A significant goal for my campaign is to create a system that does not allow me to have a perfect understanding of what will happen, when, and where during the course of a campaign turn. What I mean is that most all rule systems for miniature games, and a great many board games, allow the players to know all of the information in advance, and then add the element of chance through die rolls or card draws, along with not knowing exactly what your human opponent will do.

Since my campaign will be primarily a solitaire adventure, with perhaps some occasional human assistance with battles, I need a way for the campaign to keep me guessing. If I know that Nurglundia is going to declare war during the coming winter, I will be able to plan ahead. If I know what path(s) their invading army or armies will take, I can preposition my own forces, etc. This is not very challenging unless I increase their armies to be disproportionately larger than that which a human opponent would have.  

The same is true for tactical battles.

Knowing the combat rules, I would easily be able to maneuver my forces to the most advantageous positions, gaining as many positive die modifiers as I could, whilst reducing the number of negative modifiers. While I would not know the die roll result, I would certainly be able to minimize the risk to my own forces and maximize those of Nurglundia, in this example.

This is one reason why I believe the combat chits are an improvement over straight die rolls or even modified die rolls. I simply cannot predict which of the chits I will draw and drawing a greater or lesser number will change the results, but I will not know to the extent and therefore I cannot know the outcome in advance.

Some may feel this is not all that different from a die roll, but in my view, if I stack modifiers that benefit me, I have near surety that the outcome will be to my advantage. With the chits, I will be able to change the number that I draw, but not the result of each chit drawn. They will either help or hurt my units and more likely have a combination of both.

I would like for this as the strategic level, as well, but this post is more concerned with the tactical side, so I will continue along that vein.

To add further “friction,” as Clausewitz would call it, I am adding tactical cards to the combat mechanics. These are for both attacker and defender, with some have requirements for use, which allow me to create combat chits that apply outcomes based on the tactics in play, to add bonus saves, and to affect the number of chits drawn for that combat, among other things. Note, the actual card played is kept hidden until both players have made their choice, then the cards are revealed at the same time.

As I am still in the cogitation part of designing these, meaning I am thinking through the process before writing it all down, I have some tentative tactical cards in my mind.

Attacker Cards

• Feint (-2 combat chits)
• Large Attack (+2 DRM,+2 combat chits, requires more than one infantry brigade)
• Assault (+1 DRM, may take the position if wins combat, requires infantry brigade)
• Combined Arms (+2 DRM, must have 1 each from two of infantry, cavalry, artillery )
• Hasty Attack (-1 DRM, -1 chit)
• Holding Attack

Defender

• Aggressive Defense (+2 DRM, +2 chits, the attacker must retire if defender wins combat))
• Hold (+1 bonus save)
• Evade (-3 DRM, -1 chit, +2 bonus saves, must retire, cavalry and skirmishers only)
• Defend (+2 bonus saves)
• Counter-attack (+1 DRM, +1 chit)
• Withdraw (-2 chits, must retire after combat)

Note: The above bonuses and penalties for each card are but examples only, for the purposes of this post.

Also, I am going to add a timing element to each of these tactics cards, varying from 0 to 4, most likely, where each pair of attack and defense cards would “spend time” off the turn clock. The length of each turn clock would be determined by the time of day that turn represents, like the system in Blücher.

For example, say that a battle starts early in the morning, just before the sun rises. Given the time of the day, the turn clock is set to 8. The active player moves and when one combat is resolved, the attacker’s tactics card costs 3, but the defender’s card only costs 1, leaving four points on the clock. If the active player wishes to resolve another combat, he may do so, but decides to forego the opportunity. The non-active player may now choose to pass (and then become the active player) or to designate a combat of his own. He does choose to resolve a combat and so becomes the attacker. He chooses a tactics card that has a time value of 3, where the active player, who is the defender in this combat, choose a tactics card with the time value of 0. There is now 1 point left on the clock. The non-active player may choose another combat or pass, but as there is only 1 point left on the clock, he may choose only from those tactics cards with a time value of 1 or 0. As the defender will not have to face this limitation, He elects to pass. The active player also then chooses to pass, although he could play a tactics card with a time value of 0 or 1. Since both players have passed, the turn ends.

As you can see, with several tactics cards to choose from, each having a time value, there is a level of strategy at the heart of this tactical system.

Additional note:

After going through these rules again. I am going to have the minimum number of combat chits drawn equal to the time segment value of the attacker’s tactics card, with the maximum number drawn being the additional time segments of any tactics card played by the defender.

Since these rules are intended to meet various needs of players, my own use of battalion with hit boxes, required for my campaign, would not serve others. So, by my creating different versions of the organization rules, a greater number of folks will benefit.