An issue or so ago, I updated our CHARGE campaign, a Seven Years War effort, participated in by perhaps 20 fellas. The article described a Pomeranian advance into Suden... which means absolutely nothing to the casual reader.
Fred Hubig (The Grand Duke) heads Pomerania. No one heads Suden... it's open territory to the north, subject to the whims of the campaign Umpire. The Hubig/Pomeranian expedition met with so- so success... the Umpire set out some fairly substantial forces over which Duke Hubig tripped, but Pssentially came out a winner.
Not to be outdone, Bob Hurst (Good King Bob) of Ronussia, another principality bordering on Suden, also invaded to the north, seeking to pick up some freebees. Again the Umpire ginned up a Sudenanian defensive force and we played the battle on King Bob's expansive 6 feet by 12 feet table.
The rules used were POUR LE MERITE, Version 2 (PLM2), our own uncommon, unusual, unconventional, unorthodox, out-of-the-ordinary, but noteworthy set for the Seven Years War. PLM2 is a "morale game" in which figures are not removed, and in which the effectiveness of a unit depends upon its morale grade, which decreases by 10% each time the unit fails a morale test. Five failures and the unit flees the field.
CHARGE campaign logistics require an actual "body count", i.e., casualties lost in battle out of every 12 figure unit, and a conversion table is used to translate the number of morale failures at the end of each encounter into battle losses.
In King Bob's engagement, the defending troops had been placed in a line of works, redoubts, bunkers, etc., whatever the Umpire, in his wisdom, had thought the Sudenanian forces deserved to protect their Mother Country. King Bob had to labor quite a bit to drive 'Pm out, hut he eventually conquered ... at great loss to his officer corps, brave men who gladly gave their lives for Ronussia.
In the campaign, one must "buy" officers, as well as troops, guns, etc. The Ronussian forces had, I think, over a dozen officers with thpm. King Rob was well stocked with leaders, all seeking promotion in thp SudPn campaign, rather than remaining back in Ronussia.
If an officer figure attaches himself to a particular unit, he is permitted to assist that unit in its ioralp tests by Adding up to 20 pprcentage points to its morale grade. Having done so, however, he is now at risk for the number of points he gave a unit.
Thus if a unit with a mo rale grade of 65% tests and the officer adds 15 points, then:
- a. The unit's morale level goes up to (65 + 15) or 80%, and
b. There is a 15% chance the officer is killed.
Despite these fairly low percentages, about 8 Ronussian officers were carried off the field. It must be admitted that the officer corps were consistently in the front and this was so because of the very nature of the rules.
When a unit was fired on, its morale grade was temporarily decreased by the "Fire Effect". which was composed of the product of three variables:
- a. N : The number of stands firing, usually 6.
b. V : The number of volleys. either 1 or 2.
c. RF : The range factor, defined as the ten's digit of the range measurement. Thus at 17 inches, RF - 1; at 27 inches, RF 2: at 7 inches, RF = 0.
Fire Effect = N x V x (3 RF)
If all three variables are maximized, 6 stands firing two volleys at very short range where RF = 0, then the product becomes (6 x 2 x 3), or 36... which meant that a unit of Regulars, with an initial morale grade of 80%, tested morale at (80 - 36), or 44%. Testing morale at 44% is something to be avoided, and that is why the officers proved so handy, were frequently used to augment a unit's morale grade, and fell down in droves ... thanks to a series of very low and very lucky dice throws.
In addition to the morale benefits bestowed by an officer, his presence also assisted a unit in another mode, termed a "preempting action". Here, a unit could attempt to get in a "first fire" before an opposing unit could fire its own weapons.
Preemption occurs only during certain segments of the game sequence. A deck of 10 cards covers the sequence; it determines how many actions each side can perform.
| Cards | Actions |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 10 cards | - |
As an example, infantry move 3 inches per action ... hence if a "C" was drawn, a unit could move for 3 actions (3 x 3, or 9 inches), and fire once.
The sequence is alternate, each side, on its turn, drawing a card to determine its actions for the bound. The preemption mode is invoked only when a "2" is drawn for the phasing side. This is, in essence, an out-of-sequence "bonus" action, permitting the non- phasing side to attempt to get off a quick volley and force a morale check on the opposition. Exactly what this has to do with the Seven Years War escapes me, but it's an interesting ploy that lends pizzazz to the game, and gives the officer figures "something to do".
The presence of the officer increases the chance of the non- phasing side being able to preempt:
- No Of Officers
None : 50% chance to preempt
1 officer : 70% chance
2 officers : 90% chance
The orders of the Sudenanian forces were to hold the "line of redoubts". Unfortunately, the redoubts were not in "line"... as may be seen from the map, Redoubts 2 and 3 were well oijt in front and susceptible to attack.
The Umpire had placed one battery and one unit in each of these redoubts to defend them. My gun crew in Redoubt 2 got off one shot on Turn 1, after which they were fired at, and these hardy fellows tested morale. failed, took off, and that was that.
This left a single militia infantry unit to defend the works against over four(?) six(?) advancing Ronussian units ... I can assure you that the officer attached to the militia more than earned his pay. Redoubt 2 fell only after some fierce hand-to-hand fighting, as two Ronussian units made it over the walls.
The morale grade for a militia unit starts at 70%, and in the melee, points are deducted from this base to account for the enemy's impact. Each infantry stand is valued at 2 Melee Points, hence the two 6-stand Ponussian units totaled 24 points between them, and this was deducted from the militia's 70% level, to give a net of 46%. It was no wonder that the redoubt fell.
Fred Hubig ran the Sudenanian defense on the right flank and he was gradually being pushed back by King Bob's able Executive Officer, Lord Brian DeWitt.
As indicated before, the key to PLM2 is the morale test, and for the first three fourths of the battle, Lord Brian's units performed in exemplary fashion ... they failed to fail a single morale test .... in contrast to Duke Hubig's troops, who continually fell back.
When the total number of morale failures suffered by an entire force equals the number of units in that force, there is a 60% chance that the army leaves the field. We Sudenanians had 17 units: the Ronussians had 23 ... and by the time we reached our 17th failure, the Ronussians were not that far behind us.
Each side's Commanding Officer is given 50 points with which he can stave off defeat. And when we rolled our "Do you give up?" dice the first time, we committed 30 of the 50 toward reducing the 60% probability. Thus, in this first test, the Sudenanians' chance of walking off the field was (60 - 30) or 30%, while we still had (50 - 30), or 20 points left in inventory.
The Sudenanian dice roll was well above the 30 mark, and the battle resumed. But not for long. One blast, another Sudenanian unit failed a morale check and fell back, and we had to test again.
This time the basic percentage was 70% (the chance goes up by 10% for each morale failure subsequent to the first time the test is made).
We tossed in our remaining 20 points, reducing the probability to (70 - 20), or 50%. 'Twas no use. The dice decreed that King Bob had won the field.
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© Copyright 1990 Wally Simon
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