Prologue

The fog of war has always intrigued me. A commander's reaction to the agonies of uncertainty was the acid test that exposed the brilliance or flaws of each commander. It always chafed me like a hair shirt that such agonies were impossible to recreate in a boardgame with its eye-in-the-sky format.

A couple of years ago I sketched out a scheme for refereed play in a long letter to Dean. It involved a multi-player play-by-phone Brigade Series game. I sent a copy of the letter to Bill Koff, publisher of Volunteers, the Civil War gaining newsletter. To my surprise, Bill published my complete letter in Issues #13 and #14 of Volunteers. Operations was not born yet.

Last year I had some time and decided to give my idea a try. The first task was finding the players. I needed guys who had an interest in Civil War generalship. a phone-answering machine, lived in my area code, and would take my word that this would be the mindblowing gaming experience of their lives. It required 11 players to fill the posts of the 9 infantry corps commanders and 2 army commanders in Barren Victory.

It took a couple of months to find the players and assign everyone a command. I told them to buy a copy of Barren Victory for the map and Series rules, and immediately mail me the game-specific rules. They had to do this so nobody would know the starting positions, exact order of battle, or reinforcement schedules of the enemy. I sent each player a briefing, detailing what his historical counterpart knew, including anything he mistakenly thought, at the start of the battle. This included a brief summary of the campaign up to that point, and approximate positions of all friendly corps with their strengths and present orders. Each corps commander received his starting hex and exact positions of all his subordinate units. Army commanders received their starting hexes plus HQ and supply, and were able to issue my pre-orders they wished.

Everyone got a copy of the roster sheet for his own army, and an approximate order of' battle for the enemy that reflected the historical misconceptions. They also received a copy of the Victory Point schedule. Finally, I delivered to everyone a map-size foam-core backing, a clear acetate sheet to cover the map and 2 colored overhead projection markers to mark positions and make notes.

All the players were rated "2" for Acceptance and Rally. We did not use Initiative and Corps Attack Stoppage rules. The purpose of the game was not to simulate the performance of the historical leaders, but to give every player an equal chance to distinguish himself.

To show how the game worked, I will give a general description of a week in the life of the referee (that's me). On Monday mornings, I called each general in the Confederate army and left a message on his machine detailing his present situation. For the army commander, Bragg, the message included seven items: the time, his present hex location, everything he had seen since his last turn (subject to line-of sight, distance, dust and smoke), everything he had heard since his last turn, a reading of every message from friendly commanders which had reached him this turn, the phone number of any friendly commander presently in his hex (commanders stacked together had permission to phone each other at any length until the move deadline), and the deadline for calling in his Move (usually Wednesday night). Corps commanders received all the above plus the present position and status of' each subordinate unit within command radius, including information about enemy brigades engaged by those units.

I found time before Wednesday nights to write down a description of the action in the preceding player-turn with any comments I had. I did this for the "history" of the battle which I planned to present to the gathered players after the battle was over.

On Wednesday evenings I turned my machine on and waited for the moves to pour in from the Confederate commanders. After the deadline, I transcribed the orders, messages to other friendly commanders, and directions for the commander himself (e.g., "I'm going to ride over to talk to General Hood."). Corps command styles ran the gamut from giving general orders ("Attack west!") to giving detailed positions and facings for each brigade. extended line and gun point. The ones who paid attention to detail did better. However, the soul of the game was in the messages between player.,,. These were the life's blood of each army.. They provided news of the battle on farflung fronts information vital to coordination, and the reassurances, despair, bravado, and camaraderie that made the game a transcendent team experience.

On Thursday mornings I ran the turn. I moved the Confederate units according to their orders. resolving all I combat, straggler recovery and rally. Then I immediately took down the positions and status Of every Union unit. I made notes on what each Union commander had seen and heard since his last turn and checked to see which Union messages were due to arrive to whom. I called all the Union players to leave messages on their machines as I had done with the Confederates on Monday morning. The deadline was Saturday night.

Before Saturday night I wrote my "history and comment" for the preceding player-turn. On Saturday evenings I would leave my machine on to receive the Union moves and messages. On Sundays I transcribed them and ran the Union player-turn.

Simplicity Itself

For a little more than a year, I refereed our game of Barren Victory using this system. Nobody dropped out or lost interest. If anything, the players' initial interest grew as they plunged into the unfolding drama. I had the best seat in the house. The effects the fog of war had on the players and the fear and exhilaration it provided them constantly amazed and intrigued me. My goal was to provide the players with the most realistic simulation of standing in the shoes of the commanders on the field. My reward was a game that had the feel of two living, breathing armies grappling with each other while grappling with uncertainty at the same time.

As it turned out, the game became a pleasant thread in the fabric of my life. Now I am eager to recommend this kind of play to others who are looking for a heightened gaming experience. Here is just some of what happened on the first day of our two-day fighting of the Battle of Chickamauga.

More Refereed Play

Prologue
The Game
Epilogue