(Clarification) CAVALRY RATIO & MODIFIER
Active Player Superior		Even odds	Passive Player Superior
3.0:1 & up	-3	1:1 exactly zero mod.	1.1:1--1.9:1	+1
2.0:1--2.99:1	-2		2.0:1--2.9:1	+2
1.1:1--1.99:1	-1		3.0:1 & up	+3

Q) Why is there no pursuit modifier for mud? Seems like it should be more difficult to pursue in the mud.

A) Well, you are absolutely right. It is more difficult to pursue in the mud, since the retreating forces have already churned-up the roads before the pursuing forces even set foot on them. You could even make the modifier depend upon the size of the force--or even use a similar modifier to slow-down forces in the movement. phase.

Q) Also, tying the weather modifiers to the Initiative Comparison matrix was confusing--they are straight modifiers to the pursuit DR, and straight modifiers to the Initiative DR, with the restriction that the DR can not be less than 0. The summary on Exclusive Rules/page 6 has the right idea.

A) You are right about that.

To: Chris Perleberg
From: kzucker@charm.net (Kevin Zucker)
Subject: Re: NAB Questions

Rear Guards:
Q) Can the rear guard rule be used if not using the reserve rules?

A) You can but it is not recommended, because the reserve rules add limits on selecting Rearguard.

Q) Do the minimum losses that apply to pursuit also apply to a rear guard battle? That is, if the player choosing a rear guard must retreat/take step losses, does he have to lose at least as much as the other player?

A) Yes

Q) If the other player has to retreat, and the rear guard player can't pursue, does the retreating player have to lose at least as many SPs as the rear guard force even though there is no pursuit?

A) Yes

Sound of Guns
Q) The initiative movement rules can now result in a force moving 1 hex less than normal or only one hex. Does the Sound of Guns take precedence over this? That is, if a force starts within 5 hexes, it can move 5 hexes if it rolls its initiative or lower? Or can a force ignore an initiative DR and make another one later? So that, for example, if an initiative 3 leader 5 hexes away from the enemy rolls a 4 on his first attempt (meaning he can only move 4 hexes), he can just ignore it and roll again next round, and keep rolling until he rolls a 3 or less?

A) Sound of guns changes only one thing: the Force can roll for initiative after each Round of Combat until it arrives. Therefore, it might move one hex at the end of one round, and maybe four the next to enter the battle. Note that Forces beyond the sound of the guns may not move; only those within five hexes may attempt Force March between rounds.

Q) Also the rule implies that this happens in the Force March phase, but I don't really see that it does. It seems to me the rule deals with units that fail their DR in the Force March phase, and can then roll between rounds. A question of semantics, I guess.

A) Conceptually, all phases overlap each other temporally. That is, we resolve all movement first, but we know that Marmont might be fighting a battle while Napoleon was marching, so the game chooses to sort similar activities in the same phases and try and allow for different time frames. You are right, there has never been Forced March between Rounds before, but that's what it is, a late or ongoing Forced March that spills-over the time frame.

All movement we pretend to happen on day one, and all combat and/or Pitched Battle on the second day of a whole Game-Turn. According to this view, a battle begins in the morning of the 2nd day of the Game-Turn after a day of maneuver, although there are still some nearby forces converging on the battlefield during the morning pre-battle hours. Then it's just a question of when they arrive.

If you want to think of it this way, imagine a force taking two hours to move one MP. That would mean a Force would take about 10 hours to cover a days' march. Now, Forced March could begin at 4 a.m., but battles (not counting rearguards and meeting engagements) began at daylight. So a Force might have moved one or two MPs before the battle begins (or more depending upon atmospheric conditions). Imagine, too that each round of battle is about 2 hours. Therefore, the maximum duration of battle would be about 10 hours (Friedland was 18, though there were lulls).

Let's break the second day of the Game-Turn down into two-hour packets:

0400	0600	0800	1000	1200	1400	1600
1st MP	2nd MP	3rd MP	4th MP	5th MP	Forced March
Battle		Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5

Now, allow a little flexibility about which unit is going to come in on which round and you have the rule as published. This is the conceptual underpinning, but none of this is necessary to play the game (thank goodness).

New Battles, New Forces
Q) By Force Marching between Rounds new units may join battles-in-progress. Combat losses previously suffered by the units already in the battle do count when calculating battle losses for purposes of critical battles, and any revealed Pitched Battle chits do apply.

A) True. As in Forced March, forces moving to the sound of the guns can't start new battles; they can only join on-going ones.

Q) Well, then Suppose Napoleon and MacDonald, in separate hexes, attack Sacken in a single hex. After round 1, Blucher force marches adjacent to Sacken and MacDonald, but not adjacent to Napoleon. In the second round, Napoleon must attack Sacken, and MacDonald must attack Blucher. The way we figured it, the MacDonald-Blucher combat was a new battle.

A) I think it's easier and better to tack-on to the MacDonald-Blucher combat, the number of rounds that MacDonald fought Sacken before Blucher arrived.

Q) Similarly, assume that MacDonald and Napoleon start adjacent to Sacken and Blucher, MacDonald is adjacent to both, but Napoleon is adjacent only to Sacken. MacDonald must attack Blucher, and Napoleon must attack Sacken. Now, if in the first round Blucher is driven off, in the second round MacDonald can join with Napoleon to attack Sacken. We assumed that previous losses from the MacDonald vs. Blucher battle did not apply to the battle with Sacken.

A) Again, I think it's easier to include the prior losses.

Q) Is there some restriction on the number of morale shifts due to critical battles that can occur in a turn?

A) No restriction

Q) In the above examples, we figured that it was possible for as many as two shifts to occur, as two battles were fought.

A) Yes.

Q) Napoleon has two stars on his counter -- I presume he can modify combat and attrition results by 2 (he could in the old game, but it's not stated here).

A) Yes.

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