PSEUDO-PHILOSOPHIC HOT AIR James Manto I read with interest and amusement Robert Coggin's article "Pardon My Chaos" in MWAN 130. I gather he feels personally threatened by Sam Mustafa's rules Grande Armee and he reacts by throwing around a lot of bombastic sophistry. He is being overly pedantic when he labels Piquet and Grande Armee as deconstructionist. All wargames, because they have rules and limitations to actions and clearly defined parameters are necessarily structuralist. A deconstructionist wargame would possibly be a free kreigspiel or a matrix game, but even with those the Game Masters have some underlying organizing principles or structure to govern their decisions. Mr. Coggins also tries to make a distinction between a turn and a sequence of play. Yet the sequence of play is the internal structure, or composition of, a turn. One cycle through the sequence of play constitutes a turn. The two concepts are intimately interconnected and cannot be separated. When he states that the turn in Empire 3rd Edition is `stochastic' he is muddying the waters with more Big Words. `Stochastic' means random. What is random in an Empire III, Piquet or Grande Armee turn is not the length of time involved, but how much gets done during that time. He is dissembling when he claims that his turns in Napoleon's Battles are `holistic' rather than `linear.' When it is the appropriate time in the sequence of play to shoot my artillery, I measure the range from the guns to where the target unit is at that point in the turn, ignoring the fact that I am representing a continuous bombardment that occurs throughout the duration of the turn. Perhaps the target unit started its move outside of range, moved through long range and into effective range. When I fire, I calculate the fire at full effect where they ended their move, I don't take a penalty because the target spent part of the time represented by the turn actually outside of the range of my guns. I have played Empire III, Piquet, Napoleon's Battles and Grande Armee. All have their good points, although I found Napoleon's Battles to be a poor grand tactical game. The `brigades' are organized and maneuver like battalions except that flanks are conveniently ignored. Even an Army Group, when attacked in the flank is seriously discomforted. Some flanking units may be able to wheel to face the threat, but supporting arms like artillery are all facing in the wrong direction and cannot give effective help. Even if a brigade could reorient itself onto a new axis of attack within the half hour turn set out in Napoleon's Battles, to fight with full effect in two or three different directions simultaneously is a super-human ability! Mr. Coggins states "...in grand tactical wargames rules, most events or actions, such as movement or command, are predictable, not chaotic." I'm sure every general wishes that were the case. Then, divisions and brigades would always interpret their orders correctly, execute them promntly and be at their objectives on time. Yet how many commanders throughout history have had orders go astray, be misinterpreted or have the intended unit take too long to get moving. He tries to end with a diplomatic vine la difference, and yet he implies that players of anything other than Napoleon's Battles are irresponsible horoscope readers "who would abdicate responsibility for their actions to their stars." Reverses I've suffered playing Grande Armee were usually due to poor generalship on my part. Yet I clearly remember my greatest reverse in a Napoleon's Battles game; hitting the enemy cavalry brigade front and flank with two of my own and having both my brigades routed. It wasn't stars that beat me there, but poor games design. However, folks that like Napoleon's Battles will play it and won't be at all attracted to other rules like Grande Armee. They are two different animals that appeal to two different sorts of gamers. If he wants to boost his rules then he should publish some scenarios, not confuse things with a meaningless debate and a lot of pseudo-philosophic hot air. LARGER FORMAT MAGAZINE? Michael Lethbridge First, I want to thank you for such a cool magazine. I appreciate the work that goes into each issue. I await each issue eagerly. I am a true believer in "if it isn't broken, don't fix it," but I have to ask ... have you considered going to a more "normal" magazine style? I was thinking of something along the lines of Wargames Illustrated or the Courier. I could see a great combination with your new graphics layout, lots of pictures (could I even hope for color?) and the excellent articles that you currently publish. Just a thought. Whatever you decide to do, please carry on with the magazine, and consider me a life-long subscriber! Go ORIGINS! Matt Simms Congratulations on another great issue. Hal did a great job, but I like the new version, too. I have to agree with your past articles that Origins in Columbus, OH is becoming a great miniatures event. I go to Historicon every year, and there's no doubt that it's the grand daddy of them all, but Origins is not that far behind. The staff and volunteers seemed to know what they were doing, and I had fun in all of my games. Next year, I'll be going to both shows again. I'd like to try other shows on the East Coast, but the timing doesn't work for me. Advance the Colors is the only other show I get to, and it's great! Will we see you there? Ed: No, I'm afraid not this year. We are looking at it as a September 05 convention .for MWAN and True North Minis, though. RESUBSCRIBE POSTCARDS S.M. Bennett, Just a quick note with my resubscription check. I like the postcards that you guys send out to remind us that our subscriptions are about up. I hate to miss an issue, and I am pleased to get a postcard in the mail to tell me to resubscribe. That's customer service! Back to MWAN # 131 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 Legio X This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com