Wellington Rules

Napoleonic Rules

by Rob Hamper

The author, John R. Surdu, describes these as a set of rules for playing out tactical encounters during the Napoleonic era. They apparently evolved from a previous Mexican-American War publication by the writer. The intent of the design is to fight engagements where each player controls about a brigade of troops. This in itself will be welcome by some gamers, as the current trend tends to be large-scale action with large-scale abstraction.

John makes no promises as to the level of “realism” or depth of precision. He realizes that trying to achieve as much is a probable quixotic venture doomed to the wrangling of the self-styled scholars and well read enthusiasts. However, he does not want to round off all the corners and lose the flavor of the era in immense abstractions. He describes his rules as being “in the middle ground”. The questions that should be asked are: “What does this game offer?” and “Is it fun?”. It will be up to the buyer to decide if he wants to play at this level of control and precision.

The rulebook itself is very nicely done with colour photos on a glossy cover. I think the binding could have been a little better as I’m not sure it will withstand the rigors of game table rules flipping. You also get 17 pages of straight-up rules, 8 pages of optional rules and 7 pages of army lists as well as four sheets for game reference. I’m sure the army list will give some people apoplectic fits. I had to catch myself from gnashing teeth when my beloved Prussians were relegated to “Untested” status. I nearly missed the whole point and spirit of the rules. If you don’t like it, change it, as John doesn’t care.

The format is a familiar “digital” one with each major section getting a number and each sub-section getting its appropriate decimal place. I never understood why some people don’t like this format. It’s the easiest and clearest layout that can be conveyed across a tabletop. There are also some good computer generated diagrams as well as a sprinkle of b&w digital photos. Overall, I have to give the structure of the book thumbs up.

The turn structure is phased, simultaneous action. The heart of the sequence, like a lot of games, is the command and control aspect. John doesn’t use the “magic aura” to limit his commanders’ abilities, rather each commander in the game is given a leader rating from zero to three based on a die roll versus a chart. While the chart is weighted against the least competent armies, it is still possible for both sides to score very high or very low. The kicker (as I interpret the rules) is that the one die roll result is applied to all commanders in the chain, which would make a bad roll pretty sobering indeed. However, all is not lost for the unfortunate Macks of the table. At each turn temporary additional “pips” are added through the roll of a die 4. Therefore, a “bad” chain of command might lever out a superior turn from Lady Luck.

These “pips” or leader points are used to issue orders. Commanders issue orders to those leaders directly under them. A division commander with two command “pips” to issue to three brigades, a battery and a cavalry attachment has a problem. Unused orders are lost. It costs additional points to send messages to units that are extreme distances from the ol’ HQ.

One of the neatest facets of the C&C rules is that units without orders must be given a Random Order! Good units will tend to behave as they should but poor quality troops can do some unexpected things. I wasn’t sure how I’d enjoy that, but I must say awaiting each die roll was a nerve-wracking experience. To be fair, the table is weighted so that units do the “safe” thing and they don’t charge recklessly into the fray. However, having your elites halt halfway to the enemy is a very disconcerting thing!

The other core concept of the rules is that of stragglers. Stragglers in this game are a tabletop consideration, not an abstraction. Units that are hit are subject to stragglers and fatalities, the former normally outnumbering the latter. Stragglers can also be generated through movement. Units can gather back some stragglers under certain conditions, which is a good thing since the unit breaks when the number of stragglers exceeds the number of effectives. I’m not sure I agree with that, but I have to get more experience with the rules before I can grumble.

Despite the mechanical nature of that condition, it does ensure that units will run instead of fighting to the last, lonely figure. One thing I did find curious is that stragglers are never permanently lost through, uhm, straggling. You can kill them with cavalry, but none of them just head for the home fires. On the flip side, your opponent cannot target stragglers except with cavalry, which is the way it ought to be.

To be honest, I’ve only managed to play a couple of games with the rules and they were solo events. Therefore, I have yet to come to grips with all the nuances of the game. In any event, I like ‘em. They are a comfortable set of rules and in his objective of taking the middle ground I think John has made it. You’re not going to like all the rules: you’re a Napoleonic fan so that’s a given. However, they are solid, playable and fun. The last point is due in no small measure to the C&C structure.

Wellington Rules is published by LMW Works (ISBN 1-889584-11-8). It is available from Brookhurst Hobbies, Brigade Games or the publisher for a cost of $20US. LMW Works, PO Box 844, Amherst, New York, 14266. E-mail: pviverito@earthlink.net.

Correction from Rules Author

Would you please print the following clarification to the review that aappeared in #87?

Mr. Hamper states “The kicker (as I interpret the rules) is that one die roll result is applied to all commanders in the chain...” The intent of the rules is for each leader figure (brigade commander and above) to roll separately for their leader rating in the game. This will result in some good leaders and some not-so-good leaders. Mr. Hamper also expresses some reservations concerning the fact that units break when the number of stragglers exceeds the number of effectives.

There are some subtle nuances to these rules. For instance, units in column or square take more casualties and fewer stragglers. The effect is that columns take a beating but remain steady. Lines, on the other hand, lose stragglers faster and are a little more fragile.

In “Wellington” there is no disordered status. It is up to the player to decide when the unit is getting disordered (i.e., getting too many stragglers) and he has to stop and “dress the ranks.” In practice players usually wait a turn too long to do this their first game or so and their units go scampering away to be rallied and reformed. As a result of the straggler mechanism, there are no morale checks except when another unit sees a unit rout past it.

I understand Mr. Hamper’s reservations with the straggler mechanism. It is not completely unique (being similar to the old Battleline “Fury in the West” board game and Ron Prillaman’s Penny Rules), but it is quite foreign to most gamers. I think that he (and your readers) will find that the system grows on them after a couple of games.

Thanks,
Buck Surdu

More Reviews

Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #87
To Courier List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2003 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