Louis XIV French

[Scrumpy]

I have a dbr Louis XIV French army, and by converting the 4 to a base shot to 3 to a base I can field up to 7 foot regiments. I need to add some guns & dragoons to the mix to get a legal fog(r) list but was wondering how good is the Ausburg French list ?

Looking at the figures & the beta lists I can cobble together 7 foot units, maybe some of them as guards, not sure. 2 impact horse, 1 dragoon, 1 medium gun battery (2 guns) and some hussars.

Is this likely to be a competitive army against other 17th century armies ?


Cheers

[rbodleyscott]

I have a dbr Louis XIV French army, and by converting the 4 to a base shot to 3 to a base I can field up to 7 foot regiments. I need to add some guns & dragoons to the mix to get a legal fog(r) list but was wondering how good is the Ausburg French list ?

Looking at the figures & the beta lists I can cobble together 7 foot units, maybe some of them as guards, not sure. 2 impact horse, 1 dragoon, 1 medium gun battery (2 guns) and some hussars.

Is this likely to be a competitive army against other 17th century armies ?

Yes. Firepower isn't that great because the Shot counts as Musket*, but they do have the advantage of counting as Impact Foot.

Tactics will have to take this into account. I suspect Artillery will help compensate.

I used a Musket* Royalist army at Britcon and it worked reasonably well - although my foot were nearly all Superior. But mine did not count as Impact Foot.

[david53]

I have a dbr Louis XIV French army, and by converting the 4 to a base shot to 3 to a base I can field up to 7 foot regiments. I need to add some guns & dragoons to the mix to get a legal fog(r) list but was wondering how good is the Ausburg French list ?

Looking at the figures & the beta lists I can cobble together 7 foot units, maybe some of them as guards, not sure. 2 impact horse, 1 dragoon, 1 medium gun battery (2 guns) and some hussars.

Is this likely to be a competitive army against other 17th century armies ?


Cheers

TBH IMO I don' think there are any real bad armies even the Protestant 30 years war army that i used at Britcon has some quite good units, its just how you would use the good units in your army. This is just for me but maybe more so than in the ancient period you have to have a feeling towards the army your playing with. With this period for most armies in book 1 and 2 you can use the correct standards and regiments thus getting more of a feel for the army. Now the fact if it wins is left up to the generalship of yourself as usual.

[Scrumpy]

Damn it Dave, you have found the one weak link in my plans.

Out of interest, does anyone know what the Carbinier looked like ? Does anyone do them in 15mm as well ?

[Delbruck]

Not having the rules yet, what does musket* represent?

Are they classed as musket* because the muskets are intermingled with pikes?

And what about the French cavalry, how are they classed?

[Blathergut]

RBS mentioned musket* in another post...they shoot with slightly less effectiveness in close due to less muskets and more pikes.

[rbodleyscott]

RBS mentioned musket* in another post...they shoot with slightly less effectiveness in close due to less muskets and more pikes.

Actually we use Musket* for more than one purpose in the lists.

In the early ECW Royalist army they do indeed represent a shortage of Muskets.
In French armies (together with Impact Foot capability) they represent the French propensity for getting stuck in rather than engaging in a prolonged firefight.

Their game effect is to reduce the number of close range shooting dice.

Musket & Musket* both shoot with 1 dice per 2 bases at long range.

At close range, Musket shoot with one dice per base in the 1st or 2nd rank. Musket* shoot with one dice per front rank base and one dice per two 2nd rank bases.

Thus, prior to base loses, a normal 2 pike and 4 shot BG will shoot at close range with 4 dice if Musket, 3 if Musket*.

A WoTLoA BG with 1 pike and 5 shot would shoot with 5 dice if Musket (British, Dutch etc.), or 4 dice if Musket* (French). (The pike base lurks in the back rank until close combat occurs). But the French are also Impact Foot so will have a net + POA advantage in impact close combat. Danish BGs have 6 Muskets with Bayonets, so have even more firepower, but are not quite as good vs mounted troops as BGs with at least 1 pike base.

Which means that a WotLoA French BG has the same firepower as an earlier 17th century 2 pike and 4 Musket BG but is better in Impact close combat, at a net total cost of 3 extra points. Sounds like good value to me. (Note that the rules prevent the single pike base from being lost, as this would leave the BG too vulnerable to mounted troops).

OTOH the two French WotLoA armies used at Britcon 2009 came bottom, so they do not appear to be over-advantaged.

[Scrumpy]

Glad to hear I have nothing to live up to then.

[Delbruck]

What year does Early Louis XIV French go up to?

Will the British, Dutch and other later 17th century armies be in a future supplement?

One of the advantages of thise period is the ability to morph them into Malburian. A six base BG with one pike base works out very well, since the pike base can be used as a command stand only in the WSS.

[timmy1]

Delbruck

Even in the WSS, British foot were still using Pike. Iain Stanford of the Pike and Shot Society has been doing some really useful work over the past 8-10 years on the archives and has found that more often than not English WSS units had Pike issued within a year or two. Some even had Pike re-issued before they sailed to Europe.

Regards
Tim

[rbodleyscott]

What year does Early Louis XIV French go up to?

1661

Will the British, Dutch and other later 17th century armies be in a future supplement?

Yes, in Book 5, Duty and Glory.

[Scrumpy]

Any chance of a taste or tease as to what the Early Louis XIV starter list might looklike ?


Apart from the obvious a collection of letters & numbers...

[Skullzgrinda]

Damn it Dave, you have found the one weak link in my plans.

Out of interest, does anyone know what the Carbinier looked like ? Does anyone do them in 15mm as well ?

In the WSS, blue coat, red cuffs, silver buttons and lace and Royal livery for the musicians. Line cavalry will work.

Mousquetaires and Grenadiers a Cheval are more difficult.

[rbodleyscott]

Any chance of a taste or tease as to what the Early Louis XIV starter list might looklike ?

You will have to make do with a tease, I fear.

Chevaux-légers, gendarmerie or similar
Superior/Average, Armoured, Determined Horse – Impact Pistol, Melee Pistol
or
Superior, Unarmoured, Cavaliers – Impact Mounted, Melee Pistol

Infantry
Average (some Superior), 2 Unarmoured, Heavy Foot – Pike; and 4 Unarmoured, Medium Foot – Musket*, Impact Foot

[Scrumpy]

You devil RBS !!!! lol

Cavaliers fight in one rank with 2 dice per base right ?

Thanks for the info Skull.

[rbodleyscott]

Cavaliers fight in one rank with 2 dice per base right ?

They do, and so do Determined Horse.

[timmy1]

Just that the Cavaliers do it better...

[deadtorius]

I have also gathered the cavaliers dont come back until what ever they are fighting is completely eliminated. Or is that just Royalist ECW specific?? Seems those boys set the precedent that would haunt British heavy cav for a long long time

[Blathergut]

*Has already sewn a crown/dubloon/whateverthecoinagewas to the derrieres of his guys so when they run your silly horse will keep chasing them*

[Delbruck]

Since the Early Louis XIV French ends in 1661 and the rules end in 1698, presumbably there will be a Mid Louis XIV French covering 1662-1698. Would this French army be significantly different than the early?