..And speed glum heroes up the line to death.

You know the type, the fellow that reads one book on a subject and is evermore an expert on the subject. Someone like me...

A recurring subject for articles in magazines like Fire & Movement over the years has been the debate over the level of realism in Civil War battle games. And, as often as not, the general conclusion has been that these have been better games than simulations. Having recently acquired and read Military Affairs' Military Analysis of the Civil War I thought the subscribers of this magazine would be interested in hearing how The Gamers' line of Civil War games seems to conform to the excellent article on "Civil War Infantry Assault Tactics" contained therein.

Basically, John K. Mahon's analysis features the following main points. First of all, the more spread out a line was, the greater its tendency to break morale. At the same time, the more spread out a line was, the fewer casualties the troops would suffer. Civil War tactics, then, consisted in managing the tradeoff between unit morale and safety. Furthermore, generals were highly aware of this relationship, and chose tactics over the years accordingly.

Those of you who have played the Civil War, Brigade Series (CWB) know full well what a marvelous morale system is built into the games. What struck me most after reading Mr. Mahon's article were the many subtleties of the system. CWB is not, however, perfect--as I think is shown by the following observations, both pro and con:

1. Much as in Mahon's analysis, brigades which "spread out" in CWB have their morale penalized in so far as each part of the line must roll its morale checks separately. And, as we all know, a brigade that must make three morale checks a fire phase is much more likely to rout than one that is concentrated in a single hex.

2. Unlike Mahon, morale suffers in the case above without regard to the actual "line spacing." For example, an "AAA" brigade and an "A" brigade have the same morale disadvantage when each is spread over three hexes. Obviously, however, the ranks of the former unit are still much more closed.

3. Brigades which spread out do not receive the expected defensive advantage. In fact, in CWB they receive an offensive advantage instead, in that this is the only way all the fire levels in a "big" brigade can fire.

In defense of CWB, I will admit that the chosen scale diminishes somewhat its responsibility to treat battle tactics with the accuracy I would like: it is, after all, a brigade rather than a regimental-level treatment of battle. Nonetheless, it is my feeling that the adoption of the following changes would correct what few faults I have been able to find in an otherwise marvelous design:

Column Formation

Column formation is created solely as a maneuver formation in CWB. Those of you who have tried to charge across the Stone Bridge at Sharpsburg, an action that must be undertaken in column, already know full well the futility and frustration of trying to use the formation in combat. I suggest two changes that would make use of tightly-packed column attacks (like Ferrero's charge across Burnside's Bridge and Upton's bayonet assault at Spottsylvania) a bit more feasible.

Units in column formation can exchange fire in a close combat with a "C" fire level (regardless of their actual size.)

The Morale Table modifier for being in column is now changed from "-6" to "+6". (This may be too extreme a change, but at the very least I suggest dropping the "-6".)

Line Spacing

The following modifiers are somewhat faulty in that they do not give small brigades the option of choosing their own spacing, but do provide a simple fix to the general problem:

Add the following modifiers to the Morale Chart, based on the total number of fire levels in hex:

+1 if fire levels stacked in hex > A
+0 if fire levels stacked in hex = A
- 1 if fire levels stacked in hex < A

Add the following modifiers to the " 1/2 Loss" rounding die roll that often is needed to resolve losses resulting from Fire Combat. Like the modifiers for the Morale Chart, it is based on the total number of fire levels in the hex:

+1 if fire levels stacked in hex > A
+0 if fire levels stacked in hex = A
-1 if fire levels stacked in hex < A

Adding much more detail to a brigade-level game is probably not cost effective, and those of you who would like to see things like actual skirmisher formations on the map would be wise to allow the dust off Command Perspectives' Sharpsburg rather than tinker much further with CWB. ith these rather simple changes, however, CWB inches a few steps closer to modelling the assault tactics described by Mahon, and my Civil War battle system of choice becomes that much better.