In our organization, the Potomac Wargamers, there has been much discussion devoted to the merits of the different types of skirmish gaming. One element looks at the skirmish encounter in great detail; when a man is hit, for example, these gamers demand to know "Where! ... was it the left foot, right arm, chest, or what?" The intent here is localize the injury so as to judge its impact on the figure involved. A man struck in the right hand would not be able to wield his sword effectively, while a left hand injury would, perhaps, leave his offensive capability almost unimpaired. Another group favors the "efficiency" method. An injury received in combat reduces a man's ability to perform... just where he is injured is not of consequence, and it is only the decrease in his competence that is important. An earlier set of modern combat skirmish rules I devised had each man in the skirmish starting out with 100 Combat Effectiveness (CE) points. When a hit occurred, his overall CE was reduced... one number thus representing an across-the-board indication of the man's capabilities. RULES BACKGROUND The rules presented in this article set forth a similar type of efficiency rating; in this case the parameter to be recorded is termed COMPETENCE, and as the date sheet of Figure 1 shows, each man starts with a COMPETENCE rating of 5. Two other parameters are tracked with COMPETENCE. One is termed MORALE, the other MARKSMANSHIP. As COMPETENCE decreases, it automatically brings down these other two factors. MORALE is self explanatory, however MARKSMANSHIP warrants a word or two. A good shot starts out with a MARKSMANSH I P of 50; he uses the top row of numbers and, with decreasing COMPETENCE, goes from 50 to 45,40, 35, and 30. A poor shot uses the lower range of numbers, starting with a MARKSMANSHIP rating of 25. In our American Revolutionary War skirmishes, the Indials had an initial MARKSMANSHIP-of 25, while the Colonials started at 50. Each man is given a number of rounds of ammunition; Indians had 10, Colonials 15, and these are noted in the AMMUNITION box. The basic sequence is a simple you-go/I-go affair, with first one side moving or firing all its troops, followed by the other side. Within this sequence, however, is another... a reaction cycle - or series of cycles... in which the men in the skirmish react to threats emanating from their opponents. When a man is endangered, an automatic reaction is triggered which temporarily takes him out of the gamer's control. This type of response is employed in THE COMPLETE BRIGADIER by John Grossman, and the rules described herein were generated after some correspondence with John. The key reaction parameter is each man's MORALE. As Figure 2 shows, three reaction zones are set up, with one dividing line being the man's MORALE value, and the other being one-half the MORALE value. Percentage dice are thrown and the man's response is a function of the zone in which the dice fall. The reaction cycle starts when one of 3 things occur: a man is fired upon, or is being charged, or an enemy advances to within 4 inches. Infantry movement in the rules is 8 inches, and a "threat region" of half a move distance was set up around each man... when the threat region is invaded, the automatic reaction commences. Responses within the 3 reaction zones differ slightly, depending upon the situation. The tables, in Figure 3, chart 4 separate instances and the responses associated with each. How the tables work is best illustrated by a description of a scenario in which 8 Himonican Indians attempted to ambush a small patrol of 6 Colonials. Victory conditions mandated that whichever side lost more than half its force would withdraw from the field. THE SKIRMISH The map in Figure 4 indicates that the Colonials started their patrol in the north-west corner of the field. Guided by RangerGrit Steele, they were to try to reach the southern baseline. The map also shows the initial placement of the Indian warriors. This was done somewhat randomly; the Indian Chief would point to where he wanted one of his men to appear, and then threw a 10-sided die. The warrior was then placed a number of inches AWAY from the desired location equal to twice the die throw. As the patrol advanced, the Himonican brave Pythagoras, located nearthe southern end of Long Ridge, took a shot at the woodsman Bert Franklin. Each man can voluntarily fire up to 3 rounds per turn with a resultant probability-of-hit of: P = (20 x Rounds Fired) + MARKSMANSHIP - RANGE Percentage dice are thrown and if a hit is scored, the particular number tossed is further examined and the target's COMPETENCE boxes are crossed out as follows: Odd One box Even Two boxes Doubles Three boxes Pythagoras, whose MARKSMANSHIP was 25, was 17 inches from Franklin, and he fired 3 rounds: P = (20 x 3) + 25 -17; P =68% Pythagoras missed, and Franklin, having been shot at, checked his reaction on Table 2 of Figure 3. Franklin's MORALE was 90, hence Zone 1 was 01 to 45, Zone 2 was 46 to 90, and Zone 3 was 91 to 100. His dice throw was a 57, Zone 2, hence he fired one round at Pythagoras: P = (20 x 1) + 50 - 17; P = 53% The Indian was hit, Franklin's dice roll being a 36 - an even number and Pythagoras lost 2 COMPETENCE boxes. Pythagoras now checked his own reaction at a MORALE level of 70. His reaction roll on Table 2 was a 12, in his Zone 1, and Pythagoras lost his cool, and advanced 4 inches towards Franklin. Unfortunately for the Indian, this 4 inch movement brought him into the open. He was the immediate target of several rounds from the other Colonials. Each time he was hit, his own reaction roll caused him to fire back at his assailants, but with his decreased MARKSMANSHIP, he missed all of his own shots, while everyone of his reaction shots triggered a return shot from the Colonial at whom he was aiming. The upshot: Pythagoras, having started his own private war with the patrol, keeled over, the first warrior to travel to the Happy Hunting Ground. This proved to be a good beginning for the Colonials, who dispatched 2 men to the northeast to try to run down the alley between the 2 ridges known as the Narrows. The Indians saw this, and to prevent their being flanked, sent 2 braves to cover the southern mouth of the Narrows. It took only one voluntary volley to start a chain reaction firefight going... the result was one American dead, and the other falling back. Most of the action, however, took place along Long Ridge as the Himonicans took the high ground to fire down on the patrol members. As the Colonials advanced down the open space between Long Ridge and the Narrows, they were continually under fire. One man, Epsom Saltz by name, was fatally wounded after a major exchange of gunfire, and an attempt to clear Long Ridge by a coordinated uphill charge by Bert Franklin and his close friend Bunsen Burner ended in disaster. Bert tried to plow through the Himonican warrior Umtahta, while Bunsen attempted to grapple with a large fellow called Man Who Can Spit. Bert and Bunsen were placed 1 inch in front of their respective targets, who then each used Table 3 of Figure 3 to test their reaction. Both Indians fired; Bert was struck and lost 1 COMPETENCE box, while Bunsen wasn't hit. Both charging Colonials now went to Table 1, threw their reaction dice, and both closed to contact. Bert's COMPETENCE was 4, while Umtahta's was 5. Each rolled a 10-sided die for the melee and multiplied the die throw by his COMPETENCE. Bert rolled a 6, giving him 6 x 4, or 24, while Umtahta rolled a 9, giving him 9 x 5, or 45. Bert thus lost and routed back 8 inches, and Umtahta now threw percentage dice to determine the extent of Bert's injury. The throw resulted in an odd number... Bert lost 1 additional COMPETENCE box. Bunsen Burner's hand-to-hand combat followed along similar lines; Man Who Can Spit sent Bunsen running back alongside his friend Bert. There were 2 British soldiers in the 6 man patrol, Sergeant Mushe and Private Parts. Private Parts hung back, but the Sergeant more than made up for the Private's timidity. Looking up at Long Ridge, Sergeant Mushe spied Man Who Can Spit, who had just sent Bunsen Burner fleeing, and the Sergeant aimed 3 shots at the brave, wounding him. Both men then traded fire as directed by Table2 of Figure3, the Indian missing and the Sergeant scoring again. Man Who Can Spit's COMPETENCE level was now down to a factor of 2 his MARKSMANSHIP at 10, his MORALE at 50. His final reaction on Table 2 of Figure 3 was an ill advised one, for in his weakened state, a low reaction dice throw mandated an advance towards Mushe, placing him within the Sergeant's 4 inch threat region. The Sergeant took the advance quite coolly... his own dice throw on Table 4 of Figure 3 prompted yet another shot, and this one proved decisive; Man Who Can Spit fell. And the Sergeant wasn't finished yet... he now aimed at Umtahta... BLAM!... and Umtahta was wounded. The resultant action seemed to be choreographed alongthe lines of the previous encounter. Both men fired and the Indian was hit again. Just as Man Who Can Spit had done, Umtahta's reaction was to advance to within the Sergeant's 4 inch threat region, and that doughty British soldier again blasted his adversary... Umtahta joined his brothers in the Happy Hunting Ground. Mushe, killer of men, moved on. A third brave, Red Herring, dared to do battle with the redcoat. An exchange of fire, during which the Sergeant lost 1 COMPETENECE box, didn't daunt him in the slightest. Red Herring never had a chance; his COMPETENCE fell under the Sergeant's rapid fire reaction, from 5 to 4 to 2 to 0... that made three for the Sergeant. Another interesting exchange took place near the Narrows, where Ranger Grit Steele, the patrol guide, took on Big Honkus. Both men were wounded after firing back and forth, when Big Honkus' reaction on Table 2 of Figure 3 caused him to advance. This 4 inch movement would have brought Big Honkus into contact with the Colonial, hence it was defined as a charge. Ranger Grit immediately checked his own response on Table 3 of Figure 3... he fired one round and hit Big Honkus, and the Indian's response was to halt in his tracks. On the very next turn, Big Honkus resumed his charge and this proved too much for the Ranger; his Table 3 of Figure 3 produced a rout... Ranger Grit had had enough, and he ran back 8 inches. Despite this lapse on the part of Ranger Grit, the Indians were forced to leave the field, for they had lost another man, Uncas, making 5 in all, over one-half their initial force of 8 men. At this point the patrol had had only one fatality, Epson Saltz, although a couple of men were severely wounded. Thanks mainly to the Sergeant, a conclusive victory for the Colonials. GAME DESIGN It was originally intended that one turn encompass a one minute time span. This was the reason that each man was permitted to fire 3 rounds from his musket each turn; it was considered that one round every 20 seconds was not an unreasonable rate of fire. But once the reaction rules came into play, it was evident that the one minute turn went to pot, for it was now possible that 2 men could exchange musket fire repeatedly on any given turn until their entire ammunition supply ran out. As in most alternate move games, therefore, the duration of a turn becomes indeterminate and of less importance than what the figures in the skirmish are actually doing. Inclusion of the reaction sequence, i.e., a sort of bound-within-a-bound, means that there is more action within the turn than is usually encountered. When a man is fired upon, whether he is hit or not, he checks his reaction to determine his response. if he does respond, this sets up the reaction cycle until one of the parties involved gets a "hold" signal from the reaction tables. If it's A's turn, and A1 fires on B1, these two men engage in their own reaction cycle until one of them quits. Then, if A2 fires on the same B1, a second cycle is set up, with B1 now fending off A2. In the firing procedures, it is only the firer and his target that are concerned. When a man advances, however, he may find himself intruding into the threat regions of several of his opponents. To simplify matters, the house rule was that the gamer who had several men potentially affected, could choose whichever one he desired to check reaction. The 4 reaction tables are the most basic that could be developed. At first, a series of "threat charts" were drawn up, i.e., one table for reaction to a cavalry charge, one for being fired upon, one for being charged by infantry, one for being flanked, etc., etc. The problem, of course, is that the "threat" situations are practically endless, and one could fill a book with tables alone, each one slightly different from the next. What was done, therefore, was to distill all threat situations down to the minimum number possible, which turned out - in our judgement - to be4 in number. other gamers, using the guidelines given, may choose to further elaborate on the tables, varying percentages or actions as desired. For example, the reaction to being charged by a man on foot is certainly not the same as that to being charged by a man on horseback... nor, perhaps, should the reaction of an Indian being fired upon be the same as that of a British soldier. The reaction rules, with some modification, are adaptable for unit encounters. As an example of the type of action that might ensue, in one Seven Years War game, a battalion of Grenadiers was sent to clear a wooded area held by 2 battalions of line troops. a. The Grenadiers entered the woods and the lead battalion of line troops reacted by firing on them. Both units then commenced a firefight until the Grenadiers' reaction mandated a charge. b. The Grenadiers charged forward and the line battalion failed its morale test and fled, exposing the second battalion. c. The second battalion's reaction, since the Grenadiers were now in their threat region, was to fire. Another firefight occurred until, again, the Grenadiers charged forward due to a favorable dice throw. d. Despite defensive fire, the Grenadiers closed and meleed with the second battalion and sent it running. The woods were now empty of the enemy... mission accomplished. Note that in this encounter, all the gamer did was to essentially order the Grenadiers to "clear the woods". The sequence then took over and the units involved, without any control efforts on the part of the gamer, acted logically and decisively. After years of pushing unresponsive toy soldiers around on the ping-pong table, watching the above Grenadier action was truly a pleasure... for once, the toy soldiers were doing something on their own! "Something on their own", of course, can also have a negative cast to it... in particular, consider the American Colonial skirmish described in this article. Here, it was frustrating to see both sides firing away at one another with no thought given to conserve ammunition. Sergeant Mushe, for example, had only 2 rounds left when the Indians vacated the field. Ranger Grit had only one. No amount of "Hey, wait a minute guys, save your ammo!", did any good. Mushe and Grit had their reaction table and proceeded accordingly. In all, however, the reaction sequence proved enjoyable and rewarding. it appears to be especially applicable to single figure skirmishes, wherein the gamer's control of a small patrol of, say, 10 men, should not be as well defined and restrictive as most skirmish rules allow. Ten men, all running helter-skelter in the woods, or engaging in house-to-house fighting, or setting up to ambush a convoy, should be difficult to communicate with, hard to manage, and almost impossible to coordinate once the action starts. To this end, the reaction rules provide a satisfying, different approach to the skirmish. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VI No. 3 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com