Napoleonic Wars OnLine

Gathered In Their Masses

Player Support Page:
Reading the GITM Turn Report


At the end of each turn of a GITM campaign, each player receives a turn report showing him everything that occurred during the turn that the units under his command (including units on which he is deputy) did or observed. This help page explains the
format of the report and how to interpret it.

The turn report contains four types of sections. At the start of the turn report are the Orders section and the Supply section. The former reports problems, if any, with the orders sent during the turn; the latter reports information about supplies and ammunition for each unit. After these two sections are Tactical Movement sections and Strategic Movement sections, one for each tactical and strategic phase. Each is discussed in detail below. Take a look at the sample turn report and become familiar with it before continuing.

Note that every player receives a different turn report, because each player has units in different places. No one player can see everything that happens, or even very much of it. Your turn report will contain information that other players on your side will not see, and other players will see information that you do not.

1. Orders

The first section describes any errors that occurred while processing orders for a player's units. If no message is printed for a particular unit, that means the unit received valid orders for the turn. Otherwise an error message of some kind is printed. Possible error messages and their meanings include:
 
Error Report Interpretation
No orders sent for AU2IN No orders were received for this unit
Invalid password for FR1HC An order was received with an incorrect password
Malformed stratmove4 coords for BR3IN Orders contained invalid data for strategic movement for phase 4

Other error messages are possible as well.

2. Supply Phase

The second section describes events that happen in the supply phase, when units consume and draw supplies. The first thing that happens in the supply phase is that stragglers rejoin their units. This produces a report like

   23 stragglers rejoin AU1IN.

If a unit receives no report of stragglers rejoining, then the unit has no stragglers. The second thing that happens is that units consume supplies. If a unit is carrying supplies, there will be a report like

   FR2IN consumes its supplies.

If a unit is not carrying supplies, but has a valid supply line, it will draw supplies and consume them. If the unit draws them from a city by way of a corps HQ, the report will be

   BR1MC draws supply from Leipzig via BR1CH
   BR1MC consumes the supplies it drew.

If the unit draws supplies from a corps HQ store, only the corps HQ will be mentioned; if it draws directly from a city, only the city name will be mentioned. If the unit cannot draw supplies, it will attempt to requisition them. There will be a report such as

   AU1IN has no line of supplies.
   AU1IN successfully requisitions supplies.
   AU1IN suffers desertion due to lack of supplies.
   AU1IN loses 67 men and 0 batteries.

if the unit successfully requisitions, or one like

   GS1IN suffers desertion due to lack of supplies.
   GS1IN loses 170 men and 0 batteries.

if it is unable to requisition. The third thing that happens is that units replenish ammunition, and supplies if they wish to carry them. A unit that replenishes ammunition receives a report like

   BR3IN draws ammunition

A unit that replenishes supply receives a report like

   GS2MC draws supply from Koeln via BR1CH

and one that is unable to replenish supply receives an error message explaining the failure. A unit that is already carrying as many supplies as its orders request receives a report like

   BR2CH already has its desired supply load.

3. Tactical Movement

The third section reports the results of a tactical movement phase. There are five tactical movement phases in a turn. Results are reported for each tactical square. For example:

   Strategic square G5-T3
   FR2IN moves to 14-8
   FR3IN moves to 14-8
   GS2IN finds no enemy unit to engage.

Tactical movement can result in the start of a battle. For example:

   Strategic square F9-T6
   GS1LA starts a combat in F9-T6, 3-5
   BR1MC is engaged in it.
   GS1LA moves to 3-5
   GS1LC joins the combat in F9-T6, 3-5
   GS1LC moves to 3-5

After all battles have begun, units with support orders come up in support of friendly units engaged in battle.

   Combat Support Moves

   Strategic square G5-T3
   FR2IN moves to 12-10

At the end of tactical movement, battles are resolved. A battle report contains three segments: an order of battle, a firing segment and a melee segment. The order of battle lists all the units involved in the combat for each side, and their rank in the battle formation. Each unit's strength (men and batteries) and combat attitude (X=assault or last-ditch, A=attack, D=defense, S=skirmish, E=evade) is shown.

   Battle at F9-T6, 3-5
   Wuerttemberger forces:
   Front rank: GS1LC (1745-0 A)
   Second rank: GS1LA (284-1 A)
   Rear rank:
   British forces:
   Front rank: BR1MC (1250-0 D)
   Second rank:
   Rear rank:

The firing segment shows the total firing strength of each side and the casulties to each unit. If a unit routs or retreats from the fire, that is noted. If an outnumbered unit backs down to skirmish attitude, that is also noted.

   Firing Segment
   Firing strengths: 320 Wuerttemberger and 0 British
   BR1MC loses 29 men and 0 batteries.
   BR1MC backs down to skirmish attitude.

If both sides still have at least one unit remaining after firing, then the melee segment occurs. The battle odds, winning side, casulties, and any retreats or routs are reported.

   Melee Segment
   Odds are 4.818554:1
   Wuerttemberger side wins the melee!
   GS1LA loses 18 men and 0 batteries.
   BR1MC loses 516 men and 0 batteries.
   BR1MC moves to 4-0
   BR1MC fails morale check and retreats to 4-0
   GS1LC loses 110 men and 0 batteries.

3. Strategic Movement

The fourth section reports the results of a strategic movement phase. There are six strategic movement phases in a turn. If a friendly unit moves successfully, there will be a report whose form depends on the unit's side and commander. If the player is commander or deputy on the unit, the report will be like

   Unit BR1LI moves to F7-T7, entering in square 0-7

If the unit is friendly but not commanded by this player, the report will be like

   BR2IN marches southeast out of strategic square F7-T7.

if the moving unit is leaving the observer's strategic square, or

   BR2IN marches into strategic square F8-T8 from the northwest.

if it is entering. If the unit is an enemy unit, then the report will be like

   French infantry marches east out of strategic square F9-T5.

if the moving unit is leaving, and

   French infantry marches into strategic square G0-T5 from the west.

for an entering unit. If an enemy unit pursues, there will be a report like

   GS1LC attempts to pursue.
   Unit GS1LC moves to G0-T5, entering in square 0-7

If a unit's move fails, there will be an explanation of the failure such as

   Strategic move to non-adjacent square for BR1AH to G8-T8
   GS1LC tries to move to G0-T6, but has already moved this strategic phase.
   FR1IN has no clear path to the east edge of strategic square G4-T3 and cannot depart.

Other error messages are possible also.


Page maintained by Stephen Schmidt. Last updated 3-30-03.