Officers have an important role in this system. The
rank and file needs them to direct ordered firing, need them to prevent routs,
withdrawals, and undesirable reactions to charges and collisions with other
units. They are needed to provide a source of command (provided they see the
situation) with a unit which has lost all of its officers. They may be mounted
or dismounted. Mounted officers can cover a greater distance to get a unit
under control than an officer on foot.
Being mounted, however deprived the officer of the
cover afforded by stonewalls, fences, boulders, and tree stumps, because his
body, from about the waist up would be above them. A lot of “gentlemen”
receives nasty groin wounds because of shoulder height incoming rounds.
Winfield Scott Hancock and James Kemper, at Gettysburg, in particular, come to
mind. Contrary to popular history sharpshooters
did not selectively eliminate a lot of mounted commanders as did stray shot
arching over the line. Civil War small arms projectile did not travel in flat
trajectories. They tended to climb the
farther they got away from the weapons’ muzzles and then drop. Smoke could and
did reduce the line of sight to zero. As a point of reference, I recommend
watching the 1951 Red Badge of Courage
with Audie Murphy and Bill Mauldin to get an excellent portrayal of a smokey
field.
For this system every regiment should have at least
three officers and no less than one. They represent the colonel, the lieutenant
colonel, and the major. Once they are gone the player has to replace the last
officer with the senior captain, which is accomplished by an even/odd die roll.
If that fails, the “brigadier” (player) checks to see if there is another
officer within distance who might have seen the last officer go down. That is
resolved by an Even/Odd die roll. If the officer sees it, he goes to the
regiment and takes over. His presence on the line will keep the regiment from
being stalled and leaderless.
When a line comes under fire and suffer hits, all of
the regimental; officers with it are
susceptible to injury because bullets do not have brains. They could hit
whoever is in their paths. An Even/Odd roll determines whether the player has
to roll to determine of the officer(s) gets injured. Officers can sustain four
“hits” before being eliminated from play.
Besides rallying units, officers also make it
possible to break a regiment into separate sections such as battalions/wings
(1/2 of a regiment) or by divisions (two stands). Dividing a regiment makes
maneuvering easier in crowded spaces or to keep a unit functional when divided
by a fence or stonewall.
Infantry pieces consist of 48 rank and file. (The
officers and file closers are assumed to be with them.) They can sustain 12
hits before getting removed from play. Therefore, each hit represents four
casualties. A lot of Civil War shooting because of improper training, smoke,
and other factors did not hit the targets. A lot of that depended upon how
close the troops were in an unobstructed field. A regiment generates smoke
every time it fires and that smoke often did not dissipate as quickly as it
does in the movies.
Once a regiment loses a piece, it has to determine
of it routs or not. If it fails the results of the die roll, the officer(s)
will attempt to rally it. A die roll also resolves this issue.
Artillery crews consist of three crew pieces, each
representing 12 enlisted men on the crew. If the player wants to introduce
limbers, that is fine. One of the pieces will stay with the limber. Each field
piece stands for one gun. At this stage of the games development I do not
distinguish between rifles and smoothbores. As it evolves, I could
differentiate between the two, but at this point I think it would interfere
with playability. Once a crew loses a piece, it has to roll for a rout and the
officer of the section of the battery captain can attempt to rally it.
Infantry and cavalry regiments must roll for rout
when they incur casualties from by artillery, independent of small arms fire.
If the crew abandons the gun, they may attempt to
spike it by an Even/Odd die roll.
Skirmisher serves as the eyes and ears of an
advancing force in hostile territory. Each piece represents 4 “comrades in
battle."Their job is to find the enemy before the line does and to snipe at
officers. Unlike regular infantry, they get a deduction for cover in addition
to any other cover on the field. Because they came from a unit, the regiment of
origin suffers a “hit” for each skirmisher it dispatches. They can return to the line and remove the
“hits” as well. Often in a game, the players forget to recall them and they
show up inconveniently behind an enemy formation.
Without skirmishers, a unit can accidentally walk
into an unexpected confrontation much like what happened in the Cornfield at
Antietam and at McPherson’s Woods at Gettysburg.
I have not dealt with cavalry in this game system
yet, however that is pending.
As the title indicates, this is an Action/Reaction
system. I do not stress over whether they were green or elite troops. Troops
think on their feet, veteran and “green” alike. Civil War accounts are filled
with men lying down without orders, like William French’s line at Antietam in
the action along the Bloody Lane, or the lines battling it out in the
Wilderness. Erich Maria Remarque in All
Quiet on the Western Front, eloquently describes how the soldier developed
a sixth sense – one that could detect the change in air pressure from an
incoming shell, trained the eye to detect cover behind a mole hill, and deflate
the body to make it mold into the earth. Generally, given the chance to take
cover, men avoided standing up in the open to blaze away at one another. If
there was cover, they took advantage of it with or without orders. Fences had holes in them and men kneeling
down behind them would also have them.
The next part of this series will include a
preliminary description of the playing pieces, beyond the miniatures, needed to
play this game to record casualties, place smoke and fog, announce charges, record deductions for
movement, and reducing the effectiveness of fire, and other aspects of the game..
As always, I really appreciate constructive comments
and suggestions. Thank you.
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