Since the publication of ON TO RICHMOND (OTR), I have been pleased to receive dozens of cards and letters from gamers who have played and enjoyed the game to a varying degree. By far the most common topic of discussion has been the "card movement system" the game employs. An OTR game in progress. Figures from the collection of Orv Banasik. Photo by O. Banasik For those who have never used it works as follows: 1. Units of both sides are organized into groups of 3 or 4 (Divisions, etc.). 2. Each of these groups are entered on a small index card. 3. The cards of both sides are combined and shuffled into a blind stack. 4. The cards are turned up one at a time, then, and only then the units move, fire, etc. The system produces surprise, lack of command control, and a great deal of excitement. It is, of course, not perfect and I have received a great deal of criticism on it. Many of these objections have been justified and on the mark. I think of it as simply another way for hobbyists to enjoy their hobby. It is the purpose of this article to introduce a card system for use in miniature meeting engagements. While I will phrase my points in civil war lingo, the system may be used for most any period and scale of encounter. The system can be used other in other parts of the game than movement. Allow me to introduce the concept by the following: Somehow a brigade of your best infantry managed to quickly secure a firm foothold on a bridge across a wide river protecting the vital crossroads and main access to the town in the center of the board. You must now hold it to protect the town from capture by the Yankees. Help is on the way in the form of 2 additional brigades and an artillery battalion, but they are at least 2 moves away (to your left) from your lone brigade. Meanwhile just downstream a big Union cavalry brigade found a ford is even now forming to blast your single unit in flank. At the same time the Union artillery reserve has unlimbered just out of rifle range and will begin pounding your ranks with impunity as you have no guns with which to reply. If that is not bad enough. an entire northern infantry division is massing for a charge across the bridge. You may not even be able to retreat fast enough. But wait news has just come that JEB Stuart and 6 splendid brigades of southern "Chivalry" has arrived. Now you can show them Yanks what southern horsemen can accomplish. Alas, however, the Cavalry is arriving far to the right along a twisting road through a forest. They can't possible get there in time. The above was no dream or nightmare but the actual course of events in a recent meeting engagement in my "bunker" (garage) just before disaster overtook the Confederates. It may strike the reader that the Reb commander must be a real dumb nerd, or at least an incompetent novice. Quite the contrary he was one of the most experienced and skillful of tabletop commanders in southern California. He knew precisely what he was doing, he simply didn't know what sort of reinforcements he would receive, or when or where they would arrive. His opponent, the Northern commander, suffered under similar lack of control. The reasons for this was that the game the players were playing used a specially prepared order of appearance set of cards to determine which units each side would get each turn. A die roll then determined exactly where each reinforcement would arrive on the tabletop. Though most wargamers like to have full control over their armies, few miniature battles provide more suspense and excitement than those using a system of appearance cards such as outlined here. Of course they can't be used to fight recreations of historical battles. However, if you like at least an occasional fictional encounter using your miniatures of any historical period and a game that will try your armchair generalship to the limit then try this system. It is not for the competitive but for the brave. The system itself is easy to set up. As an example, let's assume you have fairly large American Civil War armies mounted on stands for THE COURIER's "On To Richmond" and you are planning on fighting a 12 turn game. Using the following armies as an example your card stacks might look something like this: UNITED STATES FORCES (all infantry in 6 std Brigades) CARD 1. U.S. 1st Div. of 3 Brigades (6 sands), and 2 Arty Btns (1 Rifle & 1 Smoothbore) CARD 2. Brigades of U.S. 2nd Div. and it's CO CARD 3. 1 Brigade of 2d Division and Arty. Btn. (Rifled) CARD 4. 2 Brigades of the 3rd Division and 1 Arty Btn (Smooth bore) CARD 5. 1 Brigade of the 3rd Division and it's CO CARD 6. 1 Brigade of the 4th Division and it's CO CARD 7. 1 Brigade of the 4th Division CARD 8. Arty. Btn. of the 4th Division (rifled) CARD 9. 1 Brigade of the 4th Division CARD 10. 1st Corps CO and I st and 2nd Divisions. CARD 11. The whole blame Yankee Army CARD 12. Sorry, nothing this turn. Union Cavalry of 1, 8 stand Brigade is on board at the start CONFEDERATE FORCES (all Reb infantry in 8 std Brigades) CARD 1. O.T.Washington's division of 4 (8 std) brigades & 2 Arty. Btns (1 rifled and 1 smooth bore) CARD 2. 2 Brigades of Rome Clay's division & their CO CARD 3. 1 Brigade of Rome Clay's division CARD 4. 1 Brigade and 1 Arty. Btn. (smooth bore) of Rome Clay's division CARD 5. 1 Arty. Btn. (Rifled) of Rome Clay's division CARD 6. The entire gal-dang Reb Army CARD 7. Sorry, nothing this turn. CARD 8. Sorry, nothing this turn. Confederate Cavalry of 1(8 std) Brigade are on board at the start. The procedure is simple. The players shuffle each of the stacks and place them by the table. Next select two adjacent sides of the table for entry sides. Ten entry points are then nominated along the edge of these two sides and marked with a piece of lichen or what not. Each turn a player chooses a card from his pile. The player then roles a 'nugget' (D10) to ascertain at what point the reinforcement will appear. Each player repeats the procedure until all forces are present. This may take varying lengths of time since it is possible to get the whole army on any given turn, a single brigade or nothing at all. The different number of cards in each deck further affects the probabilities. just a note to ON TO RICHMOND players: the arrival decks are not to take the place of your movement deck. Each turn go through the movement deck and if the division has not yet arrived, simply go on to the next card. The Cavalry may be placed anywhere at player option within 2 feet of their base lines. We have found these games to be filled with unexpected reverses in fortune and to be extremely exciting. Each side must keep an uneasy eye toward his enemy's approach routes and an eager if uncertain one toward his own. Once you have tried this system, you'll quickly realize that it's almost as much fun turning over a card at each turn as it is maneuvering your troops on the field. It is also a great deal more suspenseful. The system also adds an element that is so regrettably absent from our games: HUMOR! You and your opponent may just wind up laughing at each other's misfortunes or even at your own. It is fun and provides a delightful change of pace, and has the great plus of being able to repeat scenarios without boredom. I enclose a sample map with which to give it a try. UNION OB 1 Army CIC Gen'l Gladys Lackwit 1 Brigade of Cavalry 1st Corps of 2 Divisions 1st Division - 3 Brigades, and 2 Arty. Bins. 2nd Division - 3 Brigades, and I Arty. Btn. 2nd Corps of 2 Divisions 3rd Division - 3 Brigades and I Arty. Btn. 4th Division - 3 Brigades and I Arty. Btn. CONFEDERATE OB Corp CIC Jubilation T. Kornpone 1 Brigade of Cavalry O.T. Washington's Division - 4 Brigades and 2 Arty. Btns. Rome Clay's Division - 4 Brigade and 2 Arty. Btns. Union infantry all in 6 stand brigades. Confederate infantry all in 8 stand brigades. Both Cavalry brigades of 8 stands. Union artillery had 3 rifled and 2 smooth bore battalions. Confederate artillery has 2 rifled and 2 smooth bore battalions. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #62 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com