Monday, August 11, 2008

Pre-battle map movement

I’ve always felt that perhaps I’m limiting the armies too much because of my restricted tabletop space. Head to head fighting is fine, but spectacular pre-battle manoeuvres in the style of Leuthen and Zorndorf is simply a no-no. So, for a while I was kicking around with a random generator I’d put together on Excel – pretty straightforward, but I thought a little pre-battle movement would be worth it.

Anyway, this was greatly helped for the upcoming battle at Flussburg when I joined the Old School Wargaming yahoo group and discovered the file ‘CoWar’ which is available there, and generates nice little random hex-maps. I don’t think I’ve quite got the hang of it, but I was able to quickly print out one for the approach to Flussburg. The armies were represented with some old 2mm figures I had available (even in the appropriate blue and while colours!) I’ve not developed any system much beyond some nominal movement rates for infantry and cavalry, improved or worsened by roads and terrain.

The map and movements of each force (the fortress of Flussburg has simply been drawn on the map)

General van der Dijk was deployed in some trenches around the city, but began to back away as the larger Aschenbach force approached and threatened to roll up his line. I’d weighed him down with some appropriate baggage from the siege, and this slowed him from a full escape. He did however manage to reach a hilly area, and get a stream mostly between him and the pursuing bluecoat infantry. Perhaps he will indeed manage to put up a spirited defence, and even get some lucky dice rolls in against some good-quality enemy units.


Deployment for the battle of Flussburg

7 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

This looks quite interesting.

An idea for another variable has to do with the unit commander of each unit . . . roll for each of them to see whether they are "average", "slow" or "fast" (using whatever dice you like) . . . that way they don't all advance at the same speed.

Another idea is rolling for direction of march. Roll 1d6 in woods or rough; perhaps 1d10 or 1d12 in open.

In woods, if a "1" or "2" is rolled, exit on hexside to the left of intended line; if a "5" or "6", one hexside to the right; other numbers continue straight.

In rough, veer left on a "1"; veer right on a "6"; and continue as planned on other rolls.

In open, do the same as with rough except use the top number on the die instead of the "6" for exiting the veer right hexside.

The object of this is this idea is to simulate the difficulty of moving through unknown territory and sometimes getting a bit turned around.

If you like the idea, give it a try.


-- Jeff

CWT said...

Thanks Jeff, that sounds like good advice. I'll get round to working out a proper system before I do this again, but I quite liked the idea and thought I'd try it out - at least it saved working out battlefield terrain!

Cheers,
Craig

Capt Bill said...

I really like what you've done. It provides many opportunities to shape the battlefield. Keep up the great work. By the way, when I did the College of Honors you were conspicuously missing. We need to exchange ambassadors and add your august name to our .
Best regards...Bill

CWT said...

Hi Bill,

Thank you very much for the offer! What do you need from me in order to do this ambassadorial exchange?

Capt Bill said...

Hi Craig,
I'll post the appointment of a new ambassador on the EvE site along with the investment of your sovereign into the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Tankard. Your Ambassador will be invested into the Order of the Goblet. The question is, which realm to do want to align with the Reich Duchy of Beerstein? Being an Austrian supporter, the obvious choice is the Rheinstadt der Luftberg. However, in an Imagi-nation anything is possible.
Best regards...Bill

Bluebear Jeff said...

I might point out that "Konig und Kaiser" is not yet a member of "Emperor vs Elector" although I've suggested that he could join.

And will do so again. If you wish to join our "EvE" group blog, drop me an email at . . . bluebear@uniserve.com . . . and (as group owner) I'll see to it that you get an invitation.


-- Jeff

A J said...

Thanks for drawing my attention to the CoWar file. I'm finding it useful.