After awhile, if wargamers use a set of rules for
a particular period long enough and learn them well
they will usually develop a good deal of expertise in
their use and handling. Little "paging" will occur to
find this or that regulation but, more importantly game
play will reach a high level of proficiency. Such
players may even learn to predict just how well
opponents will perform in many circumstances.
One particular game is recalled, for example, wherein an infantry battalion in line was approached by a rather large column in a Napoleonic battle. The commander of the battalion in line guessed correctly that if he backed up onto a nearby hill to fire, that the anticipated charge for next round would fall short by around 1/2 an inch, thereby allowing another volley in the following turn.
This mental calculation was based upon an assumed distance between the two bodies at start which was around 18" plus the rate of charge minus a fixed hill penalty, plus the retrograde movement of the battalion in line, and probably a bionic eye!
Players such as these will be able to predict with reasonable accuracy when reserves set in motion by an opponent will reach a certain destination, will be able to change plans without too much thought, and most likely will be able to consider probable results for nearly everything.
Of course, the tossing of dice will interfere with such calculations but what if we took interference another step or two further, by using rules which take some control away from us and place more control in the miniatures themselves. If we do, then plans will start to go a little astray from time to time, units will perform according to their own whims or abilities and we will have changed our wargames to reflect some often ignored problems upon the battlefield which have been called, "the fog of war."
The purpose of the following article will be to present some ' fog of war" ideas that can be applied to any miniatures wargame.
MOVEMENT
Finally, those interested in force march rules which allow units to move at a very rapid pace can use additional die tosses as just outlined. Such force marching should be allowed only while a unit is on a road and should require that such a unit rest prior to combat; otherwise it will fight poorly because firepower and melee reductions will be applied.
CHARGE IF CHARGED AND CHARGE IN SUPPORT: Many rules state that if one body is ordered to charge another body which has orders to charge if charged or charge in support, that the distance between the two is split evenly. Some allow the charging unit to advance say 6" and then the remaining distance between the two is split. Again the result is always constant.
Our idea is to toss dice to determine how fleet afoot the charger is and how asleep the countercharger might be. A suggestion is to toss one die for foot taking % of the die result and one die for horse taking the full result and moving the charger a distance equal to the toss. Should the countercharger be hit as a result of this movement, the charger should be given certain melee advantage.
RESTRICTIVE TERRAIN PENALTIES: Most sets of rules require that standard movement penalties be applied to a unit's movement rate when crossing restrictive terrain. For example, 2 inches may be deducted when moving uphill or a unit may move at only half speed when crossing streams. The wargamer will therefore be able to predict when a particular unit will arrive at a given location because penalties are always the same.
It is conceivable though that different units may cross restrictive terrain with more or less aclarity than others. Perhaps the officers of such units, we could assume, exercised good control which allowed a unit to negotiate restrictive terrain with little difficulty or that a green recruit or body of a unit stumbled causing some minor disorder, confusion and delay or perhaps some artillery horses just simply refused momentarily to rise to the occasion to gallop up a hill and so on.
A simple rule that can be used to apply this idea to movement is to toss dice (six sided or average) and subtract the result from movement remaining to a unit that has arrived at a restrictive terrain feature. A useful method is to toss one die for foot and unlimbered artillery and two for horse, limbered artillery and wagons. If terrain is particularly severe, +1 or +2 can be added to each die thrown or perhaps an additional die can be tossed. Use of this rule, incidentally, eliminates the need for players to memorize all sorts of terrain penalties and takes some control away from them.
ROAD MOVEMENT: We assume that units moving along roads will be able to reach destinations more rapidly than say similar units marching without the benefit of a road. This can be easily argued as true but again we find that movement rate additions such as +50% allow us to predict with ease when a unit will arrive at a particular location because the additions are always the same.
Why not alter the movement rate advantage by the tossing of dice? For example, toss one for foot and unlimbered artillery and two for horse, limbered artillery and wagons. Then add the result to standard movement. In this way, units will still move more rapidly than if they had been marching overland but we will find that some will move more slowly or faster than others. It can be argued that some units might be delayed because some goof fell into a pothole or that some units really stepped out. Consequently, we will have a little less control with regard to predicting marching times and planning our tabletop actions.
COMMAND
Very often our wargame armies have a variety of favorite miniature generals that gallop about the tabletop mostly looking their part and doing little else save mad dashes to perhaps rally routed units. Let's do something else with them.
One idea is to set up a chain of command. Place one general in charge with the rest as subordinates. In our Seven Years War games, for example, Marshall Broglie is the French C in C while a variety of Lieutenant Generals are subordinates and in charge of various brigades. (Incidentally, we sometimes dice to see who will be the C in C. This lucky individual then develops battle plans and may or may not use the advice of his Lieutenant Generals.)
These brigade commanders operate then only with the troops assigned to them and will have no effect upon the units of other brigades. Sometimes brigades are combined together under the command of a corps commander. Each wargamer will then become at least one Lieutenant General and is required to follow the orders of superior officers.
If desired, a toss can be made for each general to determine how he will affect morale tests amongst only the units of his command. Perhaps only a 3/4 chance should produce an effective leader. The wargamer will then obviously have few charismatic leaders and he will use only those generals with positive results in morale tests.
This entire set-up can be taken one step further by introducing game objectives for each brigade or corps. Prior to game start the C in C issues simple objectives to each brigade or corps such as, take the village, collapse the enemy's left flank and turn toward his center, attack the hill, await orders, or delay the enemy on our right flank. It is assumed that these orders and interpretations of them will exist for the entire battle unless changed by the C in C.
Orders must be followed and can only be changed by placing miniature generals within conversation distance being careful to use the chain of command or by the use of couriers. Since miniature generals should be placed with their commands and therefore most likely will be out of conversation distance with higher ups, and sometimes even with some of their own units then objective order changes and requests to change them must be passed along by couriers.
Courier movement and reliability should be based upon a die toss. High probability should be assigned to normal movement say at a speed of 18-36" per turn, low probability to slower rates, and even lower probability to desertion, diversion, capture, etc. Messages will be written by generals, folded and placed under the courier's stand. A secret die toss is made for movement and off go the hopes of our generals out into the blue. Thus, the courier system will become nearly the sole method of communicating changes in plans during a game.
The result of all this establishes a chain of command rather than a committee, finds that plans will go astray, insures that changes in plans cannot be made without delay (how often do we move units unrealistically to exploit or stop disasters during the turn after occurence?), and allows us a chance to use and paint up more colorful generals, aides and couriers.
Application of "fog of war" rules such as these can provide more realism to any wargame. Additionally, an extra degree of uncertainty is also added which proves to be often exciting, sometimes exasperating, and most importantly, always fun.
CLOSING COMMENTS
A variety of published and unpublished sets of miniatures rules have devoted considerable effort toward the development of fog of war rules. What has been presented is therefore limited and for the most part unoriginal except perhaps to some extent in application. So reread the stacks of rules you have all acquired over the years. Some concepts may now interest you that once did not.
Inspiration for this writer concerning restrictive terrain penalties, command, game objectives and couriers was provided initially by Le Jeu de La Guerre (1972) by Bob Jones, Tricorne 1973 and 1977) by Ken Bunger and Advanced War Games (1969) by Don Featherstone.
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