I see from the name of the word processor file that this is the 20th contribution that I have sent in. Not bad going, I suppose, but then I don't have to read the stuff.
Steve Foster writes to say that his advert for players in his Barbarossa game attracted the grand total of zero replies, on top of which, one of his original players dropped out. The game has been suspended, but nothing daunted, Steve has pressed on. He is running an Ancient tactical game (first mentioned in LW 16 No 3, pages 54-55) for two players. It is entitled "Macedonia 148 BC" and the players are commanders of Roman and Macedonian armies, following the Roman invasion of Macedonia. Each general picks his troops from a limited army list, to a maximum number per side. Both armies march towards each other, intent on battle, and through the use of scouts and local information, seek to gain an advantage. Emphasis will be placed on the use of scouts and the first hand senses of the generals themselves, who are heavily reliant on scouts, messengers and sub-generals, as well as what they can see from their own position. Steve has taken on board one or two suggestions from the players in the playtest, as well as comments from readers of his initial report. During the initial game, still in progress, the Macedonian general detached a flanking force of peltasts, hypaspists and cavalry which was detected in time by the Roman, who sent a blocking force to meet it, while he remained intent on forcing a decision between the main armies. Unfortunately for him, he underestimated Macedonian numbers, sending too few of his own men to meet it. The result is that his blocking force is being rudely shunted to one side and the Macedonians will soon be able to fall on the rear of the Roman main battle line. Will the Romans be able to force a decision in time on the battlefield before their right wing is enveloped? Can the Macedonians hold off the Roman left wing and cavalry long enough? So for the new game, two players are required (correspondence with ssae, please). No fees charged.
Chris Engle has sent me a review copy of "Campaign in a Day". He is publishing this mail order at a price of $10 (£6?). As you will know from this column, Chris has been pioneering Matrix Games for some considerable time. The key point of matrix games is that the players suggest the course of future events as they see them, supporting their suggestions with arguments drawn from a matrix of potentially relevant arguments. The suggestions are then evaluated using a fairly simple mechanism. Chris has taken this forward by devising this pack, containing a guide to designing and running Campaign Matrix games ("Campaign Matrix Game Book"), a Campaign Book containing a number of scenarios (playtested), a set of Matrix Cards, and "Stupid Simple Rules". These last are battle rules for those times in the campaign when the only argument is force. The rules are simple, but not stupid. They make allowances for missile fire, melee and morale, with a strong emphasis on morale. Weapons after all are useless if men fail - and although they are not precisely calibrated to real life, they are plausible in their results. Well worth the effort to acquire the set, I would say.
Carl Carlsson writes that both his PBMs have finished, but he hopes to try to start another WWII micro PBM this autumn, and he is in need of fresh Germans. The period is very late WWII (some time between April 1944 and May 1945). Monthly turnround and the last word is always the umpires's.
Soldiering in the Green Hell
Update on DRUMS OF DEATH (Ashanti Wars, 1874, Campaign) by Peter Hayes
Sorry that I have not been back to you with an update before this, but what with actually "Playing God" to the campaign (as well as another one, espionage set in Victorian London) and buying and painting new metal armies, writing rules for them ... wargaming life gets a bit chokka. I almost wish Wargames Foundry would STOP bringing out so many irresistible ranges (No! ... I take it all back.) But your recent appeal for more current GM sitreps stung my conscience, so herewith ... (but then, where are the rest of you who figure in Games Check? None of us want to play in isolation, and it is always a breath of fresh air to hear how other campaigns are proceeding. It is also instructive to know of other setups, mechanisms, methods et al. I sometimes get the feeling that GMs (like regulation wargamers) have got coy these days about writing battle or campaign reports; for a long while they got a very 'bad press' about them, and now they feel that reports are unloved and unwanted. Not so. Don't believe a word of it, chaps. They are always going to be the window on the way that the other half lives, and the wargaming 'small change' we can't do without. I for one would dearly like to hear in hair-splitting detail of the progress of as many other PBMs as possible. You're never too smart to learn, and how else do we attract converts? So come on, get blowing your own bugles a bit more. (How am I doing for the cause, Chris?) ((Great, thanks. Couldn't have put it better myself - Ed))
Here in my four player "Drums of Death" set in the dank rain forests of the late 19th century African Gold Coast, we are now into move 19, well into our second year of play. The game turns are maintained at about 3-4 weeks turnround on the ground that these represent alternatively 3 and 4 days, two game turns cover one military week. The rules (this is my first home produced PBM venture) are working surprisingly well and I am getting quite adroit at playing out everything from a minor skirmish to a major jungle battle by means of my customised tabletop system, into which I invite a seasoned second opinion if the outcome looks at all dicey. The rules are largely home-grown, with some mechanisms from Savage and Soldier and Newbury Colonial. Additional sections had to be devised, due to the singular nature of the game terrain, to cover convincing losses from fever and exhaustion in varying circumstances, and wildly vacillating casualties arising from shattering ambushes laid in the path of the poor British columns toiling through the forests.
There are three British columns fighting their way generally northward across the Ashanti Territories with the objective of punitively burning the capital Kumassi, of extracting reparations in gold, in the name of the Queen, for past Ashanti aggressions and their inveterate hobby of slave trading, and of getting back to their bases on the southern coast with strictly conditional surviving troop strengths. At least, that's what the rules say. Their homeward journeys are going to be beset by the oncoming rains, which will make the going infinitely worse, give fever its big chance and turn the rivers into raging torrents. I begin to see that their chances are none too bright, but they are a doughty lot and I trust that I shall not have to see all of their gallant bones left unmarked in the forests.
I hope that their British grit will surprise me. In the centre of the map, Sir Garnet Wolseley battles northward and attracts the mass of the Ashanti warbands (the black opposition has vast numerical superiority, far worse than the British players, I think, may suspect) with clear intent to block his road to Kumassi. Several large battles have occurred, with serious losses on both side. At one point, the Ashanti barricades across the forest track (a favourite stratagem of theirs) were so formidable that the C-in-C was compelled to retrace his steps some scores of miles and attempt to make headway by another route - consisting of "secondary tracks" which are disease-rotten and fraught with numerous additional dangers. It's really tough, soldiering in Ashanti, Talk about a shilling a day ...!
To the west, Sir Hugh Dalrymple's column makes superior progress, mainly because even the wily Ashantis can't cover all the forest tracks all of the time, and their attention has been somewhat diverted. (A shrewd British ploy, we just might ask ourselves..?) In this area, I really should not say much more than that, because certain eagle eyes among my players may well read these very lines and benefit - they are an unprincipled lot. The 'Dalrymple' player incidentally is a highly accomplished line artist, and is building a fine album of "campaign sketches from our War Artist". I will attach a couple - what better PBM souvenir could there be? Over on the east of the map, the 'Volta River Force' under its maverick o/c Captain Hawley Grover RN doughtily attempts to beat a roundabout path to Kumassi and justify its suspect existence. This is helped by the sprightly Captain having a large share of charisma that attracts neighbouring native kings to despatch hordes of bloodthirsty warriors to aid his cause (and incidentally to bring home plenty of 24-carat loot...). His suspicion, however, is that this motley black legion could tire of its mission and leg it for home at the first serious setback, but that remains to be seen. Glover (like all the other commanders in the game) has his true life counterpart - the real one was even kookier. And it was in the course of this campaign (1st Ashanti War) that through the foresight of Wolseley that proper care was first taken for the health and efficiency of British troops serving in the tropics, and the deathless proverb "All Sir Garnet" came into being. Whether the game map lives up to its reputation as the "White Man's Grave" only time will tell. Already the columns are thinner than they were.
The Ashanti player, on the face of it, has a comparatively thankless role (the usual wargaming view of the chap who has to play the 'cannon-fodder' in colonial games). However the enemies of the good Queen did not exist for the simple reward of being shot down in heaps by Plucky British rifles - they were often skilful, courageous and successful foes. It has proved so in the case of our game. The British have developed a most healthy respect for the wily and swiftly moving Ashanti warbands (who in any case know a whole lot more about the forest tracks than they do) and the adroit player who makes the most of their vast superiority in numbers and mobility. They shoot straight, too!
I also have in mind a number of evil-minded options (the players do not know this, though they are beginning, I think, to smell the odd rat) whereby the kings of adjacent territories will become 'politically' involved on one side or the other - as they see the fattest advantage when the dust has settled - and send their entire black armies marching forth in support. Conflagration in Ashanti!! This could in fact be the ingredient that tips the game in - whose favour? I think that it is important for GM's, in designing games, to keep a number of undeclared devices up their sleeves to the players from becoming TOO sure of themselves, even if they know the rule booklet by heart. You can't beat the odd sickening shock, from the player's viewpoint, to spice a game up. If any of them read this - well, hadn't you guessed already?
Well, that's about it, to date. Everyone, it seems, is having a great time (they all do a great deal of stiff-upper-lip Victorian style role playing, which is great - they all have their eye on an elusive VC promised at the start, I reckon). I hope that this collection of 'snapshots' of a Colonial postal campaign is of interest to our own fraternity; and who knows, it may even give the unfortunate tabletop-bound fraternity some clearer idea of what a hell [Green?] of a time we have ourselves. I will be back to you Chris, if you will have me, when 'history' in the Green Hell has rolled on some more. ((Looking forward to it - Ed))
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