Skirmishers & Warbands BP2 (War or 1812 in North America)

[General Greybeard]

Good day to all. I have enjoyed reading through BP2 twice. When I read through it the second time I was looking for information on skirmishers and warbands. I found information on skirmishers. Other than the information on pg 22 about warbands, I could find no other information. There is information in “The Last Argument of Kings”, pages 94/95 I am using unless there is information I have missed in BP2. So,my question is do I use the statistis for the skirmishers for the warband?

[Charge The Guns]

Hi Greybeard. My understanding is that warband and skirmisher are two distinct troop types, which each use a different formation. Warband, an unruly mob, form in a block normally. The main thing about warbands from memory is that they can only use column on a road. Skirmishers have to use skirmish order exclusively.

Does this help?

[Cpl John]

Hi Greybeard
The rules on Warbands and Skirmishers in LAOK 94/95 relate to North American Indians, so I assume you are talking about these for your 1812 games. Indian skirmishers are treated just as normal skirmishers in the rules. Indian Warbands are units of Indians which are too large to skirmish and are treated in a similar way ( albeit I know they are very different) to units of Pathans on the NW Frontier or even Bands of Mahadists. Ill disciplined mobs running forward to engage the enemy. I offered both stats lines in LAOK for the reader to choose, as not everyone agrees on how Indians warbands should perform on the battlefield. If you make them skirmishers, they cannot charge formed infantry. If you make them Warband, they struggle to skirmish and inflict the Braddock effect in woodlands. There are some new rules for Indian units and suggestions for playing entirely Indian armies in the new “Dark and Bloody Ground” supplement.
cheers

[Phillip S Myers]

It had never occurred to me that size was the difference in LAOK. Is the skirmisher stat line already modified for being a small unit? Any thoughts on Indians being able to switch back and forth between skirmish and warband as appropriate to the situation?
I’m looking at playing with company sized rather than battalion sized units most of the time (6/8/12 figures for S/M/L units using full movement and ranges)
Thanks,
Phil

[Cpl John]

Hi Phil,
In the new Dark and Bloody Ground supplement, I do suggest allowing units such as the British Light infantry to switch from skirmish to formed and back again, requiring an order each time to do so. This is because they were disciplined and followed the word of command. I think with North American Indians you will have to make a choice. My preferred option is to make them small units (stat line of 2 Stamina and 2 shooting) which reflects their fragility in a firefight and the reduced firepower they had if they lacked weapons or powder, or had mixed firearms and bows etc. However, I allow skirmishers to charge formed units which are SHAKEN. This allows your Indians to fire from cover until a unit is shaken before drawing Tomahawks and closing in to finish them off. There are other suggestions in the supplement too concerning allowing them to benefit from “not clear” in woods AND “skirmish” making them hard to hit in woods to get the Braddock effect. As always, these are all only suggestions and its best to try them out in different games to see how you get on.
Ref the size of units. If you go with 8 figure units as standard then they should have the standard stat line ( 3 stamina, 3 shooting etc) and make 6 figure units Small and 12 figure units Large and it should all work fine. I have run games where one battalion is broken into companies with three companies being led by a commander figure as a “Brigade’. Hope this helps.
Cheers

[Phillip S Myers]

Thanks, those are the lines along which I was thinking, even the breaking into companies running battalions as brigades. We’re actually playing this weekend, been on the schedule long before the new book was announced. Think I’ll try the not clear and skirmisher benefit together for Indians. Another thought might be to allow an improved save for skirmishers in cover. One thing I’ve thought about is letting regulars in formation with other companies recover disorder as elites. Also, the only formations I’m using are line, March column and skirmish since all other formations are made of company lines.

[Cpl John]

Hi Phil,
The idea for “not clear” and “skirmish” is for fighting in woods. I Dark and Bloody Ground we have had to cope with the fact that some of the battles took place entirely in woodland, and in which troops fought in line, which is not possible under the current BP2 rules for woods which require troops to be in skirmish order in woods. We have had to work through different options for how to play this out.
Long story short, since troops in woods benefit from “not clear” due to the trees, skirmishers lost their edge as usually you can only have “not clear” OR “Skirmishers” as the -1 factor. In DABG regulars can now deploy in certain types of woods without having to break into skirmish order.
So if you had troops in line drawn up on the edge of a wood, and someone in the open fired at them, they could potentially claim the -1 for “not clear” and the morale save for cover.
If skirmishers are also on the edge of a wood and someone in the open fires at them, strictly speaking they gain only one -1 benefit and the +1 Morale save. I now allow them both to differentiate between them and formed troops. This has only arisen because formed troops can now be in woods, which under normal circumstances they would not under BP2.
Hope this is clear? Its a lot clearer in the book, which also deals with Provincial troops ( who often went prone, but stayed in formation, so not technically skirmishing) and suggestions on other type of fighting unique to this period and theater of war.
Ref recovery from Disorder. I use “Elite 4+” for troops like British Light infantry to distinguish them from Indian skirmishers, reflecting their drill and ability to reform better than Native Americans. Drilled regulars should certainly be better at recovering disorder than your locally raised Militias as well, in my opinion, and this is a good way to reflect drill on the board alongside “Superbly drilled” which just allows them to move when perhaps militias would not. Again, all just suggestions!
Cheers

[Author]

Posts