Order of Battle Editor

First, our thanks go to Hermanaric, the author of the original French version of this description and overview of Histwar's Order of Battle editor.

Overview

This is a short description and overview of the Les Grognards Order of Battle Editor. The screenshots all come from an earlier Alpha version of the game (and much of it in French) and does not represent how the final editor or graphics will appear.

Th OoB editor allows you to define the composition of your army. It is very simple to use but provides an unequalled historical accuracy and wealth of information. The OoB editor alone will be well worth the purchase of the game for any Napoleonic buff, or even collectors of Napoleonic miniatures or historical uniforms.

Chapter 1 - Corps Creation

The best way to give you a teaser of the possibilities of the OoB editor is to describe the creation of a historical OoB. We have decided to choose a famous unit: The 3rd Corps of Davout, as it was organized and equiped in the beginning of October 1806.

We name our Order of Battle "October1806" - Author : Herm, Year 1806. The CEH/KCEH , short for Coefficient Men Equivalent, does not have importance here. It is assigned automatically, and is be used for competitive games when it would be necessary to define a budget for the creation of each army.

Nationality: France. Russians, Bavarians or any of the other 15 nations/city states could and others could have been chosen of course but the 3rd Corps was French so that was what we selected.

Our army commander will be Napoleon, He has (obviously) Excellent Charisma, Excellent Effectiveness (on the top on the left). On the second screen, we name our army: La Grande Armée, and its manpower is 0 for the moment.

Next we create our the Corps, French nationality, commanded by Davout (Good Charisma, Excellent Effectiveness), and we name it : 3rd Corps (the 3rd Corps of Davout at Auerstadt).

Chapter 2 - Unit Creation

Now we will create the unit in detail.

The 3rd Corps composition according to our various sources was as such:

• 1st Division : Morand
• 2nd Division : Friant
• 3rd Division : Gudin
• Cavalry Division : Vialannes
• Artillery Reserve : Geoffroy

 

Details of the 1st Division :

• Brigade Brouard :
  • 17th of line - 2 battalions - 2080 men -Colonel Lanusse
  • - 30th of line : 2 battalions - 2059 men - Colonel Valterre

 

• Brigade Debully :
  • 51st of line - 2 battalions - 2170 men - Colonel Baille
• 61st of line - 2 battalions - 2140 men - Colonel Nicolas

 

• Brigade Bonnet d'Honnières :
  • 13th light - 2 battalions - 1507 men - Colonel Guyardet

 

• An assembled light battery of six guns
• A battery on foot with seven guns

 

We then proceed to create the units. Before being able to create the intermediate hierarchical levels, it is necessary to create the base unit (a Regiment, battery or Brigade) then to assign it to a Brigade (for a Regiment or a battery) then to a Division. It is the assignment of the base unit which creates the Brigade and Division.

Our first unit is the 17th Line Infantry. After its nationality selected, France, then its assignment - Corps, the 3rd of Davout - we select its type: Line Infantry. The 17th is indeed in the list of available units. We select it, and a silhouette appears, wearing the 17th Line Infantry uniform!

And then we do the same for the 30th Line Infantry...

Chapter 3 - Unit Assignment

Once our 17th Line Infantry is selected, we assign it to the Morand Division.

Then we assign it to the Brouard Brigade...

Brouard is not present in the list. Despite 4000 indexed names, the data base cannot be exhaustive. We pass to the following screen (unit card) to rename it:

On the next screen we can adjust the manpower, the number of battalions, possibly the number of guns (but at this time, the french artillery was not incorporated in a regiment). We can see that the battalion's chief is Lanusse, otherwise it would have been possible to rename.

We follow the same procedure for the 30th, 51st and 61st Line Infantry, as well as for the 13rd Light. Then we create our artillery, a mounted battery, then a battery on foot. The latter consists of 5 guns from 6 to 9 pounds and 2 howitzers of 6 the pounder variety:

Chapter 4 - Review

So I created the Friant and Gudin Divisions, the cavalry and the artillery reserve by following the same process.

It gives to me 28,246 men divided in 26 battalions, 9 squadrons and 46 pieces of artillery.

"Commander" view:

"Unit" view:

 

"Statistic" view:

 

Chapter 5 - Uniform Colors

Let's look again at the card of our 17th Line Infantry.

Please note the option "distinctive colors of the uniform" at the bottom of the screen.

Here is our Regiment in its original colors:

And after our uniform customization :

The colors of the collar, Lapels, Cuffs and Turnbacks can all be modified. Indeed, correct historical uniforms are often a hot topic debated with great passion, so this option to customize many elements should make the true grognards happy!

Chapter 6 - Conclusion

The OoB editor is certainly one of the game's strongest features and we have barely scratched the surface of its capabilities in this overview. One impressive feature is the ability to create random OoB's instantly so you can create exciting and new Armies with the click of the mouse.

You may have also noticed the option for Text File. When selected, this generates, as the name indicates, a text file from the choosen OoB, formatted and printable.  An invaluable tool to fall back on in the heat of battle!

View an example of an Order of Battle Text File here!!!