THE GAME SET UP

The thinking behind this section of the magazine is to suggest ways and mechanisms to make our wargaming more accurately reflect the problems and pitfalls of recreating a Napoleonic battle, although they are likely to be equally useful for other periods. The intention is not to be gimmicky; any suggestions should be backed up with evidence that they meet these criteria. At the same time, it is hoped that this will act as a catalyst for discussions on what we hope to achieve with our simulations, and hopefully avoid some of the more enduring myths.

It will probably surprise readers that I have chosen the subject of game set up for the opening part of this series, but in many ways this is intentional. If we are looking for accuracy in our games, where better to start than at the very beginning? I do not want to discuss scenario generation, since in many ways this is an art form, but someone may want to take this up as a future contribution. The mechanisms that I am going to describe are not new. Being a rules junkie, I tend to buy many sets just to see what the author is trying to say about his view of the military art. Some of these, if I think that they are viable and achievable, are honed, revamped and slotted into the club's rules, so you may well recognise some old favourites here.

Let us take first things first; most gamers have access to tables something like four or five feet wide. At the commonest ground scales, and allowing for deployment d1stances, the two sides are set up some 900 to 1000 yards apart. Consider then the following:

"Good eyesight recognises masses of troops at 1700 yards; beyond this d1stance the glitter of arms may be observed. At 1300 yards, infantry may be d1stinguished from cavalry, and the movement of troops may be seen; the horses of cavalry are not, however, quite d1stinct, but that the men are on horseback is clear. A single individual detached from the rest of the corps may be seen at 1000 yards, but his head does not appear as a round ball until he has approached up to 700 yards at which d1stance white crossbelts and white trousers may be seen. At 500 yards the face may be observed as a light coloured spot; the head, body, arms and their movements, as well as the uniform and the firelock (when bright barrels) can be made out. At between 200 and 250 yards, all parts of the body are clearly visible, the details of the uniform tolerably clear, and the officers may be d1stinguished from the men.

The quotation is taken from the Artiller1st's Manual published in several editions between 1839 and 1859. Readers with access to Major General BP Hughes' Firepower will find that this is close to a series of photographs showing roughly a platoon at various ranges; it is amazing how details are lost quite quickly. Consider then that in most games, all the figures are deployed on the table for the opposing general to see exactly where the D Class Landwehr have been put, or that your cavalry are up against a grand battery. Already therefore, you are likely to be in a much better position than your h1storic counterpart ever was.

We get round this problem by taking blocks of wood, and painting one side white, one green, one red, and the fourth blue; these colours cover the majority of uniforms of the Napoleonic War. The lengths were equivalent to units in line, and we used 1/2 inch square for infantry and 3/4 inch square for cavalry. They can be identified by using the army l1st, and by placing them with the coat colour forward, show the starting positions of the units. Add some dummy markers, and your opponent will be able to see where you have deployed most of your strength, but will have to guess what it cons1sts of. Light cavalry can now be used for its main purpose, to carry out reconnaissance, and you need only put actual figures on the table when they get to within 500 yards of the opposition. As a useful by product, using blocks makes the game quicker to set up.

For proof that it works, at one of our weekend games a few years ago we were playing a mini campaign played across several tables in different parts of the youth centre. On one, the Westphalian Corps was in action against an Austrian one, whilst on the next one along a Russian force had been contacted by a superior French one. The Russians were being forced back, and their flank in danger of being turned, when at the edge of the table, some two scale miles away and behind the French, a series of white blocks appeared. Neither side had received any couriers, so the French recalled their flanking column and moved the reserve across to counter the possible attack. The pressure relaxed, the Russians were able to stabilise the position and start to get reinforcements. Both sides were amazed when the white blocks turned round and left the table. During the debrief, it emerged that the blocks represented Austrians who, confident that the Westphalians were beaten, had marched to the sound of guns when an Austrian counterattack caused them to be recalled. Contrived? Think of D'Erlon on 16 June 1815.

My second point is very similar to the first, for as well as being aware of the troop types, the gamers are likely to also be aware of the terrain on the table, such as whether a wood is open or not. You only have to go for a drive in the country to realise that it is extremely difficult to make any such assessment from a d1stance, and you would actually need to go there, but we continue to say that a river is fordable even when it it behind enemy lines, etc. Empire IV gets over this nicely by including a set of terrain counters with the game, which are supposed to be placed over the table and looked at when a unit reaches it. We amended this by saying that a general can look at all the chits within his own deployment area, as well as for a d1stance to his flank and front governed by his initiative rating, ie a good general is likely to send out patrols further than a bad one. If you play on terrain tiles, these chits can be operative for that tile, otherwise it would be for a particular d1stance or radius. The chits cover such things as water depth (eg for fording) to the density of woods and the state of the roads (mud slows down movement), to the tactical effect of having stones close to the surface of the soil which will add to artillery effect by being kicked up as a rudimentary shrapnel and the various cover values of man made objects. We extended this system by allocating weight carrying ability to bridges, (Oh dear, who forgot to include an engineer unit in his army?) and that roads could be narrowed by the presence of ditches so restricting a unit's frontage. Again, the system allows you to find a use for the light cavalry you painted up with such loving care. As an example of the system in use, we had a refight of Dresden in which Kle1st deployed his artillery behind the Landgraben in order to fire on the Grossegarten in support of his attack. Not having bothered to reconnoitre, he then ordered the artillery to move up in preparation for the counterattack. Imagine his chagrin when he found that the banks were too high and the bridges too light to allow the guns to cross. Before he could get a spare infantry unit to tear down some nearby houses, a French corps appeared and threw the depleted infantry out of their recently acquired real estate. I hope that these two simple ideas have whetted your appetite, and I look forward to seeing your comments and, hopefully, your ideas.