As some of you might remember, I am at the far end of the spectrum regarding my wargame periods. My latest period is the Greek War of Independence of the 1820's. Greece was under Turkish control and revolted in 1821. The war ended with Greece gaining independence after the decisive naval battle of Navarino. The combined Allied and Greek fleet virtually annihilated the Turkish fleet. A movement started in the 1800's to free Greece. Various poets including Lord Byron wrote that Greece should be free and return to the glory of their ancient past. Lord Byron then organized an expedition to Greece and went along for the ride. He was on the clownslide of his career and popularity and was in poor health. He died a few months after his arrival. Enough of the background. I will "cut to the chase" and get right to wargaming this period. I plan on writing an article on the available books on the period in the future for MWAN. A book recently published on the war is "The Greek War of Independence" by David Brewer which is quite good and should be readily available. Figures When I first started miniature wargaming and reading more military history, I read "bits and pieces" of the Greek War of Independence. It sounded like an interesting period to wargame. The only obstacle was there no figure line for the period. I never expected any. Imagine my surprise when Miniature Wargames featured a three part series on the war starting with issue 196. In the second part, the author, Spiros Kournoussis announced he had a line of figures in 15mm. Spiros' line is very complete. Greek Infantry, Islanders (they wear floppy pants compared to the skirts the Greeks wore), Turkish and Egyptian figures are featured. Also, cavalry and artillery complete with crews are carried. Irregular troops did most of the fighting so most of the figures are of that type. The Egyptians were the only "regular" troops. Finally, Philhellenes (foreign volunteers) are available and wear civilian clothes. The figures are large 15mm and are about 18mm. The animation and detail are superb making for easy dry brushing. By priming figures black and dry brushing white, you can detail the pleats on the Greek skirts that they wore. Is there a proper name for them? There is NO flash or mould lines at all which is great. I did not have to remove flash off any or file any mould lines on the figures I ordered. The only work to do is to glue arms on some figures like the leaders and the cavalry sword arms. The riders need to be glued to the horses. Spiros is good to work with and provided me with pricing details and samples. For a great look at the figures, go to the Athens's wargames club web sight at www.strategikon.com and click on the link "What is Free or Death?". Ordering details and prices are also provided. Spiros doesn't take credit cards. Since I ordered $350 worth of figures, I used a Western Union international money transfer which costs $40 extra but it's worth it if you are sending that much cash. I'm not familiar with any Napoleonic figure range but Turkish figures should work. Spiros' Turks wear a flat cap (not a fez) and baggy pants and a vest. I don't know if any Greek Napoloenic figures exist or if there are equivalent figures that could be used. Regarding uniform color plates, the Miniature Wargames series has color plates for a general guide. Since both sides used irregular troops to do the fighting, you can go wild painting figures in a variety of color schemes. I like the Greek armed priest figures and use them in leaders in some units. Rule Changes For Big Battalion Rules I am always on the outlook for innovative new wargame rules. When the publication of Big Battalions rules for Napoleonics was announced, I ordered a copy. I liked the fact that the rules appeared simple, emphasized command control and tactics and had a flexible basing scheme. I felt the rules would work for the early 1800's including the Greek War. On Military Matters in New Jersey stocks this ruleset. Go to their website at www.onmilitarymatters.com From reading several books on the period, the Greeks avoided hand to hand combat and tended to fire at the Turks and flee before the Turks closed in. The Turks loved to charge into melees. The changes below attempt to simulate these qualities. I've tested all of the changes below in at least six wargames. If you have your own favorite set of wargame rules, you should be able to modify them using the suggestions below. I call my rules Opa Opa! Which is named for the flaming cheese that is served at Greek restaurants. A two page play sheet follows this article. If you want an electronic copy of my play sheet in IVIS word format, email me at: shanse][3((~)ford.com I welcome any comments and questions. Unit Basing This is not a "change" since Big Battalions has about the most flexible basing scheme around for a set of wargame rules. The rules will work with infantry unit sizes from nine to 24 figures or more. Unlike other rulesets, there are no morale check modifiers for the number of casaulties the unit has. I use my own standard basing scheme myself mounting three figures per 40mm by 20mm base, three artillery crew on a 40mm square base and two cavalry figures on a 40mm base. My infantry units are twelve figures, cavalry is six figures and artillery bases are two bases with two guns. You can use other unit sizes or basing as you wish. Unit Classes For a fair game, I rate most Turkish and Greek units at class C. I rate the Egyptians class B and the "irregular" Greeks class D. I have no idea how to rate the Philhellenes (the foreign volunteers that aided the Greeks). I am still researching the period and haven't formed a conclusion. I would rate them at least class C and some units at class B. Unit Attack/Defense Factor Changes From all of the accounts I've read, the Greeks tended to defend fortified positions using their muskets against Turkish charges. It appears that the Greeks avoided melee combat. Therefor, use the following unit attack/defense factors in the table below: Nation/Formation Vs. Infantry Attacker/DefenVs. Cavalry Turkish Infantry/Line 4/4 1 Turkish Infantry/Column 3/3 3 Greek Infantry/Line 2/3 1 Greek Infantry/Column 3/3 2 All Cavalry/Line 4/3 4 All Cavalry/Column 2/1 2 All Artillery 3/3 2 All unformed infantry 2 0 All unformed cavalry 2 2 All unformed artillery 0 0 Greek Infantry Fire The Big Battalion rules allow only infantry skirmishers and artillery to fire. There is no separate fire by infantry. Melee combat and infantry fire is resolved in one step by each side rolling a die, adding combat factors, and referencing the result on a table. To simplify the rules, I allow each Greek infantry stand to fire as a skirmisher base before the Greeks move. I don't allow them to fire during the Turkish turn. Turkish infantry doesn't get to fire at all but they have an advantage in melee combat. They normally have more artillery too. There are two exceptions to the "no fire after Greek move" rule. If the Greeks are defending against a Turkish assault and make their reaction roll, they can fire on the Turks before melee. Any Turkish units taking hits must take a morale check per the normal rules. Any Turkish units failing this morale check are shaken and don't close into melee combat. They also remain 1 " from the defender. The other exception is that Greeks can fire after they move on a skirmish card. See the next section. Finally, any Greek units that are shaken can't fire at Turkish units within range during their turn. They can still fire before a Turkish melee if they pass the reaction test. There is a -1 die roll penalty for shaken units to pass this test. Command Card Effects Big Battalions uses a number of command cards to simulate command and control. I don't think some of the cards have enough effect in the game- One example is the Artillery card. Per the normal rules, once one is played, the artillery targeting rules are ignored. I think this card should help artillery more. Artillery gets a free action with the Artillery card: unlimber, limber or change the gun facing. If a skirmish card is played for Greek Infantry, the Greek infantry get to fire after they move. If they have fired before the move segment, they don't get to fire on a skirmish card. This card is treated as no effect for the Turks. To ensure that the Greek player(s) gets some skirmish cards, I give each Greek leader one skirmish card at the beginning of the game. This set of cards can be used by any Greek leader anytime during the game. Once played, the card is put in the discard pile. These cards count toward the command limit of the leader when played. P>Double the effect of Artillery Fire I feel that artillery batteries are too weak in the game. Per the game rules, each battery stand rolls one die at long range and two dice at grapeshot to score hits. If a unit is hit twice, it will pass its morale check on a die roll of greater than two. Units will pass this check easily I use two artillery stands per battery, each with three or four crew figures. Each stand rolls one die at long range and two dice at grape shot range to score hits. Artillery now defends better. This doesn't make the game too bloody either. I allow one or two dice per artillery base if the base has at least one crew figure on it. You could add a negative modifier to the hit roll for this case if you wish. Unit Elimination Some wargames allow several units to remain on the table at 1/3 the original strength. I don't care for this. A wargame is no fun with several weak units. If an infantry or cavalry unit only has one base, I remove it from the table. Cavalry Pursuit I make all of the cavalry in the game irregular. Irregular cavalry always have to pursue after the melee unless a hold card is played. Sample Wargame Scenarios The war featured several ambushes, sieges and attacks on villages. At the beginning, the war was a series of massacres. Both the Turks and Greeks were guilty of these. The biggest problem is lack of battle maps. I have seen only two maps for battles. I have eight or so books on the war. As usual, they don't cover the battles in detail though they describe some of them. I feel the book by Thomas Gordon has maps for a few battles. I have seen it previously for sale but it goes for around $250. For ideas, you can use the wargame scenario books by Charles Grant and adopt scenarios in wargame magazines. Spiros has his own rules Freedom or Death with several scenarios. Freedom or Death are easy to play and you don't need that many figures. I've converted a civil war battle fought out west to a very good scenario that I am sending to MWAN. Spiros has published a scenario in the latest Heliograph, issue 131. If you interested in a copy, EMAIL Richard Brooks at rbrooks@srarp.org. Richard can tell you how much it is to buy an issue if you don't subscribe. Conclusion For an interesting and colorful wargame period, try gaming the Greek War. I have always been a fan of Greek culture, food and history. Wargaming the period is a nice interest. As a bonus, I have several wargamers of Greek descent in my convention games which is great! Back to MWAN #119 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