Snappy Nappy

The Russian Conflagration of 1812

Preliminaries, Set Up, and Preparation

by Russ Lockwood

I invited 40 players, had space for 20 players, and 9 showed up (seven adults and two teenagers), so everyone doubled up on troops (roughly about a dozen units each). I've found that 10-15 units per player is comfortable to handle in any wargame, with a maximum of 20-25 units. For larger games, fewer units are better, so having six or so is just fine. The down side is that each C-in-C loses some flexibility because you can't order individual players' corps around--they go in pairs. I did allow players to transfer a full corps to another player, which one Russian did, meaning one player had roughly 18 units to handle at once. I usually paired a French Infantry Corp with a Reserve Cavalry Corp.

I supplied each player with a clipboard, the one sheet of charts, a one-page map of the entire playing area (NOT divided by table--and purposely so: More fog of war!), one sheet with the roster of units and morale status levels, and a couple blank sheets of paper for notes, orders, etc. They also get one of those marvelous MagWeb.com rulers, a d10, and a pencil. The C-in-Cs received special situation reports along with an outline of their forces.

Troops were already set up on the table in more or less historical locations. I do not let players fiddle with the placement of troops--I've seen some players dilly-dally for an hour positioning stands. No, you march your way into perfect deployment.

Players would meet at 1100, draw assignments and have a basic strategy by noon, and game from noon to 6pm. Dinner break would be 6-8pm, and then an evening session 8pm to midnight. Then, I kick everyone out until the next day at noon for another noon to 6pm session. It was pretty close to actually following the schedule, although everything was about an hour behind. It didn't matter overall, but it's good to set a schedule and try to move things along.

Preparations

I started with three main sources: The Campaigns of Napoleon (Chandler), Napoleon's Invasion of Russia (Nafziger), and The Campaign of 1812 in Russia (Clausewitz). Besides the narrative value, the first two also contain a consderable amount of information regarding OOBs. I then turned to MagWeb.com and looked up a considerable amount of additional information, as well as plucking another couple of books from my library. A bibliography of sources is at the end of the "History" section. You can, of course, read considerably more sources, but as much fun as researching is, you still need to actually set up the wargame campaign.

I next turned to the board wargame, Highway to the Kremlin by Kevin Zucker. The map contained within is a work of art. It covers from the Niemen River to Moscow, and shows the road system, general terrain, supply depots, and town sizes. The scale is 10 miles to the hex, which takes a little finagling to convert to 2.5 miles to the inch, but nonetheless works as a large-scale source.

Next, I converted the Highway map to a separate map, making allowances for how the tables abut. This is an important step. Snappy Nappy depends primarily on rivers to delineate table edges, followed by swamps, and then woods. The idea is to provide a logical reason why units can't "see" across the river. Once I figure out the table layout and make a draft map, I place the terrain on the tables.

Major rivers go in first, followed by minor rivers. Then comes swamp, woods, and hills, and ending with roads. With 186 square feet of terrain, and constant measuring between points, it can take a while to set up. My terrain is not fancy at all. I'm settting out a campaign, not crafting a museum diorama. This does not stop me from lusting after great tabletop setups that I see at conventions or other friends' houses, but however unappealing felt woods, styrofoam hills, and draftsman tape roads look, they do the job.

One tip: I visited a quilt shop with my wife and found that the use of patterned fabrics is on the upswing. I found a "swamp" fabric that looked appropriately marshy. A yard is usually 3'x4' in dimensions, so I picked up two yards. It cost about $15 or so. I'm already eying other patterns for additional terrain. Felt is thicker and easier to cut and tape to the table, but visit a quilt or fabric shop if you get the chance. You'll be surprised what you can find.

Secondary benefits to such basic terrain is low cost, I never worry about anyone spilling anything on the terrain, and lightning fast set up time compared to building some of those marvelous museum-quality terrain pieces.

When finished, I use a computer to create a digital map of the area. I scan the basic map into Photoshop, and then use the layer tools to create overlay levels. Each level contains one type of terrain--woods, hills, roads, urban areas, etc. You keep the layers separate so that you have more flexibility in moving them around, especially if you copy and paste the terrain all around the map. When you are done, you can either print out as many as you need, or take to a copy shop.

I use different sized houses/buildings to depict the different sized towns on the map. Villages are 6mm, towns are 10mm, and cities are 15mm. I didn't have a fortress, so I cut a Vauban style one out of paper.

As for the troops, I used Excel to type up the OOB and the hierarchy of Morale Status levels. I suggest placing them at the bottom of the page rather than the top. Why? Because if you give players a clipboard, it is easier to flip up the top pages (usually the charts page is the top, followed by the map, and the OOB is third) to read the OOB at the bottom of the clipboard rather than have to "dig" to flip paper over the clip to see it at the top of the page. Anything that saves a second of time during a game is good.

On the stands themselves, I duplicate the unit names, training levels, and morale numbers in Excel, leave two rows between, and print them off. Here comes the laborious part. I use scissors to cut out each label, then rubber cement it to the bottom of the stand, allowing the name, training, and morale number to peek out from underneath. Since we usually reuse troops for different battles, and rubber cement peels off metal bases easily (and wood and cardboard bases with minimal hassle), this allows players to identify a unit immediately.

The combat at Lida. Note the tags attached to the stands indicate the name of the unit, training value, and Morale Check number.

I used to get those self-stick dots and write a number down slugged to the OOB. It was good for fog-of-war, but made players keep flipping through the sheets and OOBs. Here's an instance where a little more information speeds play along.

If you are really clever, you can buy pastel-colored paper packs and slug each command with a different color, or at least the two opposing sides:pale blue for French, pale green for Russians, white for Austrians, pale pink for Polish, etc.

The troops are then placed on the table according to the locations you found during your research. Here is where the art of scenario design meets historical re-enactment. Since troop scales and base sizes are often askew, you'll usually have to go with general areas. Then you mentally figure out how many turns it will take for units to move "historically" versus how many turns you think you can play. Newbies or veteran players, Snappy Nappy averages a turn every 15 minutes or so.

The key is to make sure you get as many players as possible involved in their objectives as quickly as possible. NEVER LET A PLAYER CHANGE THE SET UP! He will inevitably waste time fiddling and faddling for the perfect set up. What you decide, depending on time and space, is whether a command is on the road or not, and in what formation. I usually start every command deployed off road. If players have to get on the road, they can learn how to change formationn and road march in the first couple turns.

Although each table operates on its own sequence in "real time," I co-ordinate the first three turns across all tables--even if it means the veteran players will have to wait around for a bit. The worst thing to do is have new players feel overwhelmed. Taking an extra five minutes to make sure they understand the mechanics pays huge dividends during those first three turns. They may not make the best decisions. They may be caught flatfooted in the flank. They may need a class in Generalship 101. But they will not be beaten by not understanding how to move, melee, fire, or take morale checks.

Finally, I create a page outlining major rule conventions (formations, bridging trains, etc) that they can refer to before the game, and then a situation summary for the C-in-C.

Everything gets copied, assembled, and attached to a clipboard. The clipboard is handed out during the pre-game briefing so players can get familiar with their commands, the map, and what their C-in-C expects them to do.

I don't try to explain each and every rule. I point to the main sections of the charts, assure them that they can all read English, vaguely mention modifiers, and note that I'll answer any questions they may have. Otherwise, we'll solve things during the battle.

After that, it's to the tables!

More Snappy Nappy: The Russian Conflagration of 1812

Back to War Lore: The List
Back to Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2004 by Coalition Web, Inc.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com