I wanted a very simple ECW game, suitable for solo playing. And so, at first, I gave each side 15 stands: 5 Pike, 1 Sword & Buckler, 4 Musketeers, 1 Artillery, 2 Heavy Cavalry, and 2 Medium Cavalry.
A single stand was defined to be an element, 'a la DBM'. Also 'a la DBM', there were no multi-element units... no regiments, no brigades. Each stand was an independent entity.
The first game, instead of being a solo affair, was played with Fred Haub, commanding the Earl of Crattchet's men, as my opponent. As the initial active side, his troops, both infantry and cavalry, moved 10 inches, and a couple of them, one pike element and one musket element, entered Crum Manor and set up shop. I should note that I never did dislodge these units... the Haubian/Crattchet occupiers held on to Crum Manor as if their lives depended on it.
And I should also note that in this first engagement, Mil Manor (see map) wasn't even on the table... this structure was placed on the eastern side of the field for the second, solo, battle.
Another technique, borrowed from the DBM scheme of things, was that there were no permanent denigrating factors attached to a stand despite the number of times it was shot at, or engaged in combat. If the stand was hit, it received a number of casualty markers, but if it recovered in proper fashion, it ran right back onto the field, full of vim and vigor.
The sequence was a 'clocking one', in which casualty markers piled up until the 'clock' indicated it was time for their evaluation. For each stand with one or more casualty markers dice were thrown:
Table #1
- 01 to 33 Each casualty marker gives the opposition 1 Victory Points (VP)
34 to 66 Each casualty marker gives the opposition 2 VP
67 to 100 Each casualty marker gives the opposition 3 VP
In our first game, a total of 20 VP was necessary to claim victory... this proved far too few, as the casualty markers accumulated rather rapidly.
One interesting ploy was that, in light of the fact that there were no multi-stand units, I gave each individual pike stand an intrinsic fire power, thus indicating that, somewhere on the stand, even though you couldn't see them, there were a couple of hidden musketeers.
There were, therefore, three types of firing stands:
Table #2
| Unit | Range | Probability of Hit (POH) |
|---|---|---|
| Musket | 15 inches | 50% |
| Pike | 15 inches | 40% |
| Artillery | 40 inches | 40% |
The clocking mechanism, determining when casualties should be evaluated, was to toss a 10-sided die at the start of each cycle. When the accumulated total equaled 15, this signaled the last cycle in the turn, and Table #1 was used.
As I previously stated, the first encounter was won by me and Lord Flocke, a terrific twosome who piled casualty figures on the Earl of Crattchet's force without cessation. For the second battle, fought solo, I changed several things, including the construction of Mil Manor on the hill. Another key change was to increase the VP needed for victory to 40.
To explain the sequence, look at the second cycle in this second battle. The Earl of Crattchet is the active side for this cycle, and the following 6 phases occur:
- (a) First, the Earl tosses a 10-sided die to get the clock number. The number for the first cycle was 3, and for this cycle, the Earl tosses a 9, giving a total of 12.
(b) The Earl, as the Active Side (AS) moves all his troops, infantry and cavalry, 10 inches.
(c)
- (i) The Earl's opponent, Lord Flocke, the Non-Active Side (NAS), has his men fire. Flocke tosses percentage dice to see how many cards from something called the Fire Deck he'll draw. In this deck, there are 5 FIRE cards, 5 LOAD cards, and 2 MISFIRE cards, a total of 12 cards. Flocke will draw either 4 or 5 or 6 cars... his dice tell him to draw 5 cards. He does, trying to match up FIRE/LOAD pairs, each pair of which permits his units to volley. He gets 3 FIRE, and 2 LOAD, giving his men 2 volleys.
(ii) On the first volley, one of his musket units fires at a pike unit belonging to the Earl (50% POH). The target is hit, receives a casualty marker, and takes a morale test. It passes.
(iii) On the second volley, the same pike stand is hit, and this time, with two casualty markers on it, Flocke's pike fails a morale test. It is placed in the Rally Zone. At the end of the turn, it will see if it comes back on the field (70 percent chance to do so). If it fails, the stand is destroyed and the Earl will receive 2 VP. Another item to note is that when the pike stand was placed in the Rally Zone, it already had 2 casualty markers on it... each of these 2 markers gave the Earl an immediate 2 VP, for a grand total of 4.
(d) Immediately following the AS fire phase, the NAS, who is the Earl, selects any two elements he desires and has them fire. The Earl's cannon and one musket stand fires, but produce no casualties.
(e) NAS cavalry move 10 inches. Note in Phase (b), above, the AS moves all his troops 10 inches. It's now, on the opponent's half of the cycle, that the cavalry get an additional move.
(f) Melees are fought. A losing stand is removed to the Rally Zone.
In this second battle, the Earl immediately occupied Crum Manor, while Flocke's men ran into Mil Manor on the eastern side of the field. For some reason, the Earl's troops couldn't climb the hill on which Mil Manor was located (70 percent chance to pass through hilly rough terrain), and this gave Flocke a chance to occupy Mil Manor. With Mil Manor secure, Flocke then launched an attack against the Earl's men (2 stands of pike) in Crum Manor.
One of Flocke's pike elements climbed the hill (70 percent chance to do so), climbed over the wall surrounding the manor (70 percent chance to do so), and engaged one of the two defending pike stands. The other defending pike stand was attacked by one of Flocke's musket stands... the intent was to prevent any possibility of one of the Earls' defending pikes coming to the aid of the other. In melee, a stand in combat can call on a nearby stand for an assist... a 70 percent chance of success.
The 'soak off' tactic was successful. We had two combats within Crum Manor. In the first, Crattchet's pike fought a musket stand. The pike won and Flocke's musket stand retreated.
The second melee pitted two of Flocke's pike stands against one of Crattchet's. Flocke's charging pike stand had called for a second stand to assist (70 percent chance to do so) and was successful... that's why the odds were 2-to-1.
Each stand struck at the opposition:
- (a) Each had a basic 40% chance to strike. Crattchet's pike struck successfully, and Flocke's units received a casualty marker.
(b) Flocke's pike each deducted 10 percent from their strike percentage of 40 since the defending pike was in cover, and both struck. Even with both strikes reduced to 30 percent each, both were successful. Crattchet's pike stand received two markers.
(c) Each side now computed:
- 10-sided die x (number of stands in combat + number of markers on enemy)
For Crattchet: Die x (1 stand + 1 marker on enemy) = Die x 2
For Flocke: Die x (2 stands + 2 markers on enemy) = Die x 4
(d) Flocke won and Crattchet's men retreated.
The result of the two melees in Crum Manor (the Earl winning one and Flocke winning the other) was that both Crattchet and Flocke each had stands on the manor grounds. "Lookee here, Crattchet", shouted Flocke in olde Englishe, "These here grounds ain't big enough for both of us. One of us is gotta go."
And for the next two cycles, the grounds of Crum Manor were hotly contested as both sides brought up their reserves and attacked. A maximum of two stands for each side were permitted on the grounds, otherwise we'd have had half the armies fighting within the walls. It took a little time, but finally the Earl of Crattchet's men drove the Flockers both off the grounds and off the hill of Crum Manor.
And by this time, in determining the victory points for each side, the Earl had accumulated 22 points while Flocke had gathered only a mere 6. The reason for the Earl's total was that at the end of the turn, in assessing what each casualty figure meant in terms of victory points for the opposition, as noted in Table #1 on the first page, Flocke's dicing had been extremely lousy... he continually tossed high numbers on his percentage dice, with the result being that just about every casualty marker he had gave the Earl 3 victory points.
In short, things looked bad for Flocke
About the only good things that happened to Flocke was that (a) his men successfully drove off an attacking force which had assaulted Mil Manor, and (b) at the end of the second turn, when both sides diced to see how their officer staffs thought about the battle, one of the Earl's staff officers decided to desert the Earl's side and ride over to Flocke.
Each side had a staff of 5 officers. These good men could assist, as in all Simon schemes, in morale tests which the side was required to make by adding a +10 percent to the morale dice toss. And at the end of the turn, when the 'clock' total was 15, the sides diced to see what happened to their staffs:
Table #3
- 01 to 33 Nothing happens
34 to 66 One officer is placed in the Rally Zone
67 to 100 One officer deserts to the enemy side.
The Earl of Crattchet's toss on Table #3 was extremely high, and Captain Craig, who heretofore had been a fine and loyal officer, took off for Flocke's side of the board. As Craig rode off, we could hear Crattchet shouting: "Why, Craig, why?" There was no answer.
But happiness prevailed throughout the land... one compete turn later, again using Table #3, Captain Craig evidently had a change of heart and rejoined the Earl's forces. I should note that I, myself, wouldn't trust the Captain with a wooden nickel, but the Earl seemed overjoyed to see his long lost protégé again.
Crattchet mounted another determined attack on Mil Manor, and at the end of Turn 3, one of his stands occupied the grounds with one of Flocke's stands... thus the grounds were in dispute, and the next melee would decide the fate of Mil Manor. But there was no reason to ever fight the melee, for when Turn 3 ended, and the victory points for both sides were tallied, the Earl had accumulated 47 points to Flocke's 24.
Since 40 points were all that were required for a declaration of victory, the battle was definitely the Earl's, and Flocke pulled all his men off the field.
In addition to his victory points, the Earl occupied Crum Manor in undisputed fashion, and shared Mil Manor with his opponent... Flocke was severely beaten.
Since there were only 15 stands per side, the battle was fairly easy to manage from a solo gamer's perspective. About the only item I'd change would be to reduce the chance of recovery for a stand relegated to the Rally Zone from 70 percent to 50 percent.
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© Copyright 1999 Wally Simon
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