"Old Blood and Guts," George S. Patton, and the brilliant strategist, George C. Marshall, were both instrumental in the Allied successes of WWII. Marshall was the brains that enabled the armed forces of the USA to amass the force necessary to conquer Germany but Patton inspired his men to the heights necessary to make that conquest.

When we take our "armies" to far-off places (like Historicon) we leave George C. at home in our library but we take George S. with us. If we do think of ourselves as a "Marshall," his name is Patton. Where can we find a set of rules that will reflect that delicious delight of defeat on despairing dragoons? By George! I think I've found it!

The purpose of this article is to expound on a set of rules that were released at Cold Wars, March 1996: Piquet. PIQUET (or Picket, as the English have corrupted the pronunciation) has innovatively broken the stranglehold of time and sequence in wargame rules and changed the nature of miniatures' game from chess into that of poker. Both games demand foresight and calculation but chess is mechanical and poker is human.

I will draw my underlying premise for my observations about PIQUET from two terrific articles by Jim Getz in MWAN #82: "Help Wanted! (Generals Only, Need Apply)" p.98 and "Why Do We Have ..." p. 112. As I read those insightful pieces, I kept reflecting on my experience in playing PIQUET and concluded that every one of Getz's principles of generalship are adequately covered in the system of the PIQUET rules.

Let me list Getz's nine principles of generalship and then apply them to PIQUET. (For a detailed explanation of each of these, I refer you to the article itself.) I have categorized them as follows:

Day One (the night before battle)
1-The gathering of intelligence
2-The making of plans and determination of objectives
3-The distribution of orders
4-The inculcating of motivation and energy
Day Two (the time of battle)
5-The commitment of formations to battle
6-The maintenance of resolution
7-The performance of heroic deeds
8-The exploitation of fortuitous events
9-The restoration of order and organization

Day One

All wargame ruses assume Day One even if they do not specifically call for it in their pages.. A Friday night of gaming that begins with the tedium of drawing up a scenario, rating troops,. conferencing with yourself or a group, and making out an Order of Battle (OB) has already consumed a great deal of the time and energy of the gaming-evening. That is why commanding generals stayed up, way into the night, before the battle while the troops got the needed rest for the next day.

We should do the same. Ideally, the scenario should be set, grand tactics outlined, troops; rated and brigaded, etc. long before the actual table-top game. In this respect, PIQUET is not necessarily innovative. But, don't forget. This is a part of the game.

Day Two

For Day Two, a description of the game system is necessary. Most rules deal adequately with frontages, movement, ranges of weapons, formations, etc. PIQUET follows the basics here. Where PIQUET departs from the accepted norm is in the handling of Time and Sequence in the action on the table-top.

PIQUET uses a deck of Sequence Cards (SC) that gives the possibilities of intended actions but not the assurance of any at the time most advantageously desired. These Sequence Decks (one for each side) are utilized in an unpredictable order throughout a Turn. The SD completely overturns the accepted Move/Countermove (and their variations) by eliminating the predictability of "Time."

In the gamers' attempt to freeze Time (and, thus, control it), the Move/Countermove has been accepted as the best solution even though it results in the most "unrealistic" aspect of the game. No general ever had the luxury of watching heavy cavalry charge his guns knowing that he could move them out of the way before any harm was done or watch a flank being threatened knowing that he could face about when "his turn came."

Things do not happen in such a predictable fashion. On the real battlefield, troops do not always move when you intended them to; guns are not run up in time; flanks are attacked because someone failed to respond to an order in time; opportunides are lost; opportunities are taken advantaged of; control is utilized; control is lost; in short, Chaos!

Piquet's SD reflects this chaos. Let me be clear here: Chaos is not confusion. Chaos is predictable unpredictability. It is the challenge of bringing order out of confusion. Chaos only seems to be confusion because the order of the separate factors of the seemingly disorder is not, at that moment,, apparent to us. (Whew! That either sounds like quantum physics or b.s. As such, it's either food for thought or food for plants.)

It is the task of a field commander to keep his senses when it seems that that all sense is lost and to make the best of a deteriorating situation as well as a momentous one.

Let's get practical. Here is a typical Sequence Deck for a given Napoleonic game. (Note: decks can be fashioned for any period of history or fantasy).

Sequence Deck
TYPE of CARD	FRENCH / BRITISH
Infantry Move in Open	2/4
Cavalry Move in Open	3/2
Artillery Move in Open	2/2
Musket Reload	2/4
Artillery Reload	2/1
Heroic Moment	1/2
Difficult Terrain Move	2/2
Officer Check	3/3
Deploy	3/2
Maneuver	1/2
Commander Indecision	1/0
Brilliant Commander	0/2
Dressing the Line	4/2
Melee Resolution	4/2
Totals	30/30

Note: These SD's would not necessarily be of these proportions for subsequent games. This mix is just for this particular game.

Both sides now shuffle their decks. A 20d is rolled by each side. High man wins the initiative. The difference in the two dice is the number of Impetus Points (IP) available to the Initiative holder. to the Initiative holder. The Initiator can use these IPs to either reveal the top card of his SD or act upon cards that are revealed.

For example: the number of IPs is "5." The Initiator's first card is fumed showing Artillery Reload (one IP)--Battery "A" had fired in a previous Phase and it is decided that it should be "reloaded" (one IP). The 15th French fires muskets (one IP). The Initiator chooses to fire Battery "A" at the same target (one IP). Four IPs have been used in this Phase of the Turn and, now, only one remains.

He cannot reload Battery "A" since it has already acted on that particular card. He cannot reload the 15th regt. since a Musket Reload card is not showing. He could either tum a card with his last IP or use it to challenge the morale of the severely shaken target that had just been fired upon by the two units. He decides to turn a card. It happens to be Musket Reload. Since he has no more IPs, he cannot act on that card until he wins another Initiative and has more IPs available.

Initiative is now rolled for again. The same side may win again but that is not certain. Nor can the amount of IPs gained be predicted. Nor can the next card in the SD be foretold. Nor can you count on gaining the Initiative.

Outcome What is the outcome of all this? Principles #5-9 are illustrated by how a player uses his resources (LPs): knowing what to move; firing and hoping for a Reload Card; thinking about a flank attack but realizing that to lose the Initiative might bring disaster and deciding to be cautious and hold back: charging your heavy cavalry towards that irritating (but, presently, unloaded battery) and turning over a Heroic Moment card followed by a Cavalry Move card and "heroically" double-moving right over the top of that "snake pit!"

Decisions, decisions!! Split-second decisions! Sometimes, hard decisions. Sometimes, very hard decisions. Sometimes, very, very hard decisions!! There is a constant challenge to bring order out of this chaos. But, isn't that what happens in a battle? Is not this the test of a commanding officer? And. isn't that exciting!!!

It is so trite to say this, but, obviously. I am going to: A PIQUET battle is not for everyone. Some gamers will feel the lack of predictability of the move/sequencing of action and the subsequent frustration due to the lack of that control, just too unsettling. That's O.K. I have no problem with that. Some gamers like ancients more than ACW. I have no problem with that. Some people like Napoleonics more than WWII. I have no problem with that, either.

Some people like Burgundy wine more than Retzina. Now, that, I have a problem with! Be advised that Retzina is an acquired taste. found it rather a repulsive flavor when introduced to it years ago in Athens. But. Greek food without it? Eorget it! Make no doubt it, PIQUET is an acquired taste. It is so innovative that many gainers do not appreciate all of the subtle nuances of the command decisions as the field falls apart before his eyes. I have only touched on the very basics of PIQUET in this article. It would take more pages than MWAN wants to print to begin to explore the possibilities of this system.

Cold Wars Battle

Before I bring this treatise to a close, I want to relate a PIQUET game played at Cold Wars, March 1996. It was played in the open-gaming room by Bob Jones, Brent Oman, Pat McGuire, Jim Getz, and, myself, Ed Meyers. It was The Boxer Rebellion--a mixed European force sent down a road through a village on their right flank that by-passed small hills and woods on their lefl. No surprises here!

Pretty easy going for the "white-guys" who only had to brush aside those homegrown Chinese who did not even have artillery to off-set the British banery (complete with naval gun- crew). I took my Chinese Tigermen up the road with the intention of occupying some bordering woods and, then, ambush the first Europeans who anempted to pass by. Bob was off to my leR and was launching some kind of "Banzai" anacks against Brent's "good-old- U.S. of A." Marines. (What a fool!)

Jim was sort of fiddling around on my right trying to gain some high ground so that he would be a bener target for the artillery that was rumbling into position with the obvious plan of clearing the whole center of the field.

Well, a Fanatic card was turned and that called for my Tigermen to run at top speed towards the nearest enemy unit. (I really didn't need that, but a commander is sometimes "overtaken by events.") Ignoring their orders to occupy the woods, they went right past them towards the French battalion that was marching down the road.

"That would never happen in any Colonial game I ever played." one bystander muttered to a friend. A Phase later. on a Native Move card, I had the Tigermen leap the roadside wall and charge towards the flank of the now unlimbered battery. The Europeans desperately needed an Artillery move card in order to swivel the gun but they also were frantically trying to turn a Melee Resolution card to give the Marines some hope of surviving. IPs were used to move the Russians onward to support the battery. (Maybe they should have done that earlier before the battery was hung out there alone? Maybe they wasted an IP by not turning a card to get to an Artillery Move card in order to maneuver their guns! Maybe .. maybe .... But, then, who could know that the Tigermen vould be so bold? A calculated risk gone awry.)

The Boxers got the Initiative back with a rack full of IPs. Furiously burning up the IPs turning cards, a Native Move came up and the Tigermen roared into the flank of the British battery. (Note: in PIQUET, a flank/rear melee attack does not need a Melee Resolution card to initiate combat.) The British never had a chance. My Tigermen had too high of a rating to seriously be threatened with loss.

"Wow!" that same bystander exclaimed. "That would never happen in any Colonial game played in!"

Now, the Chinese needed a Melee Resolution card to get a combat advantage on the Marines.

Native Move came up. Jim wanted to move some of his troops to support my Tigermen. Only two IPs left in our Initiative.

Bob said, "Forget it! " and turned a card. Melee Resolution!! with one IP left to fight it! Brent and Bob rolled their combat dice. Poor Brent! A dollar short and not a leg to stand on. The Europeans folded like a deck of cards and Peking remains besieged to this day.

Applause broke out among the on-lookers who had gathered to watch the game. Quite frankly, I was somewhat embarrassed but pleased. I had never had an audience applaud a game that I had been in. Nor do I expect it to happen ever again. One by-bystander's wife was heard to remark to her husband, "You know, I think I would enjoy playing a game like that." (By the way, that may not necessarily be a good thing.)

Jim Getz reluctantly accepted credit for the victory since his troops never made it into combat. Pat blamed Brent for the defeat for not rolling better Initiatives and Brent said. "Buzz-off you bug-eyed buzzard from Baltimore and fly back to Philadelphia!" Bob and I just looked at each her and grinned. Nothing unique about a wargame here.

It is time for some concluding remarks. The PIQUET system presents time in its logical logic. Everything on a battlefield is a calculated unknown. In PIQUET, you really have to make hard, but exciting, decisions: How do I use the IPs allotted to me? Do I move my infantry now on my right flank as a reserve or launch my planned attack on the left? Will I regret it later if lon't? Should I bum some cards for that critical Cavalry Move card? But, I also need to reload my battery! Will I be "lucky" enough to get it? How can I Co-ordinate my attack if everything doesn't happen simultaneously? PIQUET presents the challenges of a car-race driver rather than that of a mechanic. I would probably play other rules but only under the following conditions:

1-The terrain is absolutely irresistible.
2-There are some friends with whom I can chat while the other side is moving.
3-A good book to read.

One other aside. I now read military history and I no longer wonder if it would be possible to duplicate a certain unforeseen action and speculate on what special rule it would have to take. I now find myself saying, "That could happen in PIQUET." No other set of rules with which I am familiar have given me that satisfaction.

Let's face it. If I am going to play an ACW game, I want to be Sherman, not McClellan. As a table-top buddy. a Patton is preferable to even a Marshall.

I am working on some PIQUET player-aid's kits to keep cards and dice and morale chips together off the table-top.

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