I need to choose what regiments to use in my army

What Regiments do I use?

The last thing I need to do for my army is put on flags - and to do that I need to decide which historical regiments I want to represent.

I started the army based on the  Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro.

I know I want a battalion to be the South Essex (Sharp's fictional regiment) but can't find their flag in the right scale, so might do one of the other Essex battalions. One of them is a Highlander unit, and I've got the 95th Rifles...who don't use one being light infantry.

This ancient post on TMP suggests they were going to use:

For a while I have been dithering about which Napoleonic army I should paint to face my growing 28mm French army. I had been contemplating using Spanish, British or even Dutch, but couldn't decide.

Well, I have now come up with an idea. The army to face my French will be ... Richard Sharpe's army!

In other words, I'll do an army based on the Richard Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell. This could include both fictional and real-life units, such as the British South Essex Regiment (fict), 33rd Regiment of Foot (1st Yorkshire West Riding), 74th Highlanders, Royal Marines and the 95th Rifles (2nd Battalion); Spanish such as the cowardly Regimentia de Santa Maria (fict) and the somewhat better
Garda Real Irlandsa (sp? - fict), plus, of course, lots of guerillas; Portuguese cacadores; Kings German Legion cavalry, American privateersmen - and many other various units that Richard Sharpe belonged to, fought with or that otherwise crop up in the books.

Basing my army on a fictional novel series will give me freedom to paint lots of interesting units that in a real army would probably not have been brigaded together.

 And I need a rocket battery in 15-18mm, that no one seems to sell. 

I do want to use the 23rd Light Dragoons who charged impulsivity into a ravine at Battle of Talavera.

I am also constrained in what flags are available in 18mm.

GAJO games painting service

From a TMP post I discovered http://www.gajominis.com/ptdfigures.html

It's 15mm and 28mm, so wouldn't quite work for  my FOGN armies at 18mm, but I shall make a note. The paint job and figures might be better than Stonewall, but more expensive too I suspect. 

They do 15mm American Civil War too, which might be useful whenever I get the Warlord Plastic set next month.

 

Also, their page hasn't been updated since 1995.  Yeikes!

A good explanation of FOGN strategies

A good explanation of FOGN strategies by bpreston 

From The Miniatures Page

Just to expand on the FoGN (version 2) set-up, or "strategies" as they are described in the rules.

The strategies are designed to represent the immediate operational planning that led up to the opposing Corps engaging each other. Has your Corps adopted defensive, flexible or aggressive pre-game operational maneuvers?

The choice each player makes effects terrain placement, what formations start on table, and in some cases what they can/cannot do in their first 1-2 turns.

The setup system creates important player decision making before you come to deployment. It provides plenty of variety in game 'shapes' with 35 different set-up combinations possible.

The 6 strategies are numbered 1-6 in increasing aggressiveness. The player who choses the higher number is the attacker (or a dice-off if both players chose the same strategy).

1. Position Defense represents a commander that has found favorable ground and parked himself on it. That player gets advantages in terrain, can place any redoubts purchased, can strong-point towns and hide troops on reverse slopes. The downside is that the player must deploy all visible troops before his opponent deploys any, and you cannot leave his deployment area for the first 2 turns.

2. Flexible Defense is a little like (1) except you don't get the same terrain positioning bonuses, have 1 division starting off-table in reserve and are only restricted in movement for 1 turn. It represents a defensive posture with reserves.

F.Defense is my go to if I can't decide what I want to do. It's a 'wait and see what he does then react' option.

3. Probe is for sneaky buggers and armies with good leadership. It gives you great set-up intelligence (the enemy has to deploy all on-table units before you deploy any, and you know about any enemy outflanks). However 1/2 your army starts off-table, in reserve or as reinforcement's marching to the sound of the guns. Until those reinforcements arrive, you can be vulnerable to being rushed. But you can use this, and with careful timing around committing your off-table reserve, can lay a trap for the enemy.

4. Envelop. – ie Outflank. An option best reserved to armies that have decent leadership (ie can expect the outflanking units will turn up in a timely manner)! It represents a Corps Commander who has operationally detached part of his force nd now hopes it will turn up in a position to decide the battle.

5. Prepared Attack (or 'Bombard' as most people call it).
A Russian favorite. You get some 'free' rounds of long-range artillery fire before the game starts. Downside is that you cannot move rapidly (no 'double moves') in the first turn, and so it's an aggressive option that isn't really that aggressive…
If you know you are facing a Russian (or other late period) gun horde, try to block this one if you can.

6. Frontal Assault ….Charge! Represents a highly aggressive (impetuous?) Corps Commander who sees the enemy Corps and rushes it.
You get less control over terrain placement and cannot do wheels in your first turn, but you do get to move first and get 'free' double moves in that first turn. Is a great option for a big dumb conscript army that struggles to maneuver and needs to try and quickly cut down the space a more nimble opposing army has to maneuver in.
If not blocked, it's generally the go-to for my Neapolitan army.

And that's about it. As mentioned the enemy gets a chance to potentially block some of your options. What is blocked is random, but weighted so that better Corp Commanders have a better chance to influence which enemy choices are blocked (this represents the ability of a superior strategist to limit his opponent's operational options).

Most players have their preferred strategies that best suit their army choice and play style. However you never know when your opponent may block your preferred choice, so you can't safely design an army for just 1 strategy choice. You need a B (and occasionally a C) plan up your sleeve.

So far I've been trying to use Prepared defence. I need to test out Flexible Defense and Flexible (Bombardment) Attack. I completely failed in doing a Frontal attack and Envelop, but need more practice. A good general will be good at all of them, but I note that Probe and Envelop are popular ones with the great general's.

Why choose FOGN over another gaming system?

 

An old question from TMP: 

"Recommend a set of rules for single-day club games" Topic

My answer:

Your answer was ultimately the best – what does everyone else in my area play. (Because that's the one way to actually get a game).

 

After playing about a Dozen games of Field of Glory Napoleonic, I think it does fit a lot of your criteria.

1) Plays well on a 6x4 or 8x4 table with up to 28mm (if we stick with that), 15mm or 10mm figures – The rules are based on what size you play, so it covers all your sizes (6mm/15mm/28mm). A 6x4 table works for 15-18mm.

2) Can be played to a reasonable conclusion within a few hours, say around 3 or so. – The game is designed for 3 hour games between 2 people. It's great for club or tournaments were you can play for 3 hours in a standard corps sized game of 800 points. There are variant online rules for 500 point games on a 4x4 table in 15mm, which would be quicker.

3) Allows us to play larger battles but not full-scale battles; we want to do more than a small clash but not the entirety of Waterloo or Austerlitz. I think this translates to Brigade level or one level higher (Corps?) but that terminology is confusing. – The game calls itself as being regimental level, but you play as one Corps commander. Each base of figures works out to one regiment/2-3 battalion's and you have 20-40 stands per army. This also means you can easily refight an entire historical battle with 2-4 players a side. I played in a Battle of Taravala with 3 a side, each player controlling 2-4 divisions of troops and it went for about 5 hours.

4) Rules are reasonably straightforward, none of us want a dissertation or having to do a ton of setup or complex mechanics. This is one game among a few that we will play so we'd prefer something that we can pick up reasonably quickly without constantly referring to the book to see how to play. – FOGN got re-written to much more clearer. However, the interactions of rules can be a bit hard to learn and it takes sometime to learn. I do think they are vastly better laid out and written than Black Powder. The book does lack an index which is maddening when trying to work out what rules apply to what units. Once learnt the game can be players with reference to 5 pages of tables (movement, firing ranges, firing dice etc).

5) Doesn't require a ton of setup; as mentioned above we get together roughly monthly on a Sunday for a few hours so we want to maximize our game time. – Unlike a lot of other games, the setup is part of the game! Each player chooses what terrain they want on the table and then roll to see where it goes – so a good general will choose his ground carefully. It's pretty quick to setup though, and if you don't want much terrain on the table it's very quick (you might only have 4 pieces to place). Units deploy on the table as entire divisions, so you only placing 2-4 groups of units on the table each time for each player, and if one side is attacking and the other defending, you put your entire army down at one time without needing to alternate.

6) Has at least some period flavor; it doesn't have to be a huge amount but it should feel like a Napoleonic game and reward at least some adaptation of period tactics. – I've found I started to win games with my Peninsula army only after I started to read use Wellington's tactics. Place your infantry on the reverse slope. Put Cavalry on the flank but you need artillery or infantry if you force the enemy into square. Cavalry that charges too far can be counter charged when there are spent and blown. Cavalry can slow down the enemy advance and force them into square. Attacking infantry need artillery to good firepower to disrupt the enemy before charging and need flank and rear support. I think it leads to very historical tactics and outcomes, but you still get out of the ordinary events that make battles memorable (My Portuguese conscripts held the line! The Polish Lancers wiped out a division with one decisive charge. The Highlander infantry charged the town and took it despite being outnumbered).