Acting Commanders

[huillaume]

Another question about general staff:

At regimental or lower echelon, who substitutes in command in case of death, promotion or losing command due t oan appointment is quite clear, but above this level things are not so clear.

Let's imagine a Brigade Commander dies. Whe will be the actig Comander?

Possibilities I think about (ther may be more, of course) and I see logical:

• the death of the Brigadier leaves the post open for anyone qualifying to apply to it, with immediate effect
• the most senior Colonel in the brigade (the one with more antiquity as Colonel)
  
• the Colonel of the most senior regiment (the one higher in the list)

Of course, lacking colonels, the Lt Colonels will substitute them (using the same criteria of seniority), and so on...

[huillaume]

Let’s imagine a Battalion volunteers to the front, while the rest of the Regiment remains at Paris. Should its Major become a casualty, who will become the acting commander?

I mean, should the whole Regiment be in the front, it is quite clear who will be, but, as the other Battalions are in Paris, this would probably bring some special situations, as having to call to the front another Major (should the Battalion be the 1^st or 2^nd of the Regiment, or even a Captain, should it be the 3^rd (as the most senior Captain will be from the 1st battalion).

Another possibility will be for the most senior Captain in the Battalion to take temporary command until either the corresponding commander moves to the front or the Battalion returns to Paris.

E.g.: the 1^st Battalion of a Regiment volunteers to front, and the Lt Col is killed. According the usual acting commanders schedule, the (to now) major of the 2^nd battalion would take command, while the Captain commanding A company will become acting commander of the 3^rd battalion , but this would mean the affected Major would be moved to front, while the affected Captain, as the 3^rd battalion is not at the front, would return to Paris.

OTOH, if the Major commanding the 2^nd Battalion does not want to move to front, the Captain of A company could take temporary command of the 1^st Battalion until it rejoins the Regiment (be because the rest of the Regiment also volunteers or because the Battalion returns to Paris at the end of the season), so keeping people in the front and in Paris where they were. Historically, both situations have occurred, albeit the second one on a temporary basis…

[Ymbert Montgomery]

I think the easiest may be to go with the LBPS rules -

If the command of a Brigade, Division or Army is vacant and the unit is at the Front, then the
highest ranking officer (higher ranking unit if tied) is acting commander for that month and
subordinate commands are adjusted accordingly. If the unit is not at the Front, the post remains
vacant until a player character takes it or until the beginning of the next season

[Alain Andre Durant]

Sept 12, 2019 15:45:04 GMT Ymbert Montgomery said:

I think the easiest may be to go with the LBPS rules -

If the command of a Brigade, Division or Army is vacant and the unit is at the Front, then the
highest ranking officer (higher ranking unit if tied) is acting commander for that month and
subordinate commands are adjusted accordingly. If the unit is not at the Front, the post remains
vacant until a player character takes it or until the beginning of the next season

Makes the most sense and is what usually happened in real life

[Yves Eau]

I agree. If the Lt. Col. is killed while volunteering 1st Battalion, a major could volunteer for the front the following month to take his place, but if no such replacement arrives, the senior officer in the field assumes temporary command.

Follow-up question: if the battalion's captains are also killed, but there is a PC subaltern, is he allowed to act as battalion commander, and roll for a BR? There are assumed to be unlimited vacancies for subalterns, so it is not clear where the PC stands in seniority compared with all the unknown NPCs.

[Alain Andre Durant]

Sept 20, 2019 8:06:43 GMT Yves Eau said:

I agree. If the Lt. Col. is killed while volunteering 1st Battalion, a major could volunteer for the front the following month to take his place, but if no such replacement arrives, the senior officer in the field assumes temporary command.

Follow-up question: if the battalion's captains are also killed, but there is a PC subaltern, is he allowed to act as battalion commander, and roll for a BR? There are assumed to be unlimited vacancies for subalterns, so it is not clear where the PC stands in seniority compared with all the unknown NPCs.

Yes, it goes by rank seniority, then regiment seniority, then greasy pole order.