”I have been wargaming for thirty years and can safely say this is my top wargame system. There is a place for miniatures, hex games etc, but If I have to pick one, this is it. Fairly simply to play, yet feels like the most realistic experience of being a General during a battle. I spent 20 years as an Army officer and this is the only game that felt more like a real wargame vs. fun wargame. Coupled with the new Brigade pieces and quality of the components, this is the ultimate scotch and cigar game for me. Hurry up and get the Bull Run brigade blocks made!”
What are all the small or thin slope lines on the Antietam map? Are these hills or not?
–I wouldn’t call Cemetery Hill a ‘hill’ at all.
Those were on the historical base maps we used as a reference. We decided to include them on ours as well.
I’ve walked this battlefield. Everything from Antietam creek to the west is all up hill. The whole thing slopes up from there.
We almost considered a rule that says that if you are attacking west, it is up hill. Another approach would be to count the small slope lines. That is basically what they are trying to show: that everything west is uphill. It is a minor rise though.
So what is the official answer for the game? We ignore them. We only count the big hill slopes. We included the small ones for historical reference, so players could house rule them. I’d recommend just using the big ones.
This is consistent with Kriegsspiel. Slopes lower than 5 degrees don’t have any impact.
By that measure, Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg is also not a ‘Hill’. I’ve walked that battlefield too. I’ve walked and jogged the route of Pickett’s charge to the high water mark. I was shocked at how flat it all was. I wouldn’t call it a ‘hill’ at all. It’s nothing like the Round Tops or Culp’s Hill. Look at the famous painting: Cyclorama of Pickett’s Charge:
Yep, looks pretty much like that. Pretty flat, huh?
From a strict game modeling perspective, I would count Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg as clear terrain. That would be most accurate. We almost decided to go this route. Why didn’t we? Marketing and consumer’s expectations.
It is counted as a ‘Hill’ in almost every other game on Gettysburg. Gamers expect to see it. They look for it. Fight over it. Where is Cemetery Hill on the map? What?! It’s not on here?! It’s called a ‘Hill’, right? You expect to see it that way on the map. Imagine the howls of protest from trolls and critics: “They actually made a Gettysburg game with no Cemetery Hill on it.”
Well, it is easy to remedy. Just house rule it. Play the battle ignoring that hill. What happens then? It would be an interesting play and see how it impacts the game.
How do we play it? As shown and written in the rules. We do count it as a hill. That’s our official answer.
With the release of the new 4.0 rules, we made a few tweaks to the combat results. A number of good improvements to the game here but what if you have the old dice? No, this isn’t a scam to make everybody buy all new dice again. No worries. =)
If you have old Pub Battles Dice and want to update to the new Musket Battles design, just let us know and we’ll send then out to you for FREE.
All we ask is that you wait until you order something new. That makes it easy for us to just include them with your current order.
–Otherwise it will turn into an insane mess of us trying to send out thousands all at once by hand with thousands of more complicated emails to sort through.
How to get the new dice stickers?
Next time you order something from us, put a little note for us when you checkout. Tell us the number and types of dice you need new stickers for.
How to replace them?
Soak your old dice in a bowl of hot water for an hour. Replace the water with fresh, hot water to warm them back up for about 5 min. Then the old stickers should easily peel off. Dry and rub off any remaining residue with a dry towel, then you are good to go!
Here are the Order Sheets for all the battles in the Waterloo campaign. You can download them for FREE here. These are especially critical for hidden marching on the 17th.
All 4 maps are out now for the Waterloo campaign! We also have a new updated version of the Waterloo Scenario. These are completely revamped and include the extra rules you need to play a continuous running campaign on all 4 maps at once. You can download a copy here for FREE.
I came across this the other day. After playing Pub Battles Germantown, it is very interesting to read. You can find the full article here.
The troops to be ready to march this evening at six O’Clock.
The divisions of Sullivan & Wayne to form the right wing and attack the enemy’s left; they are to march down Monatany road—The divisions of Green & Stephen to form the left wing and attack the enemy’s right; they are to march down the Skippack road. General Conway to march in front of the troops that compose the right wing and file of to attack the enemy’s left flank. General McDougall to march in front of the troops that compose the left wing and file off to attack the enemy’s right flank.
General Nash & General Maxwell’s brigade[s] form the corps de reserve and to be commanded by Major General Lord Stirling. The Corps De reserve to pass down the Skippack road.
General Armstrong to pass down the ridge road [&] pass by Leverings tavern & take guides to cross the Wessahiecon creek up the head of John Vandeering’s mill-dam so as to fall above Joseph Warners new house.
Smallwood and Forman to pass down the road by a mill formerly Danl Morris’ and Jacob Edges mill into the White marsh road at the Sandy run: thence to white marsh Church, where take the left-hand road, which leads to Jenkin’s tavern on the old york road, below Armitages, beyond the seven mile stone half a mile from which [a road] turns off short to the right hand, fenced on both sides, which leads through the enemy’s incampment to German town market house.
General McDougall to attack the right of the enemy in flank. General Smallwood & forman to attack the right wing in flank & rear. General Conway to attack the enemy’s left flank & General Armstrong to attack their left wing in flank & rear.
The militia who are to act on the flanks not to have cannon.
Packs & blankets to be left, the men are to carry their provisions in their Haversacks, or any other manner least inconvenient.
All the pioneers of each division who are fit to march are to move in front of their respective divisions, with all the axes they can muster.
Pickets on the left of Vanderin’s mill to be taken off by Armstrong: one at Allen’s house on Mount-Airey by Sullivan—One at Lucans Mill by Greene.
Each Column to make their disposition so as to attack the pickets in their respective routs, precisely at five OClock, with charged bayonets and without firing, and the columns to move on to the attack as soon as possible.
The Columns to endeavour to get within two miles of the enemy’s pickets on their respective routs by two OClock and there halt ’till four and make the disposition for attacking the pickets at the time above mentioned.
The Columns of Cont: troops & militia to communicate with each other from time to time by light horse.
Proper flanking parties to be kept out from each Column.
I am designing the Pub Battles Borodino game. Having researched and prepared the preliminary order of battle, and then prepared all of the blocks I needed to begin working on the deployment of the Russian army, I made an interesting discovery.
As you may be aware, Pub Battles uses actual period maps of the battlefieldsas the game map. In the case of Borodino, we are using a French map which,I believe,is from the Atlas prepared to accompany the History du Consulat et de L’Empirepar,Volume 14 of which covers the battle of Borodino (published in Paris in 1856) by M. Adolphe Thiers.
As I was examiningthe source material and deploying the units on the period map, I was somewhat amazed (though in retrospect, I shouldn’t have been) by what the “game” was telling me. The period map shows that the area is fairly heavily wooded and is quite hilly and covered with dry streambeds (and consequently, stream banks). In some of the ‘hex and counter’ wargames covering the Battle of Borodino, the maps are fairly devoid of terrain, with many clear terrain hexes, and much of the wooded areas depicted on Adolphe Thiers’ period map missing.
While I was placing units on the map, it became apparent that in 1812, Kutuzov was using the terrain to his best advantage. Of course, his main line of defense is behind the Kalocza (also referred to as the Kalochka and other variants of the Russian spelling), which is a tributary of the Moskva River. However, there is an area in the center of the Russian line, where Kutuzov deployed a couple of Army Corps in a line perpendicular to the main line. Why there? Well, the period map answers the question; behind the small stream running south is an embankment, and the troops placed there are on the high ground just behind and overlooking the stream. When you look at the blank period map, you can’t help but notice the plateau (the village of Semenoffskoie is in the center of that “line” running north/south). So, Kutuzov deployed Russian units there in a sort of natural reverse “fishhook” for those familiar with the battle of Gettysburg. This position would allow the Russian troops deployed there to fire on the approaching French while they crossed the stream and climbed the embankments. Later, when Kutuzov realized that Napoleon was approaching his left flank and was not planning on an assault over the Kalocza, Kutuzov then extended his line to the left and had the Shevardino redoubt built and added to the Russian position on the extreme left; however, he left the two corps guarding the stream on the high ground in place.
Then, as I was working out the deployment of the Guard corps, I saw “The Old Fox” Kutuzov, using his cunning to deploy the guard in a wooded ravine, where they would be virtually undetectable by the French until they were moved out of reserve.
Kutuzov also deployed Karpov’s Cossacks where they would be hidden in the wooded terrain near Outitsa (also known as Utitsa). From what I have been able to learn, Tuchkov’s III corps was also deployed hidden ina wooded area not too far from Utitsa and the ‘Old Moscow Road.’(Determining the deployment of the III Corps on September 5th is a tricky undertaking). Kutuzov wrote to the Tsar about the trap he had laid with III Corps, which was hidden on the left flank, and which was to be sprung when and if Napoleon tried to outflank him on the left. Unfortunately for Kutuzov, another Russian commander, unaware of the ruse, repositioned III Corps closer to Outitsa and on open ground, without Kutuzov’s knowledge.
All of these things become readily apparent if you take the time to study the period map and look at how the Russian Army deployed for battle. Having been a wargamer for over 50 years now, I can tell you that often such things are not so apparent when looking at many other wargames. It seems that often, when maps are abstracted and “translated” onto a hex grid, much is lost in the translation from the source map to the game map. Because Pub Battles gives you the period map as the game map, no such abstraction takes place; you have the original source right there in front of you.
I’m about half way through Alessandro Barbero’s book “The Battle: A New History of Waterloo.” It is a very readable book that is hard to put down. I can’t wait to play Waterloo again, the Pub Battles coverage is very accurate, and it will be fun playing it again with Napoleon’s plan. His plan was, as always, let’s attack and be prepared to strike wherever opportunity presents itself. He had no idea of Wellington’s defenses because they were all on reverse slopes. He did have the Grand Battery deploy in the center and shelled there, expecting a breakthrough, which d’Erlon’s Corps could exploit. Although Reille had the bigger Corps at the start of the campaign, after Ligny it was smaller than d’Erlon’s fresh I corps. If one was going to be a purist, a block would be switched from II Corps to I Corps, but that’s a small matter.
The cool thing about Pub Battles is that you can read the history of a battle and try out the General’s plans and such. With most detailed combat focused games you get too buried in the minutia to really try out the big picture plans. Plus, with most games it takes many hours of play to get through a battle. Typically, a quicker playing game sacrifices authenticity; Pub Battles focuses on real command concerns, and delivers the goods.
