"Peninsular again - scenario book" Topic

I bought the o'er the hills scenario book which seems well done. Could anyone explain the fatigue score codes please ?

Hi Teppsta,

The FS rating stands for Fatigue Score as defined in Over the Hills rules which is a numerical representation of the unit's capabilities based on its grade and elan.

Elan being defined as a measure of a unit's willingness to fight and Grade being a measure of a unit's training and experience.

The number is also adjusted up or down for the size of the unit being modelled, thus for for every 100 men over or under a 600 man unit for infantry, 300 for cavalry and it assumes a typical artillery battery being around 6-8 cannon.

The higher the number the better the unit will perform, thus a typical British Line Infantry battalion of around 600 men will usually rate an FS of 7, 3rd Coalition Portuguese Militia an FS of 5

The scenario book is using historical orders of battle where that FS has been adjusted to the unit sizes and quality as outlined above.

Hope that helps
JJ

Thanks JJ

I was looking at your blog trying to work it out.

So if I was using the scenarios with another rule set (I'm a GdA player) I could interpret 7 as line, 2-3 as conscript and 12 as guard. That sort of thing?

There are also some letter codes as well as the numbers?

The letter codes relate to skirmish capability. A being the best, D pretty well having no skirmish capability. This may be represented by varying the number if skirmish bases 3 fir an A, none for a D.
The numerical score is a bit more sophisticated as it can take account of unit size, training and that mysterious factor " Elan". A standard well trained infantry battalion of 600 men tends to be rated at 7, but may get an 8 for a particular activity e.g Russians may get 8 for hand to hand, but 6 for firing. A reluctant conscript unit of the same size might be rated at 5; the lower scores tend to be used for very small units eg.g a singke company of British Rifles might only get an FS of 2 or 3, whereas the full battalion might justify a 10.

No problem

Yes indeed, if you work on the basis that a bulk standard battalion of French or British line infantry around 600 men strong are an average FS of 7 or occasionally 8, then you would see a British Guard battalion of about 900-1000 men weighing in with an FS of about 13 or 14 and militia units and many Spanish at around an FS of 5.

Most line artillery are rated as 7, and the cavalry are similarly rated and structured around a couple of squadrons at about 300 men, so you should be able to use the FS as a guide for GdA in terms of their quality.

The letter refers to the skirmish capability or class of the unit with A best to D worst, ie no skirmish capability to talk of. Most French/British line battalions would start as B representing their attached light companies specifically trained to do the job.

You will see that I have followed what seems likely to be doctrine, certainly for the British and most likely for the French, in forming regimental/brigade light and voltiguer battalions of about 300 men and thus the battalions that have contributed their light companies to those battalions have had their individual skirmish capability downgraded to C to allow for lesser trained grenadiers doing the job at a battalion level if they find themselves unprotected by their own light battalion.

Certain British light battalions may well have 'R' against their skirmish class indicating that they have a group of riflemen among their unit.

Most Voltigeur and Light Bob battalions are rated B, with a quality unit such as the 95th Rifles of 43rd Light Infantry most likely rating an A.

JJ many thanks indeed for your help

>>lesser trained grenadiers

The elite of any battalion, being lesser trained.
You have to be kidding!???
Dont know what history you read, but it isnt the same as mine…

Seeing this is actually a rules clarification, and not about scenarios or a book, maybe the title need be changed to be accurate?
regards d