If you allow rulers, yardsticks, tape-measures, compasses, clip-boards, rule-books, pencils, paper, aluminum cans, ash trays, cards, string, dice (hands full), etc., etc., all over your carefully laid out diorama playing surface, then it does not "measure up". If you permit pre-measurement of movement and firing ranges, it certainly does not! And, if your opponents are a company of 'barracks lawyers', arguing over the field of "fun-play", most assuredly your game does not measure up!! This article is written from the perspective of 27 years in the hobby.
I suppose I am one of the 'Old Guard'. My armies are of the Classic Scale: 30mm. I had a brief flirtation with 15mm but those Prussians remain largely unpainted - auction fodder). The joy of "playing with toy soldiers" has, from the first, given me that "comfort of the child into a world that I can control", yet, with challenges unknown to my youthful mind. The following criticism of my fellow hobbyists is meant to be constructive. Indulge me as you read on.
Several years ago I attended a convention in the Mid-West that promised some nationally known personalities showing how it was done. One such individual had come all the way from California with table-top terrain that had carefully been made to reproduce an historic Napoleonic battlefield. Huge mounted squares with elevations cut from inclooroutdoor carpet, rivers that had depth, trees, houses and windmills and chateaux - all had been laboriously crated and shipped with him on the plane.
But, what a diorama! 18' long, 6'wide and covered with hundreds and hundreds of meticulously painted Russians, French, Bavarians, Prussians, and the minute military of the Rhine. All evening I kept returning to that table and, when a break in the battle allowed me to get some pictures, I was there with my Minolta. I circled the scene again and again, feasting on the spectacle, so determined was I to get some shots that would truly convey the impact to my colleagues back home.
As I focused on sections here and there, a dread came over me: environmental pollution! Standing next to the chateau, a Coke can; overshadowing a windmill, a Pepsi; scattered along a river front, firing charts; dice littered the meadow between the forests; an ash-tray would soon be an insurmountable obstacle for the charging Russian Horse; and rulers and tapemeasures lay amongst the rule-books at the edge of the scene.
"Wny," I asked myself, "did everyone go to so much trouble if they were just going to trash the terrain?" Come on, fellow, we can do better than that! Can you imagine an HO railroad enthusiast, who had spent hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours on his set-up, allowing that aberration in his switching yards or along a scenic route as his trains tunneled through a mountain?
The solution to this problem is obvious which does not make it any less difficult. Every Came Director should insist that the field of play be kept clear of "excess baggage". If we don't, then that is the point of all the 3-D representation in troops and terrain on the table-top? We can take atack, here, from our naval colleagues and "Clear the decks for action!"
Needless to say, I failed to get any pictures that I could show my friends. And, I assume, the diorama table terrain was boxed up and shipped back to California where it may as well have been forgotten.
Closely tied to this problem is the next point: measuring devices abounding everywhere on the table-top. Scattered about the edges are vast arrays of rulers (both 6' and 12") and tape-measures taken from carpenters' kits in the garage. And, of course, there is the ubiquitous dice and an occasional compass. Few sets of rules make any mention of restricting pre-measurement and those that do, suffer from the limitations of the accepted tools used for such purposes. Consider the following scenario:
- Captain Eclair was no cream-puff. He commanded one of the
crack units of the XVI Corps. He looked across the shimmering wheat
field and then back at his battery of 8-pounders pointed menacingly at the woods beyond.
"Where was the enemy? Surely they will emerge at any moment and come charging into his position!"
His was the lynch-pin in the French line of defense. Lose his and the Left Wing caves in. Outflanked, the Center collapses and the Right Wing confuses into chaos. How quickly a determined defensive victory could become a disastrous defeat.
"Where was the 27th Regiment that was supposed to be in support? Are they too far away to get here in time? Certainly, the British will attack at any moment. Isn't that some sort of movement in the woods?"
Colonel Cobb was a rough field-commander. He peered from his leafy enclosure to confirm a report that had just been handed him telling of a French battery already in position in the wheat field to his front. His orders were to discourage just such a strong point.
"Should he order the 95th Rifles to attack immediately? Are they within long range? Should he order them to move closer before skirmishing? Could a flanking company be sent through the woods for a closer, more deadly, range? Would an immediate charge be close enough or fall short and take more deadly grapeshot than can be absorbed?"
"Damn those Baker rifles," muttered Eclair. "How many men can I afford to lose to them before I give them a round of grape? Could I get of a round of hard-shot before we switched to grape? Maybe, two? That may be the key to stopping any charge that could overrun my position. 700 meters? 600? What was the exact range? If only I knew!"
SUDDENLY! A HUGE HAND came down from the sky and an ENORMOUS TAPE-MEASURE began to extend itself across the speculated space. In an instant, both the Colonel and the Captain knew all the ranges down to the fraction of an inch. Complete knowledge swept away all doubts! The tape lock slipped, knocking over British soldiers and scattering French cannon and crew. Amid grumbles they were set upright but not in their exact, original positions. The Reserves came marching up, snaking their way around an S-curve route. A 12-inch ruler knocked over trees as it drew out the path. The measuring stick showed the troops to be just inside grape-shot range so they were put at an optimum 1/2" short. What luxuries that no commander on any battlefield ever enjoyed!
This ridiculous scenario is re-enacted in table-top battles throughout our hobby. Not only is it "unrealistic", (aren't all table-top battles unrealistic?) but it isn't even good gamesmanship! A game should give a 'feel' for the experiences of an historical period: a knowledge of tactics; calculating risks; and estimating distances and ranges. The rules of a game define the parameters within which these factors are played out. Could any field officer take back an unsuccessful charge of a light cavalry regiment because he did not know that his heavy horse had more impact?
Would we allow an opponent to use loaded dice to give him the best possible odds on a fire-table? Then, why do we tolerate pre-measuring an artillery fire or a charge distance? Why do we have rulers, and yardsticks, and tape-measures all overt he board? No matter that you use the best set of rules for your time period, if you allow pre-measurement or use clumsy devices better used in the carpenter's trade, then your table-top does not "measure up".
The solution to this particular problem will not be easy; particularly, because it necessitates giving up one of the most familiar aspects of table-topping: the 12"-ruler and the 10'-tape. In our circle of gamers, these have long since been outlawed. Terrain is set up by an estimation of the location of the various features of the scenario. Even this adds a touch of 'realism', for what map, up to 1950, was ever accurate down to the last millimeter? The only distance that is certain on my table-top is that it is 4'x12' or 6'x8'. But, since we use a scale of 1 meter= 1 mm, even that knowledge is of limited value.
Space does not permit me to go through my experimentation that led to a single, simple device for movements and measurements: a rigid caliper based on the standard engineer's set-screw caliper. This wargaming caliper has fixed measurements of 1" (25mm)*, 2" (50mm), 3" (75mm)*, 4" (100mm), and 8" (200mm). Note: this is based on the assumption that most stands are 1" (25mm) in width.] Bracing for the three legs of the caliper are used to indicate angles of 22 1/2, 45, and 90 degrees for maneuvering and firing arcs. Prototypes were made by hand, first from coat hangers and then from welding rods. After much prodding, I decided to mass-produce the design.
Our experience has shown that, in addition to solving a host of problems relating to pre-measurement, an added benefit was that it greatly speeded up our games. No longer did we have" Nervous- Nellies" taking valuable time pre-measuring every possible distance for the optimum advantages. Instead, "You makes your decision and you goes for it!" After all, wargames should be played by your wits, not by 'half-wits'.
Opponent De-Cluttering
Finally, how do your opponents measure up and how do you as an opponent compare? It is no fun to spend an evening or a whole afternoon with a couple of "barracks lawyers" arguing over rules or the manipulation of maneuvers. It seems to me that, in order to maximize the fun in our games, we ought to seek out those who are interested in the unfolding of a battle and not who will win at any cost. Too much time and effort is put into a scenario, transportation of troops and terrain, and the setting aside of an evening for fun and fellowship, for a couple of 'Egotistical Egg-plant Heads' ('E-PHs') to selfishly take advantage of the situation as a forum for their fatuousness. Nothing changes 'child-play' like a little childishness.
There are several solutions to this problem. First of all, we try the humor approach. Let him speak his mind. (There is always the possibility, after all, that he just might have a valid point.) Don't argue. After a few minutes, he will be reduced to repetitious rhetoric. He may even hear how foolish and unimportant his point is. (But, don't count on that. Some 'E-PHs' are rather thick.) Try a little kidding aimed, not at him, but at the over-all fun that the game should be. Then, just move on. A special note of caution: this may not work if you have a whole field of 'E-PHs' and they insist on arguing ad nauseum. You may have to decide as to why you allowed yourself to get into the game in the first place.
Secondly, just don't include him in future games. In some ways this is a moot point because most wargame clubs seek out their own levels. Not all golfers enjoy playing a round together. A game of poker cannot be played to the greatest satisfaction with just a pick-up group. But most wargamers are rather gregarious and we really do like to include everyone who wants to play. That may be the key right there: does one want to play or just argue?
It may be necessary that someone just tell him, in a quiet, diplomatic way, that his abrasive arguing is more hindrance than help. This takes a rare friend, indeed, who can do that. The fact remains, however that wargames are confrontational but that conflict must remain within the rules and, more importantly, within the spirit of the comraderie of the game. Lombardi was wrong when he said "Winning.. is the only thing!" Having a fun game is.
This article owes much to three men who could be considered "godfathers" of today's military miniature wargaming: Jack Scruby, whom I met when he still gamed out of Visalia, California, and gave me a most enjoyable afternoon as he related his ideas of play; Don Featherstone, who delighted me with a tour of his war-room and an evening of introductions to his gaming fraternity at Southampton; and David Chandler, who personally took me through Sandhurst and shared with me the historian's insights into the complexities of the battle. These men had no inferiority complexes to overcome and displayed no egos to be bruised.
They just knew the satisfaction of the fascination of miniaturization and the drama of military memories. It is their attitudes that have given me caution whenever I think that I can "out-Napoleon, Napoleon" and bring reality whenever I am tempted to make the table-top anything more than a game. And, if it is just a game, let's be sure that it "measures up".
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