The Problem with
Wargame Rules Is...

by Richard Ayliffe

One of the fundamental problems with most wargames is the fact that the players have far too much information concerning the battle they are fighting. Consider a typical refight of any Napoleonic battle; the players will be able to see the entire battlefield and know in advance the precise effects on movement and fighting that all of the terrain features will have; both sides will also have an intimate knowledge of the oppositions order of battle down to the level of individual unit strengths and morale grades etc. once the battle is underway players can see every enemy movement, and, in most games react to these manoeuvres with a speed and precision that would be the envy of an S.S. Panzer Division. Clearly this is a ridiculous situation, and if we are interested in accurately representing a Napoleonic battlefield something must be done to reduce the players god-like view of the situation and their ability to change it. The most obvious way of solving some of these problems is a kriegspiel type game with the players at separate tables and an umpire controlling the events. However, this is not a practical solution for most people. What follows are some suggestions that can introduce a level of uncertainty and friction into a normal table-top wargame without undue complication or the need for an umpire. Menu of Options To start from the beginning, when a battle is being set-up, it is fairly clear from studying accounts of battles that most Napoleonic engagements were really only one of several 'potential battles' that could have taken place given the strategic situation, the troops available and the decisions made by the Army Commanders. Bearing this in mind it is not too difficult to construct a scenario based around an historical battle but to vary the troops available, the arrival times of reinforcements and other factors. A good way to do this is to give each side a 'menu' of options to select from before the battle, in secret, each of which should carry an appropriate penalty or bonus, according to their worth, which can be used to help asses victory at the battles conclusion. As an example, the battle of Waterloo had several variables that can be altered in this manner, Wellington had approximately 18,000 troops nearby that stood unused all day, what if he had decided to use them? Suppose that Blucher had prevented his Chief of Staff from introducing delays to the Prussians march, or that Napoleon had decided to start the battle much earlier before the ground had dried out? Grouchy could have 'marched to the sound of the guns', and I am sure that several other examples could be found. Incorporating these variables into a game will reduce the players knowledge of their opponents actual order of battle and what troops they have approaching the field and when they will arrive forcing the players in a position similar to commanders at the time. Limited Foretell The second idea I first encountered in a U.S. wargames magazine 'Operations' and has been christened 'Limited Foretell'. The idea runs as follows: as long as the rules you are using insist on the players writing fairly detailed orders, and then inflicting a realistic and unpredictable level of difficulty in getting those orders passed to their commanders, accepted and implemented then it doesn't matter that the players can see the entire battlefield. This is because by the time the orders are being carried out, the battlefield situation will have changed. This system requires that the players implement their orders as they were originally intended, regardless of the current situation when they are carried out. Limited Foretell basically means that although the players have very good information about the current situation when the orders are written, they have a very limited ability to foretell what will be happening when those orders are implemented and very limited means to react to that situation outside of those orders. This has the effect that player's ability to react quickly to enemy manoeuvres (or their own successes) is drastically curtailed, and forces the player to devise a plan to fight the entire battle rather than just the first few turns. Terrain Thirdly, consider the terrain over which a battle is to be fought. It is virtually impossible to try and represent every terrain feature on a wargames table, especially given the ground scale used in most sets of rules. It is also undesirable given that the players are trying to represent higher commanders who could not possibly be aware for even be concerned with) the position of every drainage ditch, wall, patch of muddy ground or whatever. However, for individual units and formations manoeuvring on the battle field even a modest ditch on either side of a hedge could cause unwarranted delay and disorder; a patch of marshy ground could bog-down artillery trying to deploy and so-on. To reflect this uncertainty each unit or formations move should be subjected to a random element. This prevents the players making precise calculations about the speed of their or the enemies troops. The effect on movement and combat of the more significant terrain features can also be varied within limits - possibly with the side in possession at the start of the battle knowing the precise effects, e.g. a village or farm on the battlefield may be defended by the enemy and you know it will offer protection from firing as well as an obstacle to the assault, but the exact degree of cover or difficulty shouldn't be known until you actually start shooting or try to capture it. Most of these suggestions can very easily be incorporated into any game and any set of rules and can increase the uncertainty and lack of precise information available to the players, thus putting them closer to the position that the actual commanders at the bme were in when deciding their battle plans. Limited Foretell is a powerful idea when exploited to the full and forces players to sit down and think about how they wish to orchestrate their troops in the battle before any fighting or maneuvering is actually carried out. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #7 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 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