INTRODUCTION These rules are designed to simulate the events and actions of a major public disturbance of the type seen during the post-war years in the Western world. The concept has been inspired (if such is the word) by the continual media coverage of such regrettable events throughout the world. It can be argued that this is not really a wargame in the classic sense. It is not about Clausewitzian war, but there are "two or more opposing forces" as found in the NATO definition. In that it is undoubtedly a "conflict simulation" I suggest that it can properly belong to the broad class of wargames-and is possible more deserving of the title than, say, Dungeons & Dragons, or science fiction games. Nevertheless, it is also a game played by wargamers-and Chestnut Lodge Wargames Group has derived a noticeable amount of fun and excitement from the game. Fundamental to this game is a sort of "Theory of Riots" which is that a riot is one, violent expression of deep-rooted unrest by members of the civil population. The causes of riots are not the subject of these rules, merely the events following their start. Having said that, it must be remembered that riots occur in circumstances where normal patterns of social behavior, i.e. "social controls", have already broken down, and in areas where respect for law and order is already at a low ebb. In a way, a riot is ". . . intensification of a fairly widespread disregard for law and order . . .". The distinction that separates this from more covert criminal activity is that the police and other representatives of authority are subject to collective assault by the civilian population. Given this, it is outside the scope of this game for the authorities to actually solve the issues that caused the riot. We are looking, very specifically at just the "violent bits". The main sources for the game are listed later on, and, as you can see, concentrate on British and American experience of riots. This has been supplemented by my own personal impressions gained from watching European, South American and Japanese riots on TV news bulletins, and in the occasional newspaper article. FIGURE 1 : 11:05 AM: THE INITIAL ARREST I would draw a further distinction between a riot, and the street fighting involving violent gangs of youths (c.f. PATRICK, A Glasgow Gang Observed), in that the riot is generally on a larger scale, is driven by radically different motivations, and persists for a lot longer. This means also that the actual behavior of the crowd is qualitatively different. The Violent Gang game is already adequately covered in any case by Paddy Griffith's "Young Team Game" rules (set in Glasgow) and David Ojaiko's "Blogston" game (set in London of the 1990s). A further point, violent gang fights usually end when the police arrive, whereas this is usually the starting point for a riot. Although the rules are aimed at the post war period, and big city riots, I think the general principles involved could be equally well applied to other periods, back to, say, 1900. The main differences would be technological, and also in that the authorities would react with greater harshness, especially in the days before mass media and global communications. The reactions of the crowd in these rules reflect my own personal prejudices about crowd behavior and their response to stimuli. The rules do not cater for a "rioter player", and as such, the actions of the crowd are determined wholly by the rules, with a little interpretation and amplification by players ... and umpires, if available. Thus the players all have roles within the police department, ambulance service, fire service, Army, riot squad, etc, as required by the scenario. One final point about the game. It is intended for use with 25mm or OO/HO scale models, with a crowd of 150 or so figures and 40 to 50 police/security forces. There is no reason why the game should not be played using 1/300 scale models, or even 1/32, provided, of course, that the other scales are changed as appropriate. GAMING CONCEPTS I have long been fascinated by the prospect of wargaming the events of a riot. It is, after all, a very common form of conflict. For some reason though, wargamers seem to have steered clear of the subject. It cannot be for lack of material, since there has been more written on or about riots than on or about the Zulu War of 1879 (which I understand is only just becoming popular in the USA). In any case, whatever the reasons for the paucity of existing riot games, it was clear that I would need to devise my own rules and game structure. So before describing the game, here is a little on the concepts involved. The game is what we described as a 'multi-player 'solo game', in that there is only one side-the authorities (police, etc.). The rioters are manipulated by an umpire (or gamemaster, if you prefer), using the rules to guide their actions. The crowd has several levels of response from the highest level-mindless violent response-down through ordinary hassling/clemonstrating, to the lowest level of peaceful dispersal. The players can attempt to influence the crowd in two main ways: A: Negotiation: Each player is represented on the table top by a single figure. Players are assigned a 'Public Relations Rating' which determines how good they are at pacifying the crowd. Of course, this can work both ways, and can cause more harm than good -some days nothing goes right. B: Physical Force: Players can give orders to the men under their control to block streets, disperse the crowd, or deploy the huge array of technology available. Sadly, it is the physical aspect that often decides the outcome of the riot. I must ashamedly admit that the rules are rigged . . . the chances of the authorities successfully negotiating their way out of a riot are pretty near nil-although I can cite historical examples for this, i.e. Detroit, 1967. The players are given, at the start of the game, a schedule of victory points. These are designed to give the players reasonable restraints that would be present in real police officers. For example, they score plusses for arrests or dispersing parts of the crowd, but minuses for losses or injuring civilians, and BIG minuses for killing civilians. This has the effect of discouraging the police from rolling up to the scene of the riot and wasting the crowd with automatic weapons. For the scenario I have used a fictitious city (Guano City) in a fictitious South American state (San Guano). This state has a moderate, by S. American standards, amount of political repression, and a volatile civilian population. The police are modelled broadly upon what I know about US police forces ... precious little . . . and supplemented by invention. The reasons for choosing a S. American state with US-type police are: (a) The figures and models are easier to convert/obtain than their British or European equivalents, and (b) US style police have a higher scale of firearms and other equipment issued at a lower tactical level than is common in the UK or most European countries. This produces many more tactical options, and hence more decisions for the players. It is this greater selection of equipment that is attractive. THE SCENARIO ROLL CALL .... 7.03 a.m. "Item Five: The illegal political group "Democracy And Freedom Today" are rumored to be preparing a mass rally in Green Llama Square today. Large numbers of this city's citizenry will be gathering so we have called in re-inforcements and cancelled all leave. The Special Riot Squad will be held in reserve for crowd control duties. Patrolmen Andreas and Granuales will be patrolling the Square throughout the day. And remember, we don't want a riot, so try and keep your cool despite the 94 degrees predicted by the weathermen. OK people, let's roll .... and hey, hey, hey .... LET'S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" [Apologies to a certain TV cop show.] There is going to be trouble in Guano City. The police are warned by the Ministry of the Interior that there are likely to be illegal gatherings somewhere in the center of the city, near the famous Green Llama Square. This is, coincidentally, right in the center of Central Precinct's area, and Precinct Captain Frederiko Bentos decides on the following deployment (see map): 1. Two patrol cars, one under command of Officer Andreas and one under Officer Granuales, with two other men in each car, are to cruise the area of Green Llama Square throughout the day. The remaining four duty patrol cars, with normal 2-man crews, will carry out routine area patrols. 2. Backup groups are to be held in reserve at the Precinct House, composed of 2 police vans, each with 15 patrolmen and commanded by the Precinct Sergeant. 3. 12 patrolmen, in pairs, on normal foot patrols. 4. Special Riot Squad under Lt. Huntero, to remain in Precinct House Car park on 5-minute readiness. The squad is composed of three M113 armored personnel carriers, 1 water cannon vehicle, and 30 riot police. 5. All personnel are warned that they should not use firearms unless absolutely necessary. 6. A police helicopter will be available over the area from noon until 3pm, and from 5prn until 8prn today, weather permitting. THE GAME Initial Incidents 10:46 am: Officer Andreas reports to the Precinct that there seems to be a higher than usual number of people on the streets, mostly just standing around in groups of 10-15 on street corners. 10:55 am: Precinct Captain orders Andreas and his men to move on some of the gathering groups. 11:00 am: Andreas and two other patrolmen stop on the north side of Green Llama Square and attempt to move on a group of bystanders (Note: "Negotiation roll"poor Andreas rolled low). The bystanders become abusiveand start jostling the police officers. 11:05 am: Andreas calls for assistance, and attempts to arrest one of the crowd, covered by one of his men. By now a sizable crowd of hostile onlookers has gathered. 11:10 am: Crowd grows larger and starts becoming hostile. Andreas puts arrested man in patrol car and attempts to negotiate with the crowd. This only makes matters worse. Another patrol car (patrolman Granuales) arrives. 11:15 am: Crowd surrounds Andreas' car and breaks windows. Stones are thrown at Granuales' car. 11:20 am: Second backup car arrives, and together with Granuales' crew, they block the junction of N. Green Llama Square and Palacetrina Row. Crews break out the riot guns, and use tear gas to hold back the crowd whilst Andreas extricates his damaged car, and his prisoner. FIGURE 2: 12:05 PM: CROWD GROWS UGLIER SEVERAL CARS ON FIRE The Riot 11:30 am to 12:00: The crowd gathers in the squareparked cars are overturned and set on fire. Both backup vans arrive and the police start to deploy. The crowd maintains a continual barrage of bricks and bottles on police vehicles and personnel. Firefighters arrive. 12:05 am: Police drive back crowd at site of original incident and on the south side of the square, outside the cinema, to permit fire-fighters to extinguish two burning cars. Crowds, breaking windows and damage cars, rampage throughout the square; they are estimated to number over 1000. 12:05 pm to 12:45 pm: Police make no headway against the crowd, which is getting larger and more violent. 12:45 PM: HEIGHT OF THE RIOT 12:45 pm: Special Riot Squad deployed. Extensive use of CS gas and Baton rounds (rubber bullets). Combined baton charges by the police and Riot Squad disperse the crowd from the square. About 60 arrests are made, and 8 police and 20 civilians injured. 1:15 pm: By this time the square has been cleared. The Central Precinct area now has 100 police and 30 riot police dominating the streets. All is now quiet in Green Llama Square. SUMMARY The above is an example of a small riot game. The figure scale was 1:5 for the crowd, and 1:1 for the police. The players really have few problems in this particular scenario, provided they keep their heads. The question is not whether the police can disperse the riot, but how quickly, and at what cost in human terms. Using the victory points system, and weighting the points score according to rank (i.e., a patrolman scores 5 pts for every arrest he makes, while a sergeant will score 1 pt per arrest by a subordinate), the player's performance can be judged. On occasion I also get the players to vote a "man of the match" from amongst their number for the most realistic or inspired action during the game. You could just as easily have a "Golden Turkey Award" to the most useless playerbut on reflection that might be too cruel! SOURCES AND FURTHER READING 1 PUBLIC DISORDER Home Office Research Study No. 72 HMSO 1982. 2 THE SCARMAN REPORT, The Brixton Disorders 10-12 April 1981. Pelican Books 1982. 3 SOUL ON ICE Eldridge Cleaver Panther 1969 (pp121-129). 4 RACE & SOCIAL DIFFERENCE. Ed Paul Baxter and Basil Sansom Penguin Education 1972. 5 KEEPING THE PEACE, Part 2 TACTICS AND TRAINING. War Office 1963. 6 The Last 20+ episodes of 'Hill Street Blues'. The best cop show on television. 7 NULCEAR POWER: THE FRENCH RESISTANCE. Robin Smyth. Sunday Telegraph Magazine c. 1980. 8 URBAN GUERRILLA WARFARE. Robert Moss. International Institute for Strategic Studies Adelphi Paper 79. 1971. 9 RIOT CONTROL. A. Deane- Drummond. RUSI 1972. 10 POLICING THE RIOTS, Compilation of articles, Editors D. Cowell, T. Jones and J. Young. J unction Books 1982. 11 THE RED LION SQUARE DISORDERS OF 15 JUNE 1974. Cmnd 5919, HMSO 1975. 12 CIVIL DISORDER AND CIVIL LIBERTIES. National Council for Civil Liberties 1981. 13 BLACK AND BLUE (Racism and the Police). Various contributors. Published by the Communist Party 1981. 14 RIOT CONTROL, MATERIEL AND TECHNIQUES. Col Rex Applegate (USA-ret.). Arms and Armour Press 1981. 15 BENEATH THE CITY STREETS-The Secret Plans to Defend the State. Peter Laurie. Granada 1983. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. V #4 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1984 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com