1. Introduction One of the problems facing gamers and gamemasters is devising interesting scenarios for our miniature wargames. Generally speaking, most miniature wargames are set piece battles, where the commanders have total control over the initial deployment and orders of their forces. An alternative march on battle could require commanders to contend with a given deployment of their forces, and possibly with restrictions regarding their initial orders. It would appear, based on simple observation and experience, that a disproportionately high number of our games tend to be of the set piece variety. (Could this be because gamers like to exercise considerably more control over their armies than their historical counterparts ever could?) While "set piece" wargame battles can yield interesting, enjoyable and historically accurate games, just the opposite can be true when they are played repetitively. I would recommend that players try more .march on. battles. Such games are likely no less realistic than set piece games for many conflicts and they will provide scenarios which have some additional flavour. Most of the discussion of this system takes place in the context of Napoleonics, but the same principles and rules could be applied to any wargaming from ancients to modern. 2. Conceptual Overview While campaigning in the Napoleonic era, armies did not often march around in one great mass. Corps were spread out in order to facilitate forging, marching speed and finding the enemy. Once corps from opposing ammies bumped into each other, they would deploy in as defensible a position as possible and send out messages for help. Other corps would march to their assistance and an escalation of troops would occur at the point of engagement. Napoleon's maxim that corps were to campaign within one days march of each other was a vital element to his success in many campaigns. Battle would commence at some point in time, often with troops still arriving on each side. Examples of this would include Marengo, Austerlitz, Aspem-Essling, Luken, Leipzig and Quatre Bras. Even if battle did not commence immediately, it was often quite difficult to juggle the positions of corps. Imagine trying to rearrange 100,000 troops packed into a few square miles of ground! Because of the difficulties involved in moving corps to a position very far away from their point of entry, they were often deployed along or near their route of march and commanders simply made do. If this is an accurate appraisal of how things happened, then in order to make our Napoleonic games more realistic there should be some constraints on how the armies are deployed. One way to simulate this would be to fight campaigns. The system presented below may provide a reasonable substitute in circumstances where players would like to employ the concept of a march on battle without engaging in the rigours of a campaign game. 3. Organizatlon of Armies and Terrain (1) All troops in each army are combined into groups. Each group must be designated as either a (1) centre (like, that's Canadian for "center., eh!) group (2) flank group; or (3) reserve group. These group designations should be consistent with historical troop organizations whenever possible. For example, when our club employs this system for games utilizing Empire Napoleonics, the groups are Corps. Typically, centre groups are line infantry corps; flank groups are line cavalry corps; and reserve groups are corps of elite status. (2) Terrain will be set up such that in each deployment area there is at least one stronghold. A town, ridge or other relevant defensible terrain feature will suffice. An area from the left and right sides of the board is designated a flank area. A number of entry points must also be designated between the flank sectors, usually marked by roads. Entry points should be far enough apart to allow groups to deploy around them comfortably. P>Off board behind each entry point and flank sector will be an imaginary off board holding area. For battles with 4 to 6 corps per side our club typically uses a table 12 feet long with one stronghold, 18" flank sectors and 3 entry points at least 18" apart. 4. Group Deployment Each player secretly determines the deployment of his forces according to the following procedure. 4.1 Group Deployed at the Stronghold: Players select one stronghold and designates a centre group. On a roll of 1-50 (1d100) the player's chosen corps is deployed at the stronghold. The remaining 50% is split evenly between the remaining centre groups in numerical order. This procedure is repeated for each stronghold using all centre groups not already deployed. Example: French have 3 Infantry Corps: III, VII and XI. Assume that VII is designated the chosen corps. On a roll of 1-50, Vll corps would deploy at the stronghold, 51-75 III Corps and 76-100 XI Corps. 4.2 Entry Polnts of Remaining Centre Groups: Designate the entry points in numerical order from left to nght. Select one of the remaining centre groups and roll to detemmine it's entry point. The probability is equally split between each entry point. Players may apply a discretionary modifier of plus or minus 5% to each roll. This gives the players some influence over where their troops are deployed. Repeat this process for each centre group. If one rolls an entry point at with another is already deployed they may elect to roll over again once. The second roll must always apply in these circumstances. 4.3 Time Delay ot Groups Deploying at Entry Points: For each group arriving at an entry point, roll to see if any time delay is involved. On a roll of 0-65 the group suffers no time delay. On a roll of 66-100 consult 4.6 to determine the time delay. 4.4 Deployment o1 Flank GroupS: Select one flank group and roll to determine which flank it is deployed in. On a roll of 1-50 it is in the Player's left flank sector, 51-100 the player's right. The player may apply a discretionary plus or minus 10 to this roll. Roll for each additional flank group in the same manner increasing the magnihde of the discretionary modifier by 10% for each subsequent one. 4.5 Deployment of Reserve Groups: Detemmine an entry point for each reserve group in the same manner as a centre group (3.2 above). Make a subsequent roll to determine the time delay at which it will arrive in the off board holding area behind this entry point. 4.6 Time Delays: For each group which experiences a time delay, roll to determine its duration. On a roll of 1-50 it will be in the off board holding area behind the relevant entry point before turn 1 and is eligible to march on the board during turn 1. On a roll of 51-80 the group will arrive at the off board holding area behind the relevant entry point during tum 1 and is eligible to enter the board on turn 2. On a roll of 80-90 the group will arrive in the off board holding area behind the relevant entry point during turn 2 and may enter the table on turn 3. On a roll of 91-100 the time delay is unknown to the player. At the very beginning of each turn the player rolls to see if the group has arrived (0-50). This is repeated on each subsequent turn with the probability increasing by 10% until the corps arrives. The corps is eligible to enter the table the turn after arriving in the off board holding area. 5. Troop Deployment Once the group deployment procedure is completed by the players they write orders for their troops as required under the rules and proceed to set up their figures. All troops in groups deployed at a stronghold must set up in an area inside a box drawn 3' in front of the 1 foot to each side and 18 inches behind the stronghold. Some troops must occupy the stronghold position. Troops in groups deployed at entry points may set up within a box with 1' height and 2' width with the centre at its base at the entry point. Corps deployed in each flank sector must be deployed in that flank sector. 6. Accelerated Arrival Cavalry and light infantry in a reserve or centre group may reduce their time delay by one turn. Such troops in Corps arriving at entry points without any time delay may deploy up to 1' outside the deployment box outlined above. 7. Delayed Arrival Some, but not all, troops deploying in a flank sector or at an entry point may select to begin the battle in the off board holding area behind the relevant deployment area. Troops entering the board from an off board holding area must do so within the deployment area outlined above (4.0). 8. Movement Between Off Board Holding Areas All off board troops which have łarrived must be designated as being in an off board holding area. In lieu of entering the board such troops may be left in the off board holding area or they may be moved to an adjacent off board holding area. 9. Optional Rules The system ouliined above is very flexible and players may tailored to their liking. The die roll probabilities can be modffled to either increase or diminish the randomness of the set up. Likewise time delays could be made more or less likely and lengthy. Commander quality could be brought to bear by allowing better commanders larger or new discretionary modfflers than poor commanders. Players could be allowed to accelerate deployment of troops whose arrival is delayed at the cost of accumulated fatigue. Entry points could be placed along the sides of tables as well as the edges, or interspersed between those of the enemy. The flank sector aspect could be dropped entirely if inappropriate to the scenario. Likewise could be said of the stronghold requirement, which could be removed for one or both players. 10. Summary The system outlined above was designed with the nature of Napoleonic campaigning in mind but is easily adaptable to other periods by designating the appropriate organization as a group. Our club has employed this system for Johnny Reb ACW games and God and King. (unpublished) ECW rules, where brigades serve as groups. For WRG 7th Edition Ancients, the groups could be the armies of various players or separate commands of a single player. For armour games each group could be a section or company. Groups could be fleets, convoys or squadrons in a naval game, or elements of different squadrons in an air combat scenario. The possibilities are endless! While this system cannot provide a completely satisfying substitute for a campaign, it may be a relatively time efficient way to randomly introduce the implications of campaign actions into a game. Back to MWAN #53 Table of Contents © Copyright 1991 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