I would like to open this column to debate and discussion of all aspects of Civil War battlefields, insofar as they contribute to improving the Civil War, Brigade Series in any of its characteristics. I think that Operations can be a lightning rod for serious Civil War research by its readers with better Civil War games as the immediate result.

To get things started, I would like to stimulate discussion of a main engine in the CWB series: the Fire Combat Table. I am one who thinks the table is too bloody, and I offer the following references.

In Battle Tactics of the Civil War, page 139, Paddy Griffith cites a series of firefights from the Battle of Seven Pines. These occurred on the second day and General Gustavus Smith detailed them in The Battle of Seven Pines. (From Griffith)

"Some fifteen Union regiments under General Richardson appear to have been involved in firefights lasting about an hour and a half. This was woodland combat and the fire was 'very close and deadly' [according to Smith]. Richardson's total loss was some 1,050 casualties, or an average of 70 men per regiment-rather less than one man per regiment per minute of the firing." General Hooker, engaged nearby, had losses of "153 casualties in seven regiments, or 22 per regiment one man hit per regiment every four minutes. The overall Confederate loss was at least 800 men from up to eighteen regiments, making perhaps 42 casualties per regiment or one per regiment every two minutes."

Griffith does not state how big the regiments were. However, leaving aside Hooker's relatively low casualties, we have an average of 23 hits per half-hour per regiment inflicted on the Federals, who were attacking. Fourteen hits per half-hour per regiments that were 300 men and under-that is, C level units. The Fire Combat Table would have produced slightly more than twice that many casualties: 44 per half-hour (that is, 2 fires per half-hour x 22 expected losses produced per fire).*

Another booklet by Mr. Griffith, Battle in the Civil War, cites two typical cases (both unidentified) in its section on casualty rates. The first case, from Spring 1862, states that given one regiment of 400 men per side, casualties averaged about 100 men hit per side per hour. In CWB terms, that is a B level unit receiving and inflicting 50 casualties per turn. Again, the Fire Combat Table would produce twice this many casualties-102 per turn, given two fires per turn.* Let's multiply the Griffith numbers by 2 1/4, to 900 men, to give middle A level fire. At that rate, Griffith's results are 113 casualties per turn, and the Fire Combat Table would produce 170 casualties per tum*-still a large disparity.

Griffith's second case is a firefight from Fall 1864, when the combatants were much more reluctant to run up and slug it out 1862-style. In this case, the casualties per hour were exactly half the 1862 rate, or 50 casualties per hour per 400 men firing. Thus, the 1862 disparity with the Fire Combat Table doubles for Griffith's 1864 example.

I should add that my research concerning the Fire Combat Table is not inspired by sheer academic number-crunching. My multi-player refereed game of Barren Victory was a blood bath, with 30,000 casualties inflicted on the Confederates and 25,000 on the Federal troops, nearly twice the historical casualties.

To find a top end for casualty rates, I recently spent an evening examining the firefight at Brawner's Farm, a firefight legendary for being singularly ferocious and bloody, with opposing lines of musketry standing within 100 yards of each other, fully exposed, blasting away in growing numbers for over an hour and a half. Even this engagement did not reach the casualty rate produced by the Fire Combat Table: 961 by my analysis.* Also, this occasion vastly outstripped the average firefight for pure slaughter.

More research and analysis are needed. I am hoping Dean willjump in with his figures. I encourage any readers who have given attention to this subject to join the debate.

*Thanks to Brandon Einhom for his analysis of losses produced by the Fire Combat Table in Operations #10.