Germantown - reflections

"Thomas" raised the question of how well the game handled (felt) with 5 bases per unit. it's a difficult question to answer simply, so here are a number of thoughts:

1. In my original design  back in the early 80s I felt that the size of the units minimised the potential for variation across the firing line/zone of interaction.  i.e. a small number of units occupied the combat frontage and their performance dictated play.  With the new rules figures were doubled ranked and large British/German units were deliberately split creating a much smaller frontage.
2. Observing FOG played in both 28mm and 15mm, where the move distances are the same but the frontages are wider, In 15mm there is more scope for manoeuvre and in 28mm the concentration is on managing "impact".
3. The larger frontage (number of bases) avoids some of the issues making march columns over powerful, but maybe something is needed to cope with ad-hoc assault columns on narrow frontages and the "new" French columns.

Germantown is something of an exception in larger AWI battles and where the the full forces were not deployed effectively, so the frontage scaling issue is not so apparent as in more "formal" battles

My conclusion is that the change will work well on larger tables and smaller battles and particularly well for meeting engagements.  However it is a personal judgement on the exact balance between manoeuvre and clash for the battle being fought.