INTRODUCTION These are a set of simple rules reflecting the conduct of a formal siege during the period of dominance of smoothbore artillery. The rules are not fully comprehensive but as they stand now they should give two or more players a chance to bring an operation to a conclusion in under two hours, and if you wish to add further levels of sophistication, it is for the moment up to you, but feel free to contact me with ideas EQUIPMENT AND SCALES The rules are designed primarily for 6mm figures and terrain pieces, but can be used with larger scales given enough time and resources. The Defender will need representations of at least two Bastions, three sections of City Wall, one Demi-Lune and two Ravelins. The Besieger will need a large number of Trench sections, Angles and Battery Positions. Whilst all of these are available in model form, you can use correctly shaped pieces of card as representations with an obvious loss of visual impact. In addition, both sides will require numbers of Mortars, Heavy and Light cannon and models and sections of infantry. The dice used are D1 O's numbered 1 through 10, A ruler and pen and paper will also be of use. One millimetre on the table is equivalent to one yard. One Turn of play represents 24 hours. One artillery model represents three pieces, and a section of infantry sixty men. OBJECTIVES The Defender must attempt to delay the advance of the Besieger's earthworks. As it is assumed for game purposes that all sieges are ultimately successful, the success of failure of the either player will be linked to the time taken in breaching the city wall, plus losses incurred. The Besieger must push his lines forward by building a series of Parallels (trenches perpendicular to the line of the city walls). These will be linked by a number of Saps (approach trenches). Behind the cover of the Parallels he will be able to build Battery Positions to house his artillery, which must be brought ever closer so as to enable him to storm and hold the Covered Way, breach the Demi-Lune and finally the Bastion, thus preparing a final assault on the City Wall itself. TURN SEQUENCE Each turn will consist of a number of actions performed in the following order: I The besieger constructs trenches and batteries. 2, Both sides move infantry and artillery. Both sides may fire their artillery. 4, The Besieger may attempt a Storm if appropriate. 5 The Defender may attempt a Sortie if appropriate. Once the turn is finished, a record should be made of its completion, and the next turn started. MOVEMENT Movement for the Besieger is determined by Trench Units. An infantry section can move up to eight trench lengths, (a battery counts as one length), in any one turn, Light cannon seven trench lengths and Heavy cannon and mortars five. A battery can only be entered from the a Parallel section touching its front or rear edge. Saps are assumed to leave and enter Parallels at one trench unit only - they cannot be placed on joins. When an infantry section or artillery model enters the game it must spend its first move within the first parallel. A section of Sap may hold two infantry sections, or two artillery models, or one of each. A section of Parallel may hold up to three infantry sections, or three artillery pieces, or a combination of both. Batteries may hold up to nine sections or models, although only three artillery pieces may be mounted on its firing platform at any one time. Artillery may not move and fire in the same Turn, and this includes those pieces moved on to a firing platform in a battery to replace a dismounted piece. A sap which has not yet made contact with a Parallel at both ends may not hold any artillery models. The Defender may move any or all of his infantry and artillery in any section of fortification. Those infantry in the Ravelins are considered to be holding the line of the covered Way. Artillery may not move and fire in the same turn. FORCES INVOLVED A typical siege will involve the following for both sides. You should of course be prepared to experiment. Side Infantry Sections Heavy Cannon Light Cannon Mortars Defender 10 6 4 3 Besieger 50 17 20 13 CONSTRUCTION The Besieger may construct up to eight units of earthworks in any on Turn. A Unit is either 60mm of Sap or Parallel, or half a Battery Position. A change in the direction of trenches may be made at no cost. Construction must begin with the First Parallel, which can be no closer than 580mm from the line of the City Walls and should be at least twelve units in length. From this Saps can be driven forward to reach the line of the Second Parallel. This should be at least ten units in length and no further than 420mm form the city wall and nearer than 380mm. In the same fashion saps are then driven forward to the line of the Third Parallel which should be at least eight units in length and no further away than 21 Omm for the city wall and no nearer than 180mm All trench units must follow on from an existing section with the exception of those marking the line of the first parallel,. Any number of saps may be pushed forward from a parallel. Use of the angle sections must be made to ensure that no more than two saps units run continuously in the same direction. A battery position can be constructed to house either canon or mortars but not both. They can normally only be sited to behind the line of an existing parallel. ARTILLERY FIRE Artillery fire is conducted by Fire Position . i.e. Bastions, Demi-Lines, Ravelins, and Batteries positions. Only artillery models in place at a position can be fired. At the start of the artillery phase both players roll dies to see who starts. The winner may choose to use one of his positions or pass to his opponent. A player firing from a position may nominate any or all of the models that it contains to be used. Any models not used in the this phase may be used later in the sally or storm sections, but once a model has been fired from it the position may not be revisited in the artillery phase. As the artillery models in a position are fired individually it may help players to reverse the pieces once they are used so as to indicate their status. Ranges are measured from the centre of the position to the centre of the target. All pieces in that position use that range against the same target. There is an arc of fire of 45 degrees either side of the centre line of the position. Note that a Demi-Lune or Ravelin may use either of its faces for calculating range or arc. There are two types of artillery fire: Suppressive and Destructive. The former damages personnel and equipment. The latter is used only be the Besieger and is intended to damage structures. To establish damage cross reference the type of piece being fired against the range and type of fire. The number of on the left of the slash is that required by the roll of 1 D1 0 to obtain a result on the right of the slash. Some options allow a better result on a higher die roll. D - Dismount of artillery piece. One model selected at random is removed from play. It there are no artillery models in the target then one infantry section is removed. H - Hit on target section. Once damage point inflicted. S - Suppression of fire on of the pieces in the target position. One randomly selected model may not fire in any capacity for the rest of the Turn. All artillery fire is directed at either a fire position or a section of trench. A total of four S results in one turn will destroy a targeted trench section which must be removed from the table. Any infantry sections or artillery models may move to adjacent trench sections if there is room for them, otherwise they too will be removed. Five hits will destroy the section and automatically remove any artillery or infantry in the target. Any combination of four S and D Hits will be treated as S hits. Batteries require a total of six hits in one turn to be destroyed. A destroyed battery position may still hold models but it cannot be used as a fire position until it is rebuilt. Hits may not be accrued over to the next turn. Any damage that did not cause destruction is assumed to be made good by the start of the next turn. AMMUNITION Every time an artillery piece is fired or supports a storm it will use ammunition. The amount of ammunition used each turn must be deducted from each player's total. Once a player runs out of ammunition he will immediately be deemed to have lost the game. Ammunition expenditure rates are as follows: The figure on the left of the slash is for Supportive fire, that on the right for Destructive Fire. Ammunition Expenditure Mortar Light Cannon Heavy Cannon 200 and under 1/- 1/1 1/1 201 to 400 1/- 1/2 2/3 401 and over 2/- 1/- 2/3 The amount of ammunition available to each player should remain a secret from each other. As a standard recommendation, the Defender should have one hundred rounds. the besieger two hundred and fifty, but be prepared to tinker around with these figures. STORMING A Storm is an attempt to take the line of the Covered Way or occupy a manned Demi Lune. The besiegers must storm form the former but have an option to breach the latter. The Covered Way is assumed to be defended by the infantry sections located in the Ravelins and the storming troops are assumed to come from the infantry sections in the Third parallel. Both sides may support the action with artillery pieces available form earlier in the turn.. Each side calculates its relative strength as follows. Plus 1 For each two supporting cannon or mortars firing from over 200mm range. For each Storming infantry section. For each supporting cannon firing from under 200mm range. Plus 2 For each supporting cannon firing from under 200mm range. Plus 3 For each Defending infantry section. The resulting totals should be compared to calculate a ratio of the besiegers to the defenders strength. Fractions should be rounded down in favour of the defender. The ratio should then be cross referenced against the throw of a D10 to obtain the result The figure to the left of the slash is the of infantry sections lost by the besieger that to the right by the defender. if all of the defender's sections are removed then the storm is successful, with any remaining artillery being automatically lost. If the defender has surviving sections then the besieger has a 10% chance of success plus 10% for each section lost by the defender. It the storm of the covered way is successful any remaining infantry must retreat to the city walls. Once the covered way is taken batteries may be built forward of the Third parallel. A Demi Lune may then be stormed in the same manner as above or the besieger may just opt to breach it instead. SORTIES A Sortie is an attempt by the defender to inflict damage ion the trenches and equipment of the besieger. The defender may nominate any section of trench in a forward position and attack it with a number of infantry sections. A DI 0 is thrown adding one to the score for each infantry section involved in the sortie and deducting one for each opposing infantry section in the target trench, and one fore each two defending section in immediately adjacent sections. The results are as follows: 1-5: No effect 6,7: Trench section destroyed. All defenders survive. 8,9: Trench destroyed. Half of defenders lost. 10: Trench destroyed all defenders lost Surviving infantry sections may retreat to adjacent trenches if there is room for them otherwise they are destroyed. All artillery pieces are automatically destroyed if the trench is destroyed. Sorties will finish automatically on a No Effect result, but may continue to an adjoining trench section if successful. Batteries may only be attacked if there are no manned trench sections immediately to their front. Troops attacking a battery will deduct 2 from their die roll.. Upon completing a sortie roll 1D10 for each of the defender's infantry sections involved. A score of 1 or 2 means that that section is removed from play. One is deducted from the die roll for each continued attack made after the first, BREACHES. Each Bastion flank, Demi Lune and City Wall section can absorb a set number of damage points before it is considered to have been breached. Typically these will be between ten and eighteen per section but the exact score should only be known by the defender. Each hit on a section will reduce its value by one and once it is reduced to zero it has been Breached. Any artillery piece in a breached section will be removed from play and infantry sections lost on a roll I to 5 on a D10. WINNERS AND LOSERS It is assumed that a besieger will take twenty turns to breach the City Wall without too much loss to his own forces. The breach effectively concludes the game as it allows both sides to finish the operation with honour intact without the need for futile heroics. To decide who has won the besiegers adds and deducts the following Plus 2 For each move prior to the twentieth that be breaches the City Wall. For each of the defender's artillery pieces destroyed. For each of the defender's infantry sections destroyed. Plus 3 For each of the defender's artillery pieces captured. For each light artillery piece lost. For each move after the twentieth that he breaches the City Wall. For each heavy cannon or mortar lost. For each infantry section lost. A positive score gives the besieger is a victory and negative score a loss, the degree being decided by the size of the score. So There You Have It... 'Cannons' still has some way to go before it can take into account all aspects of siege warfare in the period. It needs rules for counter-approaches, mining, enfilading of trenches and all those other things that can make sieges out of the ordinary. I like the fact that I can get a game over and done with quickly enough so that both parties get to play both sides so that you can compare performances, but some of you out there will I am sure feel the need to add twiddly bits. If you have any suggestions please let me have them and if they seem workable I may add them. if you feel you would like to consider a point in public use the bulletin board Whatever you decide, please enjoy using the rules. They remain my copyright, so no being naughty and selling them on to unsuspecting wargamers. Have fun! Back to MWAN #117 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 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