Lone Warriors

Lone Warriors Comprehensive Guide to Solo Wargaming

Chapter 7 Modeling or lack of with influence of Board games - solo & others

There are many different types of approach to how a person conducts, and plays, a war game on the table top or campaign map. During a person’s lifespan, whether one cares to admit, the temptationto model and build up terrain, miniature figures, ships, tanks, aircraft, buildings, and battlefield chattels will eventually transpire. The secret to all of the aforementioned is less is more! One can get totally engrossed with basing and painting figures and never even get to play a complete solo war-game from start to finish. Planning is the key to your success so the author’s will share some wisdom, and a few tips, to help you from becoming; overwhelmed and stressed out from the pressure to model and complete a giant battlefield complete with hundreds of figures, horse, artillery, etc.

It’s best to start small. Try and pick a particular era that you would like to solo war-game and ask yourself the following questions:

1. If I plan to build myself a battle board to game on how much space do I really have? Also If I ever decide to move will my set-up be transportable? In other words will I be able to take itapart and move it without destroying it?

2. How many armies will be involved and what scale or scales’ will Imodel in?

3. Do I have an area where I can go and model at where the lighting and the ventilation is adequate?

4. Do I have a budget constraint regarding the purchase of books, hobby tools, materials, paint mediums, miniatures?

5. What is my goal? Do I fight large scale campaigns, medium scale campaigns, or just stick to skirmish and mêlée’s to start with?

6. Do I take the time to look at board games and other various media?

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7. Finally, how much time and effort am I willing to put into the hobby of solo wargaming?

In this chapter the author’s will share some ideals, and ways, you can answer the above questions and begin a lifetime hobby of fighting military campaigns in miniature whether on a battle board, a board game, or on paper.

The Battlefield

Over the years we as wargamers have come to appreciate the diverse ways in which one can fight a solo campaign from start to finish. Our experience tells us that there are three main ways in which one can succeed in playing a game. Usually an individual acquires some type of playing area whether a table top or battle boardto play on. Then some sort of simple or complex terrain is added complete with; a road, some trees or shrubs, and a water feature. We have seen these battle boards in both giant, medium, and small statures with costs ranging from a couple of hundreds of dollars up tothousands of dollars complete with; model railroad landscape, back-drops, buildings, rivers, streams, roads, and other significant features. We also play on lesser battlefields consisting of a piece offoam board with a simple campaign map drawn on it and a few simple structures placed on it as well depending on taste. A purchased boardgame is another option. Lastly we can play on a piece of 8.5” X 11” piece of paper with simple map and board game markers or block armies.There is really no right or wrong way to do it successfully. What is of most importance is to do it in a way that one will enjoy the hobby.The goal is to learn about how commanders fight campaigns with a political and military flavor in mind. We shall start by discussing simple to complex ideals with the need of a budding or experienced wargamer at the forefront.

Duffer’s Drift – (games 5 to 6)

The following campaign game numbers 5 and 6 were played on an 8.5” X 11” piece of paper with simple map and board game markers. In this campaign the initial history and idea came from the Internet. Solo rules and game markers came from play testing Mr. Godfrey Baily’sboard game Hill of Doves. The rules were modified extensively to

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accomplish the ideal set forth by the author of this chapter to fight six battles in a somewhat fictional setting using the thoughts and writings from The Defense of Duffer's Drift. This short book by Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, was published in 1904 when Swinton was a Captain. It appeared in the British United Service Magazine under the pseudonym, Lieutenant N. Backsight Forethought, who is the narrator ofthe book. The book is an exploration of small unit tactics in a fictional encounter in the Boer War. Captain Swinton served in South Africa during the Boer War, and the book "embodies some recollections of things actually done and undone in South Africa, 1899–1902."

Lieutenant Backsight Forethought ("BF") and his command of fifty men are given the task to defend Duffer's Drift, a natural ford to a river. A large force of Boers, unknown to BF, is moving toward his position. This scenario is played out six separate times, in six "dreams." In the early scenarios, BF and his British troops are ignominiously defeated. After each defeat, BF learns lessons and adapts his strategy for the later encounters. The later dreams end more inconclusively, and in the final dream, BF and his command successfully hold out long enough to be relieved. The book encourages critical thinking and careful use of position and terrain to mount a successful defense.

The Defense of Duffer's Drift was reprinted in the April 1905 edition of the Journal of the United States Infantry Association. The book, especially intended for young lieutenants, has become a military staple on small unit tactics, read far afield in places such as the United States, Russia, and Canada.[1] While some of the advice has become rather dated—notably, BF eventually decides to imprison all nearby locals, shoot any livestock that could be of aid to the enemy, and impress both Boer and black alike into building fortifications forhis men—the book is still considered relevant and interesting in modern times.

Storyline

Lieutenant Backsight Forethought (BF to his friends) has been left in command of a 50-man reinforced platoon to hold Duffer's Drift,the only ford on the Silliassvogel River available to wheeled traffic.Here is his chance for fame and glory. He has passed his officer courses and special qualifications. "Now if they had given me a job," says like fighting the Battle of Waterloo, of Gettysburg, or Bull Run,I knew all about that, as I had crammed it up...." While BF's task

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appears simple enough the Boer enemy causes a multitude of problems, but the astute reader, with a sharp mind and quick intellect, will no doubt, solve the problem before the first shot is fired.[3]

The Drift campaign was played on the above map acquired from the Internet and printed on an 8.5” X 11” piece of paper. In its basic concept all that was required to play was; the article for storyline, some board game markers, 1d6, and the “Hill of Doves” rule set. When playing the six games initially, the first 4 games were enacted historically with some slight deviation to the dreamdorp indicated by Lieutenant Backsight Forethought. In games 5 and 6 the player decided to take a different slant to the dreamdorp. For sake of brevity, games5 & 6 will be discussed. The following ensued:

Game # 5

"A trifling sum of misery New added to the foot of thy account."    John Dryden 

Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind and fresh hopes. All that remained with me of my former attempts being 19 lessons learned in my previous 4 dreamdorps. Having detailed the two patrols and the guard on Waschout Hill as already described, I spent some 20 minutes—whilst the stores, etc., were being arranged—in walking about

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to choose a position to hold in the light of my19 lessons. I came to the conclusion that it was not any good being near the top of a hill and yet not at the top. I would make my post on the top of Waschout Hill, where I could not be overlooked from any place within rifle range, and where I should, I believed, have "command." I was not quitecertain what "command" meant, but I knew it was important—it says so in the book, besides, in all the maneuvers I had attended and tacticalschemes I had seen, the "defense" always held a position on top of a hill or ridge.

 My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed the only place which did

not contravene any of the 19 lessons I had learnt, and up it I walked.As I stood near one of the huts I got an excellent view of the drift and its southern approach just over the bulge of the hill.  A clear view of the river further east and west was to be gained by clear weather. I thought at first I would demolish the few grass and mattinghuts which with some empty kerosene tins and heaps of bones and debrisformed the Kaffir kraal; but on consideration I decided to play cunning. That this same innocent-looking Kaffir kraal would materiallyassist me to hide my defenses’ I made out my plan of operations in detail. My men had soon conveyed all our stores up to the top of the hill, and we started our usual work.

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The above contour map of the drift, and outlying areas, give the wargamer a better understanding and perspective to what a commander needs to do to adequately defend from a day or night assault.

Boer Commando Perspective 

I decided to deviate a bit from Major General Sir Ernest Swinton's account in dream 5 and look at this from a Boer commando perspective first. Taking the terrain into account and the British position a commando cannot help but chuckle as being stuck in a valleywith a bunch of troops dug into slit trenches and hemmed in by a natural river course "one is but a sitting duck at a duck hunt if you please." As well having the high ground with cannon in position an officer can initiate and inflict a heavy bombardment pinning down any troop movement while cavalry can flank from; either side and position foot soldiers and snipers. Remember lesson 13 from dream #4? (See author’s notes on games 1-4 in the appendix) It's nasty being enfiladed from one flank - far worse from both flanks. As a commander of Boer troops if I see the enemy I have them, if the enemy is concealed I need to find them and kill them. Nothing more nothing less!

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 Back to Reality

If I decide to put my observers with a field glass on the Kraal then they need to be dug in and sand bagged. I can't expect my men to take round after round from artillery and expect them to survive. The key here is to build a fake observatory as a decoy and a real one on the Kraal but camouflaged. This exercise will have to be achieved on night duty as daily operations will go noticed by the Boer command. IfI expect to be concealed during the day my troops need to be scatteredamongst the vegetation with food and water and totally camouflaged. Element of surprise is the key here if we are to fend a commando raiding party. We need to learn from the commando and instigate our own strategy by launching night raids on the enemy to shake them up and keep them guessing as to our where about on the veld.

 The Battle

  During the day the men are in their Sanger's out of the sun with plenty of food and water and the only annoying thing to deal with is the ants. The British strategy is simple total concealment. Out of theBoer's sight the men are relatively safe from bombardment and snipers lurking on the veld. Any Boer troops who unwillingly enter into the inverted horseshoe will have to escape an intense crossfire put up by

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my troops. The hunters become the hunted. It’s just like shooting ducks in a pond so to speak.

Above the commandos are approaching with trepidation as they are feeling out my defenses. Kommandant Nicolaas Jacobus Smit is nice and cozy in his Lager with cannon in place on Table Mountain. A perfect advantage for Mr. Smit to deploy his troops as he deems fit. He has a clear vision of the veld with field glasses in hand. The trap has been

set with 1 Pretoria 3 scouting party looking for us and 3 Pretoria 3 and 2 set up with snipers in flanking position.  

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Things are working as planned. We go undetected as 3 commando squads thread the needle of impending doom. The stage is set for crossfire. This time we have learned from dream 4 and our Sanger's areheavily fortified from the Boer cannon and completely camouflaged. TheBoers are unaware of our position and believe we have withdrawn from our old camp.   

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I forgot to mention my apologies to Major General Sir Ernest Swinton if he was alive however I have employed a game changer and have drawn an event card which would have pleased Her Majesty the Queen. We had our Sergeant to employ the Boer sympathisers under guardto help bring us up some cannon to be used in our defense. We have strategically moved them up into position at the last moment to ensureextra insurance against Boer re-enforcement's from a counter attack byMr. Smit. Also if General Smit decides to send a night assault againstus he might think twice as to what else I might have hidden waiting for his men. Battle Results 

Boer Casualties  1 PRET 2 - 6 troops KIA. 1 taken prisoner and 3 men escaped south

on horse and crossed the drift. 2 PRET 3 - 5 KIA. 5 seriously wounded and removed from the veld 1 PRET 3 - 7 KIA. 3taken prisoner

British Casualties 3 casualties taken from a stray shell that hit our forward

observation post on the Kraal.Other notables: 3 PRET 2 and 1 PRET 4 were routed by 2 of our small 10man squads. The 4 elite commandos in support of the 3 forward Boer scouting parties withdrew from nuisance fire and retreated back to Table Mountain. We were not captured and our losses were minimal.

Lessons learned:

20. Beware of convex hills and dead ground. Especially take care to have a place where the enemy must come under your fire. Choose the exact position of your firing trenches. We learned from the last dreamby staging our cannon on the reverse side of the Kraal and our trenches were strategically placed this Dreamdorp.21. A hill may not, after all, though it has "command" necessarily be the best place to hold. We thought there would have been no chance of any casualties on our hidden observation post and never accounted for a stray shell hitting our post.22. A conspicuous "bluff" trench may cause the enemy to waste lots of ammunition, and draw fire away from the actual defenses employed. Thisworked out in our favor as the Boer artillery shelled both of our decoys and figured we never stood a chance. The only demerit against me and my command is three Boer commandos crossed the veld on horse and headed south. I earned my Captains bars this battle.

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Game # 6

I pray Major General Swindon would pardon my belligerence forthwith as I will deviate from his original sixth Dreamdorp and go on the offensive. We had learned a great deal from the 5 preceding dreams on the drift and it was time to make amen’s forour losses. We had heard rumors of the Boers conducting night assaultswith great success using their commando style of raids inflicting heavy casualties on us British. It was time to send Smit a message that we had one or two tricks up our sleeves as well. We had achance visit from a couple Canadian lads on Recon that had great success with this type of night warfare. After a spot of evening tea we were up for conducting a night raid on Smits Lager with our two Canadian counterparts as guides. Our plan was simple. We were to launch a full night assault with our 50 plus three troops. The objective was to leave after dark. Each man was to take a small water ration, ammunition, and no food. This was going to be a take no prisoner assault if possible. We were to go in unnoticed - inflict misery on the Boer - then return back to our slit trenches on the drift by sunrise. We also knew we needed a diversion so as to confuse the Boer night sentries amidst the Lager now positioned behind the farm on Incidentamba. Surprise was of the utmost importance. Every man’s kit was; checked, double and triple checked for rattles or shinysteel. There was to be no talking what so ever. All commands were to be done by hand signals agreed upon by all of us. Our Canadian friendswere of great help here. We also knew there was a great possibility that Smit might be present in his Lager. If by chance, and God was on our side tonight we would capture him and take him as a prisoner of war.

Night Assault Segment - Hill of Doves

Although fraught with danger, night time actions were sometimes carried out in desperate situations. The Canadians had learned this the hard way in a previous battle. In Hill of Doves the British have three night assault options available for the duration of the war which may be attempted when required. Night assaults are not permittedagainst the Nek or Table Mountain. Our tactical column has been assembled 50 plus 3. Our orders have been drawn up. I have decreased our night assault marker by 1.

Our Orders

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We had gleaned some important information from the Canadians. Thelast thing we wanted to do in a night battle is shoot each other from mistaken identity. Our assault had to be coordinated when we hit the Boer position from in front and behind Incidentamba. Ideally we would have liked to have flanked them from both sides but this tactic could result in disaster. We could end up shooting each other in crossfire due to lack of visibility unless we hit them at dawn. We wanted an element of surprise so the decision was made to use cold steel. No shots were to be fired unless absolutely necessary. In the case of identification in the dark two code words would be sounded if necessary. "Poppycock and Biscuit" were to be used. If there wasn't the right verbal response it was determined that we had run into an enemy patrol and we would deal with them accordingly.

The Assault

Above I am with 20 plus 3, myself and our 2 Canadian friends approaching from the southwest part of the veld due to a Boer night patrol. It's our job to distract Smits men with a diversionary tactic. We approach their Sanger's with cold steel and strict orders not to return fire unless we are spotted. Luck would have it we have half-moon out which gives us just the right amount of light to see where we are going and shoot to kill if need be. Good planning on our part.

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We have caught Smits men totally by surprise as they are having acampfire, playing cards, and some men are consuming alcohol. We enter their camp and we begin to sack it. An intense fire fight ensues. The Boer commandos barely get a shot off before they meet our bullets and bayonets.

The second part of our team enters from the southeast with no resistance what so ever. It turns out playing cards and having a drinking party will be the demise of Smit and his men. 58-3 kills 12 of the Generals finest by flanking and employing a pincer maneuver. Sergeant Willows captures Smit without incident and he surrenders. We are also fortunate that 50 other Boer crack troops had been given orders earlier in the day to return to Table Mountain. These men were unable to help defend the General. Luck of the draw here or is it Godsprovidence?

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Above is the overall battle plan we employed. Smit is caught off from his main force of 50 crack commandos which renders him ineffective to command his men. Seems these Boer are a bit too cocky for their britches this night and have underestimated us Brits and thetwo Canadians. We also captured 5 cannon and 1 Long Tom.

Final Casualty Count

Boer - 32 K.I.A. 9 seriously wounded and 3 deserted. Smit is captured with 15 taken as prisoners.

British - 2 K.I.A. 4 with minor wounds and or injuries.

Lessons Learned

That evening the relieving force halted at the drift, and, after burying the dead, we spent some time examining the lairs of the Boer snipers, the men collecting bits of shell and cartridge cases as mementos – only to be thrown away at once. That night I did not trek, but lay down (in my own breeches and spotted waistcoat). As the smoke from the "prime segar," presented to me by the Colonel, was eddying inspirals over my head, these gradually changed into clouds of rosy glory, and I heard brass bands in the distance playing a familiar air:"See the Conquering Hero comes," it sounded like. I felt a rap on my shoulder, and heard a gentle voice say, "Arise, Sir Backsight Forethought"; but in a trice my dream of bliss was shattered-the gentle voice changed into the well-known croak of my servant. "Time to

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pack your kit on the wagon, sir. Corfy’s been up some time now, sir." I was still in stinking old Dreamdorp.

Some Final Notes

For the most part of this series the player stayed on track utilizing the basic rule concepts found in Hill of Doves. Some of the general rules in Hill of Doves were modified in order to play the campaign to suit the author’s needs. That's the beauty of solo war-gaming. Some Gents are staunch about keeping to a particular rule set and ideals, we were not, and make no apologies for deviating.

Board games for Solo Wargaming

Board games have literally been around for decades.  During the 1950s the first large scale, mass produced board games depicting military conflicts were published. These games were at the height of their popularity during the 1970s, and became quitecomplex and technical in that time. History from Wiki

  Operation Olympic was perhaps the earliest solitaire game and was published in 1974. A solitaire or solo game if you pleaseis a form of puzzle. Though the enjoyment of solitaire games are as much in the playing as in the eventual solving of the puzzle, a well-designed solitaire game attempts to immerse the player in the subject matter, forcing him to make decisions of the same kind made by his historical counterparts who participated in the actual battles or events being simulated. The best games do this through presenting gameplay options based on reality or fog of war rather than artificial game restraints. One of the first solitaire board wargames was Iwo Jima, a magazine game by TSR and released in 1983. That same year, Avalon Hill produced B-17, Queen of the Skies, possibly the very first boxed solitaire board wargame.

Ambush! is arguably the most successful solitaire board wargame ever made, appearing in 1984 and having spawned three addon games, a companion series of two games, a two-player version, and a similar game focusing on armor in the Second World War.

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Another solitaire man to man game to appear in 1984 was Ranger byOmega Games, which focused on patrolling missions in a fictional and speculative conflict in Central America.Ambush! appears to have validated the concept of designing specifically for solitaire play, as other very ambitious and innovative titles appeared in its wake. These include:

Mosby's Raiders (Victory Games, 1985) Eastern Front Solitaire (Omega Games, 1986) Raid on St. Nazaire (Avalon Hill, 1987) Tokyo Express (Victory Games, 1988) Open Fire (Victory Games, 1988) Solitaire Advanced Squad Leader (Avalon Hill, 1995)Recently, there have been several downloadable titles for solitaire play on wargamedownloads.com, such as Solitaire Caesar,Barbarossa Solitaire and Vietnam Solitaire.

The key concept in solitaire games is the creation of a simulated opponent. While Iwo Jima relied on the static nature of the Japanese defenses to avoid the need for another human player,and B-17 created opposition by the use of simple charts and dice rolls, to the contrary Ambush! has an innovative set of "mission cards" that one read in a view sleeve, with entries correspondingto the hexes on the game map. The view sleeve would reveal three digit numbers, corresponding to numbered entries in a book of paragraphs, which would orient the player to the game's situation, activate the simulated opponent, or simply provide atmosphere.

The game was heavily action-adventure oriented and had a considerable role playing component. The paragraph booklet also guided the opponent's actions, and each character on the opposingside also had a small card with attributes and a table for selecting paragraphs to guide their actions during gameplay. Ranger was also paragraph driven, but lacked counters and was more abstract (and perhaps realistic) as a result.

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B-17, Queen of the Skies can be looked at as an example of an unsuccessful solitaire board wargame from the point of view of design. The player was presented with no realistic challenges akin to what a historical B-17 pilot would have faced. While the real challenge for a B-17 pilot was the physical task of keeping the aircraft aloft and in formation, these challenges are obviously absent from the game. The navigator and bombardier of areal B-17 had many challenges also, but again, these physical challenges are not simulated at all in the game. The only real decisions to be made are which machineguns to fire at which enemyfighters, and there is often little real decision making even in this. The game is more of an effects simulator, in that a varietyof random events and aircraft damage are simulated through the tables and dice rolls, but the player is generally simply a spectator to the events of the game.Tokyo Express, on the other hand, had a well-designed solitaire system. In Tokyo Express, the solitaire player represents a U.S. admiral...The game was designed to make the player experience thesuspense, uncertainty and confusion of command in a night surfaceaction. No "hidden" paragraphs are involved as with so many othersolitaire games; the game is re-playable again and again. From Riding the Express: An Introduction to Tokyo Express by Jonathan Southard, Volume 25, Number 4, The General Magazine.

One disadvantage of solitaire games is that the player has few checks and balances on his understanding of the game rules. Given that a lack of shared experience with a human opponent who is using and required to understand the same game rules, misinterpretations are more possible.

One of the things I dislike most is to find out that I've been playing a game incorrectly...It happened to me most recentlyplaying RAID ON ST. NAZAIRE; I read the rules carefully (I thought) and then went through them again as I played my first game. Things went fine, but as the game progressed and I dove back into the rulebook to clear up certain questions, I began to discover that I hadn't been counting movement costs correctly,

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that I had allowed guns to fire that weren't supposed to, that German units that should have appeared automatically hadn't, and a few other things. It's my own fault. It's a solitaire game; whoelse can I blame? From A Travel Guide to St. Nazaire: Your Very First Raid by Bob Proctor, Volume 24, Number 4, The General Magazine.

A drawback of solitaire game systems is the balance between immersion and re-playability. Ambush! has much more detail in itsgame system, but also relies heavily on surprise, and hence re-playability of individual missions is low. Other games like Tokyo Express or B-17 are infinitely replayable, but because of the dice-driven effects and opponent activation, the game is less immersive and does not sustain the average gamer's interest as long.Legacy

Although the number of: board wargames and publishers, have dramatically increased since the wargaming hobby first gained popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s; solitaire board wargaming has experienced the opposite trend during the same timeperiod. Few solitaire titles have been released since the 1980s, perhaps a notable exception being Solitaire Advanced Squad Leader in 1995. The simulated opponent in SASL was created through tables and charts in a special chapter of the Advanced Squad Leader Rulebook. Nonetheless, Omega Games has released a new, updated version of Ranger for 2005, along with the two original expansionkits (now merged into one).

There has also been resurgence in Solitaire gaming over the past 10 years. There have been a number of newer games developed that are played only as a solitaire game or have a dedicated portion of the rules to be used in solitaire play. For example, there have been a number of fantasy/sci-fi board games that play very well as one player games, even though they were also designed as mutli-player games. These games include Dungeon Quest, Runebound, and Dungeon Twister 2.

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There has also been a rise in cooperative games that are very playable as solitaire games. These would include Pandemic, Arkham Horror and Vanished Planet. These past few years has also seen resurgence in solitaire war games that have new and innovative systems. These would include Hornet Leader, RAF, FieldCommander Rommel, Silent War, Struggle for the Galactic Empire, Where There is Discord, Ottoman Sunset, etc.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. There is many more solitaire games that already exist and still more that are currently in production. This is somewhat surprising, given that such games theoretically should be easier to play on a computer. However, there is no substitute for the feel of the pieces and the view of the map provided in paper and chit games. In addition, the artificial intelligence in computer gaming is oftenlacking and not as challenging as a solitaire board game. This would be counter intuitive, but nonetheless, it is often very true.

Wargaming has changed dramatically over the years, from its roots in miniatures and board wargaming, to contemporary computerand computer assisted wargames; however, both miniature and boardwar-game’s maintain a healthy, if small, hobby market with lighter games being popular with many 'non-wargamers'. Having stated the aforementioned it should be mentioned that utilizing board games to solo wargame with is a nice convenient way to go if you don’t have the skills or time to field a miniature army towargame with.

When one attempts to solo wargame with a board game there are two options available. The first option is to log onto the Internet and hit the Board game Geek website. Here you will find reviews on various board games by avid players who wish to share their experiences playing and rating wargames they have played whether purchased or otherwise. From here you have the option of buying a new or used game to try out and play solo. It’s relatively easy to set up a particular campaign of interest as the game will have at the minimum the following: two or more opposing armies, a campaign board with map, board markers, a set

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of rules with instructions, and usually one of more dice in whichto roll for effect. Some of the games for purchase will be exclusively designed to play solo while other games are formattedfor 2 or more players. If you choose the later then you will needto devise a system in which to play the game solo and have randomization.Randomization

In order to achieve a solitaire game in which one can enjoy a fictitious player, or enemy army, the game needs to be randomly controlled by something other than you. Chance or event cards work relatively well as they add a fog of war or uncertainty while playing a campaign. Another way to achieve this is to devise a chart or table with actions pertaining to the era you are wargaming. Simply put, youwrite down actions with corresponding di roles to indicate an outcome on the battle field, I.E.; Gun Boats in “Big Wars”.

The rules mention gun boats and therefore adding a tremendous presence to the game however there are no supporting rules for movement or firing. In keeping with simplicity the author of this chapter devised a quick and simple firing table once a vessel is in position to fire (range 40” or less with 6 pound cannon) on an identified unit in range. Gun Boat may only fire once per turn.

Roll a 6 – Unit is destroyed by a direct hit.

Roll a 5 – Unit takes major casualties, out of action onbattlefield for 3 turns.

Roll a 4 – Unit retires for medical attention, lose 1 turn.

Roll a 3 – Unit may return fire but is pinned down for one turn.

Roll a 2 – Unit receives minor damage, continues to fight and return fire.

Roll a 1 – No effect.

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You can take this further by adopting a secondary table for weather and its effect on troop movement. Your gun range could be significantly reduced by the current weather conditions during the game turn. This might have been established prior to your game turn bythe roll of a di, or, it might have been pre-determined at the onset of the particular day in question on the battle field. The latter is totally up to you to decide. Another alternative to this, which requires a little more effort, is to come up with a mathematical meansof randomization. Your perfect ideal is to have a system to determine and make decisions from; a fictitious general who opposes your army, navy, or air force. The author of this chapterestablished a randomization table developed by the Soduko game ofnumbers. Solo Randomizer

This Randomizer is based loosely on the Sudoku game ideal. There are a total of 81 squares with 9 subsections. Each of the 81 squares will have a number assigned to it. The number is printed onto a counter or tile on one side only. This tile or counter will normally face down only to be revealed when one turns it over during a game turn.

Games Tiles to be supplied by solo gamer, chart found in back of book page XXX.

Tiles numbered 1 –9 each Tiles numbered 6 –9 each

Tiles numbered 2 –9 each Tiles numbered 7 –9 each

Tiles numbered 3 –9 each Tiles numbered 8 –9 each

Tiles numbered 4 –9 each Tiles numbered 9 –9 each

Tiles numbered 5 –9 each

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2 1 2 3

3

4

5 4 5 6

6

7

8 7 8 9

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Selection

1. The solo player puts all of the 81 tiles into a box, shakes them up, and draws 6 tiles out at a time.

2. Rows 2, 5, and 8 are filled first vertically with the exception of numbers underlined 1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, and 3, 6, 9. All tiles drawn must face down.

3. Then rows 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 are filled next both vertically and horizontally at random by the soloist to give72 squares filled in total. The characters numbered 1 to 9 in the table which are in bold font and underlined are not filled.

4. The remaining 9 tiles are discarded and left in the box.5. A roll of a 1d6 to start. Roll 1, 2, or 3 Red army attacks first.

Roll a 4, 5, or 6 and Blue army attacks first.6. Tiles are flipped over one at a time to determine an outcome

starting from the upper left quadrant in section 1 and moving to section 2 and on to section 9 inclusive.

7. Each tile has a number with the following outcome when flipped over:

1 attacker wins 2 attacker loses 3 Defender wins 4 Defender loses 5 Stalemate – live to fight another day! 6 Defender wins

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7 Defender loses 8 Attacker wins 9 Attacker losesThe key to the randomizer is it allows the gamer the option of

flipping a tile over instead of rolling a dice. Therein lays the advantage of the model. The ideal is to eliminate the need to roll dice to decide a quick outcome on the battlefield between two opposingarmies to speed up play. One other advantage to the model is that it can be used at the battalion, regiment, platoon, or squad level to minimize the need for a long drawn out fight taking up precious time to determine results from multiple dice roles if playing time is limited to the soloist.

The Campaign Map as a battle field

So far we talked about playing a game on a small piece of paper and then upsizing to a purchased board game. The next step in this affair is to play on a homemade campaign map of your choosing. There are three basic ways in which one can achieve a relatively inexpensiveway of making an effective playing area of which by your choosing willreflect a particular battle whether by land, sea, or air. The first option is to purchase a piece of 21.5`` X 28`` colored poster paper preferably green in color, and draw a detailed map with pencil, ink pens, and water based poster paints. Once drawn the poster paper may be glued or fastened with double sided tape to a piece of corroplast found at any do it yourself (DIY) store. Relators for sale by owner signs are another good source as well. A better choice is to spend a few more dollars and buy a piece of foam board at any craft store which measures roughly ``30 X 21`` in size. Pick a color in tan for air, light green for land, and blue for sea battles if possible.

From here the same process as before requiring the use of pencil,ink pens, and water based poster paints to draw a detailed map. Remember to include a compass to indicate where north is and a legend if possible. If not then the top of a map is always north. The following two examples where made by the author of this chapter utilizing poster paper fastened to corroplast salvaged from a re-cyclebin.

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This is a hand drawn map of the battle for Leipzig showing the town complete with terrain features such as; roads, rivers, tributaries, buildings, trees, bogs, hills, and a legend top right corner showing the different countries involved. The author utilized 6 mm risk board game figures painted up to wargame with on this particular map.

In this photo the author has a GrandArmy division defending the town of Leipzig. Each figure represents 1000 men and the one Calvary figure represents 500 of Napoleons finestChasseur a Cheval. Each cannon represents a battery of 12 pounders. Paper buildings are from Ian H. who is an avid wargamer from the U.K. The buildings are a free download from his website.

The second map below shows the WW2 battle campaign for Arnhem 44.Again a hand drawn map made in a smaller size of 12.75``X 20``, forease of storage. Map shows the town of Arnhem in orange next to themain bridge complete with railway lines and British and Polish dropzones. The 9th and 10th Panzer division’s emerging from the trees alongwith ``Army Group Model`` is shown to aid in a quick play format.

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When playing on the above map, the author painted and based 1/72``/20mm figures to play with utilizing a homemade rule system. Each armyconsisted of 20 figures to skirmish a battle complete with tanks andair support.

References for this Chapter

http://forhonourssake.blogspot.ca/#!/2012/04/play-test-hill-of-doves-game-9-and-on.html

http://forhonourssake.blogspot.ca/#!/2012/06/duffers-drift-game-9-5.html

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http://forhonourssake.blogspot.ca/#!/2012/06/duffers-drift-final-dreamdorp-game-9-6.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargaming

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitaire_board_wargame

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