Brett Preston-Thomas on Skirmishers and Artillery in Glory is Fleeting

Brett Preston-Thomas via Facebook discussing if Skirmishers and Artillery are "underwhelming"

Hi Vincent,

In v2, skirmish firing was a decisive aspect of the game. What was called skirmishing in FoGN was really just units shooting at each other at medium range. The process was pretty complex (PoAs, dice adjustments, arcs, splitting fire) and not realistic but very important in winning a game. It would not be inaccurate to say that FoGN is played largely at 6”.

 

In Glory, the game is largely decided at 2” or by units in contact, rather than at 6”.

 

What we (hopefully) have in Glory is a simpler system designed to see which side (if either) can establish skirmish supremacy. If so, they will be able to clear themselves of the effects of enemy skirmishing and place skirmish markers on enemy units. 

 

The major game effect of having a skirmish marker on an enemy unit is to reduce its next volley, allowing your unit(s) to more safely close to within 2” of (or contact) the enemy. Skirmishing sets you up for what comes next, it is not an end in itself.

 

The mechanics of FoGN and Glory infantry interactions between equal units advantages the defender. They get to volley fire first. On average odds against an equal opponent, this will disorder that opponent, reducing the attackers return volley (or chance of winning combat). Take 2 dice off this volley because you have been out-skirmished and, all else being equal, advantage swings to the attacker. The attacker will likely survive the first enemy volley and be able to return a fresh volley in reply, or fight combat with full factors. 

 

The trick for players in Glory is being able to exploit the advantage gained by ‘winning’ the skirmish fight. If the player does not try to take advantage by closing, then skirmishing will have little effect (although against poor quality opposition, you may be able to slowly degrade them as they fail morale tests in their own End Phase). 

 

Linear (unreformed) style armies generally have tools available to try and not lose a skirmish fight (cavalry attachments and supporting cavalry units). However they may struggle to win a skirmish fight. This creates tactical challenges for these armies in how to attack enemy infantry. Large units against small, artillery and cavalry can provide a solution. Or just talking a defensive posture along the main battle line and trying to win the game on the flanks with your (presumably) greater numbers. 

 

Regarding your question on whether an infantry unit can skirmish an enemy cavalry unit? The answer is no. This is realistic (a skirmish screen would tend to be taking defensive measures if facing a regiment of cavalry, not go hunting it). Options for infantry are to limited in such an instance. Maybe form square and advance slowly, maybe call for cavalry support yourself. If the infantry feels lucky (and the cavalry is low quality) the infantry could advance to 2” and volley the enemy mounted. An artillery attachment on the infantry can help set this up, or sometimes the enemy commander makes a mistake and doesn’t have CPs available to do a react move. 

 

Your thoughts on artillery effectiveness differ a little from my experience. 

 

Artillery attachments remain popular in the games I have seen. The arc rules give them an ability to concentrate their fire, bringing 4 dice of medium range bombardment onto a single target. For this reason many players find that having 2 adjacent units with artillery attachments magnifies their effectiveness. If you can disorder an opponent with artillery fire, then skirmishing doesn’t really matter. You should be able to close and kill the disordered unit. 

 

A second important aspect of attached artillery is the possibility of placing a ‘test to advance’ result on enemy cavalry. Many players use cavalry in close support of their infantry, in the line, waiting with a spare CP to react charge your infantry if you try to close to 2” of their line. If you can place a ‘test to advance’ on the cavalry unit, then it will need 2 CPs and 2 successful command tests to pull off a react move. That means not only is the enemy cavalry unit unlikely to be able to support its infantry, it becomes itself vulnerable to enemy infantry advancing to 2” of the cavalry unit and volleying it.

The 3rd important benefit of an artillery attachment is self-protection. That +2 dice when volleying means that your can maintain ‘normal’ volley dice even when skirmished. It also provides a usually very effective 6 ((8 if large) volley dice if not subject to enemy skirmishers. 

 

An Achilles heel of artillery attachments is enemy skirmishers. They remove medium range bombardment capability. For that reason you will often see players taking efforts to protect units with artillery attachments from enemy skirmishers (most commonly by also giving the unit a cavalry attachment, or perhaps having a LI unit deployed next to them). 

 

Artillery units underwhelming? Maybe a little, especially if the enemy can drop a skirmish marker on them. That said, I have found players still tend to shy from attacking the part of my line where artillery unit(s) are placed. They are also excellent at long range bombarding enemy infantry in square.

I don’t think that artillery units dominate the game, but my own view is that they remain very useful.

Cheers

 My limited experience so far:

2 units with artillery attachments are needed to do much - one unit CAN do a bit, but not enough to press an attack, but can stop cavalry from advancing. Two Veteran attachments with a reroll should be able to cause enough damage for a unit to wavering by the time you assault, but I also think you need Skirmish attachments or a light infantry unit next to them to do that.

Conversely you need to win the skirmish battle to STOP the enemy from hitting you with their guns, particularity if they have an artillery brigade (or god help you, heavy artillery).

Also they are great at bombarding squares. Put a unit into square and have an artillery attachment or brigade hitting them and they will collapse within a turn, two if they are guard.