`One Man's Meat'
Event Generator
by Grant Elliott, U.K.
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When my very good friend Niall introduced me to the wonderful world of Wargaming, things were all pretty simple. Our first few games, if my memory serves me, involved lining up model tanks on opposite sides of a very small table and blasting each other at point-blank range. After my first visit to the `Claymore' convention in Edinburgh, I was inspired to take up 1/300th WW2 gaming, eventually going into this and `Moderns' in a big way. Meanwhile, my friend built smaller forces while concentrating on his Napoleonics. However, as I grew in mental if not physical stature, I beganslowly but surely to fall in love with Napoleonics. Perhaps it was the nuisance of moving countless tanks that did it - I cannot be certain - but what I do know is that one day I was fighting with tanks, and then they were gone! It is a move I have never regretted, and the more games I play - the more history I read - the more I am convinced that this period of ours is the ideal way to spend my free-time. Thanks Niall! Nonetheless, it really was only after I graduated that I became deeply interested in the historical aspect of the hobby, rather than simply making up and playing a game now and then. Now that I am working, I have some spare cash to devote to books and figures. I think I can safely say that the one thing that really has motivated me in my Napoleonic gaming `career' recently has been the prospect of recreating in miniature the battles that I am reading about in new and re-issued literature. This further encourages me to acquire more detailed knowledge of the terrain and tactics that influenced the particular battle that I have chosen to refight. I am not a perfectionist as concerns painting, but when it comes to refights I admit I am never satisfied until every detail is in its logical place. But I do have what many wargamers would see as an insoluble problem. My table is only a 5 by 4 foot `postage stamp' effort. To make matters `worse', I use 15mm figures on a 1:50 figure ratio. Topping it all off, I play with what many would consider the `archaic' WRG Rules. I had better justify my actions! Firstly, there is little I can do about the tiny table, short of winning the pools and moving-out tomorrow. Nonetheless, when 1 think about it, there is nothing really wrong about having a small one - it is not the size that counts, it's what you do with it! It forces me - benevolently, of course - to look very carefully at these large and often highly complex battles and to ask myself questions about which sections of the battle would make a good game or games, what the effect of one game will be on another, and how many troops I can `recycle' in a game etc.. With the latter, one is reminded of the cyclical, phase-oriented nature of a real Napoleonic battle, where troops fought, retreated, rested, and if not totally beaten, fought again. As far as using 15mm is concerned, that is a matter of personal taste. The massed hordes of 6mm and lower does not appeal to my liking for `toy soldiers', 10mm is an uncomfortable compromise, and 25mm in any numbers are expensive and take up so much space. That is not to say that I wouldn't buy some of the better ranges in 25mm and use them for skirmishing. It is just that at the Division and Corps level which I like to play and have argued for before, the battalions, regiments and batteries of 15mm figures - particularly when made up of the newer and superbly proportioned ranges that really put 25mm to shame - seem to be just right for the job. Many rules use a 1:50 figure ratio, although others are becoming more popular. The problem with 1:100 is that battalions become lost in a Brigade-level tactical structure more akin to those dull boardgaming techniques, while at 1:20 or 1:33, not only are more figures required to utilise more space, but also certain minor tactical formations do not 1ook quite right. We have all seen pictures of troops in `co1umn of attack' etc. that look too long compared with the frontage - perhaps sorne of you use such formations and are happy. Fine, but it's not for me. I base my infantry in battalions of 16 with 2 skirmishers. That's 90O souls - rather a big battalion you say. Well, there was a time when I worried about army lists and `correct numbers', but I eventually realised how futile an exercise this was when I saw how numbers varied from battle to battle. This meant I would either need individual bases to go with each varied battalion, and the problems of record-keeping and battalions collapsing as I moved them, or the creation of a more abstract concept that would maintain the enjoyment of the individual battalion but within a Brigade/Division framework. So I went for a formation that would comfortably represent column, line, double-line and square, while containing a decent quantity of manpower. For casualties, I place `deader' figures as required. It is easier than individual figure-basing or magnetic systems. When a total of 4 hits is reached, remove a base. Easy! My friend and I still use the `good old WRG'. We have tried other systems and found them wanting - full of waffle and photos but containing remarkably little that is really new and interesting. A new and even more expensive set or upgrade seems to come out each month, and quite frankly we can't be bothered with it. After years of happy gaming with WRG, and much historical analysis, we see nothing in the set that we wish to meddle with. Using some commonsense, any problems that do arise can be dealt with without recourse to massive and expensive sets of usually American rules. We have never seen an amateur ammendment to WRG that was not unbalancing and even just downright prejudice based on little real knowledge. Simple System Of course, I don't do historical refights all the time. Here is as simple system my friend and I use to give a quick game.
2) Throw some terrain around the board, and decide how to arrange it in a manner that wil1 be conducive to a good battle. 3) Roll some `Average Dice' (233445), depending on the size of forces you have or want to use. Give an attacker a couple of extra dice rolls. This is your total, which you keep secret. Honesty, now! 4) Dice for type and quality, using some normal dice. A score of 1 to 4 gives an infantry battalion, 5 a cavalry regiment and 6 a battery. If artillery is deadly in your rules, reduce the number of guns represented. Then, roll for each of these units. 1 and 2 gives `raw', 3 to 5 `trained', 6 `veteran'. 5) Create Brigades and their commanders. We use a minimum of 3 units per Brigade, and roll for our Generals. l to 3 is `cautious', 4 or 5 `bold', 6 `rash'. We prefer this to complex classifications such as rolling for ability, charisma etc., as such mechanisms are a bit artificial. 6) Write initial orders and get going! To send or receive a message, we use the dice again to keep it simple, `cautious' Generals requiring 3 or more, others 2. If there is an incident concerning the Staff, we add or subtract depending on its nature. IncidentsAt the end of the move, roll 2D6 for each General whose troops have come under fire. An 11 or 12 gives an incident. Subtract one cumulatively from the required score for each of these: General is leading from the front; General is with a particular unit; General's troops are under close musketry or in hand-to-hand. Roll two more D6 and refer to the table opposite. The effect these incidents have will depend on your rules. What we do is roll for the effect on the men's morale, and/or on the General's character, unless he has to be removed. We treat it as a bit of fun, and you should too. Well, I hope you were suitably entertained by at least some of this article. If you have some ideas on mechanisms and rule systems, why not write into the mag.. I am sure the editor will give you a fair hearing! The Elliot Event Generator1-1: "Let `em `ave a taste of it!" Bang! General loses head. Dead.1-2: "Call yourselves soldiers? Mummy!" General wounded. 1-3: "You damned cowards!" General loses faith in men. 1-4: "Remember your wives, your homes . ." Blam! Staff shot-up. 1-5: "I am not drunk!" General falls off horse. 1-6: Whoosh! Shot through the hat only. "`Whew!" 2-1: "Couldn't hit an elephant at this range!" Blam! Fatal wound. 3-1: "I said follow me! Damn!" General captured. 4-1: "Bleurgh! Vom!" General retires to nearest windmill for duration. 5-1: "Woah!" Splat! Crushed by mount. Bye! 6-1: "Get back into line. Aagh!" Run through by deserter. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #12 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |