The use of just 1D6 to determine all combat and morale rules has proved a great improvement on the previous rules, which used 2D6. It has simplified outcomes and also made them much more unpredictable.
However to determine artillery fire casualties it has raised problems which I am currently struggling with. The artillery rules are as follows:
Total require for a hit
06 – Artillery at long range
05 – Artillery at short range
05 – Building, woods or hills at long range
04 – Building, woods or hills at short range
04 – cavalry at long range
03 – cavalry at short range
03 – infantry at long range
02 – infantry at short range
Combat factors
each casualty – minus 1
walled town – minus 1
When all artillery crews are at full strength there are no problems. However after the first three battles of a campaign each army will have battle casualties. These are reduced to just 1 per brigade when the army is regrouped (receive reinforcements and redistribute casualties). So when at the start of the fourth, fifth and sixth battles it is normal for many brigades, including artillery, to start the game with one casualty.
The photograph above shows the artillery casualties at the start of the game. 4th and 6th French corps artillery each have one casualty. The Prussian artillery do not have any casualties. This is quite unusual, more often only one side will have a casualty, or else both sides will have a casualty thus sharing the problem for both players.
The attacking army must try to reduce the effectiveness of the enemy artillery. Failure to do so will almost always result in failure. For example an infantry brigade will be receive casualties twice before they reach defending artillery. At long range the gunners require 3 to hit, at short range only 2. Each time they receive casualties the infantry have to test morale, they deduct 1 for each casualty plus 1 for being disordered. With two casualties the infantry are very likely to fail their morale and retreat or rout.
Counter battery fire is the usual way to reduce the effectiveness of enemy artillery. However at long range the gunners require a total of 6 for a hit. If they start the game with one artillery casualty the maximum they can achieve is 5. They would have to move to close range of the enemy gunners (4”) to be able to hit them.
When I wrote the rules I anticipated that rolling a 6 in counter battery fire would not happen very often. I don’t know what the odds are, but I do know that it has happened surprisingly often in our wargames. And, of course, it always seems to happen to the wrong side! If the attacking army are unable to hit the enemy gunners their infantry are at a huge disadvantage in launching an attack.
Balance is all important in wargame rules, and I am not sure that I have it right in this particular case. In all other circumstances the artillery rules work quite well. With two dice, allowing a maximum of 12 outcomes, I could adjust the tables. This is not possible with jus t one dice.
Despite my reservations I am inclined to keep the existing rules and just accept that rolling a 6 to hit the enemy gunners is actually quite hard. And when it does happen it is just luck. Sometimes it is better to accept an apparent unfair advantage, and accept that you can’t always find a solution to every problem.
Some rules have it so a rolled 6 always a hit regardless of modifiers.
ReplyDeleteHi Peter
DeleteI think this might work if you used two dice, and a double six was always a hit. But I have found that a single six comes up much more than I would have imagined.
On both our combat and morale rules rolling a 6 almost always results in success, just as rolling a 1 has the opposite effect
regards
Paul
What about if a 6 is rolled, roll again for a 4+. I wish I rolled 6's an a fairly regular basis :-)
DeleteHi Peter
DeleteI probably don't roll a six that often. But when I do it has such a dramatic effect on the game that it stands out large in my memory!
regards
Paul
Thistlebarrow -
ReplyDeleteI reckon your '6' to hit a gun battery is reasonable. I don't like counterbattery, but occasionally one 'has' to give it a try, as preparation for attack, or to rid oneself of a nuisance. It ought to be chancy - of a kind that persuades one to look for better targets.
I would, however, be more inclined to make other targets harder to hit, though potentially more destructive when a hit is scored. But your system, tried in many a battle, gives the results you want by and large, so there seems to be no occasion to change it.
Cheers,
Ion
Hi Ion
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree that counter battery fire should not be a feature of all wargames. The problem is how to restrict its use. If its available as an option it is a tempting one, particularly for the attacking side. They can move their guns into range, but keep their cavalry and infantry out of range. This will force the defending infantry to retire out of range, but keep within supporting distance of their artillery.
When one plays against the same opponent as often as I do, there is a real danger of latching on to a tactic that works. Counter battery fire has become one such for us.
I may just ban it altogether or restrict it to short range only.
regards
Paul
You could always revert to a 2D6 type system just for artillery. A compromise might be to remove the - 1 to hit per casualty, and instead allow a saving throw. No save vs crews at full strength, save on 5+ if they have one casualty, save on 3+ if they have two casualties.
ReplyDeleteHi Martin
DeleteThe obvious solution is to use 2D6, but I have put so much effort into making 1D6 work that I am really reluctant to do so.
I am going to experiment with only allowing counter battery fire at artillery short range. Long range is 12" and short range 4". The artillery can still fire on infantry and cavalry at long range. Given that cavalry charge range is 12", it would be almost impossible to get artillery within 4" of each other.
In the past I have often found that when you change a rule to solve one problem you often create three new ones! Lets hope this does not happen this time
regards
Paul