Among the most innovative and least used techniques of wargaming is the miniature role play game. A look at game store's shelves reveals any number of commercial role playing military games. Many of them deal with military eras in constant play with miniatures. Yet it is rare to encounter any mention of military role playing either in connection with miniatures or as a separate report of its use. Perhaps one reason may be that these games sell, but even with these rules the buyer rarely envisions the type and amount of preparation necessary to put a military role playing game into practice. The sheer size and complexity of the rules are enough to discourage any beginner. Writers fill these works with fine print rules that can be selected to suit the participants; this does not help advise a buyer how to start, what to use, what not to use, what to put aside for later reference. Commercial military role play publications serve best as references. This article takes up some basic elements of role playing a miniature wargame, then goes through the process of building an initial, original, game. Role Playing Any game where players act as commanders or transmit orders, written or oral, between players is role playing. Too many miniature players think of role playing as a fantasy game, while those who use role play see it only as a command situation. In reality, role playing operates within a setting or situation; people take the part of characters within this situation. In human relations, or psychological therapy, the action is stopped when a certain behavior is established, then the participants discuss the results of the role play as basic information or data. Role play means learning by doing: thinking, feeling, acting at the same time. In managerial or educational simulations the roles can be played through to obtain some objective or goal. The most creative and extreme form of role play involves pure improvisation. With bare knowledge, or none at all, without a script, information of opponent, ally, or neutral, without scenary or setting, a number of people, together, do away with a game master, or any sort of director, to improvise on each other's actions and words. What emerges as a human situation is pure creation -- an art form (applied to wargaming this last form requires the utmost in knowledge of an historic era and it's military system). All of these forms have value for miniature wargames: The Fantasy Trip Devoted fantasy role players regard wargaming as far too simplified into endless rounds of combat. Missing character and personal exploration of the events on the table it lacks, they say, a sense of the personal experience encountered in the actual events of war. Most miniature game rules, as they are played, do lack these qualities. Concentrating on combat makes them battle games rather than personal experiences of war. Available military role play games accentuate combat. Most of the commercial publications yield games that are skirmishes and adapt without difficulty to miniatures. Character and a sense of experience of the situation is rare, it emerges only as superhero or farce. We hope for this initial game that even the most determined of fantasy players once introduced to wargaming if not converted will be left with a greater respect for the historic game (The fantasy player's claim that a more historic game does not mean a more realistic game deserves a separate treatment). Objectives in an Initial Game Our attempt at -forming an initial game will be to provide an example for a beginning game director, it will be aimed at the new player in role play or one new to wargaming. Level in an Initial Game Each role play game will differ every time it's played. Staying close to historic events characterizes the military role play game. A game director must join these two distinct activities into one pattern. Single figures representing each player allow more opportunities for role play than any other miniature action. We will use the skirmish since it yields the best illustration of the process that forms a role play wargame and arm wers to our objectives for the new role player. Plot Incidents A game director must start with a plot; a preselected number of incidents: some people prefer to call this a scenario. Incidents can either be typical of a war, or actual incidents from a combat action or battle. The plot is the first major difficulty in role play encountered by the game director. As the game proceeds the director uses these incidents to form the basis of role play, at the same time he integrates the player's actions into the overall plot. Fitting the player's actions into the plot is the second major difficulty in role play games for the director since it requires improvisation. Portraying an actual battle or combat means less improvisation for the novice director, but it is still required. Improvisation requires knowledge of the period and a certain creative ability, both of these qualities demand research and practice. Preselected incidents and the director's improvisation together maintain the zest of the game. Neither one can go it alone. Game Pace The director must make the role player act continuously, at first requiring him to think and act, then accelerating demands on the player's choices of action, while shortening his time for reflection. Here, the director mixes in the greater necessity for reaction -- a decision that must be made immediately and allows no time for reflection. If not excessive, pressure on the role player forms the most pleasurable type of game for him. Not only must the director continue the action he will have to decide on the results of the player's choices on the plot. Again, this requires the director to improvise. Surprise Every game must contain surprise. If surprise is consistent with the plot it maintains the play; it varies the demands on the player to continue his interest and draw him deeper into the game situation. Game Length Short games, at first, later built up into longer sequences in time, develop the director's experience and his ability to improvise. Our initial role play game will be developed as a short game. At first, we shall use no more than one character. All other figures will be background characters, or nonplayer characters (NPC's) handled by the director. Starting role play with one participating player and in time adding others builds the director's ability to deal with more complex plots and larger numbers of players. Incident Cards A pack of blank cards (3X5 or 5X7) forms the best starting technique. Each holds a military incident or event, this allows the director to deliver a steady stream of these historic incidents as a plot. A director fits the carded incident and the role player's choices of action within the incident into a consistent pattern. Using cards brings military history and the personal inventiveness of the player and the director together to build the actual game. The director writes the cards and learns the contents; the player acquires what he knows of the incidents from the director. The incident cards prompt the director's narration of the incidents and events: They must not be read! Reading destroys the narration by making it artificial, it lacks the fresh, spontaneous sense of unfolding events. Any fumbling, hesitation, or doubt shown by the director breaks the player's absorption; it destroys the "suspension of belief" necessary in any wargame. Flipping the cards as a quick reference will not disturb the narration of the incidents, it his narration is smooth and continuous. Rehearse the narration until it is smooth and requires no effort to remember what comes next. Rehearsing a narration to yourself until it can be delievered without hesitation is a necessity in a role play wargame. Use the incident cards to prompt yourself. You will not have time to stop, think, or look for long references. In most cases it will be a frantic scramble for the director to keep up with the role player's unpredictable choices of action. A note or two on the cards for rule decisions, either as dice throws or some other resolution technique, will help in each incident narrated from the card. In a few moments we will take up the process of forming these cards and aids to the narration. Terrain and Figures Each is necessary to dramatize the role play narration. The director adds figures as the narration proceeds. Basic terrain should be kept simple and general. For our initial (sample) game we need one or two streams, some trees -- close together and others further apart -- two or three slopes, topped with a hill. Add the human features to the terrain as you proceed. "You have come to a fence." Place the fence; it should go in whole as the player's figure would see it. "As you travel the road-". Add the road, a simple terrain colored cardboard section, six to eight inches long, perhaps curved; it ends abruptly because that is all the figure's awareness would be in the real situation. Guide yourself in placing these human features by what the player's figure would perceive at that point. For that reason, the terrain, outside of the general features mentioned above, would be empty. Figures 25mm or larger, lend an exceptional advantage to role play wargaming. Role play games when figures are close to each other provide a use for those neglected, detailed, larger models now merely displayed. Single base figures are more flexible. As the director's narration calls them into being, the figures appear. "It looks like an enemy skirmisher". Place the 25mm figure with a drab uniform at the furthest possible distance. "It's hard to tell, could by your own, could be a civilian, it may be the enemy". Place two or three more background figures. "Looks like trouble, what are you going to do?" (Give the player very little time decide). By the way, these spare quotes do not illustrate the smooth and continuous narration; they only introduce the player to figures and scenery. Movement of Figures The player always moves the figure that represents his character; the director never touches this one, he does move all other figures. No set movement is necessary since action is conveyed by the narration, a few inches for figures on foot to twelve inches for those on horseback will do to illustrate the movement. Sources for an Initial Game Large quantities of first hand participant's accounts from the American Civil War make it an excellent source for our initial (sample) role play game. Some care must be taken to avoid dubious or counterfeit accounts. Available basic sources would be BATTLES AND LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR, four volumes, published 1887, since reprinted. Another source of original participant books is THE COLLECTOR'S LIBRARY OF THE CIVIL WAR, Time-Life Reprint. Both sources will be found in most libraries or through inter-library. These books doe not ease the task of a beginning role play director. Selecting incidents and placing them within a manageable narration, as a start, can be quite difficult. All this material is more useful in adding to a formed role play game. Why not start with a literary classic, one whose authenticity is unquestioned? Stephen Crane's RED BADGE OF COURAGE, A signet Classic paperback, is available for $1.50 in most chain bookstores, edited by R.M. Stallman. Not only is it accessible, the Signet version contains the parts of the original left out of it's first publication; you now have two versions of the book (For a fuller explanation see Henry Binder's Sept-83 paperback $6.95 in most chain bookstores or at the library). A simple start based on the RED BADGE allows other Civil War incidents and actions to be tied into it. Setting the initial game on the RED BADGE offers, as a plot, the fears and impact of military combat on the major character, a recruit, the youth: Henry Fleming, perfect for the role player novice or one new to the Miniature war game. A hardened wargamer, sure that his figure's little lead heart beats a true military heroism, can be offered an experienced role from the RED BADGE's other characters, either Fleming's fellow soldiers or the NCO's and officers. Any Civil War person, drawn from the times, or made up, can be added and made the central focus. If so, Henry Fleming's actions (as we shall see) become peripheral to that character. Fleming becomes a nonplayer character controlled by the director, he weaves in and out, his actions provide that consistent plotted trend needed to tie the other events and the other characters together. Actions from Chancellorsville (May, 1863), the supposed battle used by Stephen Crane for RED BADGE can be placed within this trend of Fleming's activities. Guidelines in an Initial Game Role play differs from the basic skirmish game. Each deals with a single character played by one person. Role play stresses personal experiences, skirmishes direct their attentie to combat. Our chief guideline in this initial game must be to balance both qualities. Rules Role play will never have full and complete rules, they exist only as an outline. The director must come up with the necessary resolutions as the role play progresses. Avoid the usual type of complex role play rules of commercial games. Our initial game seeks to be enjoyable and authenic. Complex rules and character traits doe not add to either of these qualities. Commercial rules aim for a weapons or hero type of game. We are trying to put together a more realistic historic creation. Make the player and his traits the character he plays' as director all you need in the initial game will be his morale and skill with a primary weapon. Guidelines would be a better description in role playing than rules. Our initial game starts with the simplest rules fitted into the narration. Rules concern the director alone. The player is not involved with the rules, nor should he be acquainted with them. A player chooses his-actions from within the events of the game, he does not concern himself with rule outcomes. As director you are not in opposition to the player. The game is your responsibility. Your pleasure comes from seeing your creation work, and the absorption and enjoyment of the player, not his victimization. In all instances, the player chooses his own figure, he alone moves it; he throws his own dice. All of this provides identification with his character represented by the figure. Rule Choices The following rules serve only as suggestions; we expect to modify them with practice in the initial game, or change them. New Players Those new to wargaming serve as enlisted recruits (based on the RED BADGE's Henry Fleming). They throw for an initial morale number with one d6 (one six-sided die): 103 fearful, 4-5 nervous, 6-they have a flair for military life. Nonplayer characters as recruits add one to the die role for any previous outdoor experience or previous skill with firearms, but no more than +1. Knowledgeable and Crafty Wargamers (The majority reading this): For their initial morale number they throw two 6d's: 2-5 wary to careful, 6-7 steady with command ability; anything over 7 is still 7. If our veteran wargamer thinks he's worth a command position, throw one 6d: 1-4 corporal, 5-sergeant, 6-junior lieutenant. They keep the morale they have already thrown (morale is always thrown first). Higher officer grades in this initial role play game come with success, experience, casualties that open up promotion, and political influence. Many more elements can be added, these suffice for our initial planning. Skill with a Primary Weapon Weapon skill is another 6d throw made after the initial morale throw. All player categories: new, knowledgeable, or command positions throw one 6d for their primary weapon. Enlisted -- the rifle, officer -- the revolver, if desired add the rifle to the officer role as a separate throw. Results from the skill throw cause the player to fall into one of three skill bands for his weapon, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6. Action When in action all players on the director's request throw two 6d for morale. The original morale number throw serves only as a base number. Situations make different demands on the player's character. The director decides the morale number that must be achieved within these situations during the action. He uses the player's original morale number as a base. In conformity with the RED BADGE, the character either enlisted or offier, can never be sure of his own steadiness. Experience allows the character in the role play to disguise his unsteadiness in front of other characters; officers should be better at this sham to be able to command. The director exerts control over steadiness; as action goes on the player's choices build up experience and confidence. The director rewards the player during his performance by adjusting the base morale number upward or penalizes him by adjusting it downward. A morale throw of 8 to 12, depending on the situation, falls into disobedience. A player lies open with this throw to impulsive actions: he becomes a frenzied fighting machine; he freezes; he runs in sheer terror; officers disregard orders with increasing recklessness. Before the player throws he should be informed of the morale number he needs for steadiness in the situation. He learns the result of the throw through the action performed by his character. The player is not concerned with how the number fits with morale and circumstances. Again, the object of a role play game requires the player make choices of action; he does not make these choices by interpreting or second-guessing the rules. Fire and Melee During firing or melee all players throw two 6d for morale and at the same time they throw one (colored) 6d for weapon skill (three 6d's are thrown together). If the player makes the morale number required by the situation, the skill die must register one or another of the numbers in his skill band for a hit. A hit is scored on the character's skill band numbers from the original skill throw; it is also scored on the lower skill band numbers of the origina skill throw. A character rated in the highest skill band scores hits alternating on one or the other number of his highest skill band (5-6), and on all the lower skill band numbers. Morale has a great impact on firing. If morale rises this establishes the character's confidence, a director may decide that a hit can be scored not only on the character's skill band from the original throw, but on one or both of the next higher skill band numbers. If morale falls, this makes the character unsteady, a hit may occur only on one or another of his skill bands, or his skill may drop to the next lower band by the director's decision. Unless there is a target for the player to designate there can be no recorded hit even if he makes his morale and skill throw. If the player does not fire in certain situations despite the lack of a target, his morale falls and the morale number is adjusted downward. Firing caused the overwhelming number of Civil War casualties. Hand to hand melee, no matter the soldier's skill with bowie knife, bayonet, or rifle butt, occurred in very restricted places and in circumstances of surprise. Hand to hand melee should be minimized in our initial game for authenticity. These guidelines and rules show deliberate simplicity. Applying them in various situations is the director's choice, as it should be in role playing. A note on the incident card will remind you of any special guideline or rule necessary in the circumstances or because of a particular choice of the player. Care should be taken to insure the new recruit's baptism of fire does not result in his immediate or early death. Our game's objective is similar to Henry Fleming's experience in the RED BADGE, the recruit player must pass through the experience to emerge as a character with greater confidence and steadiness. Veteran wargamers, however, by virtue of their greater experience will take their chances as the play proceeds. Development of the Characters Enlarging the guidelines and rules to allow for greater character development exceeds the objectives we have set for this initial game. It will have to be the subject of a separate article. Game Incidents Two sequences of action in the RED BADGE lend themselves to our initial game. One concerns Henry Fleming's failure in combat and his flight from it ;Chapter V to XIII; the other follows him through another combat where he redeems himself: Chapter XVI to XIX. We will develop only the first sequence as incident cards for our initial game. Each chapter forms one card. Place the chapter number on the card or serialize the cards as 1, 2, 3, etc. Chapter V: The enemy attacks, a. hatless general stops and tells the Colonel of the 304th New York they must hold the enemy back. Despite his fears and doubts, Henry Fleming stays and fires; he is engulfed in.a fighting red rage. A soldier flees, a lieutenant forces him back into the line. Men drop around Fleming, the firing dies away; the wounded stream away from the line. Chapter VI: Henry is satisfied with himself; his doubts of his courage are gone; then to his horror the enemy attacks again. Men of his regiment murmer in fear; Fleming begins to fire, others run, suddenly without a conscious decision he runs losing both his cap and rifle. Once away from the line he slows; he observes a battery firing; he sees a brigade going to the relief of another. He overhears a conversation between a general of division and his staff officers. Chapter VII: Fleming, to his dismay, learns from the conversation that the 304th withstood the enemy assault. He moves away in torment, passes through close growth, a swamp, deep thickets, enters a small wood ("the Chapel"); he confronts a dead man, shrieks, turns, and runs. Chapter VIII: Twilight comes, the roar of battle draws him toward it; he sees distant smoke and climbs a fence. Battle debris lie scattered. A column of wounded plod down a road; he joins the column. Fleming encounters a twice wounded tattered soldier. He fears the tattered soldier's questions will reveal he's not wounded, so he drops further back into the column. Chapter IX: He wishes he had a wound,a (little) red badge of courage. He recognizes his friend Jim Conklin (the tall soldier) who is wounded and close to death. Conklin begs Fleming not to let him fall on the road and be run over by a moving battery. The tattered soldier comes up and joins them. Both witness Jim Conklin's final agonizing collapse and death. Chapter X: The tattered soldier muses about Conklin's death, then concerned about Henry Flening, questions the youth again about his wounds. Fearful and embarrassed that he will be discovered as unwounded, Fleming abandons the weakening, perhaps dying tattered soldier. Chapter XI: The roar of battle grows louder. Fleming comes on a road filled with wagon teams. He witnesses a column of infantry pushing aside the wagons. He is tempted to return to battle, but finds reasons not to do so. He thinks about the opinion his fellow sholdiers will have concerning his flight. Chapter XII: The column of infantry disappears from view. Fleming finds himself in the midst of another rout. He tries to stop a panic stricken soldier for information, the soldier in his fear to get away strikes Fleming on the head with his rifle. The rout continues; recovering slowly from the blow, Fleming sees a distant battle line, artillery, infantry, cavalry move past him toward it. At dusk he is on a narrow little roadway. A cheerful soldier inquires about his regiment, this "cheery" man with much effort guides Fleming to it and leaves him. Fleming never once sees his face. Chapter XIII: Fleming encounters his friend Wilson (the loud soldier) on night sentry duty. Fleming tells Wilson he was on the right of the battle line, in the midst of terrible fighting, and was shot in the head. Wilson calls for Corporal Simpson who takes Fleming in hand, tells him that everyone missing from the company seems to be dribbling back, that he, Fleming, has been gone four hours, and pronounces him wounded by a glazing shot to the head. Wilson puts Fleming to sleep in Wilson's bedding. Henry Fleming has returned to his regiment without any of his fellow  These bare events lack Stephen Crane's powerful narrative force in describing Henry Fleming's actions and thoughts. You, as director are going to supply an original narration since it must cover these events and others, and also improvisations. Narration Aids Your narration can be helped by using taped audio cassettes of the RED BADGE on the market, also found in most libraries, or from inter library loan. They always edit parts out of the book to produce the cassette. Jack Dahlby reads the entire book on records (5 1/5 hours) in an album from the Listening Library, Old Greenwich, Conn. (Ask at library). A video VHS cassette exists of John Huston's 1951 picture RED BADGE OF COURAGE (black and white), itself a classic. Without having viewed the video, it can not be recommended (the original film's 69 minutes have been cut to 56 minutes). A newer color film (1974) with Richard Thomas has appeared on network TV. All these sources will amplify your narration and expand your recognition of the values in the RED BADGE for role play and for an origianal improvisation from the basic plot. Preparinq for an Initial Game Once you, as director, can form a smooth narration, then take the cards backwards and narrate them until you move smoothly from one to another. Reshuffle the cards and narrate the random order sequence that comes up in the shuffle. Practice improvisations on these different card orders to tie the randomized card and improvisations into a coherent whole. Continue practice until you can produce a continuous, smoothly running set of events. Look for places that you have to make rule decisions. No one ever said that the role play game was easy on the director. Your narration will grow in value by knowing the exact look of scenes in the Civil War. THE PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR, intro by Henry Stell, Commanger, N.Y. 1957, 10 volumes, gives a director an immense feel for the whole period. Oversized books containing photographic views of the Civil War landscape can be shown to the player as his immediate perspective, once the captions are covered; see Andrew J. Russell, RUSSELL's CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS ($6.95), Alexander Gardner, GARDNER's PHOTOGRAPHIC SKETCH BOOK OF THE CIVIL WAR ($7.95), George N. Barnard, PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS OF SHERMAN'S COMPAIGN ($6.00). All paperbacks available from Dover Publishers, 31 East 2nd St., Mineola, N.Y., 11501, a very reliable company, prices may change; or the public library may have them or be able to obtain them for you. Expanding an Initial Game A role player acts in each one of Henry Fleming's encounters as he desires, guided by your comments and ratings. He has no information about these incidents except what you tell him. You improvise on these incidents and actions, adding any experiences you think fit. You will have to know the incidents and experiences and place them in a proper setting in addition to improvising. Bring in other characters; subject the player to sudden enemy appearances, let him regain his confidence by his choice of action in a momentary skirmish, or lose it again by his own choices in a forced retreat. Blend in the most imaginative circumstances and people. Use the basic RED BADGE incidents as a stage setting to serve up the whole Civil War in a variety of experiences from both belligerent sides. For instance, an officer player is given an order by a general to find the 304th New York (Henry Fleming's fictitious regiment). Using the order of battle and events of an actual battle generate incident cards. A knowledgeable Civil War player can elevate his ability and confidence in the game if he recognizes the battle and knows where he is; this aids him in completing his mission. You may wish to put aside the Henry Fleming sequence for others. Using cards draw incidents out of actual Civil War campaigns for role play at all levels. An original battle may be drawn from an action fought by miniatures. Another useful tool is a tactical brigade board game like Yaquinto's 1981 BATTLES AND LEADERS, an obvious development from miniature wargaming. Played through it's various scenarios, as a board game or converted to miniatures, it will produce various original actions that can be turned into role play. It's leader hit table, the changes of leadership charisma, and it's Grand Gestures, offer a variety of sheer fun to employ with role play officers. Once the player, or players, acquire skill, they may want to stop a miniature battle and improvise a role play game as director and players from that point. This requires extensive practice and knowledge and should be put off until later.  The Successful Player Returning to our initial game we set it's player objective as the means to introduce new players, or experienced wargamers, to role play. A player at the role play game's end achieves an advanced state as a veteran, a character of experience, self confidence, and steadiness. Expanding on this accomplishment, as already stated, will require other role play games. Often,once seated, a player asks, "How do I win this game?" You must resist the temptation to make him recognize that in role play, as in war, an individual does not win, he only survives. Role Playing a visit to a Civil War surgical station should be enough education to convince him of this truth. Back to MWAN # 20 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1986 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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