A couple of years ago, our group participated in what we called the Entropian Campaign, in which we competed, not against each other, but against a randomly moving series of enemy forces. Bob Hurst and I have recently started anew with this concept; we're about to engage in an American Civil War campaign... both of us versus General Hamilcar T. Valgus, a Rebel renegade who refuses to give up the fight. The action will take place on a campaign map of either 25 (a 5 x 5 matrix) or 100 (a 10 x 10 matrix) fields, where a field is defined as one playing area... we're not yet sure of the final size of the total playing area. Each field represents a table-sized battle area, and each has associated with it a set of probabilities for General Valgus to follow in seeking a path to the north. To the left, I've sketched 6 such fields. For example, if Valgus is in field E, the arrows in that field indicate that he will move as follows: To A (10%); Dice throw of 01 to 10 To B (70%); Dice throw of 11 to 80 To C (10%); Dice throw of 81 to 90 To D 5%); Dice throw of 91 to 95 To F 5%); Dice throw of 96 to 100 Note that, most of the time, Valgus will head north, and it's the job of Hurst and Simon to intercept Valgus as he moves from field to field. We lose points every time a Valgus force breaks through and exits off the northern baseline of the campaign map. Valgus' forces can appear anywhere on the campaign map; we have tables giving the probabilities of their showing up at any particular location. Additionally, another table gives the size of the force... it will vary from one brigade of two regiments to a full division (two brigades plus cavalry support). Not until we intercept a Valgus force will we actually determine its strength, and on occasion, we may find ourselves chasing shadows, for there is a possibility that the force is a "dummyu, one of zero strength. Bob Hurst has about twice as many ACW 30mm figures as I have, and our campaign efforts will be based on the actual size of the forces in our inventory. I've got enough troops for some four divisions, each with two or three brigades. We place our divisions on the map, dice to see where Valgus is sighted, and the campaign gets underway. As we work out more of the nitty-gritty of the campaign procedures, I'll update this report. Back to PW Review July 1988 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1988 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com