Many suggested rules I've seen in Operations are minor (e.g. target density) and make the game more complicated (and time-consuming) without adding much. The key to a good simulation is knowing what to accentuate and what to abstract. Presented here are several rules that address deficiencies in the CWB system. Rather than considering them chrome, I feel these rules fix major problems.

1) Artillery Charges

The CWB system allows the players the unrealistic use of artillery charges. During the Civil War occasionally the attacker advanced artillery, in support of an attack. But usually once a battery was set up it stayed where it was. Unlimbering artillery was time consuming, and the enemy would either fire on the crews if they came too close, or could pull back out of canister range.

In the CWB system the attacker can move artillery two or three hexes away from an enemy unit, unlimber, and get a good shot before the unit retreats out of range or even gets to shoot back (if it is 3 hexes away). And artillery can advance one hex a turn by limbering, moving, and unlimbering. The following rule deals with this problem:

If an artillery unit unlimbers and fires, 1 is subtracted from the fire combat for each movement point (rounded up) spent above the 3 to unlimber.

Thus a unit that expends 1.5 MPs, unlimbers, and combines its fire with another unit, would subtract 2 from the fire resolution die roll. It will still be possible to use artillery in the attack, but less effective.

2) Close Assault

The passage of time in close assault combat, reaction facing, and supporting fire: a) The main problem with the close assault rules is there is no provision for the time used while a unit moves up to attack. Thus a unit 5 MPs away can move adjacent to an enemy, expend 1 MP and close assault it. This consumes 30 minutes of game time, yet a unit 2 MP away, can now expend 4 MP to exploit this break through like a WW 2 armored division. The problem lies with not accounting for the time it took the first unit to move up.

My solution is as follows: If a unit is close assaulted, a marker is placed on it showing the number of MPs expended by the attacking unit up to and including the close assault (this includes the 1 MP cost to attack). Any unit that wants to close assault or enter the combat hex must have expended as many MPs as shown on the marker before it may enter or expend it's 1 MP to close assault that unit a second time. If it has not expended that many MPs, it automatically expends the difference before entering or close assaulting. The same holds true for any gap created by a series of close assaults. If an enemy unit is forced away and a hex that was previously blocked by it's ZOC is now open, all units must still expend the necessary MPs before they may move through.

Example: Unit A is 1 MP from the target, unit B is 4 MP away, and unit C is 5 MP away. If Unit C close assaults the target it will expend 5+1=6 MPs and the hex will be closed to all further movement (as 30 minutes of game time have elapsed). If unit B close assaults, 5 MPs are expended. Assume B forces the enemy unit to retreat, opening up a gap. If unit A now wishes to move through the gap, it is charged 5 MPs for unit B's attack, so it will only be able to enter the original target hex and stop.

b) A friendly unit, not in enemy ZOC except by the triggering enemy unit, may rotate so as to face any enemy unit that moves adjacent. The moment the enemy unit moves so as to be no longer adjacent, the friendly unit is allowed to re-face in any direction the player chooses. A formation would not idly stand by for ten minutes as an enemy formation slowly marched around its flank. If it was in close proximity to another formation, it would be unable to realign itself.

c) There is another aspect of the close assault rules I don't like: The enemy can march across an open field and selectively close assault one unit, while ignoring the enemy units adjacent to, and supporting the target. The following rule addresses this problem: If a unit is close assaulted and there is a friendly unit adjacent to both the defender and the attacker (the hex the attacker is entering the defenders hex from), it may add 1/2 of its 1 hex range fire strength to the defenders fire combat, provided it could shoot into the attackers hex and there are no other enemy units adjacent to it. The supporting unit does not add anything to the close assault combat itself.

3) Temporary involuntary detachment of extended lines

An extended line roughly corresponds to between one and three regiments. One of the Ôgamey' problems with the CWB system is, units are sometimes forced to retreat when one of their component extended lines retreats. Thus an AAA unit using 2 extended lines is very vulnerable if attacking. If any of the three units retreats, the entire unit may have to retreat, thus sparing the defender from receiving 2 additional shots on the 4 table. The following rule deals with this problem:

If a unit with extended lines is forced to retreat, its other components do not have to retreat, but may do so, at the owners option. If a gap opens up between extended markers and their parent, they are marked as belonging to the same brigade (use a spare numbered marker). In their next turn they must move so as to be reunited and in command control.

4) Uncertainty & Fog of War

There is too much intelligence about the enemies order of battle, and both sides reinforcement schedules and arrival times. I propose the following rules: Reinforcements: Starting three turns prior to the turn a reinforcement is due, a secret die roll is made each turn. On a six, the force (corps, division, brigade) is available. Otherwise the player may try next turn. (I chose three turns rather than two, because the later results in reinforcements being delayed longer on average that the historical case.)

Unless the enemy can trace a LOS to the entry hex, and the path it will take, the reinforcements may move hidden on the map. They should be arrayed in a line(s) off map, with the position of the head of each column recorded each turn. If a formation is scheduled to arrive over a period of time, all units are accelerated/delayed according to the first units of that formation.

This can lead to some unexpected surprises. No longer can division X always take hill A at its leisure before the enemy gets there in force.

5) Night & Sleep

A unit's morale will drop by one each night it does not spend six hours motionless and unengaged in combat. If it is fired on, that turn does not count.

6) Columns and Congestion

The only rule that is a hassle is the road traffic jam rules I suggested in Operations 10. A road/bridge is blocked for the period of time it take a column to traverse it. Thus a column 5 hexes long units arriving at a bridge after expending 2 MPs will block that bridge to all other units expending movement points 2 1/2 through 5. A column 12 hexes long will prevent any units from moving through the first road hex it enters, and the third road hex it enters will be blocked to all units that don't move through it with their first movement point.

But those rules add much realism. In In their Quiet Fields the central bridge becomes a real bottle neck. And during the Seven Days battles, road junctions and traffic jams were very important.

7) Fire Combat

Accounting for time not spent firing:

One aspect of the game that bothers me is the non-simultaneity of fire combat after the first contact. The game in essence allows an attacker to march up to a line, be shot at, then to shoot twice (once in the offensive fire phase and once in the next defensive fire phase) before the original defender may fire again. Also, It seems odd that a force that expends 6 MPs to reach a hex, has the same ability to inflict losses as one that starts the turn in the hex. After the first turn of contact all fire combat exchanges are simultaneous. If both sides would retreat then neither side does. Units that move more than 1 hex have a -1 modifier to their fire die roll.