-ed note, although this article was written for the Piquet mailer, it is applicable to all wargames and even to today's tactics! This shows how wargames can teach both history and better tactics for real world / modern day applications. I followed the postings about towns and their difficulty as a defensive position with some interest. Some tactical tips I have learned from hard experience (these are undoubtedly nothing new - I just had to learn them for myself!) Town Defensive Tactics Attempt to provide at least a slight amount of long range artillery support so that you can disrupt your opponents plans/preparations. Garrison the town with your weaker troops. Use your better troops as the reserve. Keep your reserve out of town, out of harms way. A fresh, GOOD unit crashing into a spent unit or two that have pried their way into a town can do wonders! Town Offensive Tactics Prepare your assault with PLENTY of artillery fire. Three or even four batteries can start to make an impression, even at long range. Even D4's can add up if you get enough artillery batteries hammering at the same target. Even better - use your artillery as a grand battery (see the optional rules). Plan on trying to obtain at least a 3:1 numerical advantage on the troops in the town. Attack with multiple unit frontages, in waves. Don't give the defenders the luxury of beating up one unit at a time. Make them make TOUGH decisions. And most importantly: Once you decide to assault a town - be prepared to see it through. It takes time, and lots of resources (troops and chips). However, the payback is usually great - a strongpoint taken invariably opens up the enemies entire defensive position. Back to Rebel Yell No. 8 Table of Contents Back to Rebel Yell List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by HMGS South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com