The current game being played by [NBC] is ntw2. 

Much has been written about the rules subject, following a vote on the nwg forum there is now one "standard" set of rules in the lobby called :

LoV rules : 

• Gen as Gen
• No Gen sniping
• No attack or defend
• Host picks maps and att/def position on map, opponent gets first choice of faction
• No GM, no fire in melee or manual fire except with art and long distance firefights with lites (FAW on/off)
• No Blocks (greater then 4 deep) [this means to SHOOT with]

Generally speaking, LoV rules favour a charge and melee type of game, which some players don't like, as it can lead to very fast games, and sometimes they have the feel of "Rome" more than "Napoleonic".

For those that don't like LoV rules I'd suggest that you try :

LoV rules with GM allowed.

The game host has the final say in what rules they want to have used in their game, so lets please all try to respect that whatever they choose. 

When joining games with a set of rules, members should play within those rules at all times.  Please see the Code of Conduct concerning this important subject.

Please also see the picture, displayed top right, showing the allowed and NOT allowed artillery deployment when the rule :

NO Embedded Artillery is stated.

Green is ok, Red is not.

Gunner24.

Many people (new and old players) find this a confusing subject.   I am also confused sometimes but some basic help and advice would be as follows.

Infantry in Line THREE ranks deep attacked by Column/block about 20 men wide and 6 men deep from the front.
Attackers will get some FIM
Only about a third of the attackers make contact with the defending line. This leaves many defenders unengaed and free to shoot their muskets

Infantry in Line THREE ranks deep attacked by Column/block about 20 men wide and 6 men deep from the flank
Attackers will get serious FiM
Only about a third of the attackers make contact with a very small part of the defending line. This leaves most of the defenders unengaed and free to shoot their muskets

Infantry in Line THREE ranks deep attacked by a Line THREE ranks deep from the front
Attackers may get a small amount of FiM from the rear ranks
The attacking unit makes contact along the whole length of the line but the rear ranks of the defenders are NOT engaged in hand to hand combat on contact, they may fire a volley or two untill they also become engaged with fighting h2h

Infantry in Line THREE ranks deep attacked with Line THREE ranks deep from the flank
Attackers will get fired at during melee
A small section of the attacking line makes contact with a small number of the defending lines flank leaving MOST of the defending line unengaged and free to fire. As the men spread out and make further contact and more men become involved in h2h combat the FiM will be reduced.

These examples all assume GM is ON and all units at EQUAL strength to each other in numbers of men. Clearly if the charging unit is weaker than the defender the charge is not likely to win the day.

The same thing applies to Cavalry attacking Infantry, much FiM happens here when 60 Cavalry attack 120 Infantry - it's IMPOSSIBLE for 60 men to fight 120 men hand to hand so some of the defenders will be free to shoot their muskets. The best result for ALL charges is to make CONTACT with as many men as possible all in the very first seconds. This will reduce the chance of FiM happening.

Any charge that is done at the 100% correct time will break the defending unit on contact, or VERY soon after.....There have been many examples of just 10-20 Cavalry men that break 3,4 or 5 units of Infantry when the charge has been from the flank and the Infantry is in very bad condition.

GM on does not stop units from routing if they are in a bad battlefirld position, GM on makes them hold their formation and stand their ground longer than GM OFF.

If there is a long hand to hand combat period then the charge has not been timed at it's best, as the whole point of charging is to break the defender QUICKLY. Extended hand to hand fighting may well lead to a BIG FiM as many men are not engaged in melee and are so free to shoot.

HEALTH WARNING : this is my opinion from many hundreads of GM ON games, I don't promise it's 100% correct but it's what I've seen many times in many games.....most complaints of FiM happen because the charge was too early against a unit that was to strong and in such a way that not enough defenders were "hit" in the first few seconds

g24