Wargame Library Supplements

(Booklets)

Reviewed by Jim Arnold

From "The War-Game Library Supplements" in England through THE COURIER's Supply Depot, four interesting reprints are now available. They are: "British Minor Expeditions"; "Waterloo 1815"; "Rules for the Conduct of the War-Game 1884"; and "Infantry Fire Tactics".

BRITISH MINOR EXPEDITIONS is a brief record of four different raids sent from England against the French coast in the years 1746, 1758, and 1761. This booklet may be of interest for two reasons. For the history buff it provides some detail about how England tried to use its naval superiority to influence events on the continent. The 1758 expedition, for example, was dreamed up by Pitt in an effort to create a diversion in favor of the King of Prussia who was at that time embroiled in a war against France. For the gamer, enough information is given to develop some lively amphibious scenarios that might include naval actions and sieges.

WATERLOO 1815 is, I fear, the weakest of the four offerings. It consists of eight maps scaled about 8-inches to the mile complete with 2.5 meter contour lines. The maps are supplements with a page extracted from Kriegsspeil, 1824, showing artillery ranges, march rates, slope of ground, and unit frontages. Consequently, there is enough information to learn a thing or two about Waterloo and the Napoleonic period. But it takes some effort.

The maps are lacking in clarity and need to be taken out and fastened together to cover the whole battlefield. But it was interesting to count the contour lines and confirm a subjective impression gained in a battlefield visit: the French cavalry had to climb a mere 23 feet from the valley floor to attack the waiting British on their 'ridge'.

Another example how modern maps, lacking contour lines, exaggerate the importance of battlefield heights. As Norman McLeod has shown with his imaginative use of tabletop terrain features that block line of sight but don't effect movement or combat, the wargamer is well advised to carefully consider the realistic interpretation of hills and ridges.

RULES FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR-GAME 1884 is the British version, first published in 1884, of the Prussian Kriegsspeil. in other words, it is a war game designed by military officers for the purpose of teaching military men about war. As such, this will be of particular interest to those of us who try to invent games. As such it may be a bit humbling to learn that many of our contemporary gaming ideas -- George Jeffrey's 'variable length bound' for example -- were actually employed by 19th Century warriors as they trained for the real thing.

The 1884 game requires a minimum of three players, one of whom serves as judge. it arms the judge with sets of probability tables to calculate the effects of combat, movement, etc. Most interestingly, it also gives probabilities for certain situations likely to arise during a game. For example, the judge is told that when infantry tries to debauch in the presence of hostile infantry at a range of 500 yards, the chance they succeed is 50/50; however, at 300 yards the chance is only one in three. This booklet is useful for rule designers and club members who seek some assistance in designing and adjudicating campaign games.

My guess is that the hottest seller will be the thin -- 13 page -- booklet published in 1895 called INFANTRY FIRE TACTICS. This contains three lectures from the Lt. Col. of the Hong Kong Regiment and was intended for native officers and NCOs. it is chock full of practical suggestions based upon (then) recent experience in the Franco-Prussian, Russo-Turkish, and British colonial wars.

The author tells us that long range fire should never be employed by troops who are preparing to launch an attack since steady fire is incompatible with movement and is therefore a waste of ammunition. He stresses the importance of concentrating fire since "it may require a company volley to produce the same result at 800 yards that a section volley might attain at 500 yards." Because these lectures are the distillation of contemporary experience, they offer a valuable insight into small unit warfare from 1870 on. In other words, this book neatly addresses itself to the modern gamer interested in colonial wargaming. I should think any colonial gamer who wants to promote the realism of his games will find this booklet a must. It will be interesting to see how some of the popular rulesets stand up in the face of the tactical insights offered by this booklet.

The Reviewing Stand

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