It was my first miniatures game ever. I was in Lake Geneva at the Dungeon game shop, which had recently converted the basement to a game center. Gary Gygax, Ernie Gygax, and some others were playtesting a version of Cavaliers & Roundheads and invited me to take a small group of Mongolian Broadswordsmen. I know the Gygax name may send some shivers through historical miniature enthusiasts, but if it were not for them, I wouldn't have gotten into fantasy in the first place in order to expand into historical. Anyway, the year was 1976.

Before my very first move, of which I was allotted 12" across rolling, open terrain, I held out my trusty ruler in order to see where I could best go. My sides' overall commander reached out and grabbed my hand with a stern, "Don't do that." I explained what I was doing and he simply said that you must gauge it by eye. Only measure after you have determined where to move. The reasoning behind this was sound and after play was completed, the overall commander (a large man with a beard, I forget his name) begrudgingly complimented me on how well my Mongolians had done. That's when I learned that I had been given our sides' designated cannon fodder suicide squad. More than half of my Mongolians remained after we had cleared the foul invaders from the table. In any case, I learned not to premature.

Then I joined the Marine Corps. I learned that in combat, infantry on infantry gets infantry killed. Unless you have an edge. The edge could be in terrain, timing firepower, etc. I learned that good Platoon Commanders, Company Commanders, and on up the chain, had artillery on call. To have artillery on call and to use it optimally, it helps to know where that first round is going to land. Registering a target is simply premeasuring, A couple of rounds are fired (this can be a machine gun, short range mortar, or long range artillery) and once the rounds land on or near the target, it is registered. The tubes are then held static and voile! First rounds on call, on target. But, this is done before the enemy shows up.

I submit to the august readers of MWAN that premeasuring could be done as long as it is done ahead of time. The Commander on the ground has selected this location to make a stand. By his selection of the battleground, he should give himself an edge. If he selected poor ground and then made no further preparations, he will probably die in place, with little cost to the attacker.

A defender, using any rules system should be allowed to register targets prior to the attacker arriving on the table or in the vicinity of the defenses. If the premeasuring is done while the attacker is in the area, then the defender may give his positions away. A gamemaster can take all this into account. Prior plamning should be rewarded and a lack of planning will be penalized by forcing the defender to eyeball all ranges. This still doesn't mean that artillery will land whae it is supposed to. Registering has already taken into account variables such as range and wind. The artillery battery knows how much powder and what bearing it took to get the round on target. Premeasuring gives that defender the edge. Of course assuming he has used his intelligence to correctly guess an enemy course of action and that they roll through the Registered target area. Priorplamning...

I completely agree with Stephen Huckaby from MWAN #86. Premeasuring is acceptable in some cases. Premeasuring during the contest where the commando would not be able to physically walk off the distance, is simply cheating.

Note the sample of a company commander's preregistered targets on the right. TD1OO1 is the most probable high-speed avenue of approach. TD1002 is just in case the enemy seizes a highground position. and TD1003 is to cover in case of a flank attack. The enemy has just shown up on the board while the Marine Light Armored Vehicle platoons have been in place for over an hour.