ABOUT 57eme Regiment d'Infantrie de Ligne

The brave soldat stands with his brothers and advances with them - unfazed by enemy fire, unperturbed by every death. They move with a sense of confidence and belief that this march amongst bullet hell is worth it.

We are the 57e infantry of the line, nicknamed "Les Terribles" after Napoleon's quote "The terrible 57th which nothing could stop". Like our historical regiment and namesake we will strive to achieve a feared but respectable reputation in our community.

We wish to develop camaraderie, discipline and a penchant for striking fear into our enemies' hearts. The 57e also has the objective of contributing to the betterment of the Aus community in any way it can, hence its members are asked to develop sportsmanship and honorable conduct.

Teamspeak Channel: austs1.gameservers.com:9267 (look for the 57e subchannel)
Training server: 57e_Training

All new cadets must at least read the "57e Recruits" thread and "Rules of Conduct" posted in the Discussions. Cadets new to the game must read the "Line Battle Rules". Also other important articles can be seen at the discussion like: Rosters, Officer Academy, Line battle rules.

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An Essay on Line Battles and how the 57e Fashioned it Part 2

12 May, 2017 - metalcallous | 2 Comments

How the 57e's innovation shaped in-game warfare and how it might have ruined the line battles.

I looked at how things were historically done and I set about to develop ways to implement them. And I found that they did help in making movements and actions more efficient. The larger the size of the line, the more the techniques made sense. These attempts and successes will - at some point - change how other regiments play.

The ability to advance in a line allows swift and sometimes unexpected delivery of volleys. Especially having the men use a hill or shrubbery as cover. Others attempted this but they usually have to readdress their line before firing or order a fire at will which can be time consuming. A drilled line can confidently advance, stop, not worry about readdressing, fire a volley and fall back in orderly fashion - in half the time.

Back when we had a smaller line I took the liberty of doing volley fire and falling back into cover. When the line grew in size, I understood how unwieldy and counter-intuitive it is to do such tactics. Better to advance, and hold the line after the first volley. If anyone noticed, I stopped using the fire and fall back tactic later on. This is one of the reasons. Roleplaying and era theme comes to fore. We are a line infantry regiment. What remains of this skirmisher mindset I put all into the voltigeurs. That too is thematic for line infantry regiment.

Later on I noticed how the other regiments adapted the fire-and-fall-back tactic. The problem is they did it even with large lines! Which - while tactically sound - is not thematic to the period. A large body of line infantry would be in reality too difficult to handle for such maneuvers and is prone to actually breaking apart when doing such. The only ones who reliably do this are the light infantry in skirmish order. But in line battles, the majority of participants are supposed to be line infantry regiments. It looked silly how battles started to look like kiting engagements. What have I done?!

It is most likely brought about by the fact of how I pushed the LB rules to the limit. Perfecting line spacing, and having a work around with the voltigeurs by making them perform in small lines but doing evasive and guerrilla maneuvers with it. Initial encounters made others mistake that the 57e were cheating as some of these maneuvers look like individual troops "ramboing" (going off on their own). They would have assumed that if we could do it, they could so it as well. But what they didn't take notice is how careful I was not to overdo it. As I said before, I stopped doing the fire and fall back, I also made sure that voltigeurs always operated with the main line. They were "attached" persay. All with keeping with the theme. We were not a line and a loose light infantry cadre/s. We were one line with supporting skirmishers.

Granted it's easy to miss... And so what I might have incited is an unexpected "tactics arms race" which unfortunately muddled the spirit of line battles and pushed the battles into a different kind of feel.

To give an example: an enemy line advance towards us, fire a volley, and when we are about to return fire, the bastards scattered - obfuscating the action by claiming they "broke up to charge". In comparison, voltigeurs operated in lines of 3-4, amongst the various techniques I taught, one of them is the "mini scatter" - when they notice an enemy about to fire a volley at them and without nearby cover to run to - they would do a short scatter where they'd distort their line, each member moving in separate directions for 2-3 meters before snapping back towards the squad lead.

But to see an entire line of 15+ people scatter... forward. What a strange sight.

Oh what have I done. I know not if these changes still persist or perhaps not, perhaps with the various deaths and reincarnations of the Australian community, the technique or "meta" might have been lost. It might have been even short lived. The battles reverting to classic primitive snakelike movements and awkward transition to lines, and the gentlemanly art of trading shots and standing steady like men.

But there are several insights I saw from all this.
(1)Napoleonic Wars to be simulated in the warband engine requires a strong sense of roleplaying for everyone involved. From the lowliest cadet to the highest colonel.
(2)This is still a game, to play it in the format of a game and in a format of a roleplay session requires compromises. There is an unspoken, unwritten understanding out there, a compromise that is not set out as a rule. To operate in lines reminiscent of napoleonic warfare but to do so without an organized OOB and chain of command to allow freedom of movement avoiding boredom.
(3)This unspoken compromise however exists in various degrees; with no regiment in the same server fully agreeing to one version of it - leads to misunderstanding and arguments that dissuade further exploration of the rules.
(4) The rules of the basic line battle as it stands is rudimentary that at least easily allows play without much problems.
(5)Players and regiments adapt to changing tactics, caged as it is in the rudimentary rules their attempts of evolving tactics will compromise plausability of napoleonic theme... Oftentimes working against it.
(6) The correct rules would be ones that don't force people to do certain actions, but rather make it so that doing certain actions become necessary and attractive.
(7) Doing a musket game set in the Napoleonic era is impossible to simulate without roleplaying. And sacrificing some gaming freedom.
(8) However a musket game in the warband format can exist but in a different era: American Civil War or post-Napoleonic war(I forgot the better term). These adaptations I've observed made me notice a certain trend amongst players... "Looking for Longevity in a game that ends life fast in a span of one volley."
-the embracing or attempt to adaptive skirmisher and evasive tactics
-the decreased popularity of large lines and the popularity of dispersed small lines (there are other reasons for this of course but I think this is a subconscious factor)
-fire and fall back tactics
-treatment of larger lines like skirmishers units

These factors point to a desire for musket battles with small unit tactics. And I think I have the solution... A different version of line battle rules that respects both individuality and chain of command.

Next time "Fields of Blue and Grey: how our current gameplay mindset is compatible with the later musket era."

25 April, 2017 - metalcallous | 1 Comments

Napoleonic Warfare and Napoleonic Wars, why the 57e was created.

The Napoleonic Wars was an impressive display of orderly warriors paraded into massacres. To have been a soldier in such times made one feel a mix of pride, exhultation and terror. As you march side by side hundreds you feel your sense of glory swell. You feel invincible. Then you approach the exchange of musket fire and you feel the mix of terror and courage in equal measure. That exhilirating feeling of the charge with fixed bayonets amidst the hail of musketry and cannon fire.

One would have expected at least a fraction of that feeling when you come to play this game. Sure you're not playing with hundreds but playing with two dozen or so troopers would have garnered similar effects. The original intention was to have each side have one line only. 75 vs 75 sized lines would have made one feel they were really there. Then they introduced that they can split each team into regiments of 20-30 mean each, which would mean roughly 2-3 regiments operating per side - this added further strategy into the game. The fragmentary nature of the AU community however - with ambitious bastards of differing desires (which included me as well) led to the creation of multiple smaller regiments, and instead of 2-3 big regiments duking it out in a grand fashion, you instead saw ten or so regiments running around with laughably 5-10 men numbers. Instead of the titanic crashing of large lines meeting, you get what looked like a pathetic skirmisher battle of small squads. Sure it was a scrap that became more apparanent in the later parts of the Napoleonic era, but that is not the spirit of the era's warfare that I wanted to see. Just yet... (more on this later).

The other gripe I had was to how my experience was ruined by a lack of roleplay. An overture into a historical game demanded some authentic military discipline to it. The character uniforms demanded such respect! In my initial forays serving under a regiment and mercing for some other few, I noticed an incredible lack of discipline or lack of control by the officer. This kept tactics rudimentary and battles a bit rowdy. Worse you'd see miscreants ruin the experience of the entire line by going amok amongst the ranks.

Early on, players stick to the simple tactics of marching in column, snaking their flanks to face the enemy, turn facing to instantly form a line and just slog it out. This made the game look like a snake broadsides, silly. I pointed out that advancing in line is possible but people deemed it too difficult. I tried to introduce it to the regiment I previously served under to little effect due to the poor belief of the officer ranks.

In consternation I decided that I'd prove them all wrong. So I set out to create my own regiment to fulfill certain sets of desires: 1.) To see a regiment actually move and act like its historic counterpart - advancing in line and in disciplined formations. 2.) A healthy dose of roleplay that would transport the player to Napoleonic times. 3.) To bring back the large regiments that would have made line battles an impressive feat of musketry exchanges rather than the dispersed formations you see lately..

People thought it was too much work and boring, and perhaps for at least the former maybe it was, the 57e's trademark formation movements required actual drilling before LBs, almost an hour or so. But it was not impossible, and that the members actually enjoyed it themselves. We mastered decent line spacings, I hammered it into the men that forming line spacing felt second nature to them. We pioneered advancing in line. Previously what regiments would do was advance as a wedge or in echelon. Bah, that's what Cavalry did! not infantry. We learned how to pivot lines with such efficiency. We did it all while still maintaining the veneer of military feel by using authentic commands - as compared to some regiments out there that relied on "line up with me you fools!".

I think part of the enjoyment was the micro-achievements felt by each member of being a part of a well orchestrated drill, seeing each move come into fruition was in its own little way impressive when you considered that the players had to rely on their eyes alone when forming formations - whereis in the real world you got your eyes, ears, and sensation of moving boots as well as better body control to do this.

Now, all these formations would be for nought with such little numbers of men in a regiment, that's why I tried my hardest to swell the size of the regiment. Earlier on I had to make sure that I get the members that would have the same spirit as me - yearning for disciplined roleplay. So the initial core of recruits that the 57e got was likely that or was taught to think like that. A criteria of respect for the officer and a willingness to roleplay as a period soldier. Once I had a steady core of troopers, which allowed mass effect/ peer effect to take in place, I loosened the recruitment criteria. The purpose was to continue swelling up the size of the regiment in the hopes of being able to field larger numbers. I allowed misfits or misunderstood people to join, relying on the idea of "giving a second chance" as well as the charisma of the regiment to sway them into staying disciplined long enough. Add to that the way how I led the regiment in a "casual outside battle, serious inside battle". This helped in keeping players in the regiment. As I disliked too much discipline but also too much lack of it. So the idea was to be casual as a community, but instantly turn into a disciplined lot when we enter training or battle.

The peak fruition of these efforts led to the regiment to become one of the largest regiments to deploy in game. Something rarely seen, and especially something thought impossible by the efforts of just one man in a span of a just a span of 2-3 months. Married with the trademark formation combat the regiment assumed, the 57e was an impressive display of team work. It also proved the point that LARPs are possible in an internet game, not just in real world.

While the 57e may not be the best regiment in terms of skill, it makes up for it with its flexibility and speed, and that members still had a blast in moving together in unison despite the fact they're getting blasted apart by enemy fire. The fun was derived in the essence of a LARP, regardles of end result.

As time goes on, I set out to fashion more strategy and tactics, especially with a large regiment. Dreading to return to fragmentary regiment battles, I fashioned tactics in a way that the regiment would split into 2-3 lines but still move together in unison. The idea was to partially recreate Napoleonic infantry tactics, but also to stay WITHIN the realms of Napoleonic tactics. Before then regiments moved like small battalions, ala Total War style. When in fact in Napoleonic tactics, an infantry force was organized and formed up in a way that allowed flexibility with such a dense concentration of men. Real Napoleonic Regiments moved not in just one solid block of men, but rather multiple blocks of companies that marched together in close proximity.

To get an idea of what I mean, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAn7Ql_bitc
You could see how regiments move in separate blocks of companies, unlike the ones you see the in Napoleon Total War.

It was impressive and it made sense, it made the regiment flexible and manageable. The larger the 57e grew in size, it made sense to me to apply these tactics. This is when I started to apply real regiment tactics. The regiment was to be divided into fusilier, grenadier, and voltiguer companies. It was fascinating to apply an analogue if not exact tactics in game. The fusilier in 2-3 "company" lines, as the main fighting force, a grenadier line that would be lead the charge when shock tactics are needed, and a voltigeur line that would harass the enemy fighting in loose formation. All three would act together in concert, not just a divided group doing things on their own. At their nucleus would be the commanding officer and a flag bearer (if the number would warrant it - an honor guard as well).

But these tactics were for when the 57e grew bigger - if it was able to field approximately 30-40 members in an LB. But that is in if - now just for speculations thanks for the disbandment of the regiment.

Next up in a week or so:
"How the 57e's innovation shaped in-game warfare and how it might have ruined the servers."