Last issue I wrote about the 19th century wargaming activities of Robert Lewis Stevenson. Here I will continue the history of recreational wargaming by discussing three sets of rules published between 1912 - and 1940. I believe that we will find that current wargames owe much to previous rules, in fact, one wonders if anything is really new. For the purpose of comparison and analysis, it is useful to think of wargame rules organized around seven concepts the "seven M's" of wargaming: mileau, muster, mechanics, maneuver, missiles, melee, and morale. Mileau refers to the environment or historical period of the rules (e.g. WRC Ancient Rules cover 3000 B.C. to A.D., EMPIRE - the Napoleonic era, BLUE LIGHT MANUAL - The ACW). Muster describes how the troops are organized and selected for the game. Mechanics is the way one sets up, carries out and terminates a game. Maneuver simply means how and how far and in what formation each type of unit moves about the table. Missle is shooting of small arms and artillery. Melee is hand to hand combat. Morale refers to the introduction of the intangible psychological factors which influence the behavior of troops. I mention the seven M's in order to demonstrate that mechanics, maneuver, missiles and melee were fairly well specified in the early rules. And even mileau and muster were implicitly discussed to some degree. While the ideas of Stevenson were quite interesting from a historical perspective as the first published account of recreational wargaming, his rules had little, if any effect on the development of the hobby. This is, of course, due in large measure to the fact that the rules in their totality were not available in printed form. First Set The first set of rules to be generally available were those of H.G. Wells in Little Wars. This is the very same H.G. Wells of science fiction (War of the Worlds, First Men on the Moon) social commentary (Toro Bungay, Shape of Things to Come), and history (The Outline of History) fame. Wells must indeed be considered the true founder of wargaming as a hobby for adults. The rules and a battle report originally appeared in Windsor Magazine in December, 1912 and January 1913. Later in 1913 the book was published combining the two articles and added an appendix on military kriegspiel and some excellent marginal drawings as illustrations. The book has been reprinted at least three times since 1913 and is now available in paperback. Since every "serious" wargamer should own a copy of the work, rather than attempt a detailed description, I shall note that Wells' contribution went beyond giving us a set of rules that would carry the hobby for some 40 years -- he gave wargaming acceptability. If this famous personality could "play with toy soldiers", anyone could. The opening sentence of Little Wars gives us a view of wargaming which, I think, we can keep in mind when anyone wonders what we're up to: "Little Wars is the game of kings -- for players in an inferior social position''. Who knows what might have happened to the hobby if the Great War had not intervened and as Isaac Asimov wrote in his forward to the 1970 edition, "the glamor of war vanished and Little Wars went out of fashion" Shooting Cannons The rules involve shooting cannons and individual figures moved in alternative turns, but they actually are playable and fun. In fact, there are a number of ideas which carry over today. Wells introduced the idea of melee and teams of players. He discussed allocating points to determine army composition, ea. infantry = 1 point, cavalry = 1% points and guns = 10, and having unequal sized armies, e.g. a defender only two thirds as large as the attacker. He also suggested that troops be penalized for being isolated. Further, he noted that hidden movement could be accomplished by keeping troops in boxes as they manuever about the field and that games could be fought to conclusions other than the "last man" e.g. until one side gets a certain number of figures across the opponents base line. The drawings in Little Wars are, more over, the forerunner of all wargame cartoons. The report of the Battle of Hook's farm represents the model for all battle reports to follow. This book is as readable and interesting today as it was to our Edwardian ancestors. It is as Christopher Ellis says in the introduction to the 1970 edition "not just a wargame manual -- it is a book of great charm and essentially one to keep". Post WWI After World War I, we can assume that wargaming went underground again. It had a chance for a revival though. With the 1929 publication of Shambattle by Harry Dowdall and Joseph G. Leason. This book was directed at children, unlike Little Wars which clearly had an adult audience in view. The rules of Shambattle are presented at three levels of complexity, each succeeding set building on the previous. The first two levels -- the Lieutenants' and Captains' games -- are very simplistic and not very enjoyable, while the third set -- The Generals' game -- might be considered as approaching Little Wars in complexity. There are a number of innovations in Shambattle which merit mention here. The rules require a random number generator, the author suggests using a spinner with six equal segments or a die. Shooting cannons are not used, instead, each side has a square template measuring 3" x 3" which is placed over the artillery target. A spin or roll of 1 makes a casualty of whatever is under the template. Hand-to-Hand combat is resolved by using the spinner; 1 or 2 removes the opponent, 3 or 4 is a wound causing the victim to require medical attention at a hospital, 5 or 6 he is unhurt. A medical service is included with a base and two field hospitals along with medical personnel to move the wounded. A turn in the hospital restores the troops to active duty. While no rifle fire is included, there is an option for a machine gun. Again, a template is used, this time a triangle with the apex at the barrel -- any figure under the triangle is a casualty. Terrain features come into play for both movement and cover. Figures in cities or woods generally suffer half as many casualties. Movement in woods and on hills is reduced while road movement is increased. There is a very interesting rule for spies. In the generals' game, each player picks one of the opposing figures as a spy. The identity of the figure is written on "spy papers" deposited in one of the cities and subject to capture. Sometime during the game, each general announces which figure is the spy and uses that figure as he sees fit; for example, to capture a gun. Why not add this one to your next game? Shambattle is, in some ways, a cross between miniature and board games. The playing surface is not three dimensional, but rather a topographical style map on which are drawn cities, roads, woods, swamps and hills contours. Sample maps are given in the book, but there is the option of making different ones as long as the general distribution of features remains the same. The author does not suggest it, but it would be a simple matter to obtain a three dimensional effect by adding contour hills, buildings and foliage. Shambattle did not seem to catch on since one finds little mention of it in later works on the hobby. Whether this is due to its being directed at children, its lack of complexity or the era in which it was published, I can not say. It was, never the less, the first U.S. effort in the hobby and indeed, had a number of interesting ideas. Since I doubt it will be reprinted, you will have to track it down through your local library. For the next major development in recreational wargaming, we must return to England. In the 1930's Captain J.C. Sacks convened the British Model Soldier Society (BMSS) to adapt his rules as their official set. Such an action was quite an event, for then, as now, the collectors organization did not take too kindly to one who played with toy soldiers. Wargaming now at least had an institutional base and, I believe, the BMSS Bulletin sometimes covered battle reports of games using these rules. While Sack's rules, like Wells, employed shooting cannons, they contain a further set of innovations which have carried over to the present day. The movement was simultaneous with each player starting a move on his own left and moving to the right. Units were required to have written orders and if the signaler was killed, the unit could not charge until new orders arrived via courier. The rules for both melee and small arms fire provided an important breakthrough for gaming by facilitating the introduction of tactics hitherto lacking in previous rules. As Jack Scruby said in The War Game Digest (Book 7, Vol 1, 1971), "the melee rule was very revolutionary after H.G. Wells rule, and for the first time in our games made a hand-tohand fight something more than a suicide mission... you can understand why Sacks' rules for melee and fire power were so exciting to the early war game players struggling to make war gaming better for himself". Interesting What makes the rules interesting is that the weaker force loses the difference between the forces then each side starting with the weaker, looses every second man. Finally the looser must retreat one move, while the winner reorganizes and can pursue next turn. No more hand-to-hand combat to the last man. Troops did not have to be in contact to be involved in the melee within 6" of the center of combat. Also, flank attacks were permitted with only those defenders at the end using weapons. Captain Sacks introduced small arms fire. All troops shot equally well, but Sacks takes terrain into account. He gives units in position a strength 1/4 stronger and entrenched double strength. Thus, an attacking force looses 1 for every 3 or 4 (depending on range) firing strength of the defender, while the defender loses 1 for every 3 or 4 actual strength of the attacker. Where firing strength refers to the actual strength plus position bonus. Artillery rules are much like Wells except that since firing is simultaneous, one can shoot at the opponent while he is firing so as to disrupt his fire. Wells' rules later augmented by Sacks', together guided the hobby for many years. They introduced basic notions of movement, melee and missiles. In Melieu, they were noth historical, or at best, contemporary in respect to their own time. Both had relatively simple mechanics with an elegance that facilitated their use by adults. They lacked any attention to troop organization, (muster) or morale. In the final analysis, they seem to be great fun to play which, I believe, is what we are all about in this hobby anyway. RETROSPECT (arising from past items) Phil Barker, one of the leading war game personalities in England today and an editor of this journal mentioned to me at Origins '79 that Robert Lewis Stevenson's invention of using index cards to mark movement is periodically being re-discovered in England today. He mentioned that one wag did come up with a useful addition to the practice. To these cards, he glues cotton balls tinted brown and grey to represent the dust raised by the units moving across the field! Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. 1 #2 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1979 by The Courier Publishing Company. 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