The Complete Brigadier

1680-1880 (rules)

Review by Larry Duffield

Adventure Games, Inc., 1278 Selby Ave., St. Paul, Minnesota
DESIGN: J.F. Grossman
ARTWORK: Peter T. Quinlan
TOPIC: Brigade level combats, 1680 - 1880.
SYSTEMS: A simultaneous movement, medium complexity miniatures game using a 1 figure to 20 historical men scale, with each player commanding a brigade or brigade group. Rules stress command and control problems, maneuver formations, morale and troop stamina.
PRICE: $19.95.
PUBLISHED: 1982

Lynn Montross, in WAR THROUGH THE AGES (3rd Ed., Harper, 1960) writes, "During the next two centuries (1645 - 1845) the future of the Western Hemisphere was to be decided by forces seldom exceeding 5000 in numbers. Yet ... few commanders have made the most of their opportunities." (p. 305). Not only the Western Hemisphere, but much of what we know today as the Third World, and even parts of Europe, saw decisive conflicts where the contest of tiny forces wrought results of great political and military significance. J.F. Grossman, in THE COMPLETE BRIGADIER, offers a vehicle for recreating these small independent actions, as well as portions or larger combats, during the entire period gamers denote the "Horse and Musket" era.

THE COMPLETE BRIGADIER is a boxed rules set containing two booklets of 80 and 90 pages respectively, written in an entertaining style, with narrative description and quotes from historical references interspersed with precise rules. In addition, a four page summary of Tables and Charts contains most of the hard references needed in play of the game, and a sample of the suggested Orders Roster, which the gamer will want to copy in some numbers, completes the rules.

Adventure Games, however, does not stop there, but presents two counter sheets (on light stock) of playing pieces, cut to scale for 15mm Brigades, so that the purchaser can try out the rules immediately in any period which catches his fancy, before painting an actual miniatures army. Thus COMPLETE BRIGADIER can also serve to introduce board gamers to the basic conventions of miniatures play without the time and expense commitment that figure painters must make. The counters can represent 4 line and 1 light infantry battalions and a regiment of cavalry plus a battery, the force Mr. Grossman recommends as a good basic army size.

BOOK 1. INTRODUCTION TO WARGAMES

COMPLETE BRIGADIER'S first booklet, designed to explain the concepts and assumptions behind the game, and to allow design of scenarios, is of use to all gamers who play in the period, regardless of how fanatically they are wedded to their own set of rules. The period 1680 through 1880 covers the MARLBOURIAN WARS, SEVEN YEARS WAR, AMERICAN REVOLUTION, NAPOLEONIC ERA, CIVIL WAR, and most of the COLONIAL ERA, as well as a host of lesser conflicts.

The first Chapter deals with Organization, defining types of infantry, cavalry and artillery, their training and weapons, describing how to make a roster, and including a point value chart to allow selecting even forces. While much of this is game specific information, more is a readable condensation of the common military terms and usages of the period. The whole makes an excellent summary for the novice, as well as a translation device for experts in one of the Horse and Musket periods who wish to try others.

The second Chapter, dealing with terrain, visibility and weather, should be read by every gamer and game designer, of whatever area of interest. In particular, Mr. Grossman's methods of defining and using contours and hills represents a step forward in game design at a slight increase in complexity. By defining slope along an Observer to Target line, and using the elevation ratio to determine terrain effects, he creates a system which requires realistic maneuver with barely more complexity that the typical effects in most minatures games. (The complexity occurs in the need to estimate terrain before moving, and in the fact that the same piece of ridge may affect units in different ways according to the route they take along or across it.)

Chapter 3 contains regulations for "the Conduct of Battles". These comprise the necessities of scenario construction, deployment, and the type of battle to be fought. A useful discussion of objectives (selected secretly before the battle) and deployment (which affects objectives and may affect initial forces), proceeds selection of Victory Conditions according to the difficulty of the objective selected and the degree of success achieved. This chapter, too, can be used with any rules set of brigade or division level combat, and with modifications, with corps and army level games as well.

After the main topics comes a lengthy series of Appendices, covering each of the major campaign periods of the era. Appendix A contains a list of general reference works and gaming magazines of interest to players. Appendices B through E contain basic information about specific periods. Each period has a section on the military campaigns within the period, plus a bibliography of period specific information, and a series of sample brigade organizations, in game terms, covering most of the major combatants. The sample brigades are adequate for an introduction to the period, while the bibliography will usually lead one to actual historical organization and strengths.

Finally Appendix. contains five scenarios: The Plains of Abrahm, 1759; Guilford Courthouse, 1781; Crysler's Farm, 1813; Palo Alto, 1846; and Mill Springs, 1862. Each is a complete engagement with full particulars of troop types and a map of the actual terrain involved (Guilford Court House only covers the final, decisive phase of the engagement). Although this reviewer has not attempted the scenarios given, they seem complete, and make a useful model for developing one's own, using available troops.

BOOK II. RULES FOR BATTLES

In this second booklet, Mr. Grossman presents the main body of his rules, in 159 numbered paragraphs, plus an appendix summarizing the rules affecting irregular forces. These are arranged, in approximate order of the Sequence of Play, into the following Chapters: Introduction Common Phase, Melee Phase, Movement Phase, Fire Phase, Morale Phase, Stamina Phase, then Appendix G: Irregulars.

Each section begins with a quotation from a period author writing about warfare, then proceeds into the body of information. When charts are needed, they are present, with supplementary diagrams (especially for the maneuver and formation rules, which are somewhat lengthy) well spaced and drawn. illustrations, by Peter Quinlan, break up the text and enliven the discussion underway, as they almost always refer to the topic being covered. On several pages, photos of troops in various postures graphically portray the points in question.

After a read through of the rules, enough will have sunk in to permit trying the game. However, a caveat. Nearly all paragraphs have some relevance to EVERY game, and for the first few games it is advisable to have all the rules, not just the charts and tables, at hand. THE COMPLETE BRIGADIER has obviously devoted considerable space to easing the problems of learning the game, but it is NOT a beginner's game, or at least not unless the beginner wishes to proceed very slowly indeed. (If you ARE new to miniatures, and wish to try THE COMPLETE BRIGADIER, I suggest following Mr. Grossman's recommendations to the letter. Begin with two battalions of Line Infantry and one of Light, in a Line of Battle formation. Next game add a Battery. Then a Cavalry Regiment or Squadron, taking each step in time until you understand the new rules.)

TRYING THE GAME

In reviewing this game, I was greatly helped by Emie Cavello, a gamer of considerable experience whose Indian Mutiny Army provided an unusual setting for testing the game, Kent McClure, Steve Sharpe and Merlin Woods, all veteran gamers new to the system. We fought a series of test actions, two of which will be reported here in detail, both as interesting battles in their own right, and as examples of the types of problems we encountered as well as our initial impressions of the rules.

Before actually proceeding to the Scenarios, a few words describing the salient features of THE COMPLETE BRIGADIER are appropriate (others we will let you discover, as we did ourselves, during the Scenarios). COMPLETE BRIGADIER strongly emphasizes Command and Control difficulties. Orders are written each Turn, with each Brigadier (normally only one or two per game) writing one Order per Unit (under certain circumstances, units may be split, but this means only half - the main unit -gets orders).

The General may not be able to write Orders, due to involvement in combat, or the orders may not be able to get through, due to intervening enemy. The distance between troops and General in movement Turns, determines WHEN the Orders take effect. Thus, in the middle of battle, you may lose touch with a unit and be unable to affect it until after a crisis is already over.

Generals may write a SERIES of Orders, one after the other, for a given unit. This counts as only one Order and will be obeyed until cancelled by events, such as a firefight, or new orders are received. In later tests we discovered that this Series is best written as a complete Battle Plan at the beginning of the game, and fragmentary changes to Orders be issued as circumstances compel. Otherwise, a temporary sort of disaster, such as a routing General, can destroy an Army's cohesion for the entire remaining battle.

COMPLETE BRIGADIER uses NO die rolling for major effects. Mr. Grossman's concept is that the variables within COMPLETE BRIGADIER are too many to remember easily, and their permutations and the complexities of Orders will generate chance effects "naturally" without reference to random number generating. This is not always so, we found, but it does place responsibility for winning the battle squarely on the general commanding, with no "easy out" of blaming luck.

STAMINA, as a concept, is central to Mr. Grossman's game. "Stamina" represents the physical energy of troops, their "moral" energy, their ammunition - in short, staying power on the battlefield, and whatever affects troops willingness to continue. Crack or Elite troops will have more stamina than Green or Veteran troops (better fire discipline, less excitement, more willingness to get shot). EVERYTHING on the battlefield takes Stamina. Firing. Moving faster than a walk speed. Redeploying and maneuver. Building fortifications and engineering works. Stamina is regained by resting in place, two turns per point until the original amount is regained. Units which have lost all Stamina are exhausted and effectively worthless, but loss of stamina before exhaustion means nothing.

Troops have a current Morale status, which can change. All start at CONFIDENT. After taking casualties or adverse Morale checks, they may become FIRM (nearly as good, but without the fire advantage given Confident troops), then in succession SHAKEN (able to fight, but disadvantaged), BROKEN and finally ROUTING, needing a General to rally them. A Veteran unit under normal threats will require 30 casualties to decrease to FIRM to SHAKEN. High apparent "casualties" are a feature of COMPLETE BRIGADIER, although many a e really "ineffective" troops, not wounded or dead.)

A final game mechanic is that Melee results are resolved FIRST in a turn, before Movement or Fire, but after Orders. Troops in melee are out of control, and the results of Melee will not be known until after current orders are dispatched. Melee - induced movement will take place in synchronization with Ordered movement, eliminating a potential source of trouble.

At this point, the reader knows nearly as much as the reviewers did when the first Play Test Scenario was fought. Without more ado, therefore: On With The Battle!

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