Just what is a Melee anyways? A Melee, or pell-mell, is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. According to Wikipedia that is. Meleeing allows the controlling player to initiate attacks against enemy units in adjacent hexes and possibly occupy the defending hex.

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How to Melee

Conducting a Melee consists of making a couple of decisions beforehand. You must first decide which enemy location you wish to Melee attack. You can specify that location by right-clicking in the enemy hex. You then must decide which of your own forces you wish to commit to the melee. They must be in adjacent hexes and facing the enemy hex. You select the units you wish to commit, and then use the “Add to Melee” command of the Melee Menu to add them to the attack. Once you have added all of your attacking units, you resolve the Melee using the “Resolve Melee” command of the Melee Menu, or the corresponding toolbar button.

 

A second, perhaps easier method for initiating and resolving Melees is via the "drag and drop" method. Here you simply select the attacking units and, while holding down the left mouse button, move the mouse to the target hex and let go. Then you resolve the Melee normally using the menu command or toolbar button.

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Everything you are about to read is going to start getting really complicated very quickly. People have spent years studying melee statistics and probabilities, but I am going very quickly tell you all you need to know about a melee. The following advice is applicable in most situations. The more games you play, the better your instincts will become when it comes to when to melee and when not to. But follow this advice and you will be fine most of the time.

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The Common Sense Rules for Melee

Never, ever, melee unless you have at least 2 to 1 odds in your favor! If the enemy has a stack of 3XX men, then you need to have 600+ men in the melee. Ideall, you'd like 2.5 or 3 to 1 odds in your favor. 

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Never bother to melee an enemy stack with 500+ men because you will never get the 2 to 1 odds necessary to even have a fair chance to overrun them. The best way to move a large stack of enemy infantry is to rout them or outflank them using fire combat tactics.

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That's it! Very simple. The following sections deal with a lot of variables, modifiers, and fine print details. They are good to know and the more games you play the more you will learn them. But at the very core of it all is the simple "2 to 1 Rule" and the 500+ "No Melee" Rule. If you only know two things about melee, those should be them. 

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From here on, we dive deep into the weeds with Melee Combat. 

 

Melee Restrictions

Certain restrictions apply to units that are committed to a Melee attack:

● Disrupted, Fixed or Routed units cannot Melee attack.

● Units must be Facing the hex they are attacking.

● Infantry units and Dismounted Cavalry cannot Melee attack non-Isolated Mounted Cavalry.

● Artillery and Supply Wagons cannot Melee attack.

● A unit cannot Melee attack a hex they could not legally move into (it is not possible to Melee attack across an unbridged Creek hexside for example).

● Units may only make one Melee attack in each Turn or Melee Phase.

● The total number and strength of the attacking units may not exceed the stacking limitations of the defending hex.

● Cavalry which is Dismounting cannot Melee attack. Note: Only applies to Phased play (Manual Defensive Fire option in use).

● Units cannot be meleed twice in the same turn, however if a unit retreats from a melee into a hex with another unit that has not been in melee it could be subjected to a second melee.

● A unit must contain at least 10 men in order to initiate a melee

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Melee Modifiers

Melees are calculated using total number of men of the attacking side and the total number of men of the defending side.

 

● Each defending Artillery gun counts as one third Stacking Point (this depends on Parameter Data Strength Point setting but would normally work out to 8 men per gun).

● Routed and Isolated units have their defending strength divided by 4. However, units that are both Routed and Isolated have a defending strength of 0.

● Units that have already defended in melee and have retreated into a hex that is then attacked in melee have their defending strength divided by 2.

●  Supply Wagons and Uncrewed or Spiked Artillery defend against melee with a strength of 0.

● Dismounted Cavalry has an effective strength for Melee purposes that is 3/4 of its normal strength to account for horse holders.

 

These modifiers are applied to the calculation of the number of men in the same manner as the Fire Value Modifiers, and can also be seen in the Melee Status and Melee Results boxes with FOW off. These Modifiers are applied to the attacker/defender strength for Melee Resolution and are the modifiers mentioned in the Combat Results section.

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● If no attacking units have fired in the Turn or preceding Offensive Fire Phase, then 10% is added to the attacking strength. (See the Design Notes for an explanation).

● If the either side has a Leader with them, then 10% is added to their strength. Only the most senior leader is counted, additional leaders have no additional effect. The leader does not have to be in the unit's chain of command.

● If the defending units are attacked (by a non-Leader) from a hexside none of them are facing, then 20% is added to the attacking strength.

● If the attackers are attacking across a Creek hexside via a Bridge, then 30% is subtracted from the attacking strength. ● Melee attacks against higher elevations have a modifier equal to the elevation change (in elevation increments) times the Elevation Modifier (see the Parameter Dialog for this value).

● Fatigue modifiers apply to attacking unit's strength as described in the section on Fatigue. Fatigue modifiers do not apply to defending units.

● Under the Quality Melee Modifiers Optional Rule, if the unit of lowest Quality on a given side has Quality of A or B, then that side receives a 10% bonus. If the unit of highest Quality on a given side has Quality of E or less, then that side receives a 10% penalty.

● If the attacking force consists entirely of Mounted Cavalry and Leaders attacking a Clear hex from all Clear hexes, then 25% is added to the attacking strength.

● If there are defending units that have not fired in the current turn, but the units are able to fire on the attacking units and the defender’s strength is >= the attacker’s strength, then 10% is subtracted from the attacking strength. However, if the defender strength is only >= half the attacker strength then only 5% is subtracted.

● The largest hexside modifier of all of the hexsides the attackers are attacking through is applied to the attacking strength. If the attackers are attacking across a Breastwork hexside, then the Breastwork modifier, as determined by Parameter Data, is applied to the attacking strength if it is the largest modifier. Note: Hex terrain modifiers such as Woods, Town, Orchard, do not affect melee; neither do Trenches.

 

Like terrain modifiers these modifiers are additive.

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Melee Resolution

 

The final resolution of the melee is done using the standard Combat Results. The adjusted defending strength is used to calculate attacker casualties using a Low Combat Value of 50 and a High Combat Value of 200.

 

The adjusted attacking strength is used to calculate defender casualties using a Low Combat Value of 25 and a High Combat Value of 125.

 

The loser is the side with the greater casualties (defenders win ties). Melee fatigue losses are 50% more than normal and, in the case of the melee loser, fatigue losses are double.

 

All units that melee are subject to normal Morale Checks based on their losses and the melee defender must automatically take a Morale Check at the end of the Phase if they lose the melee.

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