Several units of British troops and their red allies set out to raid a small town. The objective was to burn the town, and capture the local farm girls. Way back in the early 1700’s, farm girls were valuable commodities. British boots needed shining, stews need cooking, knives and tomahawks needed sharpening… a true warrior had no time for such things… he must be out on the warpath.
There were only two British units… each of 4 men, single mounted… I called them companies. The 2 companies formed a small battalion under the command of Sergeant Mushe. The British allies were from the Alcoholican tribe, as nasty and vicious a group as you could imagine. I termed each group of Alcoholicans a ‘band’, and each band consisted of either 3 or 4 men. The Indians were headed by Uncas, a battle-hardened veteran.
Just as the British companies belonged to a battalion, then, for lack of better terminology, I formed the Indian ‘bands’ into ‘wargroups’, 3 bands per wargroup. I could have just as well called the Indian wargroups “impis” or “bondis” or "hordes"… an item of no importance. What was of importance was that the entire British and Indian contingent was under the command of Colonel Seeker, who served as a source of Coherency Points (CP) for the British side.
Coherency Points were, in essence, the name of the game. Every company and every band started out with 60 CP, which were gradually reduced during combat, during both the firing and melee phases. Colonel Seeker had a kitty of CPs, which, every turn, he handed out to both Lt. Hambone (in charge of the British battalion) and Uncas (in charge of the Indian wargroups) to bolster their units. These leaders, in turn, handed their CPs to their units… Hambone to the companies in his battalion, and Uncas to the bands in his wargroups.
The sides on the field consisted of
British
- 2 Companies of regulars 1st Battalion
Indians
- 3 Bands 1st Wargroup
3 Bands 2nd Wargroup
Americans
- 2 Companies of regulars 1st Battalion
2 Companies of volunteers 2nd Battalion
The Americans were outmanned and outgunned, 8 units to 4. As I set out the figures on the field, I could also see that they were doomed, but that’s the subject of this article.
On the western side of the field, the Alcoholican 1st Wargroup appeared. I realize that Uncas didn’t refer to his men as being in ‘wargroups’, indeed, I have no idea of how Uncas addressed his men, but bear with me. In the center of the table, the Brits advanced, while the 2nd Wargroup of Alcoholicans were on the eastern flank.
This was a solo affair, and I wanted to reduce my movement around the table to a minimum. Each company and each band had a data sheet on which was recorded the current CP of the unit. As I indicated before, CP were continually lost through combat, and when they were down to 20, one man was taken from the unit, reducing its fire power and its melee capability.
Only when the CP were reduced to zero was a unit removed. That’s why Hambone and Uncas were continually juggling their CP allotments from Colonel Seeker, sharing the CP between companies and bands, trying to keep their units alive.
Musket range was 20 inches, and the men in the town, one of the volunteer companies, spotted an approaching British unit, which had taken a position on a wooded ridge. The Americans opened fire. On this particular fire phase, the volunteers were given 3 actions, hence could fire 3 volleys.
- First, I multiplied the number of men firing, 4, by the number of volleys, 3, to get a total of 12 Fire Points (FP).
Second, since the target was in cover, I multiplied the FP by 5 to get a final Probability Of Hit (POH) of 60 percent (if the target was in the open, the multiplier would have been 7, with increased POH of 12 x 7, or 84 percent).
Third, I referred to a POH chart, and tossed percentage dice and determined the effect on the target. With a low throw, I could knock off 3 CP-per-man-firing from the target’s current CP total. Unfortunately for the Americans, I didn’t even make the ‘60 toss’… I threw an 84. In this instance, I reduced the target’s CP by only 1 point. Note that even if a firing unit missed it dice throw, it still produced 1 CP loss on the target.
| POH Chart | DICE THROW | RESULT |
|---|---|---|
| Over FP | Reduce target’s CP by a total of 1 | |
| From 1/2 FP to FP | Reduce target’s CP by 2 for every man firing | |
| Below 1/2 FP | Reduce target’s CP by 3 for every man firing |
Fourth, the targeted British unit reduced its CP from 60 to 59. It did not take a morale test. Morale tests were mandatory only when a unit’s CP was down to 50 and below.
Fire Phases
There were several fire phases during the half-bound. On one phase, the non-active side got to fire “for free” (3 actions for 3 volleys), while on another, it had to use Reaction Points (RP) to fire to respond to enemy movement. The sequence looked like
- (1) Active Side (AS) moves units
(2) AS may use its RP to fire.
(3) Non-Active Side (NAS) returns fire with 3 volleys
(4) NAS infantry move 5 inches, cavalry move 10 inches
(5) AS uses its RP to fire
(6) NAS uses its RP to fire
(7) AS units close to contact, melee is resolved
(8) Both sides adjust their CP, transferring CP to companies and battalions
(9) Both sides receive 4 RP
Note that of the 9 phases, 4 of them are for firing, and 3 of the 4 require the use of RP, which are replenished, in part, on the last phase. When using RP to fire, a unit is first assigned one RP to give the order to fire, and then a percentage dice toss of 80 or under to see if the order was actually received. If everything works out, the unit can fire 2 volleys.
Just about every attacking unit, British and Indian, smashed away at the American volunteer unit which had fired first. Its CP total, after several fire phases, fell rapidly from 60 to 22, requiring a morale test, since the unit’s CP was now below 50.
The Morale Level of a unit was defined to be twice its CP total, and 2x22 equals 44 percent… the volunteers tossed low and held position.
The American force was headed by Major Freedom (of the Boston Freedoms). Just as Colonel Seeker was a source of CO for the attacking force, Freedom was a CP source for the defenders. He reached into his CP kitty (Phase 8 of the sequence) and gave the volunteer company 20 points, raising their CP to 42. This CP total also raised their Morale Level to 84 (twice the CP total), which is a fairly respectable number.
But a couple of volleys later, the volunteer company’s CP was down again, and unfortunately, the Major had not-too-many spare CPs to bolster the unit. The volunteers took a morale test, failed, fell back and lost another 4 CP.
The reason that the volunteers fell back was that during a charge by one of the Indian bands, the volunteers took additional casualties (lost CP), and had to take a morale test prior to the Indians closing for hand-to-hand combat. When the Americans fell back, the Alcoholican band entered the town unopposed. Not good for the cause of liberty and justice for all.
If a melee had occurred, a POH chart similar to that used for firing would have been referred to. But the melee chart is slightly bloodier. For example, on the firing POH chart, a ‘good throw’, a low throw, results in a reduction of 3-CP-per-man-firing on the target unit. In the melee chart, a low toss results in a reduction of 5-CP-per-man-striking on the opposing unit.
Things looked bad for the Americans. But help was on the way... well, sort of... two companies of American regulars were advancing from their baseline, commanded by Captain America (of the Boston Americans). The town had initially been held solely by the 2 companies of volunteers, and the American reinforcements were slightly delayed in entering the field.
Captain America ran his men upfield and took position on a wooded ridge near the town. One of the Captain’s 2 companies held 5 men, the other, 4. I thought the 5-man company would do great damage to the Indians. For example, when the 5-man unit fired 3 volleys, I multiplied the following 3 parameters together… 5 men times 3 volleys times a factor of 7 (since the Indians were not in cover). This gave a POH of 105, and in the POH chart, a toss of under half the POH, i.e., under 52, would result in 3 CP crossed off for every firing man in the unit, a total loss of 15 CP.
And when using their Reaction Points, and the 5-man company fired 2 volleys, their total POH was 5 x 2 x 7, or 70. This, too, was a respectable figure, but… Alas! Some rotten dice throws for the Americans, some excellent dice throwing by the Indians, and the Indians simply laughed off the impact, passing all morale tests.
By Bound #5, the Americans had lost one 4-man company of regulars and one company of volunteers, both units’ CP totals being reduced to zero. Major Freedom simply could not keep up with the CP casualty rate. A couple of the attacking bands were badly shot up, but none were destroyed. The town was lost, and when last seen, the Alcoholicans were busy whooping it up, chasing down the wimmen folk.
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© Copyright 2000 Wally Simon
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