Jeff Wiltrout was the invader, I was the invadee, and we were playing on a full ping-pong table-size area map. The areas were around 8-inches by 8-inches, and each was defined to hold a maximum of 5 stands of 15mm figures, plus one General.
Initially, I owned everything in sight, and it was Jeff's task to capture it all, including my capital city, Americus, City of Light and Bastion of Freedom. Americus was one of 13 cities on the field (there were some 40 areas, of which 13 had cities), and each bound, possession of the cities provided Logistics Points (LP).
The invading Wiltrites had 10 units, each of four or five stands. I'm not sure what a 'unit' represented, but for game purposes, we can define a stand as a division, and each 4-stand unit as a corps. The defending Simonian force consisted of 8 corps, and prior to the game, I assigned each corps to a city... secretly noting down where each corps was located.
The map was broken up into sections divided by a number of large rivers... the Wiltrites could only cross the waters by boat... they were given an unlimited number of river craft. Each boat was defined to carry an entire corps (5 stands). Jeff divided his invading forces into two groups of five... one group of 5 corps proceeded up river by boat, while the other five set out over land.
One of the first cities attacked by the Wiltrites was Fourton, located on my right flank, and defended by a single Simonian corps. Each side had four Generals, and we had noted, for each General, whether he was good on the attack, or good on the defense. In charge of the Wiltrite force advancing on Fourton, was General Maze, who Jeff had defined as an 'attacking General'. My defending force in Fourton had no General, and General Maze thus gave the attackers a 'plus' in melee.
There were about a dozen factors to be summed in the melee, one of which was the General's attribute. Others were:
- (a) Each attacking stand contributed 3 points for the offense
(b) Each defending stand yielded 1 point for the defense.
(c) A city added 2 points to the defense
(d) A nearby supporting corps added 2 points to either attack or defense
(e) Each area distant from a supply base decreased a side's points. This was why it was important to the Wiltrites to capture the cities, and establish their own supply bases on the field.
(f) The sides were each initially given a number of 'mobile' supply points. Each supply point contributed by a side added to that side's combat points.
(g) Each side had a number of 'combat cards'... each card could contribute either 1, 2, or 3 points to a side's melee power.
In the combat, the attacking side tossed percentage dice, adding the dice total to the sum of all of the above plusses and minuses. His goal was to achieve a net total of over 60, as the combat results chart on the next page indicates.
| Total | Attacker Losses | Defender Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Total is over 80 | Lose 1 stand | Lose 3 stands |
| Total is from 61 to 80 | Lose 1 stand | Lose 2 stands |
| Total is from 31 to 60 | Lose 2 stands | Lose 1 stand |
| Total is from 01 to 30 | Lose 3 stands | Lose 1 stand |
The breakpoints on the above chart are 30, 60, and 80. The higher the net throw, the better the result for the attacker. Note that there was no need for the defender to toss dice at all... the attacker's throw was sufficient to define losses for both sides.
Once the casualties were established by the above chart, the actual winner of the combat had to be determined. Here, there were two parameters of interest:
- S Your own surviving number of stands
C The casualties you caused to the opponent
These parameters were combined into an equation to obtain a product, M:
- M = 10-sided die X (S + C)
Each side obtained its M number, and the higher product won the battle. In the fight at Fourton, General Maze, via some rotten (i.e., low) dice throwing, lost the battle, and his depleted force (down by 3 stands) retreated. The defenders of Fourton lost only 1 stand... they were now only 3-stands strong, but they cheered loudly.
General Maze, one bound later, his force augmented during the recruiting phase, and now back up to a full 4-stands, attacked again, coming in on the 3-stand defenders. Alas! for General Maze... he was driven back again, and again he lost 3 stands. The Fourton defenders lost another stand... they were down to 2 stands... but once again, the Fourton defenders cheered.
The reason I hadn't bolstered the defense of Fourton was that I had other battles in other locations to think about, locations that were closer to my capital city of Americus (City of Light). And the forces at these other sites were of more importance than the outlying city of Fourton. The Fourtoneers would just have to take care of themselves. War is hell!
A bound or so later, and Maze was back! The man refused to accept defeat! Unfortunately for the Fourton 2-stand defending corps, Maze's corps proved victorious... and his reputation as an 'attacking General' was re-established.
The sequence was a you-go/I-go affair, and at the beginning of each half bound, prior to moving his forces, the active side tossed percentage dice to determine how much 'time' would elapse on that half-bound.
- 01 to 33 3 periods
34 to 66 6 periods
67 to 100 9 periods
Neither Jeff nor I knew exactly what a 'period' was (perhaps, in the scale of the game, one or two months?), but we each waited until 20 periods were up, for it was at that time that we each received certain reinforcements. If, therefore, a number of consecutive half-bounds passed, each with a length of 3 periods, eluding the magic total of 20, our corps would continue to be depleted via combat and remain unreinforced. When the 20th period finally occurred, we'd each dice for three items:
- (a) Reinforcements. Here, we'd receive anywhere from 4 to 8 stands of troops (a maximum of 2 corps). Note that in the chart listing the melee results, both the winner and loser always lost stands, hence our force strengths were continually going down. The reinforcements could be used either to bolster any understrength corps in the field, or kept together as a new corps.
(b) Mobile supply points. These were invaluable when an attacking corps ventured forth from its supply base. In the listing of deductions to a corps' combat value, note that the further a corps was from a supply base, the greater the decrease. Mobile supply points were the only way to make up for this. My Simonian defenders profitted by this supply requirement, for most of the time, fighting defensively, protecting a city, they sat right on a supply base. It was the attacking force that had to advance up the field and extend its supply line.
(c) Combat cards. These cards were annotated 1, 2, or 3. They provided a combat value augmentation... a wee bit of additional OOMPH! when a combat was deemed critical. Each side was permitted to contribute a maximum of 2 cards to a particular melee to increase its combat points.
Despite the brilliant defense of Fourton, my other forces weren't doing so well. I had designated two of my Commanding Officers (each side had 4) as 'attacking Generals', and two as 'defending Generals', but for one reason or another, my Generals never seemed to appear where they were wanted.
For example, although General Chug was a 'defending General', which meant that when attacked, he'd add points to the defense, he always showed up whenever I needed someone to command an attack force. Which meant that Chug had no contribution to add to the battle, but merely stood by as an observer. In truth, I must admit that in the attack, General Chug outshone my other 'attacking Generals'... evidently Chug was a fast learner.
In my initial set-up, I had assigned a couple of corps way out in the boonies... and since I had only 8 corps to start with, the placement of these forces decreased my capability in defending Americus (Bastion of Freedom). By the time they got into the fracas, the Wiltrites were already knocking at the door of Americus (City of Light).
At battle's end, I was suffering from troop attrition, and from lack of combat cards. As the Wiltrite corps approached Americus (Bastion of Freedom), most of the battles, to my mind, were critical, and I was forced to play the cards to increase my combat points. In contrast, my worthy opponent held back his cards until he was virtually next to Americus (City of Light), when he played them with a vengeance.
As the end drew near, I surrounded Americus (Bastion of Freedom) with a ring of defensive corps, but the Wiltrites broke through and the lights went out.
The total game time was just over two hours.
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© Copyright 1998 Wally Simon
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