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Question:   "Le Feu Sacré"- what's all that about?
Answer:   "The Sacred Fire", often used French literature when referring to Napoleon and his leaders. It is the will to win, the desire to succeed or not return. As the rules set out to emphasize the roles of commanders in battle, I thought it quite apt.

Question:   Why should I use these rules?
Answer: These rules are written by a Napoleonic warfare fanatic, and wargamer of 20 years standing.
Le Feu Sacré places command and control above musket calibre and march rates. They are aimed at gamers who wish to experience a large scale battle at the battalion level. Players command Corps and Divisions, and manoeuvre by brigade, regiment or battalion. Avoiding the usual omnipresent control that players are so often allowed over the minutiae of battle, Le Feu Sacré concentrates on encouraging historically correct grand tactics.
The rules use the familiar TooFatLardies card driven system. The Lardies' emphasis on battlefield "friction" allows the better, bolder generals to take the initiative, and recover from unexpected reverses, whilst less competent, cautious commanders need to stick to predictable battle plans, or risk coming unstuck. We present to you a set of rules where Austrian troops can be the equal of the French, but the Empire can still repeat history! Vive l'Empereur!

Question:   What unit sizes and basing do these rules require?
Answer: The rules were designed for 15mm figures. The figure scale is 1:40 or 1:50, meaning that average battalion strengths are 12 figures, cavalry regiments 8 figures, and batteries are represented by single gun models. The actual base sizes are not too important, as long as the relative sizes are consistent with those specified in the rules. Players who use Shako, Principles of War, or Empire will be able to use their armies with little or no modification.

Question: How do the rules work?
Answer:   The rules, as with all TooFatLardies products, use a card based system. Each divisional commander, and the overall commander, has a card. When the commanders card is turned, he may take his "go" (the system can be thought of as a modified you-go-I-go system). There are other cards in the pack that give Good commanders benefits over poor or cautious ones. The combat system is heavily influenced by the von Reisswitz version of the 19th century Prussian Army wargame Kriegsspiel. It is simple, elegant and historically accurate, allowing the wargamer to concentrate on command and control decisions, rather than the target of an individual skirmisher figure. Here's a fictitious example turn, kindly supplied by LFS "guru" Vincent Tsao:

A French division is led by General Parvenue, rated solid/bold. He is opposed by an Austrian division led by Graf von Blaublut, rated solid/cautious.

The cautious/poor commander card is drawn, waiting to snare someone. Several ordinary commanders' cards are drawn and they ignore the cautious/poor card. Then Blaublut's card is drawn and as the first cautious commander activated after the cautious/poor card he is affected. He can fire his artillery and rally units but can make no other moves. The Austrian commander mutters, but then he's used to this kind of thing, being afflicted with many such commanders. Poor commanders may not even rally troops if affected by this card.

Parvenue's card is next. He rolls his command die and gets 3 PIPs. He fires his artillery, rolling a miserable 3 on 2D6 and hitting nothing. Then he orders two battalion columns of the 440th Line regiment to charge a battalion of IR 98 (Lardenbauch), one of Blaublut's units. The two battalions can move 8 inches each and easily close into combat range (same as musket range - there is no distant musket fire) of the whitecoats. French combat factor is line vs. infantry = 4. The two French battalions total 24 points, not enough to get 2-1 odds on the 16 point Lardenbauch battalion, so no further modifiers. The whitecoats have line vs. infantry for 4 points plus 2 for having a formation 100% wider than the enemy. There have been no casualties so far and no one is shaken, so no other factors apply. Thus it is 4 French vs.6 Austrian. Having the advantage, the Austrian player will roll the dice. He picks up 2D6 and will add 2 to the score, high dice being the thing to roll. The dice come up 5 amid Austrian groans. Adding 2 yields 7 and a firefight ensues. Each side loses two points. Each rolls one more D6 to see who scores the extra hit. The French out-roll the Austrians and score a 3rd hit. Since both sides are of equal morale, this wins the fight. A higher morale unit would prevail regardless of hits. The Austrians fall back shaken.

It is now critical what order the cards come up next turn. If Blaublut's card comes up first, he can use a PIP to rally the shaken battalion, even if the cautious card is already out. Parvenue can attack again when his card is drawn or, since he is bold, if the French Bold CO card is drawn. If he can attack before the Austrian battalion rallies, the Austrians will be 4 (line vs. inf.) -1 (10%losses) = 3 halved losing fractions (shaken) = 1. The French would get + 3 and if the Austrians are shaken again will rout, possibly carrying away friends of equal or lesser morale who are too close behind and become permanently shaken.