Beingge an Accounte of a Moste Deliteful Stay in Ye Countree of Englande by an Astute Observerre of the Times YEA, and did I lande upon the coast of Englande, there to claim that countree for my very owne ... Thus starts the Annals Of The Lion, having spent a wonderful three week vacation in England focusing on wargaming. Museums?... no. Historical old ruins?... no. Visiting the various sights?... no. Touring?... no. Wargames?... yes. Such is my idea of a holiday. The following is a summary of all the goings-on. Picked up at Heathrow on November 2 by Paddy Griffith. Hustled off to Sandhurst, and while Paddy delivered a lecture to his students, explored the Sandhurst military library. Never saw so much wargaming background material gathered in one place before. More later on the exploits of Dr. Griffith. Then to Oxford for several days with Tom Elsworth. Tom's latest interest is in the 6mm "blocks" of troops put out by Irregular Miniatures. A block consists of 4 rows of 6 men each, measuring about one inch by one inch. In Tom's setup, the block represents a battalion in column, and when the unit deploys, the block is picked up and replaced with a strip of figures in line. One could not afford to do this in 25mm scale. At Tom's Oxford club meeting, we played a game with his Napoleonic rules, which T've written up and will appear... somewhere. Tom also has a collection of 2mm figures and with these, we tried several variations of Peter Dennis' ACW rules which employ - or attempt to employ - the variable bound concepts set out by George Jeffrey. Here, units are to be moved, with no regard to a specific set of timed bounds, until a critical situation appears, at which time the battlefield is updated: casualties assessed for whatever time period passed, ammunition supplies properly reduced, orders sent out, etc. We tried the rules the "normal" way, and again, as in the past, ran into the "chitty" problem. Because of the indeterminate length of time passing between updates, the field is strewn with little notes or "chitties": the 41st Regiment will rally at 10:30, that unit will rout until 11:20, this message will arrive at 12:10, etc. A lot of record keeping... even for a small battle. In an attempt to simplify the simultaneous goings-on, we tried to impose an alternate move sequence on the system, with each cycle equivalent to 10 minutes battlefield time. What this does, unfortunately, is to do away with Jeffrey's variable bound concept, but the data requirements seem to be eased. The cycle looks like that sketched on the right, where A and B each have their own phases to move and fire, plus two additional phases wherein they fire simultaneously. Thus if one of A's units contacts one of B 6 s on Phase 1 at 11:30, there is an exchange of fire on Phase 2, reactions are tested, and the melee begins on Phase 3. The length of the combat is decided by a dice throw (a function of the relative strengths of the units) and if the fight is over in, say, 40 minutes, we come back to it at 12:10, four turns later, on Phase 1, and determine the results. In effect, all we've done is emasculate the Jeffrey system and made an "ordinary" wargame out of his concept. Sorry about that. Don Featherstone Tom and I took a day to drive to Southhampton to visit Don Featherstone. I don't know what the HMGS Chicago group did to Don at ORIGINS in Milwaukee, but he just couldn't get over the royal treatment he had received. It appears they ran him ragged... he hosted games, conducted seminars, gave a talk or two, he was the honored guest at one? two? dinners, he made speeches... he loved it. We were conducted to the sanctum sanctorum... the Featherstone gaming area... up in the attic. "Everyone into the bathroom." said Don. I looked at Tom; did Don Featherstone have a fetish aboot guests relieving themselves during their visits to his home? Not to worry. The way to the attic was via a set of let-down stairs, and the way to the let-down stairs was via the bathroom. And up we went to Featherstone land. Just prior to his departure from the US, Jim Butters had conducted Don on a tour of the ACW battlefields local to the Washington, DC area, and on his table, Don had set up a huge recreation of Antietam. There appeared to be thousands of figures, and all of them were... 20mm plastic Airfix! The Featherstone group meets every Wednesday night, and Antietam had several Wednesdays to go. We also went through Don's huge 30mm collection of British colonials, SYW, WW I ... all well worn and much used. Of interest were the rules currently used by Don. Here, rosters were employed, figures were not removed, and when a unit received 6 or 7 "tics", i.e., impacts, from fire or melee, it was removed... in effect, a morale game. No more 6-sided dice; all impacts were based on percentage dice throws. Tables similar to the one on the left were used for melee. All types of units were listed. The chart shows, for example, for British cavalry to impact on Sikh infantry, the cavalry must toss better than 20; while the infantry, to impact the cavalry, need a 70 or better. Attacking Unit Unit Being Attacked Brit Cav Sikh Inf Sikh Cav Brit Cav - 20 45 Sikh Inf 70 - - Sikh Cav 35 - - Of late, the "morale game" seems to have caught on. More and more current sets of rules employ the concept. Here we have Don Featherstone indulging, Phil Barker's WRG 7th Edition uses the system, the PW REVIEW has, of course, been beating the drum for some time ... perhaps even EMPIRE IV?? After a stay at Tom's, I visited Robin Peck in Norwich. Robin is a superb modeler... his claim to fame is that he crafts significant bits and pieces of the models created by Ian Weekly, the fella who appears monthly in the British magazines with his articles, describing the detailed terrain items for which he's been commissioned. We visited Ian's shop, not too far from Robin's house, and saw a huge (about 6 feet by 5 feet) model of Warwick Castle which Ian is making. This particular model will go on permanent display on the castle grounds. Most of Ian's work - despite the cost - seems to be commissioned by wargamers. The Weekly shop is filled with mouth- watering items: a huge Viking stronghold, buildings, towers, a section of the wall of China, tents, castles, etc. Robin and I actually got Ian interested in participating in a game. Using Simon rules, we played out a Napoleonic divisional French attack on a British-held outpost. Control points, and combat points, and morale points... Ian took it all in stride and enjoyed himself. I did make one error during the game with Ian. In moving my troops around a farmyard which they were defending, I said: "Let's just take the off the field ... it's in the way." This was the wrong thing to say to a model maker who values terrain features more than he does the figures. I quickly rectified the situation; the barn stayed where it was. Robin Peck and Peter Dennis are contemplating publishing a skirmish set of rules based on - of all things! - a card system of movement. The rules booklet runs to slightly less than 40 pages and covers a multitude of weaponry... from stones and rocks to AK-47's. The theory is that, aside from the weapons, a one-man-versus-one- man combat really hasn't changed that much over the centuries. Robin and I played a Napoleonic skirmish, a western gun fight, a Franco-Prussian encounter, a British colonial effort and a western Injun raid. Not finding anything to complain about the rules, I kept moaning and groaning about Robin's lack of casualty figures to indicate a man was down and out of action. When a man is wounded, a chart discloses the number of bounds during which the poor fella is inactive. Robin kept tilting each 25mm figure on its side to show the man was out of it, and this offended my highly selective and delicate sense of aesthetics. Peter Dennis provided casualty figures for the Franco-Prussian encounter... here one could actually see little people lying down, getting their breath, resting awhile before getting up and going at 'em again. The firing procedure in Robin's rules is unique and clever. Each weapon has a Range Factor (RF) which automatically increments the firing range into segments wherein each segment reduces the probability of hit (POH) by 10%. For example, a pistol's RF is 3, and if the weapon is firing at a range of 11 inches, then: a.Round up the 11 inch range to 12 since we need a number divisible by the RF of 3. b. The RF of 3 goes into therounded up range of 12 inches a total of 4 times. c. For each of the 4 times, there is a 10% reduction in POH, i.e., 40% is deducted from 100%. d. The actual POH is, therefore, 100 - 40, or 60%. All other modifiers... cover, moving target, hasty fire, etc., are obtained simply by multiplying the POH by 1/2. The card system of movement employs a deck of 12 cards. Typical cards: VETERAN SIDE 1 Fire SIDE 2 ---- AVERAGE SIDE 1 ---- SIDE 2 Move RECRUIT SIDE 1 Fire SIDE 2 ---- The card is read from left to right, and the Veterans have preference in moving. If the 12 card deck is analyzed, one finds: Veterans fire 4 times, move 5 times. Average fires 3 times, move 4 times. Recruits fire 2 times, move 4 times Robin and I also played several versions of a game whose outline I had brought with me, and which uses a roster sheet. Rosters are my latest interest, and if one turns the pages of the REVIEW over the last few years, one will note that, two years ago, I was in my "increment movement" phase, in which a unit's efficiency was decided by drawing a card to see if it performed 1, 2, or 3 actions. Then I moved to my "Random Sequence" phase, in which the card deck decided which unit would fire, move, test morale, etc., Currently, I'm in my "roster" phase, wherein the unit's capabilities are constantly tracked on the data sheet. Robin has commented that, as I flit from phase to phase, I never really derive a complete set of rules for a particular era, but keep toying with concepts, leaving the reader to develop his own finished product. This is quite true... I can't count the times I have received a letter asking if I could recommend, say, a set of ACW rules. I write back stating: "There's an excellent idea to be developed in the ---- issue of the REVIEW." That's the last I hear from the reader. He doesn't want a concept, he wants a set of rules. Society of Ancients I was then off to visit Peter Dennis, and together, on one Saturday, we went to Knuston Hall, where the Society of Ancients was holding a get-together. This was not a formal WRG convention, even though Phil Barker was there. Instead, there was a series of group games... miniatures were scarce. I did sit in on a presentation by Phil Barker in which he set up an army of 2mm Romans versus one of 2mm Celts. Large, large scale. The entire Celtic army of some 60 stands - infantry, chariots, archers, cavalry was in one large clump and commanded by Peter Dennis. This clump... the army, not Peter... was defined as a "block", and as such, could move as one unit, which it did. A block was termed to be whatever number of stands were in contact. Each turn, Peter threw a die ... this was the number of "blocks" which he could move. The large Celtic clump clumped forward, and it eventually began to break up into smaller blocks as various parts of it passed over rough terrain, was hit by Roman fire, and attacked by Rom an troops. With the breakup of the huge block, and the formation of smaller blocks, the Celtic command/control function soon went to pot. An interesting concept, on which Mr. Barker says he will work further. One of the group games in which I participated was a map exercise. There was me in the year 14 AD, as Roman Praefect(?), Legate (?), i.e., Boss, and three sub-commanders. One was Peter as army commander, one was my logistics man, and the third was my intelligence officer. Peter conducted reconnaissance efforts and led the army in battle. The logistics fella told me of our grain and food supplies, and intelligence brought news of enemy intentions. The scenario set us in Gaul in October with 20,000 troops, 4 legions, and the objective was to get the legions back to Roman lines for winter quarters. Unfriendly tribes surrounded us, and the maps we were provided were of little help. As Roman Bossius, I could do nothing right. When an enemy tribe attacked one of our recon parties and killed 25 of our men, I ordered a nearby town destroyed, burnt to the ground in retaliation. It turned out this town was the only one which had had enough supplies to fully outfit the legions. When a spy brought in news that the "friendly" locals were turning unfriendly, I ordered the entire Roman force to pack up quickly and move out, instead of squeezing the locals for all the supplies they could provide. When we approached the territory of an unfriendly tribe, I thought it a good idea to send out 20 troopers dangling beads and wampum and miscellaneoous trinkets to negotiate and buy our way through. Fortunately, I was disuaded from this clever ploy... our Roman lads would have been eaten by the tribesmen, beads and wampum and all. The game was an exercise in logistics, not of battle strategy. I kept expecting to hear news that the tribes were descending upon us, and all I ever got was a series of reports on how low our supplies and grain and food were. The legions were starving, the oxen were starving, the horses were starving, Peter Dennis was starving, I was starving. No matter. My main concern was in keeping a particular set of ten booty-laden wagons going ... if I lost these, I lost all. The game lasted some four hours, after which we were "debriefed". The game mechanics worked thusly: a.The Roman staff officers would meet with me each "evening" and report and receive orders. b. I would give my orders and request certain information. c.Each staff officer was assigned an umpire, who supplied him with whatever information was deemed appropriate. d. One "day" was completed, and we'd go back to step a. Paddy Griffith presented a group game; it took place way back when, in the court of Jehosephat, King of Judah. About 20 players. The Jewish kingdo,... had split... the Kingdom of Israel stood separate from Judah. Syria now loomed large to the north, threatening both, and Jehosephat's big decision was whether or not to again ally himself with Israel. I played the Edomite representative. Edom was a small kingdom, an ally of Judah, and my objective was to get Judah to finance the Edomite army of some 80,000 troops. I had no idea of what I was doing, but Paddy equipped me with a large funny hat to wear (the latest in Edomite fashion) and I soon was addressing the mighty Jehosephat, putting in my 2 cents where only one was called for. Peter played the son of Jehosephat, who could care less about the military aspects of the situation. Peter's objective was to marry up with Ruth, daughter of Ahab, King of Israel, and to that effect, Peter politicked consistently in favor of the alliance. After a most interesting 2 to three hours, it seemed as if the alliance was to be formulated: Judah and Israel would join forces, Edom would get its financing,, and Peter would get his hands on Ruth... when it all fell apart. The Israelite ambassador, in summing up his position to Jehosephat, stated that when the alliance was formed, it was expected that Israel, not Judah, would be the dominant partner. Jehosephat wouldn't buy this, and Judah and Israel never did kiss and make up. The Jehosephat scenario was extremely entertaining and educational. Paddy Griffith prepared gobs of background information; all who participated were given briefing sheets on the history, the countries, the aims and objectives of each. An equal amount of effort was expended by the fella who presented the Roman game, Andy Grainger. The Knuston Hall schedule listed several such enterprises and I assume all were equally well documented. I was definitely impressed by this branch of the Society of Ancients. Field Publications After Knuston Hall, back to Peter's. Peter is Field Publications, which has published the popular soft cover Paddy Griffith work on the ACW, one by Howard Whitehouse on the colonial era, and another one, soon forthcoming, will be on WW II desert warfare. Peter seems to have lost his heart for miniatures ... we played two games, but solely, I think, for my benefit... if I hadn't visited, the little soldiers probably wouldn't have been touched. One effort was a sort of French & Indian War epic, using a two page, unpublished set of rules by a fella named Armatys (?). The rules said little about artillery, said less about routing and rallying, said nothing about cavalry, and opened up more questions than they answered. "Disorder tokens" were used, indicating the status of a unit, and one interesting ploy was to have the Commanding Officer run up to a unit and give it a "rallying speech" to remove some of the tokens. A 6-sided die was tossed, and the number of tokens removed was defined to be (Die - 2). If, however, a 'T' appeared, the speech was a non-success, and the unit received an additional token. The next game we played was an ECW one, again using Mr. Armatys' rules, and again I found no glory in them. I showed Peter a couple of ideas in a set of rules I was toying with: the usual bash of control points, action increments, reaction phases... the typical run of Simon goodies. Peter's response: "I don't like it!" Now, how can you argue with a simple, direct and straightforward- "I don't like it!" I certainly didn't. What I did do when I returned to Robin Peck's house was to get with Robin, and together, we developed the ideas for the ECW era, complete with pikes and commanded musketeers and forlorn hopes and whatnot. Robin was so enthused about the project that he ran to his word processor, and began plunking away at the keyboard with both forefingers to get all the good thoughts on paper before they dissipated. The result of his plunking was a 3000 word outline/article detailing the rules that he intends to submit to one of the British magazines. And, on my part, in the meantime, I believe I've got a working set of ECW rules on which I can base some articles for the REVIEW. Additionally, I can now start to paint and base the 30mm ECW figures I have in inventory, "stretched" 25mm figures who have been gathering dust for over a year. Robin and I played a brief Napoleonic campaign which turned out to last only two battles, as his forces broke my own. The set-up was similar to one I previously described in the REVIEW... as can be seen on the map, we have a river with four bridges. I, as defender on the northwest side, had to place some 6 brigades up and down the riverline to protect the bridges against Robin's potential attacks. Robin could mass his troops as desired; his one restriction was that he had to win at least two bridgeheads, and then breakthrough to the north. On the map, each circle represents a town, and every half turn of a battle (the sequence was an alternating one), we diced (40% chance) to see if there was off-table "strategic movement". If this occurred, all off-table forces could move from one town to the next. In the first battle, my off-table forces came up quickly enough, but did so at a time when I thought I was winning, hence didn't need them! I let them linger at the table's edge. A turn or so later, the battle reversed, my units crumbled, and my entire force, on and off the field, retreated. The victory tally calculation was taken from an idea of Don Featherstone. Each unit can stand so many "tics" or impacts before it's removed from the table. The army, therefore, has a total number of tics equal to the sum of all those possessed by its units. In addition to the unit impacts, we kept track of, the total number of tics received, and when they equaled half the total of the army, the force had to retreat. By not bringing my reserves on the field, I denied myself the additional impacts they would have added to my force's total, thus making it harder to break. Robin thus fought his way across one bridge, and snuck across another which I hadn't guarded ... he now had two forces, each the size of a small division, on my side of the river. Both now combined to attack in the last battle, the more interesting of the two. Here, his two divisions attacked a single brigade of mine, two lone battalions entrenched in some ruins. Some lucky half-turn dice throws and my off-table reinforcements appeared in timely fashion along my baseline. Robin's son-in-law, Stephen, standing in for Robin, didn't give my boys a chance to deploy, but attacked "a l'outrance", as we Napoleonic buffs are wont to say. In other words, I got clobbered. End of campaign. Epilogue ... The three weeks passed too, too rapidly. On November 21, I headed for the airport to resume, once again, my life of quiet desperation. Back to PW Review November 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