Correction

I made one typo in my article "Effective Use of Fire Power in the CWB" in OP10. Please print the following correction:

We keep track of fractional artillery AMMUNITION points. If five 2-point batteries fire, the cost is 2 ammo points, not five.

CWB Distorted Orders

(ed. Note: The current non-fractional artillery ammo rules are designed to keep players from splitting up their guns in tiny penny packets. Players have called who couldn't figure out what to do after splitting up their artillery so as to put a gun point in every hex to get the morale benefit. The original rule was designed to eliminate (or make very expensive) that gamey tactic. Fractional ammunition points directly remove the roadblock to this sort of silly usage ... making me once again think about getting rid of the ability to detach gun points at all.]

I'd like to pass along an easy-to-use optional rule that has made our Civil War, Brigade Series games all the more enjoyable. It has to do with what happens when the dreaded "distorted order" is generated on the Order Acceptance Table.

Under the present rules, distorted orders are little more than a temporary nuisance. Generally, army commanders are close enough, and have enough command points, to quickly re-issue the ignored order and salvage the situation. In many historical battles, the failure of a subordinate to obey could not be so quickly rectified. A familiar example would be Ewell's failure to take Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg.

Therefore, apply the following penalty when a command receives a distorted order. The order is ignored and eliminated as before, but the command cannot be issued any new orders until the player rolls a I on one die during the Delay Reduction segment of the player's Command Phase. If the army commander is stacked with the divisional or corps commander under "distortion delay," then the roll is changed to 1 or 2.

A force under distortion delay is free to attempt to gain initiative, and (if successful) can implement the order originally distorted. Successfully obtaining initiative does not make the command eligible to receive orders from the army commander-the die roll must still be made.

With average luck, the command with the distorted order will be paralyzed for 2-4 turns. The beauty of this rule is that it forces the player to make come hard choices: the player might attempt to get initiative, which could generate a loose cannon (simulating the distorted order in the mind of the cardboard commander).

OR, the player might choose to send his army commander there personally to bring the unruly subordinate into line-at the cost of having him away from where he is truly needed in the battle.

I hope CWBers will try this rule out and say what they think. To my mind, it makes the command system all the more realistic and exciting. The rule also works with the Napoleonic Brigade Series.

House Rules: Routed Units

I am very much interested in seeing a section of Operations devoted to CWB House-Rules which people have developed in playing the game. This could be one in which individuals make their suggestions and others can try them or respond to the reasonableness of the rule whether in terms of sensibility or complexity.

[Ed. Note: Given the few letters received (everyone must be perfectly happy with everything ... how rare!) why don't we do this right here in the letters section. Maybe this will kick up some discussion. It seems nothing else has ...]

To get the ball rolling, I have started using house rules for routed units and artillery.

Routed Units:

Rather than have units move "generally to the rear," I retreat them in directly the opposite direction of the fire which caused the rout. Facing them in an appropriate direction. If they fail to rally during the Rally Phase, I move them 3 MPs using the infantry in column movement costs. I continue to do this until either they rally or leave the map. If they move into an EZOC during this time they receive fire and then continue their movement in the opposite direction from which this new fire came.

To get the leaders more involved, the divisional leader (only) if he is stacked with units of his own division can apply his rating to the rally roll. If the unit fails this roll, the leader is "carried away" with the routing unit for that turn. (This can cause problems with command control, so be sure that it is worth the risk.) Corps and above officers cannot help to rally troops in this way unless the troops actually move through that leader's hex-in that case he can move with them to help them rally. No such leader can be deliberately placed in the path of routing troops (they had better things to do than to chase down routing men. However, all accounts show that when a rout flowed through such an officer's location, he would do his best to rally them.)

Artillery:

Rather than use the regular artillery ammunition rules, I have multiplied the initial amount by 5 and then subtracting on a one for one basis. (What's the problem I am causing by doing this? (Ed. Note: See the reason above)

I have also prohibited artillery in forest hexes front firing into forest hexes except when the fire is down a road-in that case, the fire blocks the road's ability to be used for enemy movement.