Allied military psychiatrists had learnt by the end of the Second World War that the very first hours of combat disable ten percent of a fighting force. A major intensification of the strains which broke those men (such as that imposed by several days of continuous operations) suggests that it might break the majority, and that 'decision' would be brought about not by the direct infliction of death and wounds, but by the immersion of an army in a situation which would prove psychologically intolerable. --John Keegan The Face of Battle The above quote is a fascinating theory about how land warfare will be decided in the future. Not by numbers or higher technology, but by whichever side can keep his troops mentally functioning for the longest period of time. So I have written up a short set of rules which can be applied to any set of modern warfare rules and deals with the above concept. RULES: Firstly, designate all vehicles and stands of men into groups of not more than ten. Now, normal play will take place until the end of turn three, at which time "multiple stress" will begin to be considered in the fighting ability of the troops whether they are in action or not. At the end of every additional turn of play, a pair of percentage dice will be thrown for each vehicle and stand of infantry, and the following equation will be consulted for results: (5x turn number) + modifers = percentage probability of mental stress breakdown If this percentage or less is rolled on the dice, the player will then refer to the RESULTS TABLE to find out what happened. If this percentage is not rolled, then the vehicle or stand remains at its present status. MODIFIERS: Vehicle or stand was fired upon this turn +10 Previous vehicle of same morale group became emotionally collapsed this turn 10 Vehicle or stands unit routed this turn 30 Vehicle or stand has yellow (heavy stress) marker. +10 Vehicle or stand is under cover - 10 Vehicle or stand is in the open +10 RESULTS TABLE If the dice total is below the percentage probability, and is an odd number, the vehicle or stand will function from that turn on at half effect, and will be marked with a yellow marker (heavy stress marker). If the dice total is below the percentage probability, and is an even number, the vehicle or stand will function from that turn on at zero effect, will seek whatever cover or protection it can find, will remain there for the rest of the game*, and will be marked with a red marker (complete emotional collapse marker) *Note: The killing zone in modern warfare has become so large, that there is no safe place for a soldier to run to as there was in previous wars. EDITOR'S NOTE: An interesting concept, but can it be implemented on the wargames table? By Turn 10, say, won't all the units of both sides be huddled together, softly crying to themselves, and curled up in the return-to-the-womb position?? Back to PW Review December 1981 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1981 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com