Luck of the Dice

Wargame Move 5

We had an interesting problem during our current wargame.   Two good dice throws, or bad depending on which side you were on, effectively ended the game on move 5 of 12 moves.   Worse still it would result in an early and unsatisfactory end of a campaign phase.   We were faced with the decision to accept the dice, or to ignore them and roll again.   Let me explain.

This was the fourth battle in the campaign phase.  We would normally expect to have about eight.   The Austrians has lost the previous three battles, and really had to win this one.  A defeat would result in a premature end of the campaign phase.

It was a large battle with three corps per side. 

The Austrians were attacking.   They had 10 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades and 3 corps artillery.   However two of their infantry brigades had 2 casualties each, and a third 1 casualty.   Two of their cavalry brigades had 1 casualty each.

The Bavarians were defending.  They had 9 infantry brigades, 3 cavalry brigades and 3 corps artillery.   They only had 1 casualty on one of their infantry brigades.   And they held a large city, easily defended.

Although the Austrians had 10 infantry brigades against 9 Bavarian brigades, they had more casualties.   Each casualty reduced morale and combat by 1 on each dice throw.  So 2 casualties makes for a very weak brigade, quite likely to break and run if forced to test morale.

Consequently the Austrians needed to inflict some casualties on the Austrians, and particularly at the point of attack.   They would have four moves to fire their artillery, and then would have to attack anyway.   The Bavarians would have at least six moves to fire artillery, because the attackers had to move into close range to engage in firefight or hand to hand combat.

At the start of move five the Austrians has suffered one infantry casualty, and the Bavarians one cavalry casualty.   In order to reach the Bavarians and have time for a combat the Austrians must move this turn.

All three Bavarian corps moved first, due to the luck of the card draw.   First corps artillery needed 11 to hit Bavarian, rolled 12.   Third corps needed 10 to hit artillery, rolled 11.

These artillery casualties meant that the Austrians could not fire this move, and an infantry advance would screen the guns.   Their cavalry could not charge, because two brigades already had one casualty each.   Their only option was for the infantry to attack unsupported by either cavalry or artillery.

We were tempted to ignore the whole move and play it again.  But that would defeat the whole purpose of the dice roll.   But accepting the result would mean an early end to the campaign.

What would you have done?

We decided to refight the whole wargame and hope for a better result second time around.