2. Support. Besides you wonderful Grognards here at TMP, what websites do you recommend for support and discussion specifically for these two rulesets?3. R&E Errata? Does it exist and where would one go to find it?
Yahoo group – tonnes of material, and direct access to Todd for answering questions. There is a rather large errata / FAQ document, and lots of answered questions in the archive.
4. My copy of Empire V was purchased hot off the presses in 1991 (or so) – has there been any updates (official or otherwise) you all would recommend?
A smaller errata sheet, and a monster archive of Q&A on the yahoo group again.
1. OF THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE PLAYED BOTH SETS – which do you prefer and why?
Big topic, would take an age to answer that one thoroughly.
Bottom line is that R+E is well worth dusting off. It adds more complication to the game, but is a little faster to play once you get your head around it.
Dont be too put off by the typos – the rules are there to be digested and understood prior to play.
On the Yahoo group, there are some great 3rd party QRS downloads that make the game much more digestible.
Major differences in play :
1) Deployment. R+E manages the deployment of large forces from the march into battle array. Empire assumes it as part of the scenario.
2) Order activation. This can be a little frustrating with Empire if you get several turns of unfavourable die rolls. R+E adds an extra layer of bookkeeping. Orders activate more predictably as they progress towards 100% activated.
3) Pending orders. R+E adds the concept of pending orders, which reward the player with a plan.
4) Skirmishing. R+E incorporates grande bande skirmishing with a pending attack order. This aspect was a favorite part of Empire III which was streamlined out of Empire V. Lots of detail that is missing from earlier Empire rules … skirmishers operating outside of support range, klumpen tactics, enboldened skirmishers penetrating the enemy front line, etc, etc.
5) Elan test. R+E replaces the elan test mechanic with something … much simpler and less detailed. YMMV.
6) Attack impetus. R+E adds the concept of attack impetus. Adds a good bit of chrome to the flavour of the battle.
7) Musketry. R+E completely replaces the percentile dice mechanic with a rather complicated 2D10 roll + mods. Mathematically, you get the same results as Empire, with a little more variance at the extremes. Gives Landwehr the (remote) chance to pull off an effective volley. Its still quite a messy mechanic though.
8) Ammo tracking. Yay ! more detail, more bookkeeping. The ammo rules are tightly bound into the ME determination test, and also make skirmish attacks highly effective now. You can now use skirmishers to actually disorder enemy lines, deplete their firepower, erode the confidence of the target ME, as well as pin down isolated gun sections. Worthwile addition to the game.
9) Artillery. Complete rewrite to catch up with the last 20+ years of research. Major difference is the artillery fatigue, and the need to pull guns back to reserve for refitting.
10) Time scale. 30 minute turns. 1 combat impulse per turn, with a chance to gain a bonus impulse. The more positive things you pull off in a combat impulse, the more chance you have of getting a bonus impulse to exploit a breakthrough.
The 2 MAJOR changes which really affect the way the game feels :
10) Commander Actions. This has a major impact on the way the game plays. Corps commanders, Div commanders, and Brigade commanders have a limited pool of special tricks they can pull at any stage of the turn (including for the defending player during a combat impulse). Takes a few games to get your head around it, but works really well.
11) Reserve Brigades. Each ME can have a separate reserve force. Use Commander Actions to create ad-hoc reserve forces, and use another Commander Action to commit a reserve force.
Plus – a greatly expanded set of Appendices for lots of extra troop definitions for lots of different armies.
Possible Negatives ? – Tactical phase plays pretty loose still. There is nothing in the rules about regulating battalions or regulation formations.
If you are into that, its easy enough to bolt houserules on.
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Overall conclusion on R+E vs Empire :
- Nasty learning curve. You need to afford to burn a few weeks playing some training games to get up to speed, before being able to enjoy the results.
- Still feels like a game of Empire, but with less random chance of a run of bad dice getting in the way of a good game.
- Gives a hugely satisfying game that captures everything you read about in all the good books.
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Also, before I forget …. the authors are running some SYW games on the convention circuit using R+E.
All the mechanics are in there to handle Ancien Regime armies, so I guess its just a question of coming up with approriate stats for the earlier armies.
Hope that helps.
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
