Skirmish gamers often paint several figures, in different poses, to represent just one man in order to portray the many varied situations that man might find himself in. However, the case has not yet been made for doing the same thing for large bodies of metal troops. However, the memoirs of a French staff officer, Baron Lejeune, who describes the crossing of the Spree at the Battle of Bautzen, may justify those who believe large formations, such as brigades, should also use some kind of 'substitution' technique. Lejeune says there was: ".. a brigade of 3,000 or 4,000 Neapolitans leading the way, deploying immediately in picturesque fashion on the heights beyond the right bank. Just as the Italians had gained the heights, a gun was fired by the enemy, and I distinctly saw one ball whiz through the air more than 100 feet above their heads. Not a man was touched, but the whole brigade, taken by surprise, fell on their knees. We were marching behind them, and the sight --- of all these plumed grenadiers overcome with fear of a single ball made us laugh so loudly that they got up in a great hurry, and marching upon the enemy flung themselves furiously upon the advanced guard, doing it a good deal of mischief." What would be the proper time and place to replace a brigade of standing or marching figures with a brigade of kneeling figures? Obviously, that would have to be in a "Column, Line and Square" game whenever an opponent decides to fire artillery and produces the dreaded "bounce stick"! Hmmmm .... then what should we do about all of those British battalions that were always being ordered to lie down? Back to PW Review October 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