First of all let me say that there is no substitute for knowing the rules. With WRG this may be a daunting project, but at least a working knowledge is absolutely necessary. Also if you can obtain the services of a friend to act as umpire, to set up terrain and be the final arbiter of rules questions, things will move much quicker.
One of the most common complaints that I have heard about WRG is the amount of paperwork involved in playing the game. To a degree this is unavoidable, but much can be done to concentrate the data and reduce it to a single sheet that will record orders, casualties, etc. (see example). Each unit is numbered and given its orders; if you don't believe in free movement after the third movement period (I don't) you can write the turn-byturn orders in the horizontal row marked V; all charges should be recorded in this row before they are declared. One thing that we've tried is to make irregular armies write their orders two turns in advance to reflect the relative inflexibility of these armies. The abbreviations listed are our own and do not necessarily reflect WRG orders, if your interpretation differs, simply write in your own.
The horizontal row marked "C" is used for recording casualties, the left-hand box being missile casualties and the right-hand box is for melee losses. If you are not using the whole figure casualty removal system detailed below, the left-hand box will be for the combined total of carry-over and missile casualties, and the righthand box will be used for melee casualties.
Keeping track of casualties and removing figures is another timeconsuming activity required by WRG. We tried the whole figure removal system from the Renaissance rules WRG 1420-1700) and found it lacking. One of our gaming cohorts who suffers from certain heretical tendencies (read that as fantasy R.P.G.) came up with the idea that since each figure represents twenty men we should try using a twenty sided die; if you roll the number of casualties or lowervou lose the figure, if you roll higher you get to keep the figure with no carry-over. After some experimenting, this system proved to be feasible. The rolls are made after missile casualties have been calculated, and after melee results have been totaled. If a figure survives a test from missile losses it does not carry the losses over into melee; except to determine the total casualties for the turn (this is important to help determine pushbacks and routs). It is therefore possible for a figure to suffer more than twenty losses in oneturn, however it is still statistically valid (a friend has proven this to me mathematically but I won't repeat it here).
One warning though, watch out when somebody loses a sixty- some point four-horse chariot (that only received four casualties) due to lousy die rolling! This method of whole figure removal also helps to eliminate a large amount of paperwork.
Another tiresometask, and particularly irksome due to its general lack of results, is the morale-check system. You seem to end up checking just about every other unit every single turn. We tried using what we called "moment of crisis" rules but defining exactly what a moment of crisis was turned out to be just about impossible. Then an idea hit me! While at a gaming convention a while back I had seen a large Napoleonic game that handled morale checks on the basis of morale chits. Each player was allowed a certain number of these chits he could use to initiate a morale check.
This struck me as a marvelous idea (I have since learned that the rules were the EMPIRE rules by Scotty Bowden). I do not know the details of the system that are used in EMPIRE but this is how we adapted the idea to WRG. Regular armies are allowed four chits, irregular armies three. These chits maybe used to cause any unit on the board to check its morale. The player demanding the check states his desired result (i.e. I want my heavy cavalry to become impetuous) if the result is as he has stated, or better, he gets to keep his chit, if the result is not what was desired (the heavy cavalry fails to go impetuous, for example), he must surrender the chit to the opposing player. This helps to ensure that only those units which are under the greatest stress will test and the vast majority that would carry on anywayare not required to test, a considerable savings in time.
Morale checks can be required at any time the rules allow such a check (your Indian longbowmen just inflicted 59 casualties on a unit of EHK that are charging them and you want the cavalry to test and, hopefully, fail its charge) or at any other time that a player feels that it would be desirable. One thing that must be mandated against is the player who will require a test of his troops, asking only that they "carry on"; with the hope that they will get a more extreme result for very little risk to his morale chit. We solve this by requiring that players asking for tests must state a desired result either better or worse than the current state of morale.
Another thing that is both confusing and time consuming is the system of terrain generation that WRG uses. Who ever heard of a Roman general deploying the center of his line in a swamp! Most historical accounts indicate that the battle was fought over fairly smooth terrain.
Swamps, rough hills, woods, etc., are mentioned in most primary sources as if they were an unusual occurance, and only the better generals seem to have been able to use these obstacles to their advantage. Our method of terrain generation is based upon a series of terrain cards. These cards have sketches of the table layout drawn on them, and come in three groups; smooth, hilly, and mountainous. Each card is numbered so that it can be chosen at random (we have twenty in each set).
When it is time to set up terrain each commander chooses the type of terrain that he would like to fight on. If both generals agree we proceed directly to the random roll for the card; if the commanders do not pick the same type of terrain, a die is rolled to determine what sort of ground the conflict will be fought over. In the case where the ground chosen is smooth-hilly or hilly-mountainous, a simple fifty-fifty roll is made (i.e. 1,2,3 smooth, 4,5,6 hilly). If one leader wants smooth and one wants mountainous the die roll is 1 or 2 = smooth, 3 or 4 = hilly, 5 or 6 = mountainous. This gives all the armies a pretty equal shot at getting terrain that is suitable for its troops. We do not use a card more than twice; we destroy it and draw up a suitable replacement. This prevents the options from getting stale and gives all of us a turn at drawing up various layouts.
Possibly the most important thing that will speed up the playing of WRG rules is the assistance of a competent umpire. If you seem to end up with an odd number of players on most occasions (we do), the odd man could umpire. Taking turns as umpire makes this task less burdensome.
Sometimes you will run across an individual that enjoys playing the part of umpire. Cherish him! Someone who enjoys being an umpire is a rare animal indeed and he will usually get better with practice. He also allows you to get involved in campaigns, complex battle scenarios, etc., because there will be a dispassionate person to oversee the operation. He can set up many interesting scenarios, thereby helping to avoid the 1500 point stand-up knock-down head- on fight (remember the old Table-Top Teasers in the now extinct BATTLE magazine).
Give these ideas a try. You may find they can speed up the game, which allows you to spend more time on tactics and less on record keeping and terrain placing.
ORDER ABBREVIATIONS: C: CHARGE, H: HOLD, S: SKIRMISH, A: ADVANCE, B: BREAKOFF, RF/LF/AF: RIGHT/LEFT/ABOUT FACE, RW/LS: RIGHT/LEFT WHEEL, RT: RETIRE
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