Kriegsspeil is a game of Decisions. This is a great example of the types of things you run into from a real game. These are the types of things you don’t see in regular wargames but you see them all the time Kriegsspiel, as well as in real life!
Situation:
You are J Grant. The officer in charge of the last Brigade in this column. Your orders this morning from the Army commander were to march north to the objective (marked by the flag to the right) in an attempt to flank the enemy before a pending battle. The baggage train is following on behind you.
When you reach the junction at Nice Town, you notice that Grant’s Brigade is marching north! NOT to the objective, not on the route described in your orders. You notice that the rest of the column does indeed appear to be marching in the way you were ordered.
What do you do?
I see a few basic options here. First, you could just follow Grant’s Brigade. The problem with this is that you don’t have orders to go that direction.
Second, you could just ignore Grant, turn right and continue on to the objective as ordered but why is he doing this? Has the mission changed?
Kriegsspeil is a game of Decisions. This is a great example of the types of things you run into from a real game. These are the types of things you don’t see in regular wargames but you see them all the time Kriegsspiel, as well as in real life!
Situation: The enemy is somewhere on the lower / southern half of the map. They trace supply off the southern edge of the map along the main road that runs down the center.
Your side is on the offensive. The main effort will be to march down this main road, entering from the north to attack the enemy. Your side’s overall goal is to defeat the enemy army and drive them south and off the map.
Your command is small wing. It is made up of militia brigade and couple of light detachments. You’ve been marching south, down this road on the east side of the map since 7:00am. As you arrived at this crossing, a heavy fog settled into the area.
These are your orders: General, you will take your Pennsylvanians and two detachments down Rowan Hill Road and continue to where the Wissahickon empties into the Schuylkill river, and cross the Wissahickon there, to the mill, follow back up the East side of the Wissahickon and attack the British from the rear while we occupy their front. Use the detachments to expand your frontage when entering battle.
Decision: You continue to march north east along the Wissahickon as ordered. The fog has gotten very bad now. Visibility is down to only 10 paces. You have arrived at this point on the map. Suddenly, you hear the sounds of combat. It seems to be coming from the area circled on the map. There is a large volley of cannon fire in this area that seems to be firing north. After that a moderate exchange of musket fire.
What do you do now?
You’ve been ordered to attack the enemy’s rear. Where is that? South of the combat just heard? Arguably but you’ve also been ordered to “follow back up the east side of the river”.
With the dense fog, can you even successfully navigate further south to find the enemy’s rear before it’s too late? Sounds like the battle is already starting. If you continue north east along this road as ordered, you could reunite with your main army and commander. However, with the dense fog, will your approach be mistaken as the enemy! Will you cause a friendly fire incident?
Maybe they won’t fire on you but will divert troops away from the attack at the critical moment to investigate your approach. That could easily cause the attack to fail.
Should you sit and wait? Waste time at a critical moment while you send a messenger ahead to get confirmation from your commander? What if the enemy army is ahead along this road? What if your messenger gets captured and then the enemy is tipped off that you are there on their flank?
This is quite the conundrum. Whatever you do, you better do it quick. This battle is happening in real time. You have about 2 minutes to make your decision!
This is a fun little puzzle to sort out. It reminds me of Kriegsspiel.
Both sides play Kriegsspiel blind via an umpire. It is a lot like poker in some ways. What does the enemy know? What do they not know? What do we know about the enemy? What does their known action reveal about their motive and intent?
These are all the types of questions you constantly puzzle over while playing Kriegsspiel. It is exactly the type of thinking you need to solve this problem:
There is a secret prize hidden under one of these five objects. The teacher privately tells the girl what the correct shape is. The teacher privately tells the boy what the correct color is.
Next the teacher brings them both together. The first one to pick the correct object gets the prize.
Teacher: Do either of you know where the prize is?
Keeping the Allies in the dark at Austerlitz is critical for the French. Here are some tips to help you maximize this powerful weapon!
-1 Don’t rush all your troops to the front and blaze away! Be very mindful of which units you let the Allies see. Remember, once they see one unit from I Corps, they will know the entire Corps is there somewhere! If you’re going to commit one unit, blast them with the entire Corps at once.
-2 Delay!! The longer the Allies aren’t sure what you have the better for the French. The Allies start over a barrel. Look at it from their side. It is a terrible dilemma! They have to probe in force to determine if you really have the goods. If they haven’t been able to confirm that yet, they have to keep pushing their neck out further into your noose. That is exactly what you want! If you spring your trap too early, you will only catch their nose. We want their whole head! There are limits here. Don’t wait too long. You have to time to finish them off and win before nightfall.
-3 Double Bluff: Let’s look at this through the enemy’s eyes again. (A great habit to get into) Imagine we are pushing into the French line trying to ascertain their true strength. There are a couple of HQs lurking in the French rear. Who are they? What do they have? Do they actually have troops hidden in their reserve or are they just a bluff?
We get a breakthrough, we advance and are able to spot one of these HQs. Who is it?! Bernadotte. What is in his Reserve? Nothing!! Ah ha! The French are weak! Full steam ahead now right? WRONG!!!
Wait, what? Why? Because the other HQ we haven’t seen yet is Napoleon. What is he hiding in his reserve? Bernadotte’s I Corps!! Along with the Guard and Murat!! That’s right! Remember you can hide other forces in your reserve. Just because you’ve cleared 1 HQ, doesn’t necessarily mean that those troops aren’t at the battle. This is a great and very powerful tactic to use as the French.
Yeah, that’s a pretty nasty trick. What can the Allies do in response? Easy. Stick their neck out further into the noose. 🙂 I know. That’s not very comforting is it? A lot of this comes down to ‘feel’. You can’t go off of just one piece of intell. You have to look at the sum of all the pieces and what kind of picture are they painting.
You’ve got to push the French and push them hard. A couple of light attacks isn’t good enough. That doesn’t reveal anything. You have to press them hard enough to force them to use a reserve force if they’ve got one. If they are at the breaking point and they still don’t do anything, then you go all in for the kill.
Be careful as you get close to this point because this is when a good French player will drop the hammer on you. Watch his moves carefully. As you got close to this breaking point, did the French suddenly move a couple of reserve HQs that had been sitting idle? That could be an indication that they are getting ready to strike.
-On the other hand, this could also be another good French Double Bluff move. =)
I remember when I first started playing Pub Battles. I really liked the system. Very immersive. Amazing narrative generation! I could just imagine myself on the
field. I could imagine the events
unfolding and the history books writing about how this battle went down.
I liked how the system was chaotic. How it mirrored the random events that happen
in war. The types of things you read
about in books. I like how this game
takes away the God like powers most game systems give you. It limits you to the types of decisions that
real army / corps commanders have to make.
Where should we form a line? How
hard should we try to hold it? Should we
risk more losses here? Where do we fall
back to? Should we commit reserves now? How should we move to keep our forces hidden
from the enemy? How close is the enemy
to the breaking point? Should we rush up
reserves to help support this defense or should we just fall back here and give
up ground?
These are real decisions, that real commanders faced in
battles like these. Fantastic but how do
I play better? What do I learn from all this? How can I win? It almost feels like I’m just a spectator
watching the battle unfold. Great story
narrative but how can I control the events and get the outcome I want? At first I worried that this system was too
random. Like the game is running me!
Guess what? That is a
lot like real command also! Real life
events are very powerful. They can and
will sweep you away. Imagine being in
the command tent. Urgent reports
arriving by dispatch couriers. How fast
can you read it, make a decision and write a new order to address the
problem? Should you? Imagine another report arriving that
contradicts that first report, right after you wrote and sent new orders to
deal with it. Now what?
It is very easy to get distracted by putting out crisis fires of the moment. Jumping from one knee jerk reaction to the next. Frantically chasing your tail until, boom, the battle is over. Many officers do exactly that. It is very easy to do.
In an ocean of chaos and random drama, what could anybody do
to influence the outcome? People like
Patton, Rommel, Hannibal, Bonaparte and Alexander could. Pub Battles rules are deceptively simple. In
many ways it is one of the most complex and realistic simulations of war. Complex in: how do you play the darned thing?!
Many things we can’t control, as it should be. Many things are out of our hands but what CAN
we do? Here are some tips to help
improve your performance in Pub Battles:
-1 Try to stay focused on the big picture. Yes, there are 10 little emergencies every turn. What else is new? Set those aside for a moment. What are your strategic goals for this battle? Where do you want to be? What is the enemy trying to do? How can you best defeat the enemies plan? Are you in a position to do that? Where do your forces need to be to accomplish that? How best to get them there? Considering the chaotic and random nature of the movement, is that a realistic goal to accomplish? What kind of timing sequence needs to happen in order for that to work? Remember the KISS principle. It is real easy in war for things to go wrong, therefore: Keep It Simple Stupid. Like Patton used to say: “A good plan now is better than the best plan tomorrow.”
-2 What is the overall state of the enemy’s army? Mostly fresh or mostly spent? How does that compare to your army? How many casualties have you suffered compared to the enemy?
-3 What is the reserve capacity of the enemy compared to you? By reserve capacity I mean how many of your forces are already committed? How many are still fresh and ready to be committed to a fight? This leads us to our final question:
-4 When and where is the right time to strike? This is probably the biggest and most important thing you CAN control in Pub Battles. Let the enemy attack. Let the battle unfold. Fight the little fights but stay focused on this big picture. Wait until the enemy has already committed their reserves. Wait until the enemy is already mostly spent. Where are they weakest? Where are they most vulnerable?
As the battle starts and progresses, your mind should always
be focused on these elements. Get your
fresh reserve in place, ready to strike at the weakest point in the enemy
line. Watch and wait for the right time
to attack. Can you get a double chit
pull move in the sequence to accelerate the events? -or at least the best chance at a double
move?
By a double move here
I’m referring to when your Corps moves last this turn but moves first next
turn. With all the Corps running around
doing different things at the same time, this can get confusing. You have to be able to look at these locally,
on an individual basis. For example, let’s
say we are at Gettysburg near the end of Day 1.
Ewell’s Rebel Corps is battling Howards Federal Corps for Culp’s
Hill. If Ewell can move after Howard on
turn 6 but moves before Howard on turn 7, in effect he has gotten a ‘double
move’ advantage over Howard.
This is how Napoleon won at Austerlitz. He concealed his true force. He concealed his true intent. He watched the enemy. He was patient. He looked for the right time and place. THEN he struck. That is exactly what you need to win in Pub Battles.
Mike Strand said it best: “It is easy to master the rules of Pub Battles. Those are easy. The secret is the mastery of command. The right or wrong move is not obvious. There are many distractions. It requires a gut feeling. A sense of timing; and that only comes from experience.”
THAT is how you win in Pub Battles. It’s not about piling x number of combat
factors into hex y by turn z. It’s about
timing and real world command skills.
All Pub Battles are naturally great for solitaire play. Germantown works exceptionally well! The British start off on the map. They are on defense. The Colonials enter anywhere along the north map edge. What makes this interesting is that there are 6 different roads that span all across this edge. There are also 5 different Colonial HQs with Reserve Cards.
If you’re not familiar with Pub Battles, the HQs mark the
command’s position on the map but the forces are actually held off map, hidden
from view behind these little screens.
You place your hidden troops on the map as the enemy can spot your HQs
but there is a dense fog at Germantown.
The very short visibility range means your troops remain hidden almost
until they attack.
The army sizes of the opposing forces are nearly identical. The British have a few less blocks but they make up for this in better quality. So how can the Colonials attack into 1:1 odds and still have a chance of winning this battle somehow? The British are attacked from 5 different directions at once. The large map spans a wide area. They can’t be everywhere!
Seven of the Colonial infantry blocks are full strength, regulars (like 3 SPs). Two are weak militia units (like 2 SPs). Three are small (1 SP) detachments. The problem for the British player is: which Colonial HQs are the main threat? The command could be 3 full regular infantry with artillery and baggage train logistical support for a sustained fight, OR it could just be 1 Militia. –or maybe just 1 or 2 Detachments, or any combination of the above. The British have no idea until they actually engage these forces and start fighting.
You can probably see where this is going. For an awesome solitaire game, all you have to do is setup and play as the British. Spread the Colonial HQs out and enter normally. Have them come in on different roads and march straight towards the British to attack. What is on their Reserve Cards? You have no idea!
Upon contact with a Colonial HQ, randomly determine what
blocks it has in Reserve. There ya
go. Virtually any combination would have
been a good viable strategy in this battle.
As the British player, you’ll have to intercept the Colonials to figure
out what they have and where. After
that, you’ll have to scramble to adjust your forces to meet the primary threat
before it is too late.
This is very challenging, realistic and great fun!!
Give it a try and let us know how it goes in the comments
below.
We have several new videos out on Pub Battles, if you haven’t seen them yet. We’ve been very hesitant to do any because making good videos is very hard. Most wargame videos are like watching paint dry!
We’ve tried to keep most of these really short and to the point. Let us know how we did and if you want to see more. Watch our Youtube channel to see more coming out.
If you’re new to Pub Battles, here are some rules tutorials to get you up and running quickly. They can also be good to confirm you’re doing things right.
How do you win the game in Pub Battles? I love the new Victory Conditions. They are much more in line with real military objectives. They sound real and feel real. Games can’t always do this but I love it when they can describe things in real world terms.
For example, how do you win?
Be the first player to reach 20 points.
OR
Defeat the enemy army.
Ok, the second victory condition here sounds much better but what does that mean in game terms? As a gamer, this feels a little fuzzy. How do we do that exactly?
I got this question via email today:
What are the concrete victory conditions for Marengo? Is it to destroy the opponents army, or exit off the boards…?
Let’s take a look at the rules. What is the Objective for the Scenario?
Both sides are running out of time. The French are sitting on the Austrian supply line! The Austrians MUST breakout and reestablish a supply line to the north or east. The French are also in a very tenuous and overextended position. They must defeat the Austrian army to end this campaign.
Ok, so let’s break this down. The Austrians MUST breakout. They can’t just carefully attack and then
fall back if things start going bad. An
Austrian controlled retreat back to base at Alexandrie is a fail: They lose.
The Austrians can win by marching out of Alexandrie and off the board along their marked north / east supply lines. I’m pretty sure the French are going to have a lot to say about that. So the Austrians are going to have to fight their way through the French army to get to those supply lines.
Note: The Austrian Supply Lines are the Red Supply circles on the top and right.
These are the Victory Conditions for the Scenario. The standard Victory Conditions from the
basic rules are also in play. So if the
Austrians are ‘routed’ (suffer 50% losses) while trying to breakout, they
lose. They also lose if the French can ‘break’
them (sack an Austrian baggage train) while trying to breakout to the north
east.
What about a ‘forced back’ result? The Austrians deploy for battle, fight the French, clear a supply line, then pack up their trains and march safely off a supply line while keeping their casualties below 50%. That sounds pretty good to me. I’d call that a breakout: Austrian Victory.
Of course this would all be much more simple, if the
Austrians just march out there and destroy the French. If they can ‘rout’ or ‘break’ the French
army, then it is pretty easy to establish your supply line again right? Heck, you don’t even need to at that
point. You just defeated Napoleon. The campaign is over!
So what is the answer to our email question? Is the objective to exit off the board or destroy the enemy? In short, it is both. All of the above.
See how this is much more in line with real world, military terms? How do you win? It’s complicated. –but it makes sense. Much better than something like: be the first player to get 20 points.
We like to get gamers thinking like real officers, not gamers. The real world is messy and complicated. Yes, you’re gonna have to use your brain and think about things. It’s not going to be that simple but that’s good! That’s the best kind of learning and training you can do.
I’ve heard several wargamers say that Block games can’t be played solitaire. I strongly disagree. In many ways, I think they are easier to play solitaire. There are many advantages. Block games do present a few challenges for solitaire play. Here are some tips to help you along!
First of all, what’s the big deal? What is so different about block games? The key difference is that the unit types and strengths are usually hidden. Something akin to Stratego.
Most of the time, you can see only your forces. Enemy forces remain hidden. -Euro Front from Columbia Games
East Front -Columbia Games
Doesn’t that make it impossible to play solitaire? I KNOW what the enemy has and where. I just saw it! I KNOW what that piece is.
True, true but we are already used to that with solitaire
play right? We KNOW what the enemy plan
is. We KNOW what they will be trying to
do over the next few turns. We already
have methods to work around this right?
Pretend you don’t know. Play AS
IF you didn’t know. Imagine that you
were the enemy and didn’t know what was coming.
What would you do then? Guess
what? This still works exactly the same
with blocks!
Spin the Board
In fact, I’d argue it is even easier to play solitaire with blocks. In most games you can see all the pieces all the time. You know exactly where all forces are: friendly and enemy.
British point of view at Brandywine
Walk over to the other side of the table and look at the board again. The change of perspective makes it easier for me to forget what the other side was doing. Most of the time, I forget what exactly was there. It just looks like a sea of hidden blocks now.
View of the very same British from the Colonial perspective. Remember what each of those red blocks were? What if there is more hidden in reserve?
On occasion, I do actually remember some of the blocks. If you do, no big deal. Pretend you don’t. Analyze the situation as an unknown. If you were the enemy and didn’t know what was going on, what would you think? What would you know? Why? How could you know that? Guess what? If this is the only thing you know right now, what would be your best course of action? This is GREAT training for how you should be thinking and analyzing all the time anyways!!
Let’s look at some examples:
Brandywine
Ok, now here comes the British flank attack!
Fine but as the Colonial player, we still don’t know where the main threat is. What kind of troops are in this flanking attack by the British? Just a bunch of light troops to distract us from the main force to our front?
Note: there is nothing held in reserve on the cards but the Colonials can’t see that.
Or is this the real deal, with all the heavy hitting elite units backed up by a strong reserve.
The HQs (flag cubes) can hide pieces at their location on these cards. Here they are backed up by artillery, elite & regular troops and baggage. Note the units on the far left are full strength cavalry and Hessians, not just a light screen of detachments. This is a huge threat to the Colonials!
What would you do here as the Colonials? If you’re not sure this is a feint, you kind of have to respond as if it were a real attack right?
Gettysburg
It is the end of day 1 at Gettysburg. The Confederates have been driving hard all day. The Federals are paper thin.
The Feds have their HQs up behind their front line in support but there is no one left in reserve. What is on the field is all there really is but the Confederates don’t know that!
Empty reserve. The blank block over on the left is a 1 step detachment screen. That block behind the front line is the Baggage Train. If the enemy hits that, it’s game over!
Let’s take a look at this from the Confederate perspective. IF we knew that’s all there was, we’d launch one final push to knock them out. –But what if we didn’t know? Hmmmm….
Confederate perspective. Looks good but is it really?
The Rebs have taken lots of losses today too. What if they attack, and push hard to fight through a possible 2nd Federal line? It would be very likely that they lose 3-4 blocks. (because they are already spent and fighting up a hill into difficult terrain.) That would devastate their ability as the Confederates to fight into a second day.
Would you be willing to gamble the entire battle, entire war on this one desperate attack? Would the Rebs have any indication of the strength of the Federal reserve now? How many units have they seen today? How many losses did they inflict? How many pieces are they likely to have left? How many Federal pieces have they spotted earlier in the day that are currently unaccounted for? Have the Feds been maneuvering throughout the day in such a way as to keep their forces hidden from the enemy? What does that look like? What things give away your strength and intent?
Alternatively, the Federal forces could have a real, fresh reserve. Wadsworth (an elite unit) is supporting Robinson. Barlow could easily move to back up Schuz on the right.
When you are thinking and playing like this, you are playing Kriegsspiel. This is REAL wargaming. The difference between god like knowledge of everything and playing as if it were real.
Train as if it were real!!
That is the very best training there is. The more you put in, the more you get out. This can still be very effective, even solitaire. In some ways, it’s even better.
As a new wargamer in a small town, solitaire play is about your only option. Wargamers are far and few between. Many times that is our only option. Unfortunately, wargamers are often forced to become experts at solitaire play. Is this worthwhile? Is it good to do? Does it teach you bad habits?
“What are you doing?”, my aunt asked. “Oh, just playing a new game I got.”, I responded. “Who are you playing with?” she asked. “Nobody. I’m just going through it on my own.” I said. She burst out laughing so hard that she almost fell down.
She made a few silly jokes like, “How do you know when you’ve beaten yourself?” and “Do you get mad at yourself when you lose?” Interspersed with generous rounds of continued hysterics. She was mostly having fun but she really did not understand how playing a game by yourself could be possible at all.
This can be a huge stumbling block for new players trying to
start in the hobby. In addition to
learning a new hobby and game system, most likely they will have to figure out
how to play without an opponent.
Wargames don’t come with instructions on solitaire play. It can be difficult for new players to figure out but I’ve even noticed that veteran wargamers sometimes struggle with this. I’ve heard wargamers often declare games as unplayable for solitaire; the very games that I find fascinating in solitaire play.
My aunt’s question was valid. How is it even possible to play a game
without an opponent? Here are some tips
to help you get started if you are new.
Veteran wargamers might also find a few new insights they haven’t
thought of before as well.
Goal
The main difference I notice at first is the primary
goal. WHY are you playing? In regular games, you play to win! If you are playing both sides, that doesn’t
work. What does that even mean? For solitaire play, we need a new goal.
Here is the key
difference: The goal is not to win.
The goal is to learn.
This focus changes our entire perspective on the game. We don’t care anymore who wins. This frees are mind to really learn. Learn things you might not otherwise. Learn the rules of the game better but also
lessons on tactics, strategy, history and leadership.
Play both sides to the best of your ability.
Actually, (yes, I’m contradicting myself here) we do care who wins. We want both sides to win. When you make a move for a side:
make the best move possible, for that side, given the current situation.
Defense: Ready for Anything
Usually there is a weaker, defending side and a stronger offensive
side. I find that it works well to set
the defense up first. What will the
offense do? I have no idea. I haven’t even started to think about that
yet. How should you set up the
defense? Where is the enemy most likely
to attack? Where are you weak and
vulnerable? What key areas MUST be
held? When I set up the defense, I try
to set them up for maximum flexibility.
Be prepared for ANYTHING. This
usually means a light setup along the front with a strong, mobile reserve force
able to respond where needed.
Example:
If I knew the British were going to launch a frontal attack across the river, I would deploy the Colonials like this at Brandywine.
If I knew that Cornwallis was going to be flanking me on the right, I would set the Colonials up like this.
Not knowing anything, I would setup more like this. The Colonials are lightly covering both flanks and main river crossings with a strong central reserve. From this position, they can delay the main attack and respond with their reserve, once they know where it is.
Forgetting Break
Once the defense is setup, it is a good time to take a
little break. Go to another room. Have a snack.
Catch up on emails, texts, posts, etc.
Forget about all that. Set it all
aside.
Offensive Plan
Next I like to start thinking about an overall offensive
plan. Where will we strike? What do we want to accomplish? How will we defeat the defender? Reading some historical accounts can be a
great source of inspiration. Often you
will hear an armchair historian claim that this particular moment or decision
was the key to the entire campaign / battle.
It was a huge mistake and resulted in defeat. If only this general had done this
instead.
Interesting. Is it true? This is an aspect of our hobby that I find most fascinating. Wargames give us a chance to actually test and try these theories out!
Example: If only Hitler had pushed a little harder, he could have destroyed the BEF at Dunkirk. Germany would have won the war right then! There is no way Britain could have continued to resist. They would have been forced to negotiate surrender. Really?
Let’s find out! Let’s
play a good strategic wargame on WWII.
Set it up starting in summer of 1940.
What do the Germans do?
Everything they can to ensure the destruction of the BEF. What happens?
Can they easily invade and conquer the British Isles now? Exactly how would you conduct a Sea Lion invasion? Fascinating to see how this could play out.
How does the defender setup?
What does the defender do? This
is a critical part of solitaire play.
Also why it is best to set the defender up first, before you have an
offensive plan. Remember, you’re not
playing to win. You are playing to
learn. Set the defender up as they would
have historically. Once the game begins,
try to play the Allied side as they would have moved historically. AS IF they didn’t know what the German plan
was.
While playing, you do know what the Germans are up to. You have to set all that aside. Pretend you don’t know. Obviously, if you set up and play the Allies
with the intent of saving the BEF being the first priority, then you will
right? Set the BEF up in Brest and
immediately move them back to Blighty on turn one. There.
Mission accomplished. What is the
point of that? What have you learned?
Actually, there is an interesting lesson here too. It reminds me of Sun Tzu. The best plan is one designed to defeat the enemy’s plan. The problem is, we usually don’t know what the enemy plan is. We have to try to figure that out on the fly.
Play the defense according to what is best for them. Set them up AS IF they didn’t know what was coming. Play them AS IF they didn’t know what the enemy was going to do next. IF they didn’t know, what is their best move? What would they most likely do? Don’t jump the gun.
Here is another key question: When would they know? At some point, the British had an ‘Oh #$@*!’ realization that the BEF was in trouble. How are we going to get them out of there?! When would that moment happen? What would trigger that realization? What would the Allies do then to save the BEF?
Example:
It is turn 1 at Brandywine.
Wouldn’t you know it, Washington gets picked to move first.
He is in command of the central reserve. What should he do? The British haven’t moved yet. Since we are running both sides, we DO know that Cornwallis is planning to flank on the Colonial left. Great but Washington doesn’t know that yet. We can’t rush Washington over to his left now. The Colonials, at this time, have no idea where Cornwallis will strike. What does Washington know? When will he know it?
The best choice here is for Washington to delay his move. With a little luck, this could result in Cornwallis moving first, which would allow Washington to respond this turn. If Washington is forced to move first, he should simply pass. At this point, he would have no intell to act on.
If Cornwallis is picked to move next, he will also attempt to delay his move. Why? Because he wants to keep his intent hidden for as long as possible. Ideally, the British want the Colonials to waste their first turn passing. If the British can move first on turn 2, they will in effect get a double move before the Colonials can even do anything. That could be a devastating blow!
Play the offense according to your pre determined plan. I generally won’t change the offensive plan unless it goes terribly wrong. If it does, it might be time to pull the plug and start a new game. Sometimes not though. This can be an interesting situation too. It happens in real life. The plan failed. At what point do you realize this? At what point do you admit defeat? What is plan B? What can you do now? Given this, is there another way to win?
Wrestling with questions like these is not only great training, it is very rewarding and great fun!
This goes back to our earlier questions: Is solitaire play a waste of time? Detrimental to understanding military science and command?
No! We find it extremely useful. Even if you were constantly surrounded by lots of eager wargame players, I would still recommend playing solitaire once in awhile.
There are many things you can learn more quickly and deeply
by playing solitaire. It will make you a
better player. It will make you a better
leader / commander. Solitaire play
trains you to think from both sides.
This is a critical command skill.
It is easy to see through our own eyes.
How does the enemy see us? What
do they know? What don’t they know? If we move here, how will that look to the
enemy? When will they realize what we
are up to? What is the enemy’s
intent? How can we conceal our own
intent?
Solitaire play teaches you to see through the enemy’s eyes. This is a real world training benefit that is
priceless. Some of the best training you
can ever do.
–Even though silly aunts may not be able to stop laughing.
