Random Battlefield setup

My recent review of Dominance included a nod to the random table layouts that the author includes in the rules set, as a pretty neat resource for gamers.  I remember back when I played some Dominance, I had two renaissance armies (one infantry based - Swiss, and one cavalry based - French), and my friend and I who played the rules would randomly select one of the table diagrams in the book, and then dice for initiative in setup, and for side of table.  We would do our best to lay out the terrain based on what pieces we had (pretty easy), and off the whole shooting match went.

This got me to thinking, and looking around at different systems on blogs and in articles on random battlefield set up.

Over at Warfare in Miniature, there is a system that the author (James M) devised that is basically a PDF with six pages in it.  First you dice for a page in the document (1-6).  Then you toss two percentage dice, to generate a number from 1-100.  Consulting the page you rolled up, you will find a grid, with 8x9 squares on it, and with the numbers 1-97 on spaces in the grid.  If you roll 1-97, then the space you rolled is the upper box of your wargames table.

The orientation of the number, is the direction of "north" on your newly generated terrain area.  Green areas are forest, brown areas are hills. Red lines are roads, blue lines are rivers.  Green boxes are built up areas/fields.  Simple.

Each space on the grid represents 2'x2' on the gaming table, so you will have a grid of 3 spaces (or 6 feet), by 2 spaces (or 4 feet) to lay out your table in.  So for each of the six pages there are roughly 97 tables, that is a total of 585 tables, or something mathy like that.  But, the remaining three chances (98,99,100) for each page are also accounted for - they are tables that have homogeneous terrain over the whole surface.

Seriously, this is cool, try it out.  The article is Here.  The document is Here.

Another system that exists (and there are a number) that uses cards for the battlefields is the most excellent Battle Finder system from The Perfect Captain. As always, the rulesets from The Captain are free, although donations to charity are recommended by the authors.

Battle Finder is a complete campaign system, presented in a generic sense, although The Captain has developed some specialized adaptations for several medieval and renaissance games.  In short, you construct a campaign map (or scenarios in a linear or narrative campaign) using some easy to print out small cards, each of which has a nice 4x6 tabletop pictured on it.  Here are a few examples.

The Battle Finder system allows these cards, individually, to be mounted on a map that replicates a hex grid (each space connects to six surrounding spaces).  An individual card, printed and cut out, looks like this:

A most excellent system, and the campaign rules are terrific.

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Dominance - review

This is another review in the Once and Future Rules series, of wargame rules that are out of print, but that got a lot of play at one time (at least, in the clubs and groups I played in since the early 1980s).

Dominance is a set of Renaissance period (1494-1529) wargames rules written by Ian Wilson, copyright 1986, and published by Raider Games in 1986, and a second printing in 1988.  They are available, still, through Partizan Press.  I could not find too much contemporary information about Raider Games, except to say that at one time, in addition to Dominance, Raider also produced "Napoleonic Rules for a Large Scale Wargame with Small Scale Miniatures" by Peter Dennis and Cliff Knight, as well as "American Civil War" by the same authors.  They also produced a set of dark ages rules ("Oshere's Helm" by P.J. Duckworth) that I have never seen myself (I have seen the other two sets mentioned previously).

In addition to Dominance, Ian Wilson has also more recently (2009 or so) published a number of rules and articles in Wargames Illustrated, and released a second set of Renaissance rules, dealing with Eastern Europe (1558-1699), called "Husaria" in 2003, printed by Caliver Books for The Pike & Shot Society.

Dominance is a nice set of rules, based on the idea of Combat Factors, which then turn into (with random dice factors added in, and also tactical modifiers for situation) a number of Casualties inflicted on an enemy unit, determined by consulting a Casualty Table (I refer to this system as the Factors and Table method, although that seems pretty obvious).  This is how both Shot and Melee combat work.  This is very similar to a broad family of wargames, going back to (at least) earliest versions of the WRG Ancients wargames, but really (as in the case of the earlier reviewed AWI ruleset, Valley Forge) tracing back to the casualty tables that were in the earliest Kriegspiel wargames from the 19th century.

For rules covering the Renaissance period, at a minimum, the George Gush rules (1976 - review of these coming soon) published by WRG use a similar system.  Both Gush and Wilson rely on a figure scale of 20 men per casting, and left over casualties are kept track of on paper.  A great modification of the rules (discussed more later, in the review on the Gush rules) is to use a d20 and each turn, after all whole figure casualties are removed, a d20 is rolled and compared to left over casualties.  If it is less than the number, then an additional figure is removed, but nothing is kept track of on paper from turn to turn.

It will be interesting to see an analysis of the casualty chart here, with the one in the Gush rules, or the older WRG Ancients rules (a future review is also planned for these), but those will be presented in the later articles.

Note that this system - the Factors and Table system - is very different from the systems presented by Donald Featherstone's War Games (1962), which are all of the "roll 1 d6 per figure, and a casualty results on 5,6" variety.  That is not a bad method, and countless permutations and improvements of it exist, including the previously reviewed WRG Wargames Rules 1685-1845, and also a version is in The Universal Soldier.  The Factors and Table system, however, is much less prone to the winds of luck, or fortune, or kismet - or whatever it is that wargamers are calling it these days, when you roll a handful of dice, and 80% of them come up with 6s.  Also, the adjudication of combat is much quicker, or at least it is once the players or umpire have mastered the Factors tables, and understand what the tactical pluses and minuses are for most common situations.  It still has some randomness, introducing the stochastic variable of a chance die roll, so all Fortuna is not missing from the process.

One nice thing about the Factor and Table system as it is implemented here, is that the factors are based on Weapon System vs Troop Type.  Often it is troop type vs troop type (as in Might of Arms, War Cry and many other rulesets, to make their appearance here in reviews), with a modifier for weapons.  In this case, it seems to make sense to have the weapons themselves included.  Also, as the Author points out in notes at the end of the volume, many typical mixed weapon formations are accounted for, when they are nearly universal (like the practice of including zweihanders or polearms within the front ranks of a pike formation), are then accounted for in the combat factors of the dominant weapon system (in this case, Pike), so mixed units don't have to be accounted for in the rules - always a messy situation.

Movement and Ranges are given in Inches, which is very nice.  The rules state a ground scale of 10 yards to the inch for 20-30mm figures, and 20 yards to the inch for 9-15mm (40 yards for 5/6mm).  However, having everything in inches in the combat and movement tables is a great blessing.  Given how much scale creep our 15mm figures have had since 1987, I think it is fair to say that they could be used with the 20-30mm ground scale, without too much cognitive dissonance.

Otherwise the rules are pretty straight forward.  They are predicated on umpired play (they were written by Ian for a wargames campaign, which he umpired), and hence use rules writing, some rules for command and control (how to change orders, the effect of leaders on combat), and use simultaneous movement.  Given all that, the turn sequence is pretty straight forward - move, shoot, fight, morale.

As mentioned, these compare very well to the George Gush Renaissance rules from WRG (originally).  Where Dominance really shines is that in narrowing the focus of the rules (Western Europe, chiefly the Southern or Italian Renaissance, in the years 1494-1529), a particular style of combat, troop types, and battlefield behavior are focused on.  This gives a tighter and more constrained set of rules than Gush presents (more on that in the later review), but it also means that the rules are shorter, to the point, and read and play easily.

Given the tight focus of the rules, the army lists supplied in the book are fantastic, and really cover the breadth of the Italian Renaissance, as well as the early Wars of Religion.  The list of armies included is:

Early English	Late English
Florentine	Early French
Late French	Holy Roman Empire
Spanish Holy Roman Empire	Irish
Italian Independent City State	Milanese
Neapolitan	Borgia Papal
Papal	Scottish
Early Spanish	Late Spanish
Swiss Confederation	Venetian

These are great, and are presented as a invariable core of troops, with a series of optional add on units, etc that have a points cost.  So an army would be at a minimum the core troops described as the Basic Force, but based on the value of the army (whether in a one time game, or due to some campaign factors), could have additional units, described as Reinforcements.

The army lists in the volume that accompanies Gush is an incredible source of information and data about the armies of the time period, and the breadth of armies and options are much greater than presented here in Dominance, but again, I view that as a detriment.  The specific flavor of each army is preserved by the Basic Force.

Finally, one more thing that the rules, as a wargaming guide, give to a gamer or referee of a campaign is a great set of 20 maps, each of a 4x6 wargames table, with a variety of typical terrain features.  This could be keyed to locations on a campaign map, or could simply be used with a d20 to determine a random battlefield (or reproduced on cards, and use in some sort of filing system for the campaign).  A very useful appendix in the rule book.

All in all, I like Dominance, and have enjoyed playing it in the past.  For a modern gamer, the Factor and Table system, although in use in a lot of games, does not seem to be where modern rulesets are going.  More frequently, these days, there is the opposed die roll method, or the dice-per-figure system, but the older method is faster, and gives the schooled player (who has played the rules a few times) a good eye for how many casualties to account for in a situation.  This means that the player can make more educated decisions - always a good thing.  So they are a trade off - not as exciting and fast (and of course - the modern aversion to simultaneous movement), but great coverage of a specific period, and a "scientific" method for doing casualties.  A good ruleset, and a good benchmark against which to compare other, perhaps more popular, rulesets using similar mechanics.

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Forlorn Hope - review

I had rather have a plain russet-coated Captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentleman and is nothing else.
- Oliver Cromwell, 1643

This is another review in the Once and Future Rules series, of wargame rules that are out of print, but that got a lot of play at one time (at least, in the clubs and groups I played in since the early 1980s).

Cover for earlier edition, frontpiece for the 1991 edition

Forlorn Hope is a set of rules for English Civil Wargames, first published in 1987, that I have been quite fond of over the years, having played many times in 15mm with a variety of friends, especially in the old ODMS club, when it played at Campaign Headquarters, Gamer's Guild, and World's Best Comics.

I currently own a copy of the 1991 printing of the rules, although there are newer editions.  My own set still handles quite well, and has not loosened up at all over the years.  It is a set, according to the design notes of Messrs. Berry and Wilkins, that was designed primarily for tabletop play, and based on tabletop experience, rather than a strict translation of space and time (as in a simulation).  I think it succeeds well.

The units have five possible factors describing them:

• Arm - Infantry, Cavalry, Dragoons, Artillery
• Class - Veteran, Trained, Elite
• Tactics - (Cavalry Only) Trotters (close and shoot), Gallopers (charge home)
• Order - Normal Order, or Open Order
• Ratio - (Infantry Only) The ratio of shot to pike, given in the terms of 2:1, etc.

In addition, Artillery comes in different varieties (Ultra Light, Light, Medium), and troops can be in a number of different formations (but can change formation during the game).  Line, Column, Fire Stand (similar to the later Square formation), Cavalry Line, Cavalry Column, and March Column.

With these factors, a great variety of different troops from the English Civil War period can be described.

Units are under orders at any time during the game.  There are chances, based on a dice roll, to change orders (and it depends on what order you are in, and what you are changing to, that determines this - followed by a D6 roll to see success.

The available orders are:

• Advance to Fire Combat
• Advance to H-t-H Combat
• Hold
• Retreat
• Screen

The game has the following five steps in a turn sequence:

1. Declaration and Reaction (new orders, leaders leave units, declare charges, etc)
2. Movement (move, routers first, then charges, then other units)
3. Fire Combat and Reaction
4. Hand to Hand Combat (first casualties determined, then reaction tests)
5. Reaction and Rallying (situational morale tests, rally from rout or pursuit)

Scale: Movement and Ranges are all given in Inches.  No ground scale is given (see the note on design above).  Figure scale is 1:33, so that a unit of 400 men would be 12 figures.

Determining Combat Factors

There is a single combat table, used for Shot or Melee, which is based on determining a Factor, and then cross indexing it with the number of figures involved.  Those are divided up into groups of 1,2,3,4,5, or 10 - and then a dice is rolled for each group.  The procedure is to go for as few (large) groups as possible, and then the dice roll gives you the number of casualties (based on a casualty table).  So, as an example, if you have 24 figures in an Infantry unit in melee combat.  You would look up its combat factor (which would be based on several things, but chiefly it's shot to pike ratio).  Once you had the factor, you would find that row on the casualty table, and then use the 10 column (rolling on it twice) and the 4 column (rolling on it once) to determine the number of casualties.  In that way, you rolled for 10+10+4, or 24 figures.  Casualties are in whole figures, no record keeping.

A very satisfying set of rules that plays well, although it does have somewhat of an 80s feel to it, especially in the area of Reaction Tests, which are (if I recall) many, and with a half page of factors to consider for plus or minus to the target number.  Once you play a game or two, however, it becomes pretty quick to work through.

Prognosis: I love these rules.  However, I found that it was difficult to convey what is going on to somebody who is not a fan of either ECW or Thirty Years War military history.  The different types of cavalry tactics, and the possibility of infantry units being of different ratios of pike to shot (note: you never change how many figures you have of either type, you just use what you have, but the ratio is all important for figuring out combat factors).  For those who get it, and like it, however - this is a great set of rules for the pike and shot period.  There is a Yahoo group that offers up some rules variants, including a lot of Thirty Years War information.

Two army lists

The rules are also quite complete, for tabletop battles.  Not too much in the way of campaign information, but a wide variety of different armies, and rules on how to select your figures based on the army you choose.  This involves random dicing for things like Ratio and Class.  Again, very satisfying.

One of my favorite periods, and one of my favorite rulesets.  Considering they are almost 30 years old, that is a good thing.

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Valley Forge - review

“Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect - We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions - The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.”
― George Washington

[This is another review in the Once and Future Rules series, of wargame rules that are out of print, but that got a lot of play at one time (at least, in the clubs and groups I played in since the early 1980s).  This one is less like the others I have written, in that this set of rules is not one that I have played a lot, but I still find it (at least personally) influential.  I would like to discuss why.]

The frontpiece - the cover is a lovely color version of the same painting,
but mine has a big SALE sticker on it

Let me start this by saying that I would be surprised to find gamers who are currently still playing Valley Forge.  However, I have fond memories of this ruleset, and it has a fascinating history (and conceptual lineage), so I would like to say a few things about it.

This is from the set I own, which is Valley Forge, published in 1976 by TSR.  I purchased my set from a hobby store (the still operating Denbigh Hobby, in Newport News, Virginia) back around 1981, while I was in high school. This was in reaction to having purchased and painted maybe a dozen or so 25mm American War of Independence figures (probably Hinchliffe figures, but possibly Minifigs - they had come from open packages, and were repacked in plastic baggies, which made them much more affordable for my high school student budget).  A second edition (Valley Forge II) was published the same year by Dave Wesely, the Author of the rules, by himself.  I have never seen a copy of that edition.

David Wesely - author of Valley Forge

This is a set of rules that has (according to both the introduction written by Dave Arneson, and a blurb on Boardgame Geek) inspiration taken by the author, from a much older set of rules from the US Army, written in the 1880s by Lt. Totten.  These were based on the Kriegspiel rules.  A good history of wargaming from that time is found in a book chapter that I co-wrote on the history of combat models and simulation (1).  That source does not mention Totten, but it mentions some of the other developments that came out of the Kriegspiel rules in the 19th century.
 

Towards that end (rules based on Kriegspiel), the Valley Forge rules make perfect sense - they are a tabletop simulation of combat during the American War of Independence, with particular detail to the number of actions that can take place in a 1 minute turn.  Also, the (mostly) deterministic nature of combat is based on the number of casualties that a volley of fire, from 100 men, can result against a massed enemy infantry unit, at different ranges.  So, for instance, the movement and volley rates are given for infantry for a 1 minute turn.  An example - British infantry can fire 6 rounds with a Brown Bess musket, in a turn, if performing Rapid Fire.  An American Rifleman with a Kentucky Rifle can only fire once in the same period, but at a range of 25 inches (250 yards), will be 42x as likely to inflict a casualty.  The rules are not wholly deterministic.  There are some random factors, and also a method for determining the chance of a Probability based activity being successful.

Why is this important?  Because it illustrates that rules designed to be a simulation (as all in the Kriegspiel family are) first, and a game second, will be excruciatingly detailed in things that are important for the simulation to show.  In the case of Kriegspiel, to allow Officers in training to make realistic decisions about battlefield conditions, based on how effective troops behave.  In the case of Valley Forge, it is to allow wargamers to see what the realistic behavior of the troops were on a Colonial American battlefield.  All games, especially wargames, are somewhat of a simulation - but equally, all simulations are based on abstract models.  Typically, it serves the community of gamers who will play a wargame to include more abstraction and introduction of random elements (dice, cards, etc) to make the game "fun" and to introduce a sense of chance that we like in our hobby pursuits.  Valley Forge has less of that, and is much more detail oriented - closer to a simulation, than a game (if you allow there to be a continuum).

Some particulars of the rules - they are designed for 25mm figures; 1 turn is 1 minute; 1 inch is 10 yards; 1 figure represents 30 men.

Here is the turn sequence -

1. Referee gives information and messages to players
2. Players write orders
3. Players declare orders, perform initial volleys, and announce charges.
4. Simultaneous movement
5. Effects of fire are calculated
6. Effects on morale from movement and casualties are calculated
7. Final volleys calculated
8. Melee is fought, if applicable, and results applied
9. The referee may execute through steps 6-8, for isolated parts of the battlefield, before returning to the whole scene, if appropriate. 

So, a number of things that would turn off a modern gamer (simultaneous movement, order writing, requiring a referee, deterministic casualties, and realistic times to reload and fire artillery - many turns in between shots, for all but the smallest pieces).

Okay, so why am I writing a review of a set that I never played in a club or at a convention, and only halfheartedly tried at home?  Because of the detail and research that David Wesely invested in his rules.  He was a graduate student in Physics at the time that these were put together, and he would go on to take a commission in the US Army and work at Aberdeen, and other places.  This certainly means he appeals to my Engineering Professor persona, but also a wargamer he appeals to my attraction to accurate military historical detail.  The musketry information, and other information in Valley Forge has been raided by yours truly over the years for rulesets I have put together myself, albeit with mechanics that were closer to a Game than to a Simulation (more random chance involved, and more abstract results).

As a wargamer, I would prefer to play British Grenadier, or Black Powder, or any of a number of rules (including some coming up in this series of reviews, such as Koenig Krieg), but I have fond memories of Valley Forge.  Mostly because it was the first scholarly wargame I ever encountered, and also because of the tie to Kriegspiel type rules, and mostly because of the debt for the scholarship that I owe David Wesely.

---

(1) Margaret Loper and Charles D. Turnitsa: “A History of Combat Modeling and Distributed Simulation,” Chapter 10 in Tolk (ed.) Engineering Principals of Combat Modeling and Distributed Simulation. Wiley & Sons, 2012.

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WRG Wargames Rules 1685-1845 - review

This is another review in the Once and Future Rules series, of wargame rules that are out of print, but that got a lot of play at one time (at least, in the clubs and groups I played in since the early 1980s).

The version of the rules that I own (physically), and that I am reviewing here, are from July 1979.  There was evidently an earlier release that same year, and also a release in Australia (with a yellow cover).  But the version I have is dated July 1979, and pictured here.

This is a 48 page book, and does a pretty thorough job of presenting a set of tabletop rules (no campaign rules, although they are hinted at) for the core of the horse and musket period.  While written for anything from 6mm up through 30mm figures, most of the games I have played, or watched, have been either 25mm (the majority) or 15mm (a close second).

The topics covered by the rules, and the table of contents are as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Method of play and time, ground, and troop scales
3. Troop types, basing, organization and values
4. Choosing terrain and setting up a battle
5. Weather, time of day, and visibility
6. Formations
7. Orders, command and control
8. Playing Equipment
9. Sequence of Play
10. Reaction Tests
11. Steadiness and Order
12. Movement
13. Shooting
14. Hand-to-Hand Combat
15. Casualties, damage to property and engineering
16. Prisoners and victory
17. Suggested wargames units for Marlburian, Seven Years and early Indian Wars
18. Bibliography
19. Miscellaneous Information

The troop scale of the rules is 1:50 for the infantry, and 1:40 for the cavalry.  Ground scale is 1 inch to 25 paces (so, 40 inches for a mile).

Training and Morale classes are divided up between Regulars and Irregulars.  Regular classes include Elite, Veteran, Trained, and Raw.  Irregular include Fanatics, Soldiers, Warriors, and Levies.

Troop types are, of course, based on employment and equipment -

• Cuirassiers
• Heavy Cavalry
• Light Cavalry
• Irregular Cavalry
• Line Infantry
• Light Infantry
• Irregular Charging Infantry
• Irregular Skirmishing Infantry
• Engineers and Pioneers
• Mounted Infantry
• War Elephants
• Transport
• Staff
• And a small constellation of artillery types (different weights, rockets, and different mobility types - such as foot, horse, elephant)

Basing figures is based on a rather typical WRG 60mm wide base for 25-30mm figures.  Infantry get 4 figures per stand, and cavalry get 3 figures per stand.  In both cases, fewer figures are used for irregular units, for instance.  The basing of typical infantry and cavalry as (respectively) 4 and 3 figures is extremely helpful in combat, as shooting and fighting are done in those increments.

A point system is given for competition games, and pickup meeting engagement.  Rules for terrain selection and battle setup (entry sequencing, off table troops, flank marches, etc) are included.

Troops can adopt a number of different formation (column, line, square, skirmishing) depending on the troop type. Order writing is addressed - and pointed out (in the text, as well as in the introduction) that these rules require no order writing because of their turn sequence. Which brings us to:

Sequence of Play (alternating between players)

1. Response Phase
2. Shooting Phase
3. Hand to Hand Combat Phase
4. Maneuver Phase

This is an interesting turn sequence, mull over it for a second.  You start moving charges, and other moves, at the end of your turn, at the last phase.  At the start of the next turn, your opponent then immediately rolls for reactions, and his troops may have a response to your charge.  Once that is done, you complete your charge.  Then comes shooting, fighting, and regular maneuvers.

Okay, enough with all that jazz.  There are specifics on turning, marching, expanding, taking reaction tests and all that.  But the thing that keeps these rules fun, and still have a following , is the method for determining shooting and melee casualties.  When a unit engages the enemy it gets to roll a certain number of d6.  Usually this is 1 per 4 figures for infantry, and 1 per 3 figures for cavalry.  This is why those stand sizes make sense.  For shooting, cross index the type of weapon (musket, medium artillery, etc) and range, vs. the target disposition.  That can be a dense target (such as the flank of an infantry formation), or a normal target, or a covered target etc.  The table then gives you the results, on 1d6, for which numbers will produce a Hit.  In some cases, there are multiple hits from a single dice, if the right target number is rolled.  Easy. I refer to this as a "dice per element" system, which is different from the "dice per figure" system that Universal Soldier uses.

Example: Musketry from regular infantry, at up to 100 paces (4 inches) will roll 1d6 per four figures firing (so, say a 16 figure infantry battalion, representing 800 men, would roll 4d6).  The table for the weapon at that range, vs. a Normal target, says "2345H 6HH" - that means on each dice, if it is a 2,3,4 or 5 it causes one hit (a dead figure), and if it is a 6 it causes two hits (two dead figures).

Melee is very similar (you roll the same number of dice), but the matrix for determining hits is very much simplified for melee combat.  That table compares the fighting troops, and breaks it down to: Mounted vs Mounted
Mounted vs Foot
Foot vs. Mounted
Foot vs. Foot

For each of those lines on the Hand-to-Hand combat table, there are three columns - if you are at Disadvantage, if you are on Equal Terms, or if you have an Advantage.  There is a method for determining whether or not you have advantage, but in my experience from years ago, in 99% of cases, it is obvious (once you work through the method a few times).  If you have to figure it out, then there are points to add up and compare.  It is possible that a unit is advantaged to a foe it is fighting, on the front, for instance, but disadvantaged against another foe on its own flank.  It all works out.

Then you roll the dice, and the table tells you, again, how many hits you score for a dice toss.  For instance, Foot vs. Foot, on equal terms, will score "456H" - which means on a 4, 5 or 6 on the dice, one enemy Foot figure is killed.  Mounted vs. Foot, with advantage, is deadly.  The results are "23HH 456HHH" Which means on a 2, or 3, each dice rolling that number will kill two enemy figures, but on a 4,5, or 6 each dice rolling those numbers will kill three enemy figures.

Interesting odds and bits on engineering rules, and how to treat structures, officers, and prisoners round out the rule book.

There is a reason these are still played by some people, and hated by others.  There is a lot in these rules to reaction tests, which may or may not be your thing.  The fact that there is no simultaneous movement is a bonus.  And the combat adjudication is simplicity itself, once you get the hang of figuring out advantage.  They do, however, tend to bring out some extreme gamesmanship (i.e. - min-maxing?) that I have only seen topped with Napoleon's Battles.  But that is a different story.

Several supplements have come out over the years that are useful.  One of the best is a set of 18th century army list rules that I have, from the Cheltanham Wargaming Assocation.

These offer up a number of rules, and hint at some changes for linear warfare.  The cover everything from Marlburian up to Revolutionary armies (both American and French).

Later on WRG themselves produce Seven Years War army lists, with actual (official) changes to the rules to accommodate linear warfare better.  It seems that the rules themselves are more suited to Napoleonic warfare (being more fluid).

I don't have the 7YW army list book, so I can't compare them to the Cheltenham book.  Equally, I never got a copy of the Tabletop Games 1:50 Napoleonic Army List book, which also was widely touted for use with the rules reviewed above.

My opinion?  I like them.  I like the mechanics.  But I also very much like the Tac50 rules from Ben King covering the same period, and they play easily as fast, with easier to navigate text and reaction rules.  Maybe these need a replay.  Maybe not.  I understand there is a modern version, for free on the internet, called ELAN that are a refinement of the WRG rules.  That deserves a look.

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The Universal Soldier Miniature Rules - review

This is the first review in the Once and Future Rules series of retro rules reviews.  This is a review of a set of miniatures rules called "The Universal Soldier".

This is a ruleset, published by RAFM in 1977, and authored by John Lain, Colin McClelland, and Paul Sharpe.  It is a set of rules for tabletop battles, covering the ancient through renaissance period.  The rules cover situations of movement, shooting, combat and morale.  The table of contents from the book is:

1. Introduction
2. Command
3. The Unit
4. Movement
5. Combat
6. Missile Fire
7. Artillery
8. Morale
9. Control
10. Fatigue
11. Special Weapons and Tactics
12. Terrain
13. Glossary
14. Summary of Charts
15. Appendix

The scale for the game is not really important, as everything is done at the figure level, but is described (briefly) in the introduction at being roughly 1 figure = 10 men. A ground scale is not given, but all ranges and movement are in inches.  The rules are designed for 25mm play, but I have participated in 15mm games using these rules, unmodified, and they work just fine.

The rules are written around the concept of using written orders, and I have played games that both used, and didn't use orders.  It adds a level of fun to the game, but also opens up some area of conflict.  For solo play, of course, written orders are not really useful, but the system from Charles Grant's solo wargames book to partially randomize the behavior of one side or the other would be useful.

The turn sequence, given in the book, if using orders is as follows:

1. Write Tactical Orders for this Turn
2. Announce Charges
3. Perform Changes of Formation and Facing
4. Perform Disorganized Withdrawal
5. All other movement is simultaneously performed
6. Missile Fire
7. Combat
8. Record Missile Use (ammo) and Accumulated Fatigue

Figures are to be based on stands, which the authors recommend using a 2 inch front on a base that has three infantry, or two cavalry.  That isn't bad, and is comparable to a 60mm front (for instance) with three infantry or two cavalry, if one wants to use a WRG standard.  The authors mention that for 15mm figures, the rules are usable as-is, but reducing the stand size.

Stands are then organized into units, and each unit has several characteristics.  First it has an attack rating (A-E),   a defend rating (A-E), a Morale Group (I-VI) and a Morale Point (typically 5,6 or 7), some weapons, and a description of the Unit Order (Regular, Horde, Skirmish, or Independent).  Finally, there is a Control Point which is a target number to determine if a unit Pursues enemy or not.

The Defend Rating is related to the armor that the unit wears, and that determines movement rate.  Cavalry are all rated A,B,C, or D.  Infantry are all rated C, D, or E.  One pet peeve - all moves are multiples of 3" (3,6,9,12,15), except for D rated infantry, which move 4" as a standard move, and 8" as a charge or road move.  I prefer (personal taste) to have all moves based on a similar multiple (either all multiples of 2,3,4 etc).

Units may be ordered to do a Forced move, which is the same as a charge move, or road move.  It incurs a Fatigue point.

Unit type (Regular, Horde, Skirmish, etc) determines what maneuvers may be done, in terms of evolution, wheeling, expanding, etc.

Combat is done at a per figure level, in spite of having everything based on stands.  Compare the Attack rating of one unit vs the Defend rating of the other, and a chart then gives you the number of dice per figure to roll, and the range that produce a casualty.  Usually you are rolling one dice per figure, but in really disparate match ups (great quality troops, vs unarmored foes, for instance) you might roll more dice per figure (2,3,4 or even 5 dice per figure), or you might only roll 1/2, 1/3 or fewer dice per figure.  All hits are kills.  I would refer to this type of combat system as a "dice per figure" system, vs many others that are "dice per element" (where element can refer to a stand, or a number of stands, of multiple figures).

Shooting is similar, with Artillery having a chance to have the hit drift around on the battlefield.

Morale triggers are from casualty levels, and situational (charge on flank, etc).  The morale group gives any non-standard trigger categories (for instance, Morale Group VI must make a test whenever they are ordered to do formation change, presumably because they are trained so poorly).  the morale point is the target number, rolled against on 2d6, with modifiers added in or subtracted.

Rules for control exist, to see if a unit looses control after a melee (for instance).

Rules for fatigue exist, for doing forced marches, or from fighting melee or routing.  Units that accumulate so many fatigue points lose some of their attack rating, or worse.

There are rules for special weapons and terrain, and a nice wrap up with examples.

The appendix gives a good description of all the fighting ratings (attack and defend) and offers up a list of weapons and a point system.  Finally, there is a list of historical armies, and what the ratings are for the common troop types in those armies.

It is a nice, complete ruleset.  As mentioned, the only problem with solo play is the reliance on written orders, but that can be worked around.  After re-reading these rules, and reminiscing, I think it might be time to break out The Universal Soldier for a solo game - maybe 15mm renaissance?

Note: There are some other fantasy rules from RAFM, much more modern, that have as part of the title the phrase "The Universal Soldier" - I have not seen those.

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The Once and Future Rules - reviews of older Miniature Wargaming rules

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

 - Winston S. Churchill

[In the past Gaming with Chuck has done several article series.  There was a series on wargame types and wargaming rules (Wargaming Wednesdays), and there was a series on Traveller (Traveller Tuesdays), and there was a series on the relationship between music and gaming topics (Theramin Thursdays).  All of those were designed, primarily, to prod the editorial staff (i.e. - Me) into producing some output on a weekly basis.

The Traveller material was successful, and eventually served as the basis for two other blogs, each dedicated to specific campaigns for Traveller games.  One of those is set in the Spinward Marches, and is called the Collace Rift.  The other is set in the old Judges Guild sectors, and is called the Etzina Passage.]

This is the beginning of a new series, given that I have been working on (professionally) some analysis work on wargaming adjudication methods, it got me thinking about all the wargaming rules I've played over the years, and I thought - why not? Do some retro reviews, and have some fun relearning rulesets you played years and years ago.

So this is the beginning of a new series of articles here - The Once and Future Rules.  Reviews of older rulesets.  Presented in no particular order, but as whimsy dictates, or more importantly, as I come across them on my wargaming rules book shelves.

I think that the first ruleset I plan to pop out is "The Universal Soldier Miniature Rules" that were published by RAFM in 1977.

UPDATE [February 24, 2017]
So far the reviews completed have been:
The Universal Soldier Miniature Rules
WRG Wargames Rules 1645-1845
Valley Forge
Forlorn Hope
Dominance
Cavaliers and Roundheads
Broadsword: Wargames Rules for Medieval Battles
Chainmail
Tercio
WRG Armored Warfare 1950-1985
Overwatch
Koenig Krieg
War Cry
Seekrieg
General Quarters I

More Coming!!

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