In early March, I set out my 54mm British colonial army - or, rather, two armies. Each unit, or brigade, was composed of two or three regiments, but the focus of attention was not on the regiments, but on each Brigade Officer and his quest for glory. Consequently, each of the firing/melee/morale phases were ginned up to be as rapid a process as possible ... they only served as a backdrop for the officers. Take Colonel Von Pip, for example; he started out commanding two regiments, and ended up with seven. The man was a virtual dynamo... by game's end, he was, by far, the most highly decorated man on the field. He had accumulated five medals, including that most cherished of prizes: the Nebulanic Cluster! The key to this quest for glory was to make the enemy run ... make HIM run while, of course, ensuring your own men don't. To this effect, all officers had 20 percentage points ... points they could toss in to help their units by increasing morale level or melee capability Each time they led the way with their points, they diced to see the effect on their 20 point total. The dice throw was modified by adding TWICE the number of points with which they had helped out. In contrast to Colonel Von Pip, the most unlucky man on the field was Lt. Bumboni. He led the 1st and 2nd Guido Regiments-, sad to say, this most unfortunate officer fell mortally wounded after driving his Guidos time and time again against the enemy defenses. The poor man never even had a chance to pin a medal on his chest. Lt. Rumboni's men lost every melee in which they participated. It was not for want of trying that the Guidos were caused to fall back and regroup innumerable times. Melee resolution used the survival technique. Rather than focus on what a regiment did to the opposition, i.e., the impact on the enemy, the emphasis was on whether or not a unit survived a melee. Dice were tossed for each regiment in the melee, and the result modified hy, first, adding the regiment's morale level (usually in the order of 60 to 80 percent), and second, a series of plus arid minus "20's", for an advantage, for being mounted, for cover, etc. And, of course, whatever points were added by the Brigade Officer. The following table lists the results of melee: note that the modified dice total has to be over 120 for a unit to hold its place: Under 100: Fall back 12 inches, lose 5 boxes 101, to 120 Fall back 6 inches, lose 3 boxes Over 120 Hold firm, lose 1 box The "boxes" refer to the regimental data sheet, on which, were listed anywhere from 15 to 25 boxes to be crossed off before a unit was declared ineffective and removed from the field. A typical data sheet looked like: REGIMENT Morale Level 90 OOOOO 80 OO 70 OOO 60 OOOO 50 OOOO In many cases, all parties fell back, and there was no winner. If one side did hold position, while the other withdrew, then a winner was declared, and the Brigade Officer diced for his medal: Dice 01 to 60 Two Star Pendant (10 points) 61 to 80 Diamond of Valor (15 points) 81 to 100 Three Star Pendant (20 points) 161 to 120 Sunburst of Glory (25 points) Over 120 Nebulanic Cluster (30 points) The number of points denoted above indicates the dice modifier; having won a medal, an officer's past valor contributed to his winning another. Poor Bumboni won no melees, no medals; all he received were a series of incapacitating wounds as his regiment charged Colonel Testaclese's men, and tried to dislodge them from behind their entrenchments. Alas for Rumboni, each of his failures added to Colonel Testaclese's glory. In addition to a medal, the winner of a melee had two other options: a.He could call on a regiment from the reserve to join his brigade. This is how Colonel Von Pip ended up with seven regiments in his command. The man essentially recruited his own division. b.He could leave his brigade and request transfer to another, a new and fresh, brigade. This last option was available to an officer whose original brigade was fairly shot up and had low morale levels ... obviously, there is no more glory to be won with regiments whose morale levels are 40 or 50 percent. But I am happy to report that no officer was so cold hearted as to leave the men whom he had led at the battle's beginning. The entire exercise took about two hours and kept six of us entertained as we watched Captain Shotte, Lt. Thistle, Colonel Urinario, Colonel Vanderslander and other dignitaries earn their pay. Back to PW Review April 1990 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 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