Editors Note: Here's some great ideas for avid fans of our Civil War Series of games (Lee Takes Command, Autumn of Glory, Mississippi Fortress, Marching Through Georgia, and The Great Invasion. Area Defense This optional rule should be used in place of the Troop Density Level optional rule. When friendly units enter an enemy occupied area, mark the border between the area just exited and the area entered (i.e. enemy occupied) with an Attacker's Arrow counter. This marker will remain in place as long as the entered area is jointly occupied by both sides or until the owning side has no effective units in the area, or until it is replaced with a DEFENDED marker (by the Attack Arrow's owner). An area may have its borders marked by both DEFENDED markers and Attack Arrows of the same side. Defending units in the combat area may not withdraw (or otherwise move) across a border marked with an opposing player's Attack Arrow. At the start of a Combat Round the defender may mark the border between the combat area and up to three adjacent areas with Defense Line Position markers; LEFT, CENTER, RIGHT. The marked borders may not be between the combat area and an area solely occupied by units belonging to the attacker. Borders may not be marked if an Attacker's Arrow marker is in place on that border. At least one of the borders marked with a Defense Line Position marker must be between the combat area and an area to which the defender may legally withdraw. If the defender does withdraw, he may only do so across one of the marked borders. If no border is marked, he may withdraw to any legal area (except those across borders marked with an Attacker's Arrow). Placement of Defense Line Position markers may not change between combat rounds, however, if none were placed in the first combat round, they may be placed at the start of the second combat round. Placement of Defense Line Position markers must be such that the markers are along congruent borders of the combat area. That is, the LEFT Line Position marker must be along the border immediately to the left (in a clockwise direction) of the border marked by the CENTER Line Position marker, and the RIGHT Line Position marker must be placed along the border immediately to the right (counter-clockwise) of the border marked by the CENTER Line Position marker. EXAMPLE.- In the game 'Lee Takes Command' pictured (map at end of article), a Union defender is in area 103 (Smith). Defense Line Position markers have been placed on borders of area 103 and the following: LEFT - area 116 (Carter's Mill), CENTER - area 117 (Salem Church), RIGHT - area 105 (Marston). The defender can not cover both areas 116 and 104 (Stream Mill); he would have to rotate his defense one direction or the other. If no adjacent area is eligible to be defended (i.e. marked), then no area may be marked with a Defense Line Position marker. Placement of markers is optional for the defender, however, if he does play them, he must always play at least the CENTER Line Position marker. He may choose LEFT or RIGHT if he elects to play only two. At the conclusion of combat in that area, if the defender has effective real units in a given Line Position on the Battle Board, then the corresponding Defense Line Position marker is replaced on the map with a DEFENDED marker of the defender. DEFENDED markers remain in place (on the border between the two areas) until the combat area is no longer jointly occupied, until the owning side has no effective units in the area, or until the owner is attacked again in that area, in which case they must be redeployed. DEFENDED markers are not changed nor removed due to Cavalry combat in the area. Units in the combat area may never cross a border between two areas marked with an opponent's DEFENDED marker. Cavalry combat in an area does not result in the placement of Defense Line Position markers nor DEFENDED markers. Attackers may NOT place Attacker Arrows on borders crossed by Cavalry only. New DEFENDED markers are not placed if opposing Cavalry is moving THROUGH an enemy occupied area, however the moving Cavalry may not exit the area through a border marked by an existing enemy marker. Dummy units may not be used to place Attack Arrows. LOCs are not affected by Attack Arrows nor by DEFENDED markers. An attacker may remove an opponent's DEFENDED marker and replace it with one of his Attack Arrows by moving into the contested area from across the 'DEFENDED' border (i.e. from the adjoining area). Attack Arrows are removed if and when the owner's units in that area are attacked. DEFENDED markers are not removed if the owner makes an attack in that area. Coordinated Attacks If the attacker has two Line Positions attacking a single defending Line Position he may attempt to coordinate the two Line Position attacks into one attack on the CIC tables. To try a coordinated attack, both Attacking Line Positions must contain an officer, and must both be issued the same Advance or Assault combat order. Neither Line Position may be issued the Diversion combat order. The attempt is resolved, at the attacker's option, by the following procedure: add the Offensive Rating of each Line Position's officer one officer per Line Position). Subtract the Defensive Rating of any one officer in the defending Line Position (if an officer is present), roll the die. If the result is 6 or greater the attacks may be combined (i.e. coordinated). If the result is less than 6, the attacks must be resolved separately (i.e. normal procedure). If the attacker's Commander is in the same area (in the Reserve Position), the attacker adds + 1 to his coordinated attack attempt die roll. A coordinated attack is treated as if both attacking Line Positions occupied the same Line Position for CIC Tables combat resolution. FCRT is still resolved normally. Back to Art of War Issue # 26 Table of Contents Back to Art of War List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by Clash of Arms Games. 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