1830 19 April 1809
Lots going on!
Since battle, or the possibility of battle, is happening all over, here's some detail about how battles work and what I need to know from you when there is a battle.
Battles happen in two hour rounds. At the end of a round, each side decides if it will continue battle or withdraw, unless one side is completely defeated and has broken.
Battles are fought with three deployment areas: Left, Center, Right. I need to know what forces you want deployed in each of these sectors each round. I also need to know what sector any participating leaders are deployed in.
Units may also be deployed in reserve. Units in reserve can be moved out of reserve and deployed into one of the three sectors at the beginning of a combat round. Units deployed into one of the three sectors can be placed in reserve at the beginning of a combat round.
Combat happens by rolling a minimum of three dice per side. The side with the higher total roll wins that round and does the difference of the two rolls as morale damage to the losers forces. The winner then takes half of the difference between the rolls as morale losses. Each side can roll additional dice depending on the amount and type of forces engaged, the leaders engaged, terrain, fortifications, flank attacks, etc. Light cavalry adds 1 die, heavy cavalry two. 2:1 odds adds two dice for the attacker, 1:2 odds would add two dice for the defender. Attacking across a minor river would add one die to the defender. Leaders have tactical ratings that can add a die, or, if they are exceptionally poor leaders, subtract a die - but no side ever rolls less than three dice.
If one side wants to break off, there is a disengagement round. During that round only the side breaking off the combat takes morale losses.
Once a unit's morale reaches zero, it breaks. At the end of the round where a unit breaks, the enemy advances into the area the broken unit occupied, and gains a moral advantage. Friendly units adjacent to the broken unit suffer a morale penalty, and likely now have enemy units on their flank.
Due to the above, a unit that seems close to breaking should be removed to the reserve and a fresh unit deployed, if forces are available.
If a side disengaged, there may be a pursuit phase of two hours of movement, where the side that didn't disengage can use his cavalry to pursue. Disengaging cavalry in good order will screen the retreating units, but will take loses, If there's no screening cavalry, retreating infantry will take losses. Broken units not protected by cavalry can take severe losses.
At the end of all the battle rounds, units lose strength points (i.e. take casualties) based on their morale state. Basically, the bigger the morale loss, the worse the casualties. Units also take fatigue for every hour they are in battle.
I hope that helps you have some idea how battles are fought, and helps you plan. As you can see, this is a pretty course system at this level. I may provide a extra die on occasion to someone who tells me they are using some clever tactic, or who has managed to maneuver into the enemy rear, or something of that nature. Having said that, don't try and micro-manage your deployment; the combat system really can't handle those kinds of inputs.