As historical miniatures wargamers, it is a given fact that each of you is an authority on all eras of military history. By definition, each of you is an expert in the military arts. This survey dips into the vast treasury of expertise and experience of the PW organization, seeking guidance and light.
You are requested to answer the questions below and return this sheet to the Survey Taker.
1. In an English Civil War battle, a unit of pikes (not pike-andmusket) is in combat with a unit of musketeers. Ignoring, for the moment, the number of men involved, check which unit, if any, you think should receive a bonus in melee because of the weaponry.
- Pike unit
Musketeer unit
None
2. In a Napoleonic battle, a battalion of British infantry is in combat with a battalion of French infantry. Ignoring, for the moment, the number of men involved, check which unit, if any, you think should receive a bonus in melee because of national attributes.
- British unit
French unit
None
3. In a Napoleonic battle, should a French Guard unit, in contrast to a French Line unit, fire more efficiently and thus receive a positive modifier in the fire calculations?
- No
Yes
Not sure
4. In a Renaissance battle, a unit of halbardiers is engaged with a unit of sword-and-buckler men. Ignoring, for the moment, the number of men involved, check which unit, if any, you think should receive a bonus in melee because of the weaponry.
- Halbardiers
Sword & Buckler
None
5. Unit A, in the woods, has just come across Unit B, in the same woods. The era is unimportant here. In the ensuing combat, which unit, if any, should receive a bonus?
- Unit A
Unit B
None
6. Unit A is outside a woods in which Unit B is located. The era is unimportant here. Unit A charges into the woods to close with Unit B. Which unit should receive a bonus in melee?
- Unit A
Unit B
None
THE SURVEY
The preceding page contains a survey which I handed out to PW members at the February meeting. It was prompted by a tableside discussion concerning the relative merits of pike units versus musketeer units in melee during the English Civil War.
I mentioned, in the February issue, in an article about the ECW, that the rules for a game which I had set up didn't allow pike a "plus" in combat if they were pitted against musketeers, and that this was greeted with unhappiness by those present. I seemed to be in the minority, thinking that, if any unit got a "plus", it would be the musketeers.
So intrigued was I by the discussion that I thought I'd place the issue before the PW group as a whole. And so, the very next week, I handed out the survey form to the PWers. If the PW members couldn't answer the question, who could?
And while I was at it, I thought I'd present several other issues to the membership. I came up with 6 questions in all. Whatever answers popped out of the PW survey would henceforth be incorporated in Simon rules sets. You can't argue with the crowd. One of the reasons I'm fascinated with the doctrine of "rules by democratic action" is that I've noted, many times in the past, that most wargamers, having neither the time nor desire to do research on their own, will do a very limited amount of reading on the subject of interest. And what do they read? Why, other wargaming rules, of course!
I couldn't count the times I've received answers similar to: "Yes, I looked up the topic in six other wargames sets, and each one gives the Armenian Knuckledusters a +1 in melee."
End of discussion.
Survey Responses
But now, to the survey. The results pertaining to the very first question, referring to the pike-vs-musketeer melee, proved extremely embarrassing to me. As I mentioned, in the February issue of the REVIEW, I actually went on record as favoring the musketeers. Egad!
I received 24 returns for the survey, and every dad-blamed one of them voted for the pike! Not a single vote for the musketeers! A complete wipeout for the Simon contention! By cracky, that'll learn me!
For the second question, 50% of the returns favored the Brits over the French in hand-to-hand combat during the Napoleonic era. In truth, this was a rather fuzzy question, and I kept getting comments about the firm British line, and the massive French column, and the French trying to deploy, and the Brits shooting 'em up, and the French breaking because of firepower.
In short, there was a lot of commentary on the question, and the hand-to-hand issue blurred because of other procedures pertinent to the melee.
The third question was interesting, for 58% of those surveyed thought the French Guard fired more efficiently than French line troops. This is logical, since French Guard troops were the cream of the crop, they were veterans, hence one assumes they'd have more proficiency with their muskets than the line troops. But where I fell down was in not asking the same question about British Guards and British line. I feel certain that the mere name "Guards" would have evoked a similar response.
For the Renaissance gamer, on the fourth question, 42% gave the halbardier a plus factor over the sword-and-buckler weaponeers. But here, a full 25%, one quarter, thought neither weapon had an advantage.
The last two questions dealt with melee between two units in the woods. If both were in the woods (Question 5), 71% said that neither unit got a combat bonus.
But if Unit A charges into the woods after Unit B (Question 6), 75% said that B got the bonus.
To tell the truth, I can't see any difference in the two situations posed by Questions 5 and 6. For Question 6, if Unit B is placed "in the woods", one assumes his troops are, perhaps, 10 feet?, 20 feet? in back of the "woods line". And if so, when Unit A charges to contact, both he and B are now "in the woods", hence we revert to the situation of Question 5.
And this assumes there's a solid, differentiable "woods line", a strict demarcation of clear terrain from wooded terrain. I get the impression that wargamers think that a unit, defending in woods, is safely situated behind a thick, stockade-like, vertical growth of trees, through which the advancing troops have to sidle sideways, all the while breathing in, to slip through.
Many years ago, when the world was young, I spent a day engaged in a paint-gun battle, a capture-the-flag adventure, fought in fairly deep woods in the middle of summer, when the growth was thickest. It was my impression that people charging people in the woods, whether they started out of, or in, the woods, would have no advantage. In fact, both would be equally disadvantaged, since the vines and branches and dead limbs and slippery muck and covered ditches would play no favorites.
For Question 6, therefore, I have to go against the grain. Simon rules systems will continue to give no bonuses for units in the woods.
Get your questions in now for the next survey;
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© Copyright 1994 Wally Simon
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