In my last article I told about the First Boer War battle (based on Modder River in the Second Boer War) that my friend, Francis Lynch, and I played. For those of you who missed the article, I had the British and won with sufficiently heavy casualties that H. M. Government will either have to recall me (doubtless replacing me with some clever chap with an "Indian" reputation--unless I was of the Robert's School myself, in which case it would be some clever chap from the "Wolseley Ring" --like poor Sir George Colley) or promote me (demonstrating that it was a rough go but we gallant and plucky lads did the job for the grand old queen).
As I had mentioned, our original scheme had been to fight the battle using my modification of Stephen Simpson's rules and then do it again using the rules I did based on the old Featherstone colonial rules. I remembered those fire table for the Boers well enough not to want to see windrows of red coats piled up before those Boer trenches (actually I remove casualties, but I have active imagination). Besides which, there isn't much for the Boer commander to do except let the men hunker down in their trenches and pull their triggers (which they are very good at doing).
On the other hand, the period of muzzle loaded muskets and brightly colored coats and cavalry who stayed on their horses (as God intended) had lots of action and things for commanders on both sides to do and we hadn't used my tricorne chaps for a long time and so out came my tricorne army--blue would do for the Prussians and white for the Austrians (with a couple of red coat militia strength battalions detached to represent Croats). By giving the Prussians a couple of elite battalions and slightly smaller brigades, they looked to be strong enough to assault an Austrian position, even though the Austrian army was somewhat larger.
Setting up terrain takes time, so we just shifted the houses at Modder River to someplace that looked like reasonable places for villages to be (see map for forces and terrain). I don't know if Francis was just feeling particularly passive this visit, but he elected to be the Austrians and set up on the hill (which had been there in the first battle but no effect on anything). The river was now fordable anywhere (1/3 chance that any unit would not move and 2/3 chance that it would cross without penalty). To avoid the clutteredarea (which is not always a good defensive position--I have some frightening memories of trying to defend Vimiero Hill and not having room to redeploy to the flank when I needed to), the Austrian cavalry was on the far side of the river with a clearfield to swoop down on and Prussians that tried to cross it (as they all would).
I like Frederick's great flank march era and these rules simulate that very nicely. I sent a brigade of hussars and fusiliers (a very bad idea--never again will I brigade infantry and cavalry) to threaten a frontal attack (no one would believe it, of course) and actually to tie down the Austrian cavalry long enough for the artillery to deploy behind the light brigade and be in a position to shoot practically anybody.
Poor Francis was stuck with a major command control problem--bad dice. His cavalry would not move. I might actually have been able to make a real attack on the enemy position, but eventually the sluggish but highly skilled white coats and brightly colored hussars started to move and chopped the poor Prussian light brigade to bits. They did not escape unscathed, however and in considerable disorder decided to emulate the finest traditions of British cavalry and failed to rally. They charged the guns. They managed to capture one battery before leaving permanently.
Meanwhile the turning movement was having major problems (not every battle was Leuthen). First brigades started to come unstuck at the river. Then it took forever to try to pry the Austrians out of the village (both elite Prussian units became unelite in the process).
Eventually I reformed my forces and was ready to assault the hill when it was time to break (I forget if it was for church or food). I conceded that I could probably not fight my way up that hill (the edge of the table prevented moving to the right). Francis likes gaming and offered to return and fight it out, leaving for home a little later than planned. This was a mistake.
In another bloody action there was charge and counter-charge around the Austrian guns. At the end of the day Frederick had won another battle against the odds and had not much army left to celebrate.
AElred Glidden's Rules for the 18th Century
(adapted from Stephen Simpson)
UNITS: Infantry 4 stands of 2 figures each, cavalry 4 stands of 1 figure each, artillery 1 gun & 2 crew stands of 2 figures each. Infantry & cavalry can be 4 deep in column (not deployed) or 1 deep in line (deployed). Artillery can be limbered (not deployed - trail in direction of movement) or unlimbered (deployed - muzzle in direction of fire). Infantry & artillery can fire only when deployed; infantry & cavalry can charge only when deployed. Elite infantry & cavalry begin with 5 stands, poor with 3; elite artillery with 3, poor with 1.
BRIGADE ORGANIZATION & INITIAL ORDERS: Each player has 10-20 units in brigades of 2 to 5 units, each commanded by a Major General. Initial brigade orders are advance (place the Major General in front of the brigade), hold (Major General behind the brigade) or withdraw (Major General behind the brigade facing the rear). If the army commander is with a brigade or unit he may automatically change orders. Orders can also be changed by a brigade commander tossing a 5 or 6.
TURN SEQUENCE: Side A activates/ resolve combats, Side B activates/resolve combats.
ACTIONS: A unit must pass an accomplishment toss to: change formation or charge into melee (new or existing; Note that artillery may not move into contact, that cavalry or infantry must already be deployed to do so and add I to the toss if the enemy is behind cover).
Toss 1 die: infantry & cavalry fail if toss exceeds the number of stands in a unit, succeed if the toss is less than or equal to the stands remaining in the unit (for artillery count figures rather than stands). A successful change of formation counts as movement for the unit. Note that failure means that a unit under movement orders (advance or withdraw) continues to move unless this would force a unit that is not deployed to contact an enemy unit (in which case the unit stands). Artillery units with movement orders may unlimber (which halts movement, but does not change orders). Units with hold orders may attempt to charge if an enemy unit is within range.
MOVEMENT: Crossing obstacles requires an success toss: succeed on 1-4; fail on 5 or 6. Failure is no movement, success is move at normal speed: Deployed artillery= 0" Deployed infantry = 5" Deployed cavalry or infantry/artillery not deployed = 10" Generals or cavalry not deployed = 15". Units in a mixed brigade may conform to the movement of the slowest unit.
COMBAT: Going through each category separately (i. e., Artillery is resolved [line of sight], then Musketry [10"], then Melee [contact], the phasing player totals the number of units attacking a target unit and tosses I die, normally scoring a hit (i. e., forcing a morale check) on a 5 or 6.
Modifiers are:
-1 from toss:
- if artillery firing at over 18"
if target behind cover
+1 to toss:
- for first round of melee
if target not deployed (i. e., that is limbered or in column)
if target cavalry under fire
if target infantry attacked by cavalry (-2 if target is behind cover--Note that this means cavalry scores only on a 6 by having a +1 for first round of melee)
for every additional attacking unit
(Note that artillery may hit targets that are at long range and behind cover only by combining fire from several batteries)
MORALE: If the attacker scores a hit, the defender must check morale. Toss 1 die:
Artillery -1 from fire/+1 in melee; all units if behind cover from fire -1 , 1 or 2 a unit rallies 3 or 4 a unit either fails morale (lose 1 stand) or (owner's choice) immediately falls back 10" (15" for cavalry) and reforms not deployed; 5 or 6 a unit both loses a stand and falls back as above.
A Major General may attempt to rally a unit before morale effect; toss I die: 1-3 = subtract that number from the toss, 4 = no effect 5 = captured if in melee (otherwise no effect) 6 = general is killed.
If a Major General is killed in a rally attempt, his brigade checks as a whole for changes of brigade orders (units take all further reaction tests individually):
Toss 1 die: (-1 if withdrawing, +1 if advancing): 1 or 2 = withdraw, 3 or 4 = hold, 5 or 6 = advance.
Note that the army commander may also attempt rallies, but brigade movement orders are not affected by the loss of the army commander.
A unit of infantry or cavalry remains in play as long as it has 3 stands; a 3 stand unit that loses a stand is removed. Note that guns are left in place if their crews fall back or are eliminated.
INDIANS: are always deployed but always move 10". Indians are more feared in close combat than noted for there firepower, therefore units which must check morale when attacked by Indians check at -1 if from fire but at + I if in melee.
WOODS:,/B> Cavalry may not enter woods and are normally omitted entirely from French and Indian War games. When operating in woods (which might be most or all of the table in French and Indian War games) use cards to indicate units more than 10" from enemy. Each unit of Indians is also represented by a dummy card.
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© Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum
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