The Victory Is Ours!: A Napoleonic Warfare Battle Manual

The Victory Is Ours!: Napoleonic ruleset in Fratt’s Battle Manual series that focuses on the psychological effect of battle. The philosophy behind the rules is the primacy of human actions as opposed to cumulative material effects of ballistic combat. In the chaos of battle, humans begin to ignore the increasing material flotsam around them and fall back on their training. The Victory Is Ours! portrays this reality by reducing numerous charts of material modifiers, which we think, erroneously, are the main factors in determining human behavior. Instead, we increase the role of psychology in battle as influenced by training, drill, and unit elan. The result, as years of play­ testing has shown, is a set of rules that are intuitive, not driven by copious numbers of charts, has the right amount of “historical feel,” in all the right places, and is fun. The initial challenge is to get used to the procedures for: Integrated Movement along the table, Artillery Missions, their resolution Proper order in carrying out Close Combat situations, and their resolution I include mini-charts to help teach the procedures, but over time, the protocols will become second nature and intuitive, not needing the charts for reference. The proper spirit with which to use the rules is a “kriegspiel” one. We are all competitive. That is part of the fun of war gaming. But some of us are also playing to learn from history. These rules cannot possibly anticipate all situations that might occur on the table. However, when players are confronted with a new and unusual situation, remember to “untie the Gordian knot” on the principle of following the Sequence of Play, respecting the protocols for Integrated Movement, and resolving Close Actions along the direction across the table from the Operational Flank. That is the best guide. It is also crucial to game with a “large souled spirit” while applying common sense reasoning.