Amongst other things, Tom Elsworth and I have been campaigning for about a year now - one move or so a month - moving Army Points (AP) from province to province. The campaign map of Figure 1 is representative of the display of provinces. Our capitals are some 17 provinces apart... capture of a capital means instant victory for the conqueror. Note that some provinces have 2 dots, some have one, and some are " dotless." In Figure 2a, an initial force, Corps 7:, starts from the Capital at 100 AP and arrives at a neighboring province for Turn 1. Several things happen at this point: a. Corps I gains in strength (AP) from having come upon an untouched, juicy province ripe for picking. The country bumpkins come a runnin', and Corps I recruits 40 AP. b. Having yielded 40 AP, the province is somewhat depleted/and to mark it, we place a big, fat, black dot in it. Figure 2b shows the depletion marking. c. Corps I also gains in strength from reserves sent out from the Capital. These AP are defined as: AP=50-[5 x number of of provinces from the Capital] Since Corps I is 1 province away from the Capital, it picks up: AP = 50 - [5 x 1] = 45 d. Corps I at the end of Turn 1 is thus raised to: Start of Turn: 100 Provincial recruits: 40 Reserves from Capital: 45 Total = 185 AP On Turn 2, Corps I again enters an untouched province. At the end of Turn 2, we have (see Figure 2c). Start of Turn 2: 185 Provincial recruits: 40 Reserves from Capital: 40* Total= 265 *Since the Corps is 2 provinces from the Capital, the reserves number: AP = 50 - [5 x 2] = 40 Corps I is growing, and on-Turn 3, it enters a province already marked by a depletion dot (see Figure 2d on the next page). This time, only 20 AP are available for recruits. Having recruited the 20, a second big, fat, dot is placed in the province ... the province is now TOTALLY depleted, and from now on, instead of supplying AP to a force passing through, it subtracts 10 AP from any force unfortunate enough to wander by. At the end of Turn 3, we have: Start of Turn 3: 265 Provincial recruits: 20 Reserves from Capital: 35* Total = 320 AP * AP 50- [5x3] = 35 Note what's happening to the campaign map. Wherever we set foot, we leave behind a dot. If we enter a "dotless" area, our force can garner 40 AP; a "one dot" area yields 20 AP, while a "two dot" province reduces us by 10 AP. Initially, therefore, as we traipse across the map, we pick up lottsa recruits. Eventually, however, most of the provinces become totally depleted and we Wander through waste land, losing points. By a judicious choice of paths, one can destroy the countryside, making it difficult, if not impossible for the enemy to advance. Initially, also, our forces are strengthened by reserves streaming out from the Capital, but when we're 10 provinces from the home city: Reserves from the Capital: 50 - [10 X 5] = 0 Hence, at this point, we can no longer count on reserves as we go deeper into enemy territory. Without reserves, the only other source, of course, are provincial recruits ... and that's why it's important to deplete the provinces in front of an advancing enemy. This, of course, may backfire,.. having depleted the terrain, one may be forced to fall back through the same provinces one has just devastated, losing troops in a most embarrasing manner. This is exactly what happened several campaigns turns ago. Tom and I found out that around Turn 10, our armies were staggering through vast, windswept, lifeless regions. The wintry winds were rapidly reducing our forces. The solution: to declare a new season, of course!! 'Twas spring, and the provinces sprang to life again... we simply eradicated about 90% of the dots on the field, and continued into the new campaigning season. Our campaign moves are mailed across the Atlantic every month or so. If, on my move, I invade a province sheltering one of Tom's armies, he fights the battle at his Oxford Wargames Club, translating the points involved into appropriate forces. My alter ego, one Mark Wilson, evidently rivals Alexander the Great in tactical skills... he's consistently pulled my irons out of the fire. One of our original campaign rules stated that the victor of a battle could "push" the loser back through any two provinces he chose. This meant, first, one could choose to push the enemy back through already depleted provinces, thus causing additional AP losses during the retreat. Second, if a battle was fought one province from the edge of the campaign map, the victor could "push" his poor opponent right off the map into oblivion! This very situation occurred around Turn 7, when General Wilson, in command of the Simonian army, defeated an Elsworthian force quite near the "edge of the world." Unfortunately, possessing a very cloudy crystal ball, this Simonian victory could not be foreseen, and on Turn 6, the rule was changed! The new rule stated that the victor got only a "one province pushback" on the loser, while the loser was free to choose the second province of his retreat. This saved the Elsworthian neck quite nicely. More later on "Dot Wars"... Back to PW Review March 1985 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 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