First let me congratulate and thank Hal most warmly for his splendid contribution to the wargame hobby, over 100 editions. A triumph not only of stickability, perseverance and quantity - but also of very high quality. Secondly, he asked me for an instant article, and that had me stumped for a time. Domestically, I am trying to organize a house move, while internationally we have a war on our hands: so wargames are rather far from my thoughts just now. However, the problem of fighting in the Balkans without putting conventional troops on the ground has reminded me of some of the unconventional armies that were raised in the early 1790s. Might I therefore draw the attention of readers to the following three paradigms taken from my book 'The Art of War of Revolutionary France', pp.258-62: 1) The counter-revolutionary 'Army of the Princes', which based its main army at Bingen, near Mainz. Out of a total strength of 8,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, it had four princes, two marshals, 16 lieutenant generals, 118 major generals, 16 admirals, and some 12,000 other Gentlemen or officers', including 606 staff officers and aides who were responsible for the headquarters. One could therefore say that it was 'heavily over-officered', although in fact the majority of the commissioned ranks actually served as private soldiers. The weaknesses of such an army must be obvious (not least the many duels to which it was prone, over small distinctions of rank or precedence), and it did rapidly prove itself to be tactically incompetent. However in certain circumstances it might well also have revealed some strengths, eg it was ideally organized for a massive sudden expansion, if only it had been able to attract large masses of unwashed and nonnoble common soldiers. As a comparison, we should remember that the USA in 1860 had something like 3,000 trained officers. By 1863 they were dealing with Union and Confederate forces which totaled as many as 3,000,000. Statistically there was only one officer per regiment who had been trained before the war. 2) The Royal and Catholic Army of the Vendee (or 'Grande Armee' of the Vendee) came perilously close to having plenty of soldiers but no trained officers. It rose to a strength of some 100,000 but was no more robust in the open field than the Army of the Princes. However it was exceptionally effective in guerrilla warfare, in its own home area, because it enjoyed high social cohesion. It took its Organization in war directly from the normal Organization of society in peacetime - i.e. the common people naturally followed their priests and landowners, even though nobody might have had formal military training. Of course there were a few trained officers who found their way to the Vendee, from Bingen and elsewhere - but statistically they amounted to little more than the 'one per regiment' that was seen in the ACW. 3) On the Revolutionary side the most notorious of the irregular armies were perhaps the 'Armees Revolutionnaires' which lasted for roughly a year from May 1793, including 3 months of official recognition during the autumn. They were an ultra-ideological version of the National Guard, but free from the normal municipal chain of command. They were not designed for fighting against serious opposition, but for asserting the civil authority of the Revolution (and its Terror) over as wide an area as possible, which meant they normally operated by squads rather than battalions. In total at the peak there were some 30,000 men in 70 'armies', all more or less active in obtaining supplies for the larger towns, and in stamping out monarchism, grain hoarding &c.. In structure they would consist of an assortment of disaffected elements on the margins of society, commanded by extreme radical politicians. The ratio of 'officers' to men was doubtless similar to that of a normal professional army, and as an all-volunteer force with high ideological objectives the military quality might have become high: but in the event none of the members was interested in military objectives: only in the political, judicial and economic domination of civilians. So how might we wargame all this? In a conventional game of formed battalions, none of the three forces listed would do well against any sort of field army, so it would not be interesting to play. However, a game set at squad level might offer more diversity, especially if one set of irregulars were set against another. Of the three, the Vendeans would surely do best - although unlike the other two they had few muskets and relied more upon the pitchfork, the blunderbuss and the dagger. Equally the Armees Revolutionnaires would be better placed to call upon powerful reinforcements, while the Noblemen could doubtless often buy their way out of a tight comer. These forces could therefore make for an amusing and colorful 'Western Skirmish' game (where the 'Wild West' in question is Western France, around the mouth of the River Loire, in the autumn of 1793). Each of the two players rolls a D6 to see which side he gets (1-2 = Army of the Princes: 3-4 Vendeans: 5-6 = Armees Revolutionnaire). It doesn't matter if the two sides look as though they ought to be allied to each other (ie both turn out to be royalist, or both revolutionary), since historically there were many deep divisions within each force, and at times they came to blows - especially at squad level. In this game there are ten men to each side, with 'army lists'as follows:- Nobles: One demented naval captain (2 pistols, I cutlass), in command; one rich Marquis, formerly a captain in the Royal Guard Cavalry (court sword and pocket handkerchief), also in command; one colonel of the line hussars (musket) - once again, he also believes he holds the command; two rich and two poor country noblemen with lieutenancies in the line infantry (muskets); two lesser country nobles with no previous military credentials at all (muskets); one lower class butler, acting as servant to all the above (heavily loaded pack mule and a stick to beat it with). Vendeans: One outspoken parish priest (crucifix and loaded cudgel), in undisputed command; two lesser country nobles with no previous military credentials (fowling pieces); one blacksmith (machete and lump hammer); one fanner (blunderbuss); four farm labourers (pitchforks, scythes, daggers); one millanaid (musket, dagger, and a vicious temper). Revolutionaries: One gutter journalist with rank of Chef deBattalion (two pistols and a mobile guillotine), in command; two constables of the court (truncheons and short swords); two guillotine operators, formerly from the town meat market (muskets); two unemployed weavers (muskets): three former vagrants (muskets and a hand cart for collecting foodstuffs due to the Republic). I trust that this will be enough to inspire readers to design convoluted scenarios of their own! Back to MWAN #100 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com