Experimental Rules for Liberators QPR

I’ve put together some experimental modifications to Liberators QPR. The aim is to increase the importance of morale and fill in a few gaps. It’d be nice if they made the game faster but only play testing will tell.

Assume normal rules, plus house rules and clarifications, apply unless otherwise noted.

Game Scale

Each turn is 15 minutes.

Troop Scale

Infantry = 200 men per stand

Cavalry = 70 men per stand

Artillery = 2 guns per stand.

Basing

All troop types should be mounted on stands of the same width.

Infantry are based two lines deep on a the same shape of base as cavalry. 6 infantry per base in 2 lines of 3 figures.

Disorder

Summary: Disorder is much more debilitating and hence more central to combat.

Replace whole section

Unit State: Steady, Disordered, Fragmented, Routed

Units are steady, disordered, fragmented, or routed. Steady is the the standard state and there is no need to mark units as such.

A unit gains a disorder marker if it fails a cohesion check, if it retreats or flees, or if steady and moving in disordering terrain.

Disorder is indicated by placing a single disorder marker next to the unit. Disordered units may fight (at a disadvantage) and move.

A unit with two disorder markers is Fragmented. Fragmented units may not fight nor make voluntary moves. A fragmented unit that is contacted by enemy automatically flees again suffering another casualty and moving an additional move to the rear.

A unit can never have more than two disorder markers next to it.

Disorder markers may be removed in the rally phase. Rallying a fragmented unit means it becomes disordered; remove one of its disorder markers. Similarly, rallying a disordered unit means its becomes steady; remove the remaining disorder marker.

When a unit suffers at least as many casualties as it has stands it is routed and removed from the table. Routed units cannot be rallied.

Notice:

  • Can now have two levels of disorder, which is the definition of Fragmented.

Replace “Good order” with “Steady” everywhere in rules.

Turn Sequence

Play is divided into phases.

  1. Initiative
  2. Voluntary Movement
  3. Rally
  4. Cohesion Checks
  5. Fire Combat
  6. Melee Combat
  7. Outcome Movement
    1. Flee
    2. Retreat
    3. Advance
    4. Pursue

Notice:

  • Rally now follows Movement.
  • Movement has been redefined as Voluntary Movement to distinguish it from Outcome Movement.
  • Musketry and artillery fire have been merged into Fire Combat.

Initiative

Both sides act in each phase. One side, determined by initiative, acts first in all phases.

Formations

Same as original rules but be aware that as infantry are now based on deep bases a line will actually be twice as deep as it used to be.

Voluntary Movement

Square

Battalions can form square as a normal formation change. Battalions being charged by cavalry this turn can only form a hasty square; this requires a morale roll to succeed.

Charge to contact

To contact enemy a unit must charge; no ambling up to melee. No morale check is necessary. A charge can be an oblique move but cannot include a change of facing. Infantry cannot charge cavalry. Artillery cannot charge.

Delete:

  • “A unit must succeed in a morale roll … is in range but it may not charge.”
  • “If a charging cavalry stand … split regiment or squadron.”

Terrain and movement

A steady unit becomes disordered if it enters or moves through disordering terrain. A disordered unit which moves through disordering terrain suffers no further effects; it just stays disordered. Similarly for a fragmented unit.

Rally

The key difference to earlier versions of QPR is that routed units can no longer rally and there are two levels of disorder

Delete entire section.

Replace with:

Each rally phase eligible units may attempt a morale check to remove disorder markers. A unit is eligible if it did not move during voluntary movement. There are two types of rally: unit rally and leader rally. Any unit can rally itself but only a unit with an attached leader can attempt both a unit rally and leader rally. Each successful rally removes one disorder marker; failure leaves the disorder marker in place until a successful rally. This means that in a single rally phase a unit, with a leader attached, can go from fragmented to steady.

Unit rally: The unit makes a morale check against it’s own morale rating.

Leader rally: Players may attempt to use their leader to rally a unit. The leader must be attached to the unit to rally them. The leader makes a morale check against the leader’s morale rating rather than the unit’s morale rating.

?? Perhaps Fragmented units need the leader and can’t self-rally ??

Cohesion Checks

A unit must make a cohesion check if either it is:

  • in contact with an enemy (regardless of which parts of the units are in contact) or
  • within an enemy unit’s arc of fire and within close range

Cohesion Modifiers

Factor Modifer
Infantry or artillery defending high ground from enemy which is, or began the move, on lower ground +1
Infantry or artillery defending hard cover +1
In melee with flank of enemy unit +1
Leader attached to unit +1
In melee with skirmishers +1
Disordered -1
In melee with front of deployed artillery -1
Any artillery in melee with cavalry -1
Infantry with unsecured flank in melee with cavalry -1
Cavalry or artillery attacked from flank or rear -1
Infantry attacked from flank or rear -2

A steady unit that fails a cohesion check becomes disordered but holds it ground.

A disordered unit flees when it loses in melee or fails a cohesion check.

Infantry with secure flanks

An infantry battalion has secure flanks if it is is in square or both of the following are true:

  • It is not being attacked from the flank or rear
  • Within 1″ of both flanks of the unit there is terrain impassable to cavalry, a friendly infantry unit or a friendly cavalry unit

Fire Combat

Delete “At the end of both the artillery fire and musket fire phase any unit that took losses must make a morale roll. Success means the unit retains good order. Failure means the unit is disorganized.” This has been replaced by the cohesion check.

Additional Fire modifier: -2 Artillery Fire on Artillery Target

Ranges work differently:

  • Artillery at Close range = 0
  • Artillery at Medium range = -1
  • Artillery and Infantry at Long range = -2

Melee Combat

In general only stands in contact fight in melee. All of infantry column fights.

Winning a Melee

One side must win the melee; there are no drawn melees.

A side which is entirely routed during the melee cannot win the melee, even if its opponent took more casualties. Otherwise the side which took the most casualties in combat this turn – both fire and melee – loses the melee while the side which took the least casualties wins the melee.

If the number of casualties is a tie, each side rolls a die to break the tie, high roller wins (repeat if necessary).

Melee Outcomes

Any steady unit that lost in melee must retreat.

A disordered unit flees when it loses in melee or fails a cohesion check.

Terrain and Combat

Distinguish between gentle slopes and steep slopes. What is currently called “elevation” is a steep slope. Gentle slopes have crests that block LOS but are not disordering terrain.

Change “halt” on Stream to ‘2″‘. Soft cover for a stream only applies when defending the bank in melee.

Outcome Movement

Outcome Movement includes flee, retreat, advance and pursue. These sub-phases happen in that order, i.e. do all flees before retreats, etc.

Flee

A flee is disorganised flight away from the enemy

A disordered unit flees when it loses in melee or fails a cohesion check. The fleeing unit becomes fragmented (now has two disorder markers), takes a casualty, changes face by 180 degrees and moves its full movement allowance along a legitimate escape path.

Artillery and skirmishers do not flee. They are routed instead and removed from the table.

Escape Path

The path taken by a fleeing or retreating unit is called the escape path. Certain restrictions apply to the escape path. An escaping unit must:

  • move directly away from the unit, or middle of a group of units, that caused it to escape.
  • only vary its movement to avoid contact with formed enemy units. If there is sufficient gap for the unit to avoid the enemy it will do so, otherwise the retreating unit routs and is removed.
  • not vary its movement to avoid enemy skirmishers. The skirmishers are simply moved aside by their owner.
  • not vary its movement to avoid entering disordering terrain. The unit takes another casualty when contacts the terrain feature, but is not further disordered as it enters.
  • not vary its movement to avoid contact with impassable terrain. The unit takes another casualty when contacts the terrain feature, stops at the edge, but is not further disordered.
  • not vary its movement to avoid contact with friendly stands. The escaping unit passes completely through the friends. Steady friends are disordered but remain in place. Disordered friends remain disordered but follow the escaping unit; if the escaping unit is retreating the following unit will retreat; similarly for flee.

Retreat

A retreat is a more or less controlled withdrawal away from enemy.

A steady unit that lost in melee must retreat. The retreating unit becomes disordered (gains a single disorder marker) and moves half of their normal full movement along a legitimate escape path. The retreat ends facing the enemy from which it retreated.

Advance

An advance allows the winner of a melee to take the ground the enemy was occupying.

An advance is 1″ straight forward and may not end in contact with enemy. Advancing is optional; victorious defending cavalry and any victorious chargers may advance. Artillery and defending infantry may not advance.

Pursue

A pursuit is an immediate charge towards the nearest enemy unit within normal movement range.

Only cavalry that win in melee may pursue. They will pursue or stand their ground depending on the circumstances. The two factors to consider are whether there is enemy within the normal movement and whether or not the unit passes a morale check.

Following melee a victorious cavalry unit:

Circumstances Victorious Cavalry
Outcome Movement
No enemy unit within normal movement Must stand its ground
Enemy within normal movement
and fails the morale check
Must pursue; a steady unit becomes disordered
Enemy within normal movement
and passes the morale check
Choose to pursue or stand its ground

If a cavalry unit pursues then the resulting combat is resolved immediately. Further pursuits and combats are also possible.

Leaders

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