Volley Fire in Piquet/Band of Brothers II

I have been going through BoBII rules in detail as part of the "specialization" program. According to BoBII some bow armed units may opt to fire overhead. This is called 'Volley Fire' and can be undertaken by any unit designated with 'VF' capability in the army listing. Volley fire dramatically increases the long range band from 6-12" to 6-24" but reduces the fire modifiers.

I was not sure if a unit could switch between volley fire and "normal" direct fire during the course of a game. For instance, consider this example:

An unit of English Retinue Longbowmen (Hundred Years' War) in Chevron formation declare and conduct VF at (extended) long range when a missile reload card appears. The unit then reloads using this card. When the next card appears in the same turn, they opt to conduct direct fire instead.

Is this scenario valid under the rules?

Here is Peter's answer:

Certainly. The operative term is "may", not "must". Volley fire is high angle fire used to increase the range of he archery at the cost of a decrease in penetrating power.

Online Army Generator for Piquet/Band of Brothers II Edition

Peter 'Gonsalvo' Anderson's Piquet/Band Of Brothers II Edition rules are noteworthy for several reasons. Besides significantly revising and refining the original rules for Renaissance warfare, BoBII also offers 'Beat the Drum', an easy-to-use mechanism to generate armies.

BTD addresses one of the rather tedious aspects of Piquet - namely, its army selection mechanism. BTD offers a variety of different ways to select your forces for a given battle. BTD makes uses of the greatly expanded army listings included in BoBII under fourteen different "Campaign Musters." Using BTD, you can select an army in about 30 minutes, as compared to a couple of hours or so before.

We really liked BoBII and BTD. So much so, that we decided to make it a little more easier by automating the army selection procedure and making it available as an online application. You can read more about the application and Beat the Drum here.

Playing Ottoman Turks

Ottoman Turks (Manu) vs Venetian Republic (Manoj)

Manoj played the Venetians vs Manu's Ottoman Turks.

The Turkish Janissaries can be really effective if given proper protection and support. In my first game I made the mistake of keeping them on my flank where there was not much space to manoeuvre. When I tried manoeuvre one of my units to close the gap I effectively opened the unit's flank to enemy fire. Fortunately one of my other Janissary units in the middle had done enough damage to keep the enemy busy. Being a "cavalry man" myself I was using these elite infantry troops as cavalry.

In the revenge match I had my objectives clear. I decided to not wait for the enemy to move. To attack whenever I had the initiative. It had to be a full frontal attack by the Janissaries supported by cavalry. Throw in some cavalry units in the left to hold off any flank attack. It worked.

From my experience playing Ottoman Turks, the main battle line should be made up of Janissaries covered by skirmishers. Attach a General if one can be spared. Protect the flanks using heavy and medium cavalry. Aim to concentrate on a single point. I would also recommend to keep a swirling mass of light cavalry ready to disorient the enemy line. It is futile to wait for the opponent's move. Attack the enemy on the designated point as soon as possible. The Janissaries are most effective in attacking and in Piquet you do not know how long you will have the initiative.

Piquet/Band Of Brothers 2nd Ed. Questions

Three of us met last weekend and played a couple of games using BoB2. We found that our knowledge of the rules had grown rusty and had to refer to the rule book several times during the course of the game. The following questions remained unanswered nevertheless. So we consulted Peter "Gonsalvo" Anderson, who was in charge of developing the rules, Piquet/Band Of Brothers 2nd Edition. Our questions and his answers follow.

1. A missile armed unit is charged by a non-missile armed unit(the attacker). The former manages to (opportunity) fire at the attackerand causes 1 stand loss. The attacker moves into contact, the playerimmediately turns a melee resolution card and initiates melee. Doesthe "-1 stand" melee resolution modifier apply for the attacker? Ordoes it only apply for subsequent rounds of melee?
   
   Absolutely the "one stand difference" would apply if the other unit was at full strength. Why wouldn't it? The losses to fire happened first before the melee resolution process started.
   
   
2. IIRC, according to PK master rules a unit contacted in theflank/rear becomes disordered and may be meleed immediately without anMR card. It seems that the attacker in this case would be eligible forthe UP2 modifier for contacting the target in the flank. However, doesthe target suffer the DN2 penalty for "disordered"? The cumulativedifference of 4 seems a bit excessive.
   
   Yes, all of the above Bad Things apply. Being hit in flank in Piquet will usually result in routing your opponent unless he is *very* lucky. Of course, even a "win" just allows you to turn to face the attack, disordered (PB is an exception, of course).
   
   
3. A non-missile armed attacker moves into contact with a missilearmed defender during the attacking player's turn. The defender doesnot opportunity fire. The attacking player's phase ends but he winsthe impetus for the next phase. No MR card has yet been turned and thedefending player now decides to opportunity fire. Will the defender beconsidered to be firing at Point Blank range?
   
   There are several subtle points here. As it is the *opposing* player's phase, the defending unit can only issue *opportunity* fire. Opp fire can only be issued in response to an enemy action - Move, change in formation/facing, or fire. It can't be issued otherwise, *especially* NOT in response to a Melee Resolution card. So, that presents the player with an interesting choice, especially if the defending unit is Militia and the enemy will run out of impetus. Take the Opp fire now, probably at Long or Medium Range, OR hope you win the impetus and can fire at PB *before* the enemy turns a Melee Resolution Card. This is not made clear in the Master rules, but I think you'll see that it makes sense and solves the problem you identify above - plus in typical Piquet fashion it involves making a tough choice. It's inferred a bit but still not clearly in BoB2 page 19.
   
   
4. The problem here is thatif this were so, no missile armed unit can be engaged in melee withoutreceiving point blank fire.
   
   Agreed; See the above.
   
   
5. A missile armed unit fires at and eliminates all stands of an enemyunit. Is the enemy unit removed from table or is it considered to berouting? In the latter case, is a token figure or stand placed on thetable and moved away appropriately?
   
   The unit is dispersed and removed from the table. It hasn't routed (no morale loss), just ceased tom exist as an effective fighting force. Having said that, some Piquet players play it as you describe. I don't.
   

[report] Ottoman Turks (Manu) vs Venetian Republic (Manoj)

Rules: - Piquet Master Rules + Band Of Brothers (Late Medieval and Renaissance) supplement

Manoj played the
Venetians vs Manu's Ottoman Turks.

In the first game, the Turkish Sipahis charged the line of venetian
arquebusiers and routed them off the board, thus
blowing a hole in the Venetian lines.There were no reserves to close
the gap but the Turks didn't have anything to follow up this attack
either. So there was frantic maneouvering on both sides, with Manoj
swinging around some cavalry units from his flanks to cover the gap
and Manu trying to advance his Janissaries into the gap. Manu tried to bring over
another Sipahi unit from his left flank to charge into the gap but got
severely mauled by another unit of Venetian Arqubusiers who poured
flank fire into the Sipahis from cover of a forest. The mauled Sipahi
unit was then meleed by Venetian pike men, ably supported by
determined arquebus armed skirmishers and after a valiant melee the
Sipahi unit was wiped out, and unfortunately the Turkish CinC
was part of this unit. The death of the CinC sealed the fate of the Turks.

In the revenge match, The Turks did much better. Manoj's move to use a
command composed fully of Skirmish cavalry to turn the Turkish left
flank backfired due to lack of impetus and "cavalry in open" cards not
turning up frequently enough. The Turkish main line advanced, with
Janissaries in the middle and the cavalry on the right flank. The
cavalry on the Turkish right engaged furiously with the Venetian
cavalry and got a "locked in combat" through out the line which lasted
for almost 3 turns(!). With the cavalry thus engaged, the Janissaries
advanced and forced back the Venetian arquebusiers with massive fire
power , followed by "fearsome" effects caused by "courage" cards.
However the Venetians fell back disordered (vs fleeing
precipitately like ine the previous battle) so the Turks couldn't quite follow through.

Meanwhile
another Janissary unit blew massive holes in the Venetian Caracole
cavalry (who had managed to run off the Sipahis by then, but were
disordered as a result of the long melee) and they promptly routed ,
allowing the Janissary unit to get on the Venetian flanks. At this
point we declared a marginal victory for the Turks.