My forces held two towns… Ritburg on the right, Leftenburg on the left. As the attacker, Bob Hurst had 1st Brigade: 3 infantry regiments 2nd Brigade: 3 infantry regiments 3rd Brigade: 2 infantry regiments Cavalry brigade: 2 regiments Artillery: 2 batteries My defending force was also of 3 infantry brigades plus 1 cavalry brigade, , but each of my brigades had only 2 regiments. An infantry regiment consisted of 4 to 6 stands of troops, a cavalry regiment was composed of 4 stands. These rules used the "morale game" concept. This first appeared in the REVIEW in 1984, when I set out a series of ideas for the SYW, rules called POUR LE MERITE. The system was adopted by Scott Holder a couple of years ago, when he published his PATRIOTS AND LOYALISTS, a glossy text carried by Johnson Hood of WARGAMES. The "morale game" focuses solely on unit morale. Stands are not removed as a unit takes casualties… instead, its Morale Level (ML) is tracked and is constantly decreased by the melee and firing routines, until finally, the unit is no longer considered battle-worthy and is removed from the field. As an example, one of my defending regiments of 4 stands fired at an advancing regiment. Musket range is 20 inches… within this range, a unit, when it detects it’s being fired on, will take a morale test. Note that the player with the firing unit didn’t toss dice… only the player whose unit was affected tossed. Basic Morale Level (ML) of target unit 85% Less 2 points for each of the 6 firing stands -12 Resultant ML of target unit 73% To augment the modified ML, we each had a number of "officer figures" available. An officer could increase the ML by 20 percent. Once having assisted, the risk to the officer was 60 percent… a toss below 60 and he was killed. In retrospect, there were too many officers hanging around… they were renewed each turn, and we each built up a small supply of these figures. In the above example, Bob decided not to use an officer, and his targeted regiment tossed its dice, looking to throw below its resultant ML of 73. He failed, and his unit (a) Lost 1 Efficiency Box (EB). Each unit had 5 Ebbs. A total of 5 such morale failures, i.e., a loss of 5 EBs, and a unit was destroyed. (b) Fell back 10 inches, in column formation. In the original game, a loss of 4 EBs was sufficient to destroy a unit… after playing some 5 or 6 bonds, it appeared that I should have stuck to the original 4. That one additional EB caused units to remain on the field too long. Both Bob and I placed our cavalry brigades (2 regiments each) on our respective right flanks. Cavalry’s function is to charge, and charge they did. After suffering a loss of 3 EBs due to defensive fire, my cavalry finally closed. Too little and too late. In resolving melee, we used the Morale Levels (ML) of the concerned units, just as in the firing phases. First, each of the 2 participating units diced to see (70 percent) if they lost an EB. Bob’s infantry did, while mine remained unscathed. Second, we added our morale modifiers (a) For the infantry Initial ML 85 Less, -5 for each 1 EB lost -5 Less, -5 for each opposing cavalry stand -20 Plus officers. Bob tossed in 3 officers at +20 each +60 Total 120 (b) For the cavalry Initial ML 85 Less, -5 for each of 3 EBs lost -15 Less, -2 for each of 6 opposing infantry stands -20 Plus officers. I had 1 officer at +20 each +20 Total 70 (c) I should note that the allocation of officers was done in secret, so that, initially, neither side knew of the number of officers that had been committed to the combat. Third, we added a percentage dice toss to our totals. With a bias of 50 points to his dice roll, neither of us was surprised when Bob totaled high and won, and his infantry drove off the cavalry. Fourth, having lost, my cavalry diced for another EB loss. Alas! It did take another (it now had 4 EBs lost), and fell back 10 inches, in column formation. Fifth, we each diced to see if we had killed the participating officers (60 percent to do so). At first, during the battle, my troops held out in good fashion. The sequence provided the sides, when they were active, with actions, and an action could be used to fire or to advance a unit 5 inches. Digression These rules were set out in accordance with the Simon theory of horse and musket warfare. Loading and firing a weapon takes time. During the bound, an action represents a unit of time. An advancing side wants to advance, and it will use some of its actions to fire, but most of them to move up. In contrast, the defending side, entrenched, doesn’t need to move around and can use most of its actions to fire. This contrasts with such published rules sets as NAPOLEON’S BATTLES, and FIRE AND FURY, in which both sides, each bound, get to fire and move equally. End of digression. Numbers Around the 8th bound, Bob’s superior numbers were beginning to tell. On my right flank, his cavalry had come forward, and despite losing a couple of EBs to fire, they managed to stick in there and made contact with one of my 6-stand infantry regiments near Ritburg. I had 2 regiments near Ritburg, on my right flank. One was in town, the other outside to provide support, in case the unit in town failed a morale test and fell back. The enemy cavalry wiped out the supporting regiment (5 EBs lost) in a series of charges, taking heavy damage themselves. I had to take one of my cannons out of the front line, and bring it to the rear of Ritburg to help out. No use. And so I lost the right flank. A Note about the Artillery When firing, an artillery unit fired with the effect of 4 stands, hence its effect on the target unit was to reduce the Morale Level by 8 points. While the musket’s had a 20 inch range, artillery reached out to 40 inches. Meanwhile, back in town, things in Leftenburg, on my left flank, were looking dicey. My 15th regiment had been detailed to defend the town,. They and the 17th were smaller size units… the 15th had 4 stands, the 17th had 5 stands, in contrast to the 6-stand units of the opposition. While, at first, the defensive firing of the 15th caused a couple of advancing enemy units to fall back due to poor morale test throws, eventually, they were charged and lost the melee, and fell back out of town. A couple of turns later, the 15th, having recovered its aplomb, charged right back into town, and, despite their having previously suffered a loss of 3 EBs, drove Bob’s unit out and recovered Leftenberg. At that time, in mid-field, I had driven back some 3 of Bob’s regiments due to their poor morale throws, and, hoping to cash in on my good luck, I sent both the 15th and its sister regiment, the 17th, forward, thinking I could get in a couple of good, solid smacks before the regiments that had fallen back could reform. These enemy units were all in column formation and couldn’t fire… they would have to use up several of their actions to form line, move up and fire again. I Should have Stuck to the Defense Bob brought up one of his 3-regiment brigades, and it drove my weakened 15th and 17th back before they could produce any appreciable impact on the opposition. In most games, a unit waits for the end of a fire phase before it takes a single morale test, thereby ‘accumulating’ all its casualties during the turn, before testing. Under the "morale game" concept, however, every time a unit is fired at, it tests its morale level, hence if it’s fired upon, say, 4 times, it’ll take 4 separate tests. The end came quickly. The 15th and the 17th regiments vanished… crossing out 5 EBs each, leaving me with only 2 infantry regiments (my cavalry was also long since gone), to face the oncoming horde. No way I could pull it out… I surrendered my sword. A final note. The "morale game" procedures are a wee bit different from those employed in other, more standard, systems. I think it’s got a lot going for it, but some guys don’t like the idea of simply pointing at a target and having the other guy toss all the dice. Different strokes for different folks. Back to PW Review January 2001 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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