The Hazard and doubtful Chance of Wars - The Development of SYW Rules

Back here I mentioned some of the ideas I tried to adopt in developing a set of grand tactical rules for the Seven Years War. What follows specifically concerns the development of my SYW rules, some of the key mechanisms that I finally ended up with I adopted for my ECW rules. I my original rules Command & Control involved checking the ‘Initiative Ratings’ of generals. Combat involved opposed die rolls and modifying them according to unit ‘Strength Points’ (‘SP’). This in turn meant keeping a roster of SP which was a bit slow and a bit, well, like admin. All pretty derivative of what was around in terms of rules.  Then I was introduced to Polemos Marechal De l’Empire (MDE) and General de Division (GDD) .

Polemos rules provided a breakthrough for me. They simplified things and speeded the game up, even if the combat mechanism was a bit brutal. As well as getting me back into Napoleonics, it inspired me to rebase my H&R SYW figures and touch up the painting on figures I’d done many years before. 

 Old Fritz assembles his battalions outside Olmütz (or some such place).

The square bases are command bases, the officer on a round base is an ADC heading off to the flank with the King's instructions.

We had some good SYW games using a bowdlerised version of MDE but it felt a bit too, well, Napoleonic. The ebb and flow and combined arms action didn’t feel right for SYW. After lots of tinkering I still found it wasn’t getting that linear warfare feel. So I started completely from scratch. If indeed you ever can start from scratch and forget everything from before.

What were the principles I was looking for in my new ruleset?

1. Friction
2. If possible 'the fog of war'
3. Lady Luck (see the quote above), and finally
4. I wanted to replicate the difficulty of changing a plan once battle was underway. 

The Command and Control mechanisms would be at the heart of the solution I came up with. I like the Tempo Point idea from Polemos, but although it models the rationing of 'command resources’ it is immediate. I wanted the jeopardy that it all might be too late to change things. You could argue that the Polemos approach models the whole thing (time delays, limited opportunities to influence things etc.), but if you want to do something different with a command you assign TPs and ‘buy’ that change. There isn't that element of doubt - if you have the number Tempo Points needed you can make the change happen even if you could only do this in a limited number of cases. So I came up with the idea of moving ADC figures about the tabletop and reverting to dice rolls to see if orders could be changed. ADCs move at a set pace down the chain of command, from the player's 'personality' figure ('the Commander') to a subordinate general ('General'). There they improve the chance the General’s formation will do what you want it to do at a given point, but you still have to dice for it. You can send more than one ADC to a General if you want to prioritise something. You can dice to ‘change orders’ without an ADC present, but there's a lower chance. The ADCs are added to the subordinate’s own Initiative Rating, which could be one of the following:

• Lively (3): Those with good coup d’oeuil i.e. generals with plenty of vision and the ability to read the battlefield. They are able and willing to react to developments without always having to receive new orders.  Examples would be Loudon and Seydlitz.
• Middling (2): The bulk of competent generals who will go about their business under orders
• Myopic (1): Generals with either poor vision (literally) or without the ability or willingness to take the initiative.  This can include those whose attitude requires extra 'management' by the Commander (Sackville at Minden springs to mind).

The number in brackets is the die roll that you have to be equal to or lower than to succeed. To this you add the number of ADCs present. You can even add a visit from the Big Man himself to drive the point home. Once the attempt has been made remove the ADCs (whether or not it was successful). If unsuccessful, the formation concerned continues to do whatever it was doing before, even if it appears illogical to us as the player with our all-seeing eye. Remember that at eye-level for our tiny men, much less can be seen, people even short distances away can be invisible due to minor terrain features which we don't build on our unaturally flat battlefields. I'm still playing around with the IR values to get the balance right, but for me the mechanism delivers what I was looking for.

What do I mean by changing orders?

Any of the following requires a change of orders:

• Commencing a move (except at the start of the games, when any or all formations can start moving). If you elect not to move a formation in turn 1, then you still have to successfully change the orders (the original plan may have been misunderstood, or they missed their time/signal to start marching)
• Halting a move (the only other ways to stop are to end up in Combat or reach an impassable obstacle)
• Direction Changes (i.e. EVERY direction change)
• Formation Changes (line or road column only)
• Rallying
• Changing pace - i.e. Forced march (faster but adds to attrition)

The number of ADCs is determined each turn by a dice throw. Again, I'm still playing around to get the balance right (type of dice?).

Next up was Combat
This is basically a series of opposed die rolls, modified by circumstances and quality. Pretty standard fare so far. Bases can be pushed back, suffer attrition (disorder/losses - I use casualty markers), and ultimately get removed. By the way, bases represent 2 battalions or c 5 squadrons - i.e. regiments for Prussians and Austrians. Combat occurs when foot and horse are in base-to-base contact. There are actually 3 types of combat each with different sub-phases:

• cavalry v cavalry
• cavalry v infantry
• infantry v infantry

This is a bit complicated to get used to, but I wanted to try to capture the different ways action between the different arms unfolded, otherwise at this scale cavalry just become faster moving infantry. I could elaborate but I might cover that in another post. Needs more play-testing.

Turn Sequence
Turns are UGOIGO, but only 1 ‘action’ is permitted per unit per turn. This speeds up the turn and means the non-phasing player isn't waiting around for so long. Also I reasoned that a unit shouldn't be able to go through a fire fight and then march a given distance in the same time it takes another unit to move the same distance. I gave a lot of thought to the turn sequence and how the different phases interact and ended up with the following:

• Enforced Moves Phase
• Artillery and Skirmishing Phase
• Combat Phase
• Manoeuvre Phase
• Orders Phase

I am not totally happy with where Enforced Moves has ended up, so this might change.

If you’re in combat that turn, you cannot then move that turn. If you have an enforced move you cannot initiate combat. Artillery and skirmishing is ‘ranged combat’ which seeks to degrade the enemy units. One option that I've experimented with is to run Combat and Manoeuvre as if it is one phase, running across the table from left to right and performing the relevent action with each formation. So for example, Left Wing Cavalry might be in combat with their opposite numbers so you carry out the Combat phase for them. Then next up is the Left Wing Infantry who might still be advancing and you perform their Manoeuvre Phase. Then on to the Centre Infantry, Right Wing Infantry and Right Wing Cavalry each performing Combat OR Manoeuvre.

The Orders Phase is when you move ADC figures from your Commander towards where you want them to go. Ones already en route also continue to move during this phase. The “order” in the form of an ADC figure is sent immediately after the Manoeuvre Phase, and cannot in effect be carried out before the next Movement Phase. The player may have to anticipate what might happen in the other player’s turn or in his own subsequent Combat and Artillery Phases. The test to change orders is actually carried out at the beginning of the Manoeuvre Phase. There is no limit on the number of changes except that a unit or command can only have one attempt to change orders each turn - no ‘if X doesn’t work I’ll try Y’.

There are other features which I could expand on, but won't for now at least. These include how troops are graded by Type, by level of Discipline and by Temper. The latter (possibly unecessary gloss) was inspired by an idea in the Gå På rules.

Action about to commence in a playtest at Schloß Nundanket

I'll leave you with the full quote that this post's title came from. It sums up my feeling on Early Modern Warfare.
 

"The Hazard and doubtful Chance of Wars, the mighty and surprizing Revolutions of Human Affairs; particularly the unaccountable Events of Engagements and Stratagems, which we see happen daily; and wherein, when the nicest Policy hath done its utmost, Providence hath still the chief Hand, and gives the finishing Stroke; For it is obvious to every Man’s Observation, that what the World calls Fortune, cannot pretend to so absolute a Dominion in any one Instance, as in the Decisions of the Field. And accordingly we often see, that One Hour there turns the whole Face of Affairs, and exalts or reduces a Prince to the very Reverse of what he was an Hour ago." Of Wisdom, Book III, Pierre, Sieur de Charron, transl. George Stanhope, London 1707