the burden of recall to the Army Commander, who may be busy with other matters, managing a limited number of Command Points each turn.

Why not allow a Corps leader, or a leader commanding an independent division (not part of a Corps), to issue a recall order to a subordinate leader under their command? The Acceptance Table is already set to handle this-, it simply needs a Sender and a Receiver. Command Points and order costs are not needed for this type of order as it would be limited to recalling units from a goal. Order Delivery would function normally.

This is not a proposed change at this point. Just something to consider. It seems to accent the chain of command and adds a bit more depth to leader functions.

8. Initiative (10.2)

Hear ye, hear ye! Initiative is hard to get in the regimental series! Unless you have magic dice, of course.

1. Loose Cannon orders must be followed until canceled by a new order, initiative, or Attack Stoppage. A command under a Loose Cannon can be ordered to attack, but is not required to make Close Combats.

2. Minor Orders (#6 above) also applies to Initiative. A Corps leader getting initiative and detaching one of his divisions on a goal does not cancel an existing order the Corps has.

3. No initiative attempts may be made by a leader with an order in delay status or to re-activate a Dt order. (10.2f)

This brings up a point about initiative orders themselves. When attempting initiative, the order should be written before the initiative attempt is made. Rolling for initiative and then deciding what to do with it is not correct. The original CWB rules state that: "Initiative works best for its historically useful role of taking advantage of fleeting opportunities or acting to forestall disaster. .... use initiative sparingly and never as a substitute for the order system...". As noted above, initiative is much harder to get in this series, and that goes a long way toward restricting it's use. Restriction should be emphasized or even enforced in the rules somehow.

My thoughts here are that lower commanders would not, on their own accord, decide to leave their parent command and go off on some mission on the other side of the map. More likely an independent division or brigade might do this as they have no boss to worry about, other than the Army commander. Leaving independent commands to do their thing, maybe the focus should be on leaders within a parent command - divisions of a Corps, and brigades of a division. Initiative attempts by these leaders could be restricted to support the orders of their parent command. "To take advantage of fleeting opportunities or to forestall disaster", within the directive of their current orders.

Perhaps a temporary negation of command radius for a limited number of turns could be granted, with the leader required to return to proper radius when the time is up. Tough rule to word. The original CWB rules asked us to 'look inside ourselves' and "follow the spirit of the rule". Very Zen-like, but it can work if you play with a historical frame of mind. Still, with the extra levels of command and detail in the regimental system, it might be nice to at least have some solid guidelines on the use of Initiative.

Headquarters (HQ)

1. Emergency Retreat (ER)

Emergency Corps Retreat is changed to simply Emergency Retreat (ER).

2. HQ Emergency Retreat (10.4)

When executing an ER, the HQ must expend its full movement allowance (13 MR). If the HQ cannot retreat the full distance, move it back as far as possible and stop. Originally the HQ was given the option of retreating anywhere from 6 to 13 MP.

3. HO Retreat and ER

In Fire Combat and Close Combat, a HQ must retreat when called for, it is no longer an option. Retreating a HQ as a result of Fire Combat or Close Combat does not trigger an ER, as long as there is a friendly combat unit in the hex. A forced ER occurs only when an enemy unit is in the same hex as the HQ and no friendly combat units are present.

In Fire Combat, a HQ would retreat with other friendly units in the hex, without triggering an ER. If the last friendly unit in a hex is eliminated by a Fire Combat, there is no retreat-, the HQ would be left in place. This situation would most likely generate a voluntary ER in the next movement phase, unless reinforcements could move up to protect the HQ. If the opposing player gets to move next, the HQ would be overrun and forced to conduct an ER.

In Close Combat, if all friendly combat units in a hex are eliminated, the HQ would displace to the nearest friendly unit and a forced ER would be required. If a friendly combat unit remained in the Close Combat, the HQ must retreat with the unit as required, and it would not trigger an ER.

4. ARMY HQ Emergency Retreat (10.0c)

If the Army HQ is overrun, it does not cause the entire army to retreat (darn!). Instead, flip the counter over to indicate movement and place it in the nearest hex containing a friendly unit. In the next friendly Movement Phase, the Army HQ must move to a new location at least 13 MR from the hex it occupies. This prevents orders being issued from the Army HQ until it is stationary for one full turn, and gives some meaning to the emergency retreat.

5. Touching Base (10.0a)

Since each separate command - Corps, Division, or Brigade - has it's own HQ, a leader at any level must touch base with his HQ before implementing a newly accepted order.

Straggler Recovery (21.2, RSS 21.2)

1. Stragglers can always be recovered, even by units on Divisional Goals, provided all requirements are met.

2. Part of the RSS rule in 21.2 is removed: "If the unit with the greatest losses in the brigade is not currently eligible to recover stragglers, then no other unit in the brigade may recover stragglers." Each qualified regiment in the brigade generates a recovery roll. Follow the remaining steps in RSS 21.2 for assigning recovered stragglers.

Note: when using the Regimental Loss Charts, casualties and stragglers are recorded for each individual regiment and recovery of stragglers is done by individual unit, with each individual unit meeting the requirements and rolling for recovery.

Leaders (25.3a)

1. (simplification) Any one leader in a hex may use his Leader Rating for Morale or Rally. It does not have to be the senior leader.

2. A Leader must move to join a unit or stack that will conduct Close Combat before entering the target hex. This is a no-brainer when the leader starts the movement phase stacked with the units that are going into a Close Combat, but it makes things clearer when the leader wants to join other units and then move together into the target hex.

Movement

1. Over-stacking is not allowed. As a unit moves, it cannot enter a hex if doing so would exceed the stacking limit. During a retreat, units in the path of retreat must displace to avoid overstacking. (24.3, RSS 12.1)

2. Proportional movement points for Cavalry is handled differently, since the change from Mounted to line costs 3 MR

Design Note: Cavalry units in Mounted formation have 12 Movement Points (MR) available. In Line formation (dismounted) they have 6 MR When cavalry units move in Line formation and then change to Mounted formation, DOUBLE all MR used BEFORE moving in Mounted formation, including the 1 MR to change formation. When cavalry units move in Mounted formation and then change to Line formation, HALVE (round up) all MR used BEFORE moving in Line formation, including the 3 MR to change formation. Any remaining MR the unit has can be used in their new formation. (16.1 Example)

Fire Combat

1. (correction) A night modifier (+2) was added to the Straggler Check Table.

2. (clarification) Routed units do not have a facing or formation. The only modifier that applies to these targets is Routed.

A by-product of this rule is that Routed units can retreat (move) across a bridge if they have to. The series rules prevent units in Line formation from crossing bridges, so if Routed units do not have a formation, other than running away, they can retreat across a bridge and avoid some tricky quirks with the rules.

3. (clarification) Fire Combat modifiers for hexside features: the fire must pass through the hexside from a lower elevation and the defender must be adjacent to the hexside.

4. Split fire is limited to two targets for an individual unit firing or a stack of units firing. An individual unit can fire at 2 targets, or a stack can assign one unit to each target. Artillery fire from the same stack can be split between the two targets as desired. Keep in mind that fire is limited to 8 strength points out of a hex. How much splitting can you do with 8 points and still get a decent shot? (RSS 20.3a)

5. EZOC trigger: when units retreat into an EZOC, conduct a fire combat, leader loss roll, and straggler check, and continue the original retreat. There is no Morale Check, even if the Fire Combat result specifically calls for one.

This change avoids much ado about additional morale results. A retreating stack with a bad morale state could suddenly become normal or even BL when fired on again. This didn't seem right. There was also confusion on how many hexes the units should retreat when the additional retreat result called for 1 hex and the original result was 2 or 3 hexes. I think the above approach simplifies things and basically allows a chance for more casualties and stragglers on the already retreating units.

6. Enemy UNITS can only be fired on once, per combat phase. Exceptions are given for selective artillery fire, and EZOC triggers. Units that Displace can be fired on in their new hex (if they have not been fired on already), with the morale state caused by the displacement. Units that choose to stack with retreating units are placed on top of the stack, with the retreating units underneath. The hex containing these units can be fired on in the current combat phase, if it has not been fired on already.

In CWB 2nd Edition Revised, 20.3f stated that a given hex may be targeted twice, once by artillery firing on artillery in the hex, and once by normal fire combat on the hex. 2nd Edition errata #4 clarified this as follows:

"The limit in 20.3f of the number of times a hex can be attacked by fire does not imply that a unit that retreats because of combat is eligible to be fired on again because it is in another hex. Nor does such a retreat provide any 11 protection" to units already in that hex which have yet to be fired upon -- engage the hex as if the retreating units are not there yet and inflict any retreat or morale result to the (original) retreating units as well."

You like history right? Well this rule has a history! In v3.0, the wording was lost or inadvertently changed in order to keep us confused Oust kidding Dean!). What was added to rule 20.3f is this note:

"Units can be targeted more than once if they happen to retreat to another hex which is later fired upon in the same phase. The retreating units are liable as any other unit in the hex."

Are you getting the clues hidden in the wording? I believe the note is trying to say the same thing as the errata, but should have said "...retreat to another hex containing friendly units which is later fired upon." The references to targeting a hex are misleading. Why target a hex (unless you like blowing up dirt)? The idea is to target enemy units. So what it boils down to is this: if a unit or stack is fired on, whether it retreats or not, can the same units be fired on again? I think not.

Artillery

For players transitioning from Brigade to Regimental games, be prepared for a totally different approach in the handling of artillery. In the Brigade series, employing artillery in the attack is easy - too easy. The Regimental series places artillery in its historically accurate roll of defense. The effect is generated by a simple rule that governs deployment artillery that moves cannot unlimber. Guns that attempt to move forward in the attack are left limbered and vulnerable to enemy fire. In fact, friendly artillery can be fired on three times before they get to fire back - twice while limbered, and once when finally unlimbered. That simple rule makes it difficult, though not impossible, to move artillery close to the enemy to support an attack.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, "..to reduce artillery to the primarily defensive support weapon it tended to be." It definitely corrects behavior seen in CWB play. However, while portraying artillery as a defensive weapon, the sequence of play and other game mechanics combine to give defensive artillery too much strength. The proposed changes and adjustments suggested here address aspects of the artillery system in order to balance the effects of this weapon.

1. (new) When artillery fires at 10 or more hexes, do not apply any negative modifiers on the Morale Table. This rule reduces the Morale effects of long range artillery fire, and should also have the effect of reducing pot shots at long range targets. This change eliminates RSS Optional rule 27.1a, section C.

2. (clarification) Artillery units can fire through enemy units only to target enemy artillery. (RSS 19.3d)

3. (new) In the Defensive Fire Phase, after all non-phasing units have fired, non-phasing limbered artillery units can unlimber.

4. Artillery trace supply is increased to accommodate the difference in scale from CWB to CWR. The first 10 hexes of trace can be non-road hexes. Trails are considered roads for artillery trace supply. (27.1)

5. Artillery split fire must be done by sections (2 SP); each section fire costs 1 ammo. This incorporates RSS Optional rule 27.1 a, section A and B.

In Closing

Working on the Regimental series and the Brigade series is a daunting task. The dedicated gamers who play these games with such a depth of knowledge on the subject matter, and the phenomena[ work by Dean Essig and Dave Powell in creating these great game systems, sets a very high standard. My efforts with this project rely heavily on the experience and guidance from these folks. My thanks to all who are contributing their expertise to make this happen. The Civil War, Regimental Series v3.0 will establish the regimental games as a series in their own right, as they should be.