POLEMOS - NAPOLEONIC WARS

ARMY GENERATOR - GENERAL DE DIVISION

GDD does not include a points system for determining your table top army. In the Napoleonic period, as in any other, few generals were able to choose the troops they were to lead into battle; most often they got what they were given and had to make the best of it.

We don’t see why you, the Polemos player, should be treated any different!

As you can see, the composition of your force will be generated at random, to give, hopefully, a typical force for the period. This may not, however, be a balanced force. Remember that in PGD, you are probably commanding part of an army – an advance guard, detachment or wing – a force unlikely to contain ‘a bit of everything’. The generator should give you the sort of force which might actually have been seen on a Napoleonic battlefield, rather than an unlikely mixture of units such as is sometimes seen on the wargames table.

Using the PGD generator.

Firstly, decide on a minimum number of bases in your army. You will keep generating formations until this minimum is reached or exceeded.
The first formation to be generated in each army list is a line infantry division or column; dice as directed to decide the number of brigades in the division, battalions or regiments in the brigade and their type and class. Then dice for the grading of the commanding general and for the number and type of attached artillery units.
Once the first line infantry division is complete, dice at random for what the next formation will be; this may be a cavalry brigade, for instance, or another infantry division. Continue to dice again for composition, type and class until this formation too is complete.
Once any other type of formation has been generated, the formation which follows it will always be a line infantry division; therefore line infantry formations should always equal or outnumber all other types of formation within your army.
When the minimum number of bases you decided at start is reached, continue to dice for the formation you are currently generating until it is complete. Do not stop generating part of the way through a formation – only when it is complete. You may therefore exceed your minimum by a considerable margin.
If the dice award you a formation that is not permissible, throw again. (There are, for instance, some formations of which you are only allowed one.)

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As a taster, here is an army not included in the rules - British 1809.

British Army 1809

Subordinates:
Choose between five and seven formation commanders.

Commands.
Throw a D10 for each commander to decide what type of force he commands.
(Note that each option may only be assigned once. If the same number is thrown more than once, throw again.)

1. Light cavalry brigade
2. Light cavalry brigade
3. Dragoon brigade
4. Infantry division
5. Infantry division
6. Infantry division
7. Infantry division
8. Infantry division
9. Infantry division
10. Light division

Infantry division.
Throw 1D6 for number of brigades.

• 1,2 = two brigades
• 3,4,5,6 = three brigades

Each brigade is one base.
Throw D6 per brigade for class. 1 = raw 6 = veteran
Plus a D10 per brigade – if 0, brigade is elite. (One brigade only)
Throw D6 for skirmish capability. 1 = SK0 6 = SK2

Light cavalry brigade.

One base light cavalry.
Dragoon brigade. One base dragoons.
D6 for class of cavalry 1 = raw. 6 = veteran (i.e. KGL)

Artillery
Throw D6 per infantry division.

• 1,2,3 = none
• 4,5,6 = one base foot artillery

Light division
Two bases veteran infantry, SK2
One base horse artillery

And there you have it. Could you use this force to throw the French out of the Peninsula?

ARMY GENERATOR - MARECHAL DE L'EMPIRE

Using the MDE Generator

Before beginning to generate your army, you must decide on the rough size of the forces to be involved in your battle. You will first decide the number of subordinate commanders you are to have, within the range set out at the beginning of each list. As a rough rule of thumb, the lower number of subordinates will give an army of approximately 20 bases, the higher one of approximately 50 bases.
Note that, in some armies, the subordinates will be generals, with a grading of their own (plodding, capable, decisive); in other armies the subordinates may only command formations (e.g.divisions) and will not be graded.

Once you have decided on the number of subordinates you would like to have, throw a D6.

• Score 1 – two of your officers thought they knew better than you and went by a different route – they are lost in the mountains and won’t reach the battlefield in time. (Deduct two subordinate officers)
• Score 2 – confusion over orders means that one subordinate spends all day marching between two battlefields, making no appearance at either. (Deduct one subordinate officer.)
• Score 3 or 4 – the army arrives intact.
• Score 5 – one officer force-marches and manages to arrive unexpectedly to reinforce your army. (Add one subordinate officer)
• Score 6 – two officers decide to march to the sound of the guns. (Add two subordinate officers)

Once the number of subordinates in your army has been decided, throw D6 to assign grades to generals.

Follow the scheme of dice rolls to decide what constitutes the command of each subordinate officer in turn.

And for your delectation, why not see how you do with the Prussian army that met its match at Jena Auerstadt...

Prussian army 1806

Subordinates.

Choose between six and ten formation commanders.
Up to three formation commanders can be placed under command of a general before battle commences. Throw D6 for grade of general after this decision is made.

Maximum four generals.

• 1,2 = plodding
• 3,4,5 = capable


• 6 = decisive

Commands.

Throw D6 for each officer to see what type of force he commands.

• 1 Infantry division
• 2 Infantry division
• 3 Infantry division
• 4 Infantry division
• 5 Reserve division
• 6 Advance guard
  

Infantry division.
Each division consists of two infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade.

Roll 1D6 for infantry brigades:

• 1,2,3 = one base
• 4,5,6 = two bases

Cavalry brigade = one base heavy cavalry.

Reserve division.
Roll 1D6 for number of brigades:

• 1,2,3 = two brigades
• 4,5,6 = three brigades

Throw 1D6 for division. If 4,5 or 6, one brigade is cavalry. Otherwise infantry.
Dice as above for size of infantry brigades.
Cavalry brigade is one base heavy cavalry.

Advance guard.
Consists of one infantry brigade = one base,
one cavalry brigade. Throw 1D6: 5,6 = two bases. Otherwise one base.

Throw D6 per brigade for class:

• 1 = raw
• 2,3,4,5 = trained
• 6 = veteran

Infantry throw D6 per infantry brigade for skirmish capability. 6 = SK1, otherwise SK0.

Throw D6 per division:

• 1,2 = no artillery.
• 3,4,5,6 = one base foot artillery

Have a go and see what you end up with to face the French Army at the height of its powers!