Since I was in the ECW mode, the very next day, I set out on my table an ECW game with my 30mm figures. Each side had two infantry regiments (about 5 units each, two cavalry regiments (2 units each) and an artillery battery. Fred Haub arrived, and he and I went at it.
Now, if I thought that GKC was not my cup o' tea, my own set of ECW rules proved absolutely disastrous! I couldn't understand how - or why - I had lefl so many areas uncovered or unexplained.
For example, each side starts off with a staff of 4 'off'cers' for the force commander. Once these officers assist (they can augment the morale level of a unit, or aid in melee), they are removed from the table. And in the sequence, for Phase Number 7, I wrote: Both sides dice to see if a new staff officer arrives..
But what's the percentage chance of a new officer showing up? I had neglected to say! Fred and I eventually decided that 50 percent was a good number... but I could see that Fred looked at me askance... I had just told him of my unhappiness with GKC, and here, my own set lacked a basic procedure.
Around Bound #3, two of our units closed with each other, and we turned to the melee system. Ha! Double "Ha!" I had written down two separate and distinct methods of combat resolution. One involved tossing a 10-sided die to determine the winner, and the other required adding a percentage dice throw to a set of factors. with high total being declared the winner.
Again, Fred and I discussed how to resolve the situation, and what procedure we should use. Again, Fred looked at me in his askance mode... he was getting askancier and askancier.
Another item. Each force commander had a reserve of about 5 different stands of troops (pike, cavalry, muskets, etc.) which they could toss in to a melee to add combat points to the involved units. But can you toss a musket unit into a cavalry-versus-cavalry combat? And if you toss a pike unit into a musket-versus-musket combat, does the musket unit with the new pike reinforcement now become a musket-and-pike unit?
It was obvious that the author (no names, please) had not fully thought out all the ramifications concemed with his brilliant efforts to portray the ECW era on the field of battle. And by this time, Fred was really askance... but he's a patient lad... he's used to my foibles.
Despite all the problems, we fought the battle to a conclusion. Victory conditions were quite simple, having to do with the Rally Zone. When a unit lost a melee or failed a morale test, it was placed in the Rally Zone, to be rallied and recovered later.
If the unit failed to rally, i.e., to come back from the Rally Zone, it was destroyed, and the opposing side received 1 Victory Point (VP) for every stand so destroyed. Each unit had a 70 percent chance to retum.
I needed 12 VP to win, Fred needed 15. On Bound #8, during the rally phase, I failed to rally 7 consecutive units in a row... just couldn't toss below the requisite 70 percent. This gave Fred an instant victory. At game's end, at twilight, we held a solemn ceremony... holding tho rules aloft...and burning them.
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© Copyright 1998 Wally Simon
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