Howard Whitehouse's SCIENCE VERSUS PLUCK (SVP) is a rulesbook for the Sudan campaigns, 1881-1899. It's set up, therefore, for the type of battles with which all THE SWORD AND THE FLAME (TSATF) fans are familiar: many, many units of tribesmen against a couple of British units.
SVP is what I term an 'umpire driven' game... it's the umpire that sets up the location of the hidden desert warriors, determines the length of the turn, tells you if your water supply is low, notifies you if your wagons have lost a wheel, etc.
In a sense, it follows the pattern of PONY WARS, the wild west game in which the players match wits against the draws of a randomized card deck, whose cards tell of the presence of 'hostiles' and how aggressive they are.
Tony Figlia hosted a 15mm game of SVP for us on Rich Hasenauer's 14-foot long table. We, the Brits, had a huge, ready-to-march square formed up on one end, while way, way down at the other end, was Fort Abu Babu, besieged by the natives.
The SVP sequence consists of nine phases, the first of which is termed "Intentions". Here, the participants tell the umpire "what they'd like to do"... form up this unit, send out that unit, attack that encampment, scout this hill, etc.
With this accomplished, then during the second phase, called "Time Allowance", the umpire decides how much time all of these good things are going to take... 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, or an hour, etc.
Once the time for the turn is determined, this sets the scene for the following phases, the action phases. In our 15mm game, the scale is 1-inch per 100 yards. As an example, cavalry move at 100 yards (1-inch) per minute, hence if the turn will take a half-hour, 30 minutes, the cavalry will cover 30 inches.
The movement rate of the British square was 25 yards a minute, which meant they covered 1-inch for every 4 minutes of the turn, slow going, indeed. To get the show on the road, Tony defined our first turn as taking 60 minutes, and so the square started off at breakneck speed, and traveled 15 inches.
During this first hour, Rich Hasenauer sent out a cavalry unit to check the ridge line to the left of the square, and as the cavalry approached the ridge, FOOMP!, there suddenly appeared a huge band of ugly looking dervishes. (Digression: I should note that the book refers to all native units as 'dervishes' or 'Mahdists', and to the European forces as 'Imperialists'. Despite being published in the mid-80's, the text is, therefore, politically correct today).
All the non-firing native units were huge. They all had some 20 or more stands in them (the number of figures per stand didn't seem to matter) while the British units seemed to be composed of 3 to 5 stands each.
General Hasenauer (he was the commander of the British forces) was aghast as the natives seemed to rise up out of the ground in front of his cavalry. To his rescue, however, came the umpire. "How would you like an Emergency Response?" said the friendly umpire.
Tony, Our Friendly Umpire (hereinafter referred to as TOFU), guided us along throughout the game, since none of the players had seen the rules before. In this instance, TOFU explained the Emergency Response routine, described in the text as
- ... a device by which the players may seek, at some risk, to overturn the normal sequence of the turn to permit some... action at a point in the turn other than is usual...
The success of the response depends upon the time allowed, which is, in essence, a judgement call by the umpire. Here, TOFU indicated that there would be some 1-to-3 minutes for the cavalry to react. General Hasenauer then tossed a 6-sided die, TOFU consulted his tables and charts, muttered to himself a few times, and finally declared that the cavalry had extricated themselves... they turned tail and ran like the wind.
Due to the way the game is structured, with the Brits continually being surprised or ambushed or suddenly attacked or overwhelmingly surrounded, the Emergency Response routine is of paramount importance... there's no way the Brits can win if the normal sequence is religiously followed, in fact, without the emergency response provisions, one might say it's a "non-game".
There are three basic tables for an emergency response: one for responses to be performed in less than a minute, one for a period of time ranging from 1-to-3 minutes, and one for 3-to-5 minutes. The more time to react, the greater the probability of success.
During our game, none of us were privy to the charts and tables, as TOFU acted as our sole font of information, our end-all and be-all. I suspect that if we had been given the charts, we'd still be playing the game, discussing what this meant, what that meant... I noted that TOFU himself was continually researching different aspects of the procedures.
As I indicated above, a single 6-sided die is tossed to determine the success of the emergency response. SVP uses 6-sided dice, but vacillates between the toss of 2-dice and 1-die. Very confusing. Just about every procedure... firing, reaction, morale, melee, etc.,... needs more than one dice toss, and we were never sure of what to throw.
Throughout our game, the conversation ran:
- TOFU: We need a dice toss.
PLAYER: One or two?
TOFU: One. Now toss another.
PLAYER: One or two?
TOFU: Two. Now toss another.
PLAYER: One or two?
And so on. I've noted that the vast majority of rules authored by Brits shies away from use of percentage dice. Being an understanding fellow, I forgive them for this, but, at the least, I would think that a published set of rules should standardize on the number of dice tossed each time a table must be consulted.
Due to the fact that SVP is a "talky game", wherein the players are continually conversing with the umpire, it seems to be a slow moving affair. It is further slowed down because there are many, many charts to be referenced, and many, many dice throws. I must admit I'm not too clear on this, but as an example, if the Brits fire at the enemy closing in on them, the sequence seemed to be:
- a. Toss a die to determine the Brits' reaction.
b. Toss a die determining the range at which the Brits fire.
c. Toss 1-die per firing stand for "hits".
d. Go to casualty chart and toss 2-dice to convert "hits" to "casualties", i.e., stands removed.
e. Toss 2-dice for the native reaction.
f. If the natives close, we go through more British defensive firing at point-blank range.
I'm not sure why the two-step "first hits, then casualties" procedure was instituted, other than that it keeps everyone busy tossing dice. The casualty chart for the Brits compares the number of hits (see step c, above) with the roll of two dice (step d, above); in my considered opinion, it's not even necessary. There's a much faster way... here, for example, is a portion of the chart extracted from the middle:
| NO OF HITS | TOSS OF TWO DICE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
You will note that by multiplying the number of hits by the dice toss, and taking the ten's digit of the product, you get essentially the same results as those listed on the chart. For example, with 6 hits and a toss of 5, the product is 30, the ten's digit is 3 and that's the number listed on the chart. With 4 hits and a toss of 5, the product is 20, the ten's digit is 2 and that's what you'll find on the chart.
Admittedly, there's not a perfect correspondence (no doubt because the chart was generated only after thousands of hours of study of battles in the Sudan and their incipient casualty rates... hence the listings are historically realistic) , but to my mind, the chart is an absolute waste of space.
As I've mentioned before in the REVIEW, there are other sets of rules replete with silly, full page charts, which look impressive, which have that "aura of legitimacy", and which are meaningless.
Back to the Game
Our beloved TOFU did a fine job, each turn, in estimating the time required for the bound, so that the troops could move forward, or send out scouts, etc. TOFU judged quite accurately what the actual moves should be so that the native units which he had secretly placed on the field wouldn't get overrun or swamped by the movement of the British forces.
A practical problem arose, however, in moving the British square. Many bounds were defined to be 15 minutes in length, during which time the square could lurch forward the magnificent distance of some 3 inches. The problem was that the square itself -- composed of wagons and British soldiers and native troops and camels and artillery and officers and donkeys -- had around 75 stands in it, and after a turn or so, there were very few volunteers who offered to pick up 75 tokens and move them 3 inches.
After about 6 turns, the square was about 3 feet on the table from the point at which it had started. We had been slowed down even further because of a comment by Mike Montemarano, a British infantry commander. Mike asked: "Don't the wagons in the square ever break down?"
In the face of such a question, could TOFU utter any reply except: "Certainly... in fact, one of your wagons has a broken axle and it'll take 15 minutes to fix it."
I must admit that all present were "quick learners"... after the axle fiasco, we asked as few questions as possible.
On the square's right flank, Colonel Bob Hurst sent out his lancers to scout a village or so. Suddenly, the lancers, like the Hasenauer cavalry, were confronted with an endless supply of dervishes. Colonel Bob had to resort to the ol' emergency response routine... and his troops actually got away. But I noted that when TOFU placed the native units on the field, prior to Colonel Bob's testing, TOFU's comment was to the effect: "You think you can outrun my guys?"
The reference to "my guys" showed that our impartisan, pure, unprejudiced, unbiased TOFU had taken a liking to the native troops. He ran all the dervish units, and he was frequently seen to wince as they disappeared under the weight of British fire power.
Way, way over on the far end of the table, pretty much out of the scenario, sat the good Colonel Hubig in Fort Abu Babu, with a contingent of some sort of British-trained Askaris. Colonel Hubig fidgeted and fidgeted with nothing to do, and he finally asked TOFU: "This ruined fort in which I sit... of what value is it to the British empire?"
It was obvious that Colonel Hubig was thinking of deserting his assigned post, and marching his troops down the field toward the square where the action was.
Not to worry. TOFU took pity on the Colonel, and materialized a couple of huge dervish units to charge the defenses of Abu Babu. TOFU then "apportioned" the Askaris' fire... he decreed that as the dervishes ran forward, there was a total of 5 minutes of defensive fire, which resulted in something like 1 round of fire at long range, 2 rounds at medium range, 1 at close range, and another at point-blank range.
Each firing stand throws a die, and at long range, only the toss of a 6 produces a hit. As the range closes, however, the probability of hit goes up a thousandfold, until, at point-blank range, a toss of 3 or 4 produces one hit, while a 5 or 6 each produce 2 hits.
As the dervishes closed on the fort, Colonel Hubig tossed hundreds of dice (or so it seemed), and smiled happily, for of the 24 or so dervish stands that started out, only 2 survived. Needless to say, these 2 stands quickly ran back into the hinterlands.
"Well done, lads!" said the Colonel, and he sat back, now content to sit another couple of hours, watching the rest of us trudge across the field.
Mentioned
SVP is mentioned in Hal Thinglum's MWAN, # 55 (Jan/Feb 92) and in # 63 (May/June 93). Howard Whitehouse ran the scenarios described in both of these issues, and the distinct impression one gets is that the wargaming rules are rather secondary -- a sort of afterthought -- and that the true emphasis is on role playing. In MWAN #55, the author states:
Howard played alternating roles as the bedraggled Egyptian soldier and the British trooper who had found him... Howard then went on to portray the Egyptian being drug (sic) around by the collar of his tattered uniform as he was being grilled by the contemptuous British trooper (also being played by Howard)... this game wasn't everyone's cup of tea as one fellow was so irritated at the lack of miniatures action that he just up and left after an hour or so.
In our scenario, avid miniatures players that we were, there was no role playing, and our interests centered solely on the rules and on getting the square across the field to Abu Babu (not that Colonel Hubig needed any help).
Just as the square topped a rise, and the fort came into sight, up popped 7 dervish units, on all sides of the square. Each native unit, as I mentioned, had 20 or so stands in it, making a total of over 140 stands of dervishes. Not good.
Against the natives stood our valiant British. We had, I think, 5 units, of some 3- or 4-stands each, and about 5 useless wagons and a lot of camels and other grunge that kept getting in the way. One 4-stand Egyptian unit had routed several turns before and had disappeared in the desert. In essence, then, we numbered about 20 stands against 140. Perfect odds. Not to worry.
The square had been proceeding along with its infantry on the outside edges, hence only the infantry unit in the front of the square was actually deployed. The first thing we did, therefore, was to use the emergency response procedure, and get our troops into firing lines.
As the native units closed in, TOFU again sorted out the fire phases... so many rounds of long range fire, so many at close range, point-blank range, etc.
Lots of dice tossing, lots of moans, lots of groans, lots of hits, lots of chart-look-ups to convert the hits to casualties... each affected dervish unit then took a reaction test to see if it closed. The reaction test appeared to consist of several phases:
- a. First, consult a table and get a modifier such as "30 percent casualties = -2", or "40 percent casualties= -3"
b. Second, toss 2 dice using the above modifier to get a second modifier.
c. Third, take the second modifier and add it to a set of table values which reflect the unit's actions before it was hit.
Here's a section of the table:
- Status Level Actions
- 6 Stand still
7 Advance at a walk, may maneuver
8 Advance at a trot, may maneuver
9 Charge straight ahead
All the dervish units, prior to being hit, were in Status Level 8, i.e, advancing at a trot. Thus, if the second modifier turned out to be a zero, they'd stay at Level 8 and close. If the modifier was a +1, their Level 8 "advance" would turn into a Level 9 "charge:"
At least half of the charging native units closed. Several had been completely shot away, but there were so many, that even the awesome British firepower could do only so much.
At last we come to the actual melee. Each type of unit is given a modifier to apply to throw of a single die. The modifiers are picked off a matrix listing 7 types of attacking troops against 9 types of defending troops, ranging from "native spears" to "native cavalry" to "Imperial camel corps".
In our case, which pitted "native spears" versus "Imperial foot", the dervishes were given a "+1" for charging, and the Brits nothing.
Stands are paired off, and each side tosses its die. A difference of 2, and the losing stand withdraws in disorder. A difference of 3 and the losing stand is eliminated. An attacking native stand, if it eliminated the opposing British stand, could advance and engage another Brit. Most of the time, the opposing Brit was thrown back because of the natives' "+1".
Note that this procedure means that despite the huge number of charging dervish stands, the actual number of combats, i.e., die comparisons, were very few, and were basically limited to the number of British stands.
As to who won the melee, a point system is called into play. You receive 2 points per eliminated enemy stand, 1 point per enemy stand forced back, etc. A key factor for the British is that they are given 1 point for every stand eliminated by defensive fire.
This system of melee resolution is used for all the forces in the combat... it's either win or lose for all units involved. Thus in the huge attack on the square, it turned out that all the dervish units thought better of the whole thing and ran off.
The Product
SVP comes in two booklets, one titled "Player's Handbook", the other "Umpire's Handbook". There's really no reason for two handbooks... the player's guide contains just about everything in that of the umpire's except for the dervish firing and reaction tables. And I don't see why these tables are "secret" in nature.
In all, the game resembled Hank Martin's SOLDIER OF THE QUEEN, frequently seen at HMGS conventions, in which scores of teeny 15mm Brits and even more scores of teeny 15mm natives, all mounted on pennies, slug it out.
In truth, grumpy old man that I am, I've never come across a set of published British colonial rules that appealed to me. SVP seems to fit the mold. Its main interest, to me, is that the British side is, in essence, playing against the umpire, and several of the ploys used by the author in this one-sided affair are rather neat.
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© Copyright 1993 Wally Simon
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