In a wargame you are faced with the problem of just what scenario you are going to use for any given game. Basically, you have two options, Use an historical scenario or create your own scenario. In past issues of this magazine articles have been published that detail how to adjust the size, composition, and command control for a tabletop army. What this article proposes is a random system of placing terrain features for a game. To start with I will ask the question, "Why do armies fight where they fight?" Because they are there? An army does not move or fight in a vacuum. This was as true during the Civil War as it is today. An army is a large organism that requires enormous amounts of supplies and requires the use of some sort of communication network to function. In short, without roads, rivers or railways, a body of troops cannot move, fight or live for very long. Examples of this are present in the Civil War. Take the perennial problem both sides faced operating in East Tennessee around the Cumberland Gap, where the poor road network choked most supplies down to a trickle. If that doesn't make the point, look at the example of the Army of the Cumberland being shut up in Chattanooga after Chickamauga, slowly starving due to the horrible road over Walden Ridge. This should illustrate that any given battle will occur on or very near a road net or supply route. A classic example is Gettysburg, where one of our major battles was fought because a number of roads came together at one point. One thing about roads....wherever people move material, someone is bound to settle. If you get enough people in one area you get a town or village. Where there is a town you are bound to find a number of farms nearby to support the people. America in the Civil War sprawled across a rather undeveloped landscape. This was a nation of small towns and farms separated by tracts of unimproved wilderness. It was in this landscape that large armies lived, moved and fought. You need to keep these factors in mind if you want to create your own scenario unless you like floundering in swamps or enjoy fighting on a billiard table. In our particular group (Las Vegas) we took these factors into consideration and came up with the following system of terrain generation. It is based on the Western Theatre and as such will require a small adjustment or two in the modifiers for other geographic areas. The system can be adapted for any size table and set of rules. Again, as in any system, modify it to fit the needs of your group. Grids First of all, you need to divide the table into a grid system. Ideal size for the grid should be such that, for a rectangular table, you have six grid squares on the short axis and ten on the long. If you use a square table, either six or ten grid squares will do. Number the squares from one to six on the short side and one to ten on the long side (from here on in I will assume that you are developing terrain on a rectangular table). Once you have divided the table into grids you will use the following sequence to place your terrain. I strongly recommend that you follow this process on a map first and then use the map to place terrain features on the table. SEQUENCE OF PLACEMENT: 1). Locate streams/rivers 2). Locate the major roads 3). Locate hills 4). Locate fields and habitation 5). Build the secondary road net and railroads 6). Place woods and fences. Now that you have the sequence of events it is time to get down to the actual construction of the gaming terrain. STEP 1 — STREAMS AND RIVERS: Roll a six—sided die (D6). If you roll a 1 you get a river; 2 or 3 you get a stream. Do not consider this roll as cast in stone. If you feel that you are not campaigning near any major rivers, feel free to convert the river roll into a stream. Once you have determined that you do have streams on the table roll a D6 again and apply the following values: 1,2 = one stream; 3,4 = two streams; 5,6 = three streams. Now roll again to determine the length of each of your streams. The number on the D6 is equal to the number of grid squares the stream covers. Now you have to determine where the streams exit the table. Roll three D6, take the number you rolled, go to one corner and start counting squares. When you reach the dice roll total, that is where the stream will exit. Now that you know where the stream exits, you need to determine the flow of the stream on the table using one D6 for each of the grid squares that make up the length of your stream. A 1,2 means that the stream curves to the left, a 3,4 goes straight, and a 5,6 curves to the right. If you want to get fancy you can make a random factor that might give you vertical banks, such decision being up to you. STEP 2 — LOCATE THE MAJOR ROAD(S): This 1s done just like the rivers, following the same routine with the dice. Remember to pick two points for the road(s) to exit. If you should get two roads that exit in the same square, you get an intersection somewhere on the table. STEP 3 — LOCATE HILLS: Start at one of the corners and for each grid square roll a D6, with a 1 or 2 indicating that a hill goes on that square. When squares with hills are adjacent, you have larger hills or ridgelines. For every group of grid squares that are adjacent, roll again, a 1 or 2 adding another level on your hill. Now you figure out the exact routes of your road net. People like to take the easiest route whenever possible so try and keep your roads in a generally straight line, but avoid going over hills if possible. Remember that the roads used during the Civil War were not the macadamized type, but were for the most part dirt tracks serving as wagon roads between settlements. Intersections can be dictated by the terrain or selected randomly. Crossing points at streams can be fords or bridges. Roll a D6, with a 1 or 2 being a bridge, and 3—6 being a ford. This can be adjusted according to the geography of the area you wish to simulate. STEP 4 — LOCATE FIELDS AND HABITATION: America is a land of people who are trying to "get away from it all". The idea of elbow room was and is a driving force in the development of our country. As a result, you will find small plots of farmland scattered throughout the countryside. These farmers took advantage of the road/communication network to sell their produce, so with that in mind it is time to place some fields on the table. Start by rolling a D6 for each grid square that does not have a stream on it, a 1 or 2 equaling a field. Place a cabin in the grid square for each isolated field. Where you have two or more fields adjacent, you have a major farm, and should place a farmhouse and barn in one of the squares. For our purposes, we assume that an area 10" by 6" is developed as a field. You can use this size or make up your own. Remember that a plowed field is an obstacle and, if the crops are near harvest you will have a visibility problem. Let your own judgement be the guide. If you have an intersection there is likely to be a town or small village there. A few buildings well placed can do wonders for the looks of the table without cluttering it up. Again, let your judgement be the guide. STEP 5 — LOCATE SECONDARY ROAD NET AND RAILROADS: Creating a secondary road net is easy. These are farm lanes that connect with the major roads. Make a short track to the nearest main road from each farm or cabin. Remember to avoid going up and down hills if possible. The next question is whether or not you want a railroad. They figured prominently in many Civil War battles. You can roll a D6, with a 1 or 2 meaning that there will be a railroad. The tracks can be laid either by random rolling as per the roads, or by using commonsense and laying it where the terrain would make tracks feasible. They could commonly be found adjacent to good turnpikes. STEP 6 — LOCATE WOODS AND FENCES: Now comes the most important part of the battlefield. During the Civil War most of America still had its woodlands. Roll a D6, with even numbers meaning that you have a patch of woods. Do this for every grid square on the board that doesn't have a field on it. You can add heavy woods by rolling a 2 on the D6. For every major farm you can take an adjacent patch of woods and call it an orchard. Using this method you will likely have a lot of trees, but feel free to reduce the modifier if you prefer to fight in the open. Last of all, place the fences. They can be put around each field, farm or orchard. If an army has been through the area recently, I wouldn't put too many fences up, as any ACW enthusiast knows that fence rails make for free firewood! At this point you should have a pretty nice battlefield. You can make adjustments as you see fit for a specific scenario. The system will serve to answer the argument that you set up the terrain to favor one side or the other. [Editor's Note]: This is the first in what I hope will prove to be a series of articles on terrain for the Civil War, both in generating it and actually making it. If you have some ideas, please send them in. If it's good, we'll publish it! Back to The Zouave Vol III No. 2 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1989 The American Civil War Society 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