In another article in this issue, I mention a set of Napoleonics rules developed by Russ Lockwood, he of MAGWEB fame. This set, SNAPPY NAPPY (SN) by name, was drawn up by Russ as a failry simple set of table-top rules to enable him to play a game at what he calls a "corps level" battle, in very short time.
In his gaming room, Russ has room for a number of tables… at each table, several participants are involved, and as the individual battles are fought, there are provisions for moving from table to table as assets are called upon.
SN came out in 1994. Russ broadcast it to a number of wargamers with a caveat stating Snappy Nappy is Shareware… Copyright law appies to shareware and commercial rules. If you find these rules useful within 30 days of first use, you must make a registration payment of $5.00 to Lockwood Projects.
I never tried SN, and filed it on my shelf, along with 3,000 other rules sets. Note that in the above statement, you are obligated to pay the registration fee only …"if you find the rules useful within 30 days of first use." If, therefore, I tried them out and didn't find them useful within the 30 day period, and then, after 30 days had come and gone, I tried them again and did find them useful, I wouldn't be obligated to pay anything. So much for Russ' legal expertise.
The game that Russ set up at my house to display SN was run rather efficiently and rapidly. Russ acted as umpire and quickly settled all questions regarding the procedures. We were all quite pleased with the results.
SN is on a 'grand-grand-tactical' scale, even grander than NAPOLEONS BATTLES. SN defines a brigade as consisting of 2 stands. One inch equals 200 yards, and the 2 stands permit the formation of the brigade to be immediately noted… the stands are in line, or in column, or in square. With only 2 stands per brigade, each brigade must be tracked for hits… it wouldn't be logical to remove an entire stand (2,000 to 3,000 men) when the unit was hit. But alas! The SN summary sheet transforms the game into a Class B Abomination. According to Simon specs, a true class A Abomination uses casualty caps to denote unit losses. A Class B Abomination uses 'other thingies' to denote such parameters. For example, in SN a blue marker is placed next to a unit when it's "nervous", a yellow marker when it's "flustered", orange when it's "disrupted", red when it's "panicked" and so on. Which means that the field is cluttered with these little chitties… Class B clutter!
About two weeks after Russ presented his game, then at Tony Figlia's behest, we decided to put on one of our own. Tony said he really liked the rules… I sort of discounted this… Tony really likes every rotten ECW published game that comes down the pike, every rotten ACW game, and a host of rotten colonial games. Nontheless, we set up a corps-versus-corps battle, French attacking a British position.
The French, run by me and Bob Liebl, had four infantry divisions, plus one cavalry division. The British also had a cavalry division, but they had only three infantry divisions.
I handled the corps on the French right flank… two infantry divisions. My largest division had four brigades, the smallest had three brigades. Each division had its own battery, a single gun stand.
At first, I also had a cavalry division, but Bob suggested that I transfer the cavalrto him on our left flank. His thought was for his corps to make a huge flank march clockwise around the British position, while my corps sat and pinned the Brits to their front. "Okay with me.", sez I.
Note on the map that Bob's troops had to march quite a distance to complete their march, some 4 feet. With infantry in column moving at 6 inches per bound, the game sat in limbo as Bob's boys marched and marched and marched.
SN contains no provisions for an off-road forced march. And even if a forced march is performed on a road, each unit takes a morale check each bound and may lose some of its strength. When forced marching, the additional distance to be gained is merely a toss of a 6-sided die… definitely no bargain.
Our opponents, Tony Figlia and Fred Haub, of the British persuasion, sat on the north bank of the river. Fred moved his artillery up to the river's edge, attempting to take a couple of pot shots at my troops. Artillery ranged out to 9 inches, and, depending upon range, tosed a number of 10-sided dice.
- Range up to 3 inches: 3 dice
From 3 to 6 inches: 2 dice
From 6 to 9 inches: 1 die
Firing was a multi-phase affair:
- First all firing, infantry and artillery, took place simply by the firing unit taking and passing a morale test. In SN, to simply to hit the target, our veteran units had to toss 6 or better on a 10-sided die (50 percent chance to pass), our elite units 5 or more, and our conscript units 7 or more. Passing the morale test produced an impact on the target.
Second, the impact had to be assessed for the total number of hits actually placed on the target. Here, it was the target's turn to pass a morale test. If a veteran unit was hit, it had to toss 6 or better to escape damage. If it failed, it went down one level in status and it tested again. If it failed the test, it went down another level, and so on. Thus a single impact could result in a catastrophic number of hits on the target unit.
c. Third, if two impacts were produced on the target, then, after 'rolling off' the first, it had to go through the same procedure for the second impact. This multiple 'rolling off' procedure could just about wipe out a unit.
Note that there are 7 status levels... each time a unit is hit, it knocks off one level... 7 hits and it's gone. SN's status levels were many... and here's where I found fault with SN's procedures. Just about everything you do rests upon your unit's status, and one would think that each status level had its own separate and constant modifier... but no!... the modifiers changed from situation to situation. The following charts show the shift in the 10-sided die modifiers:
In a melee, your modifiers are:
- Unit Status:
- Bold +1
Firm 0
Wary -1
Nervous -2
Flustered -3
Disrupted -4
Panic -5
When firing, your modifiers are:
- Unit Status:
- Bold +1
Firm 0
Wary -1
Nervous -2
Flustered -4
Disrupted -5
Panic no fire
When taking a morale test, your modifiers are:
- Unit Status:
- Bold +1
Firm 0
Wary -0
Nervous -0
Flustered -0
Disrupted -1
Panic -1
To my mind, this is dumb! (In former years, I would have diplomatically said : "This is illogical!", but I've grown so old and crochety that I don't care any more.) The SN modifiers remind me of the firing chart in FIRE AND FURY (not one of my favorite games), in which, when you toss a die and come up with, say, a 7, the meaning of the 7 changes... sometimes it means 'one stand destroyed', sometimes it means 'no impact', sometimes it means 'take a morale test'. You can't play the game without the chart in front of you to tell you of the result.
I mentioned that SN was first published in 1994. One would have thought that the 2nd or 3rd or 4th editions would have covered a lot of the holes which were revealed in our game. It appeared that the rules set we were using was the original 1st edition... there was no other.
SN's sequence has two basic parts: for the first part, Side X moves, and then Side Y fires, Side X fires, and melee is resolved. For the second part, the roles are reversed. Thus each side gets to fire twice during the bound. This is the FIRE AND FURY sequence, which I've never liked.
During the movement phase, units that charge enemy units do not immediately close to contact. They remain an inch away for the firing phases.
There is an 'emergency test' for an infantry unit, when charged by cavalry, to form square... this calls for a morale test... if passed, the brigade forms up as desired. But the procedures aren't clear as to when the test takes place. Does it occur as soon as a cavalry unit approaches the infantry to within the 1-inch closing distance? Or does it specifically occur on the melee phase? In the sequence, fire comes before melee... hence if the infantry is permitted to fire first, before it forms square, it gets two bites at the apple, since the infantry in line tosses 2 dice (one for each stand). If it first forms square and then fires, it gets only one die.
SN does not want cavalry to charge formed squares. In combat, all stands sum up three parameters. First, each unit adds its per-stand combat values, then it adds appropriate modifiers and then it adds in a die toss. A square will toss 2 dice (instead of 1) to add, while the cavalry's modifier is -12. In our game, we had several instances of emergency squares forming up, and the dreaded -12 for the cavalry in the ensuing melee, definitely took the cavalry out of the picture.
After the attacker and defender toss their melee die and obtain a total number of points, the difference in points is examined. The greater the difference, the more horrific the loss to the lower valued unit. For example, if the difference is 1 to 4, the side with the smaller total simply takes a morale test. If, however, the difference goes from 10 to 14, the loser drops one status level, receives 2 impacts, and thus takes 2 morale checks.There didn't seem to be any procedure laid out when a unit contacted two enemy units. The notes stated that the "charger must conform to the defender". Does this mean an automatic alignment of the 2-stands in a unit against the 2 stands of the opposing unit? If so, this would preclude the multi-unit melee. In any case, the rules weren't really clear on the matter.
SN uses the 'magical, mystical aura' method to represent the command and control aspects of the battle. Units within a corps must remain within 18 inches of their corps commander to function properly. Outside of the 18-inch range, the brigade commander falls into a coma... he cannot remember what the corps commander told him some 20 minutes before. And if he takes and passes a morale test, some of his memory returns... his brigade can move at half speed. There are lots of rules sets that use this ploy. It's always puzzled me as to why a brigade commander, 17.9 inches from his corps commander, functions perfectly on all 8 cylinders, whereas a brigade commander, located 18.1 inches away, becomes a gibbering idiot. In our battle, I noted that the participants always carefully measured and placed the corps commanders so as to use the 18-inch distance most effectively.
I've always thought that with the 'magical mystical aura' ploy, since the corps commander's placement is so critical, he should be a viable target. Toss a couple of roundshot balls at him, and see if he has to duck and retreat, thus fouling up the careful way he was originally placed. on the scale of SN to play in solo fashion. With a couple of changes, it appears to be, it appears that SN might fit the bill.
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© Copyright 2000 Wally Simon
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