I have been reading the rules section amongst a few other chapters of interest in Airfix's American Civil War Wargaming by Terry Wise. The rules are of their time, but are for the most part very straightforward. For example, units have a moral value based upon their size and quality, which when exceeded by the number of hits causes the unit to retreat unless rallied by a commander. The author states "Personally I prefer a much simpler system based on figure value and in practice, during countless games, I have found this to often have almost identical results to the complicated charts, and in some cases it has actually proven more realistic - mainly because it dispenses with the unpredictability of dice".
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| A game in progress |
One rule mechanism which caught my interest was the smoke or "fog or war" rules which have smoke markers placed at a distance from the shooting unit and these are moved closer to the firing unit each time it shoots, reducing the unit's visibility. In the book it does go on caution "the system is rather complex and rather annoying in a fast game". While I like the idea I have no wish the measure and place smoke markers. For me a somewhat cruder mechanism is to place smoke on the shooting unit, which I tend to do already for aesthetics and to remember which units have fired, then deduct 1 from shooting if a unit fired the previous turn. A unit what has not fired the previous turn will not be penalised. Reflecting the unit has had the opportunity to reload in an orderly fashion and reorganise itself.
The rules for Infantry and Skirmishers Shooting are...
For Infantry units roll 2D6 selecting the highest score, while for skirmishers roll 1D6. Then add and subtract for:
-1 Short range 0” to 6”
-2 Medium range 6” to 12”
-3 Long range 12” to 18”
-1 Target in cover
-1 If shooting in the previous turn
And one final photo...
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| A couple of turns later |
You know, that is an interesting notion of having visibility decrease with each volley. You would think this would apply in both directions. In a firefight, does visibility decrease at twice the normal rate when both units are firing at each other?
ReplyDeleteAn interesting question. I am making the assumption (possibly wrongly) that the smoke envelops the firing unit, and other units fire at the smoke. Some more reading and googling I think.
DeleteI also like using smoke but it only has an effect in a few of the games I play - I think your simplification of what even the author describes as complex/annoying very wise. I look forward to an AAR with your views on how they play in practice.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Peter, your smoke solution is a good one. I'll snaffle that for my house rules if you don't mind.
DeleteI will all being well trying out the rule at the weekend.
DeleteThose old rules produce great fast fun games, I can say that from experience of many games years ago. We did add a few simple morale 'shock' rolls very basic ( for example we had mounted commanders with each unit and if the unit took casualties there was a roll to see if the colonel was killed which triggered a morale 'shock' roll. Again a simple and fun home addition). But the basic morale system based on casualties does work well. Smoke rule sounds sensible and in keeping with the spirit of the rules. I look forward to reading more Peter :)
ReplyDeleteI like the way you added commanders into the moral rule.
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