1. In February of 1991, I authored a review of the Napoleonic rules system written by Peter Guilder called IN THE GRAND MANNER (ITGM). The occasion had been a huge 30mm game at Bob Wiltrout's house.
My lack of love for ITGM was no secret; I had already expressed myself way back in 1989. What made the February 1991 adventure more palatable was that we players were all invited to a dinner of Miz Wiltrout's chili, which I termed Texas Chili.
Big Bob, in the same issue, rapidly corrected me on two counts: (a) he waved the flag for ITGM, and more importantly, (b) he stated that Miz Wiltrout's chili was not really genyooine, true-grit, all-American, Tom Mix, "Texas" Chili, but a variation thereof.
And now, some four years later, L'il Jeff, Bob's son, takes up the banner. L'il Jeff, having subsisted, in the interim, on a four year diet of Miz Wiltrout's extraordinarily nutritious chili - of whatever type - now towers over me by about two feet, and outweighs me by about fifty pounds. In short, L'il Jeff has become Big Jeff, and I shall attempt to remain on his good side.
In this issue, Big Jeff attempts to deflate the Simon balloon, for, in the 1991 article, I gave short shrift to the role played by Big Jeff in the battle, inflating my own role in the procedures.
Big Jeff is not the first one to note that, in all my articles, the events happening on my half of the table are always critical, that it's on my flank that the battle is won or lost, and that whatever is happening on other parts of the field is of no import whatsoever.
My comment is, and shall always be: let he who thinks that his role in the engagement was as critical as mine, write his own article. Obviously Big Jeff has taken me up on this challenge.
2. Despite the postage increase, we'll stagger along this year without increasing membership or subscription rates. It remains $10 for a regular membership, and $12 if your copy is mailed to you.
3. In the last issue, I sobbed and tore out what little hair I have about the fact that the REVIEW didn't achieve all "A's" in the assessment of wargaming magazines published in Hal Thinglum's Midwest Wargamer's Association Newsletter. We fell down in the areas of (a) the quality of the publication, i.e., its xeroxed format, and (b) in the REVIEW's "inspiration" level.
In the mail came a comment from Dave Corbett of the Benedict Arnold Society, a man who is not easily inspired. Dave wrote: The ideas presented and the actual games played by the PW boys dwarf the competition in spite of... (the lack of)... color photographs, etc.
4. In the past, I've written about what I term the Recognizable Patternry of a set of rules, i.e, all the parameters that will tie the set down to a particular era.
The other day, Brian Dewitt called my attention to what he termed an "unrecognizable pattern" in an ancients rules set I had generated. The flaw, said Brian, was in the procedure for bringing supporting units into a melee.
The sequence was an alternate one, and to prevent one side (the active side) from ganging up on one of the non-active side's units, I had provided a procedure for allied units on both sides to be brought into the combat. The basic chance for a unit to be brought in was 80%, and from this was subtracted the distance between the supporting unit and the unit it was trying to support.
Brian chose, as a supporting unit, one that was about 'lebenty-'leben miles away - actually, about 30 inches. The chance of bringing in the unit was thus 80-30, or 50%. Brian tossed a low number on his percentage dice throw... and presto! the supporting unit was magically wafted all those intervening miles across the field into the melee.
Obviously a hole in the rules, said I. It reminded me of a story told me by Robin Peck, whom I visit in Norwich, England. He said that Phil Barker once had to publish a rule to the effect that "units cannot advance backward into combat".
Evidently, in the 4th?, 5th?, 6th? edition of the WRG ancients rules, one's units had to take a reaction test when they first "saw" the enemy. One fellow thus reasoned that if he turned his units around and had them march backwards, they'd never "see" the enemy, and thus never take the test.
Here, too, was a "hale" in the rules. I'm beginning to feel a great kinship with Phil Barker...
5. The article that follows (Overwhelming Force) was only recently uncovered in an archeological dig (I started cleaning my room). The reason for the article was a piece of writing by Mr. Wally Simon in the February 91 PW REVIEW. He wrote about a game of IN THE GRAND MANNER hosted by my father, "Big Bob" Wiltrout, and catered by my mother Andrea. I tried in vain to find the REVIEW in which the article appeared, and my father's follow up article which also in that same REVIEW.
All that most men can remember about the article is the great chili debate. Wally wrote something to the effect that Mrs. Wiltrout made great Texas chili and my dad gave him some red soda water that tasted no better than Wally's own soda. (Wally's soda, also known as Death Cola, is the kind found in 3 gallon containers advertising NO SUGAR, NO CAFFEINE, NO TASTE... AND ALL FOR 37 CENTS.) My dad argued that my mom does not make Texas chili; she makes Yankee chili, and though it is very good chili it is not TEXAS CHILI!
The red soda that Wally insulted was none other than Big Red, imported from Texas, and made with water from out the Brazos river itself. Most readers were so caught up by the dialogue about the chili that they missed all the talk about the battle.
The game was a Napoleonic affair with the French and Prussians fighting a meeting engagement. Wally and I teamed up against Fred Haub and someone who had been forgotten in time but who has recently been identified as Brian DeWitt. I believe that Wally considered it a draw or even a very slight, dare I say it, Simon victory. What caught my attention and caused me to write the following piece was a sentence that Wally wrote about being given a hussar regiment. He then went on to describe how he used the cavalry, but I never got past the word "given." Here ends the intro and begins the narrative.
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© Copyright 1995 Wally Simon
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