Yes - and this is what happens when you do!
If you hold a brigade, regiment or battalion/squadron command then you may volunteer it for the front. If taking a brigade or regiment you may take any combination of the regiments or battalions under you with you, as long as you take at least one. You may also send any combination to the front and stay in Paris yourself.
Units stay at the front until the end of the season.
You will be at the front if one (or more) of the following is true:
If these conditions cease to be true, then you will return to Paris immediately: this will usually happen if you buy a rank in a regiment part of which is at the front, resign from your command or appointment which has put you there or are promoted off the top in some circumstances. The comment 'will return to Paris' or 'at the front next month' assumes the current position will remain the same.
The base BR is that of your regiment, or that of the larger unit (Army, Division, Brigade) with which you are serving.
If you are commanding a battalion/squadron, your rolls are based on the regiment's BR. However, you do roll your own personal BR, which is compared to the regimental BR. If you roll a better BR than your CO, the mention and promotion rolls of everyone in your unit are improved by one (and also death in the case of a battalion), and if worse by two or more, they are decreased by one.
Finally, it's worth pointing out that if you don't command a battalion or better, your MA is irrelevant when it comes to determining rolls.
Instead of publishing characters' MAs, a Military Reputation (MR) is calculated as a weighted average of their Battle Results: it is on the same scale as MA and is usually within about 2 or 3 of the correct figure. It is used instead of MA for relevant appointments (but your MA is still used to calculate battle results).
We use the following scheme (which is a bit complicated, and need not be understood). If you have either a CO or an adjutant who you could be considered to learn from (of higher or equal MA to you) then you have a chance of an increase. A second BR is rolled on your unmodified MA, and if it is two or more worse than what you actually got then the people round you did some good and you've learnt something, and so you get an MA increase. If you are an adjutant or an aide, you may learn in a similar way from your CO if the second BR is three or four (respectively) or more worse.
You are more likely to get an MA increase if: (a) you have good people above you, (b) you have a good adjutant, (c) your actual BR was good and, (d) you are of low MA (but only because you are more likely to have people to learn from).
The three months you have them for start from the first month you are back in Paris. If you go back to the front during this time they will continue to run out. If you get two MiDs you will get a title attempt (qv).
If you are in a regiment, you can only be promoted if there is an appropriate vacancy immediately above you, or if you can continue to hold your current position with the increased rank (in general if you are a Private or Major). If you have the rank BBG or above, you can only be promoted if you hold the correct command for your current rank. If you gain a promotion, but cannot accept it, you will get a MiD instead.
Promotions beyond the rank of Brevet Brigadier General have been slowed down: if you are of the rank of BBG and receive a promotion you will become a full Brigadier General and it will take a second promotion to reach brevet Lieutenant General.
Henri is a Subaltern in the CPC which is on Field Ops with a BR of 4.
He calculates his rolls as follows:
|
Death |
Mention |
Promotion |
Cash | |
| Field Ops 4: |
8 |
12 |
7 |
11 (1x50) |
| Subaltern |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
-1 |
| CPC: |
+1 |
-1 |
-1 |
0 |
| Total: |
10 |
11 |
6 |
10 (1x50) |
Assume that he is particularly brave and has ordered bravery to 9. His rolls will then all be reduced by 1 to 9/10/5/9 (1x50). He gets each outcome if he rolls that number or above on 2d6, so if he rolls 5/5/11/4, he'll survive, not be mentioned, get a promotion (assuming there's a gap at captain above him) and get 1d6*50Cr cash.
When at the front you are assumed to use your sword a bit and hence gain 0.25 exp per month. If you are serving with a regiment you get expertise in that regiment's weapon. If you are serving with a larger unit you have a freer choice in what you wave around in battle and will be assumed to choose whatever you already have the highest expertise in.
The new army structure is now put in in March rather than September and the procedure has now been changed somewhat to allow more PC involvement. The calendar of choices is now:
The two ministers may be petitioned to increase or decrease the number they have chosen by one. Each petition must be submitted before the announcements deadline and will succeed on a base roll of 7 (can be influenced).
The army structure will be one taken from the rulebook (at random given the MoW and MoS choices) but the Field Marshal which brigades are sent, provided he replaces infantry with infantry and cavalry with cavalry. Petitions may be submitted as above, saying either 'Please send this brigade' or 'Please don't send this brigade' and again will succeed on a base roll of 7.
In any case, if two conflicting petitions succeed, the one that passed by most will take precedence.