Guest Contributor Issue - Jean-Marc's 18th Century Fort

Always good value; I was delighted to hear from Jean-Marc last weekend. Apart from being an invaluable and knowledgeable friend (he is, among other things, a noted author and Professor of History at the University of Tours), Jean-Marc is also my link to the obscure world of Le Kriegspiel, an early hex-based French miniatures game (not the German map-based game much studied by the Prussian Officer Corps and others). You may have seen photos of some of his Napoleonic 20mm flats here in the past.

Our exchange of emails this week was mostly about sources for the original rules of the game, which might be a topic for another post sometime, but J-M was also kind enough to send me some photos from his archives of what seems (thus far, at least) to be an unfinished project!

A brief quote from Jean-Marc himself: 

[I made] a good starfort for 18C games with 6mm Heroics and Ros. I have the troops (see attached pics, on one you'll see the Royal Ecossais regt), the guns for battles, but, alas, not the rest: siege guns, gabions etc. And no rules that I can remember any line!

Fantastic stuff, Jean-Marc - many thanks for sending these - I am impressed and fascinated by your work. 6mm scale sieges seems a very appealing idea; I am not sure where you might get siege artillery in this scale (maybe someone got into this in the interim?), but it looks brilliant.

 

Siege Notes: (5) Leaguer - Siege Turns – [1] Housekeeping

Before I get to the Siege Turn rules, it would be useful to have a quick reprise of some of the key indicators and systems that run through the game.

Resolve 

Resolve is a biggie; the armies each start with a Resolve Pts total which gradually runs down. For every hit suffered (and hits are recorded by adding “loss counters” to the units), Resolve is reduced by 1. Resolve may also be impacted by Event Cards, by the loss of senior personnel, by the creation of breaches in the walls, and for the Garrison it is also altered to reflect changes in Local Support (LS), which in practical terms reflects the morale of the civilian population. It’s worth mentioning that, though hits erode the Resolve score, the process of rallying away those hits does not add points back onto Resolve. Hits will be discussed in detail in the Artillery and Combat phases.

Resolve is a measure of the commitment to carry on fighting, which is why there is no overt morale system in the Siege Turns. Units may be forced to retire, even to a designated Safe Place, but they do not rout from the field in the familiar manner of miniatures wargames. There is nowhere to go; units will stay on the field if not eliminated, even if they are reduced to a state where they can no longer achieve very much.

Victory Conditions

Either army may choose to give up at any time for their own reasons, especially if they consider their position hopeless. More formally, the game should end as soon as Victory Conditions are met. These can be:

·      Some specific requirement of the scenario note is fulfilled (these may be time-related, or may refer to specific objectives – “capture of the citadel of Santa Maria”, “substantial enemy penetration of the fortress walls”, etc).

·      Either army runs out of Resolve or gunpowder.

·      The Garrison runs out of Food.

·      Local Support for the Garrison drops below -3 (at which point the citizens will open the gates…).

The Besiegers may abandon the siege at any stage, or they may offer the Garrison terms of surrender at any stage. There is no set Diplomacy section in the rules. The Garrison may also ask for terms at any stage. Whether terms are accepted is up to the players. Negotiations may be undertaken. Beyond any guidelines in the scenario, the Commanders should respect the importance of their future reputation – this is a game for gentlemen!

The Housekeeping Rules

Let’s step through the Housekeeping Phase of the Siege Turn, which differs a little, depending which side’s turn it is; in an attempt to set this out consistently, keeping the sections in order and avoiding too much jumping about, items which apply to both sides will be in black text, things which only happen if it is the Besiegers’ turn will be in red, and things which only apply during the Garrison’s turn will be in blue.

(a) Odd Jobs

[Besiegers only:] The Digging Standard. Review the Digging Standard (DS). This is a number between 1 and 6, which is displayed on an oversized die on the edge of the table. The Commander rolls 1D6; if it is lower than the current DS, DS is reduced by 1; if it is higher, DS is increased by 1. If the initial DS has not been set during game preparation, the Commander sets it during his first turn: roll 2D6 and set DS to the lower of the two dice-scores.

In use, the DS has to be beaten (with D6 rolls) by troops (on either side) doing Sapping, Digging or Repair work. The lower DS is, the easier it will be to complete such work; when DS is 6, no-one can beat it, but it also has a special meaning – Torrential Rain. DS = 6 means that no-one can do any work on the surface, all current fires are extinguished, artillery may not move and all artillery fire halves the number of dice used (round ½ down).

[Garrison only:] Fire fighting. Check progress of any fires currently burning in the town. Fires are represented by small puffs of cotton-wool – they are not attached to any particular building or part of the town – they are just there to be counted. Fires are started by indirect fire from mortar shells (or carcasses, if in use), and sometimes by Event Cards, and they may spread.

Garrison roll 1D6 for each ongoing fire

5 or 6                           Fire extinguished (4, 5 or 6 if sappers on fire duty in the town)

1                                  Fire spreads – add a new fire

Anything else              Fire burns on

After the Fire Fighting, Local Support (LS) is reduced by 1 for each complete 5 fires still burning (eg: if there are now 8 fires burning in the town, reduce LS by 1; if the same 8 fires are still burning on the Garrison’s next turn, LS reduces by 1 again). Remember to adjust the Garrison’s Resolve in real time for all LS changes.

 [Garrison only:] Issue Food Rations. Deduct 1 from Food store. If Food store is causing concern, the Governor may take steps to eke out food for the Garrison. Each of these measures may be done only once per game, and only one of them may be used in a single turn:

·      Reduce rations for everyone (add 10% to no of turns in store, but -3 to Resolve)

·      Requisition food from citizens (add 10% to no of turns, but -1 to LS)

·      Slaughter all horses (add 3 turns, but -1 to LS)

·      Slaughter domestic animals and pets (add 1 turn, but -1 to LS)

·      Eject unproductive citizens from town (add 33% to store, but -2 to LS)

Scenario may make further suggestions, but no cannibalism in the Age of Reason, please.

[Either side:] Draw Event Card. If it is a court card, or a 2 (Scenario Special), check out instructions. Place card on discard stack after use. If the card is a Joker, shuffle and re-start the Event Deck.

 

(b) Espionage

[Either side:] Each army may have up to 2 spies at any moment; spies may be recruited (costs 1 Resolve Pt), or sacked (costs nothing, but replacing him will), may be lost in action and may even be captured and forced to reveal information about their own side.
Spies should have names (for identification and entertainment!), but quality is not known until their 1^st assignment is ordered (at which point, roll a D6 to determine quality, which is half of number rolled (rounded up): 1 (poor); 2 (competent); 3 (exceptional) – keep a (secret) note. Spying missions must be attempted, even if quality is not up to the job.

Armies may also opt to purchase a Security Officer (Provost or Chief of Police) to give them extra protection against enemy spies (costs 1 Resolve Pt to replace him).

Spies (disappointingly?) do not have representative figures – they are somewhere in the enemy army – we don’t know where. If you wish to have your Security Officer as a figure then please do so – only advantage is that you can see if he is still active.

The possible espionage missions are of two types: Information and Sabotage. They will have difficulty ratings of 1 to 5, 1 being easy. This table gives the permitted missions (which may be amended according to scenario), which side may attempt each, the difficulty rating and the potential result:

Mission	Who?	Diff	Effect	Notes
Obtain Information:			Reveal:	“Extra”:
Current Local Support (LS)	Besgr	1
Current Resolve Pts (RP)	Both	2
Garrison food store	Besgr	2	Turns in store
Enemy powder store	Both	2	“Loads”/tons
Strength of walls etc [pick 3 sections]	Besgr	3	Strength pts
Mining & countermining status	Both	3	Full details
Carry out Sabotage:
Contaminate or damage Garrison’s food/water	Besgr	2	-½D6 from Food	-D6 from Food
Encourage desertion among enemy	Both	2	Hit (dice for unit)	½ D6 hits
Damage powder store	Both	3	D6 Loads	2D6 Loads
Decrease Local Support for Garrison	Besgr	3	LS and RS -1	Fail badly LS, RS both +1
Start fire in town	Besgr	3	1 fire	2 fires
Kill  officer (not CinC) or Named Indiv	Both	4	Success
Kill CinC	Both	5	Success

Procedure:

When a spy attempts an espionage project, the spying side adds the spy’s quality rating (which will have to be established if this is his 1^st mission) to 1D6; the side being spied on adds the difficulty of the selected task to 1D6, and then adds a further 1 if they have a Security Officer in place. Comparison of these totals gives outcome.

Outcomes:

·      Spy total greater by 2 or more: mission is extra-successful; spy remains active

·      Spy total greater by 1: mission successful; spy remains active

·      Totals equal, or Spy total 1 less: mission fails, but spy remains active

·      Spy total 2-3 less: mission fails and spy is lost; this, and anything worse is a bad failure

·      Spy total less by 4 or more: mission fails, spy is executed, but first is forced to reveal one information item from the table above about his own army.

Example:
Spy Grammaticus is new (and thus has unknown quality), he is sent to assassinate one of the enemy’s Senior Officers (mission difficulty 4). Since he is untried, must roll D6 to check his quality: roll of 4 reveals that he has quality rating of 2 (competent). The enemy does not have a Security Officer in place at the moment.

Spying side D6 roll is 5, add 2 for his quality, total 7; enemy roll is 4, plus 4 for difficulty; total 8. Result is that spy loses by 1, so mission fails, but Grammaticus remains active. If the side being spied upon had had a Security Officer, the result would have been a loss by 2 for the spy, and Grammaticus would have been lost to history.

(c)  Move Officers and Named Individuals (to assist with Rallying)

[Either side:] Move Officers, Commander and Named Individuals anywhere within permitted limits (this is to assist with Rallying for any unit which has suffered “hits”). For the Besieger, permitted limit is anywhere not in advance of the heads of sap; for the Garrison, permitted limit is not in advance of the edge of the fortress, which may be the Covered Way or some outwork. Officers may help to rally any unit within 1 hex.

[Garrison only:] For the Garrison, if LS is not negative, the Town Mayor may be used to help rally troops and encourage the citizens, so he may be moved appropriately during this phase.

(d) Rallying Troops (and Citizens)

[Either side:] Hits, as recorded by loss markers against each unit, represent a reduction in combat effectiveness. Casualties will contribute some of this, but loss of fighting spirit, fatigue and equipment damage are also implied.

Infantry units are eliminated by 4 hits, artillery by 3 and sappers by 2. A unit which has been eliminated may not be rallied. An artillery unit which has 2 hits marked against it may not fire until it has been rallied/repaired; such artillery repairs must be carried out in the army’s Safe Place.

The active Commander will select a unit which has hits, and roll 1D6 for each hit. Note that losses due to disease or desertion (which use a different colour of counter) may not be rallied. A unit which attempts to rally, regardless of whether it is successful, may not do anything else in this turn, so a Hold marker is attached.

Hits are removed for a roll of 6. The rolls for each rallying unit are helped by

·      +1 if a Senior Officer or the CinC is attached, or within 1 hex [or Mayor if LS not -ve]

·      +1 if the unit is out of immediate danger (concealed, or not within 2 hexes of enemy)

Rallying stops for this turn as soon as a unit has no loss counters removed, so try for the priority units with the most hits first.

Example: It is the Garrison’s turn to rally.

The Governor selects an infantry battalion in the Covered Way which has 3 hits; a Senior Officer is within 1 hex, and the unit is out of immediate danger; thus it has 2 bonuses, and only needs to roll 4+ to rally away each hit. It rolls 4-2-1, one counter is removed, and the unit is given a Hold marker, since it may do nothing else this turn.

The Governor next directs his attention to rallying an artillery unit, which has 2 hit counters (and is thus currently unable to fire) and is in the workshops in the fortress (a Safe Place). There is no Officer present, so the unit has a single bonus (out of immediate danger), and requires 5+ to remove hits. The unit rolls 3-2, no hits are removed; it is given a Hold marker, and rallying must now end for this turn.

Remember that recovering hits does not add anything to the army’s Resolve.

[Either side:] Recruits and Replacements. If the Commander is alive then, subject to the game limits imposed on his army, he may recruit extra (or replacement) Spies, Named Individuals, Sapper Teams (any of which costs 1 Resolve Pt) and Miners (3 Resolve Pts, if relevant). He cannot add extra Senior Officers or Engineers once the game has started. If the Commander is not alive, the only action permitted at this point of the Housekeeping is to promote a Senior Officer or an Engineer to replace him (no cost for this); if none is available the army will no longer be able to rally troops (or, for the Garrison, negotiate with the townspeople or manage the Food supply).

[Garrison only:] Meet with Citizens. The Governor (or the Town Mayor, if LS is not -ve) may be placed in the “town” area, to meet with the townspeople. Roll 1D6 – if it comes up 6, the meeting has gone well, and 1 is added to LS; if it comes up 1, the meeting has been a disaster, and 1 is deducted from LS.

[Garrison only:] Insurrection Control. If LS is zero or less, the Governor must allocate infantry units to the job of keeping the civilians under control.

LS	Policing Requirement
Zero	½ a battalion
-1	1 battalion
-2	1½ battalions
-3	2 battalions

The policing troops must be placed in the “town” area, and may do nothing else. For each ½ battalion which the police force is short, roll 1D6. 5 or 6 means a hit on the garrison – Governor decides which units are affected. Remember to adjust Resolve for these “insurrection” hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Siege Notes: (4) Leaguer - Continuing to Set Up the Game

We can now go back to my list of things you need to do to set up a siege game.

8.     Calculate the powder requirements (and reality) for the Garrison and the Besiegers

For the artillery purchased for each army, we need an initial Powder Store for the Garrison (which may be in Tons or Loads, as discussed, a Load being 8 tons, and of course when we say "powder" we include, by implication, all artillery ammunition); the usual arrangement for the Besiegers is that they arrive carrying enough powder for the first 2 weeks (4 turns), and expect to receive a shipment of powder each turn from Turn 5. 

This was described in excruciating detail in my previous post.

9.     Initialise Event Card Deck

This is quite interesting, I think. The Deck may be tuned to suit the period and the scenario, and brings some welcome colour to the narrative.

At the end of the Housekeeping phase of each army’s turn, the active player draws an Event Card. The Card deck uses 2 identical packs of playing cards, each having 2 jokers. To prepare the deck, before the game, remove all the court cards (J,Q,K), the Aces and 2s. Then combine the packs, and add back any of the removed cards which will be in use as Event Cards (note that there will be 2 of some of them). Leave all 4 jokers in the deck; any card not listed means no event this turn. Shuffle this very well - the success of the game pretty much hangs on the quality of the shuffle (no pressure then).

Some of the cards apply only to the side which draws them, some to the enemy, some to everyone; there is a mixture of positive and negative outcomes. 

It is worthwhile to include a couple of “Scenario Specials” for a given game, which involve actual historical events or what-ifs. Here's an example [The Specials included here are from my ECW Siege of Liverpool game in 2024.]

 

 

10.  If appropriate, set up siegeworks for deferred start of play

 

Especially for a Vauban-type fortress game, it is possible to get an accelerated start, by starting the siege with the 1st Parallel complete, and the 2nd Parallel dug, but without emplacements. The player(s) can decide for themselves how they should adjust the starting numbers for Resolve, Powder Stores, Local Support and so on. 

 

11.  Deploy Garrison’s forces in permitted areas

 

The Governor of the Garrison may place his troops anywhere which is not in advance of the edge of the fortress (which is normally the Covered Way, but mat also include an outwork). Within the fortress there is also a Safe Place, where troops may be rallied, guns may be repaired and everyone is concealed.  

 

12.  Deploy Besiegers’ forces in permitted areas

 

The Besiegers may be placed anywhere which is not nearer to the fortress than the heads of sap.  

 

13.  Play first Siege Turn (usually the Besieger goes first)

 

In the next post I shall start walking through the phases in a Siege Turn.  

 

Siege Notes: (3a) Time Out for Some Arithmetic and Head Scratching...

 I mentioned previously that there were a couple of areas in my siege rules where I was going to have to make some estimates - sometimes the generally accepted numbers seem unlikely, and sometimes supposed experts quote each other, backwards and forwards, and legends are established. There are two priority topics requiring a bit of work at the outset - consumption (and therefore supply) of gunpowder and the digging of trenches; I felt it might be a bit much to just go off on one while walking through the rules, so I shall attempt to cover these in a little time-out session, and then with luck I can use the results to progress the rules discussion more gracefully.

How Much Gunpowder?

The immediate problem is to work out how much powder the two armies in a siege will need. OK - so how much do they use?

Here are some preliminary facts: Vauban says that a weapon firing roundshot requires a propellant charge of one-third of the weight of the shot; a barrel of powder weighs 100lbs; 22 barrels to the ton.

A couple of other givens: I shall ignore the powder used by musketry, but will attempt to allow for the powder inside shells; I will also have to get around to allowing for powder used in mines and (maybe) petards; my starting intention is that the garrison has a known powder store at the start, and has to husband that during the siege, while the battering train normally carries 2 weeks' supply with them (that's 4 turns) and the visiting Commander will have to arrange for regular deliveries as the siege proceeds - this last bit will require some careful thought...

What do we know? Well, I've done a lot of reading (John Jones, John May, Alexander Dickson, B P Hughes, J V Belmas, David Chandler, Chris Duffy...) and I found a lot of numbers. 

For a start, it is widely quoted that experienced gunners could maintain a rate of between 20 and 30 shots an hour without problems. Oh really? For how long?

I'm going to look at the main siege weapons, 24pdrs. Let's assume they have shifts standing by to keep the rate of fire up. The guns require to be thoroughly sponged and cleaned out about every 30 shots, the shifts need a little time to change; the guns will not just be firing - they will occasionally be re-deployed, and the peak rate of fire will be when they are concentrating on creating a breach; at other times they may be used picking out tactical targets, to clear the area opposing an attack.

There is a very interesting account of some trials conducted at the Royal Arsenal (London) in 1813, in which guns were fired continuously - batches of 50 shot spaced at 3 minutes between shots. This experiment was to compare the difference in enlargement of various types of vent ("common" - cast iron? - wrought iron and copper). The guns involved in the tests would be standing calmly in the open, with master gunners, not under fire, and not constrained by firing through an embrasure. One thing that comes immediately from the tables is that the wear is significantly less when the shots are spaced at 4 minutes. These tests were with iron guns, which were regarded as more hard-wearing than brass and less likely to droop if they overheated, though they had a greater tendency to burst...

4 minute spacing gets us down to 15 shots an hour, and regular cleaning and other overheads might get us down to 10 - maybe that's a decent starting figure as an average. OK - so how long would they be firing each day? No doubt it varied, depending on the task of the day.

I found some interesting returns from the Peninsular War - artillery officers were obviously devoted to counting things. I spent some time looking at Wellington's "Second Attack" on San Sebastian. There are no analyses of shots fired each day, but Dickson dutifully records that the 24pdrs, of which there were 28, fired almost exactly 28000 shot during the 5 days of the main attack - they started battering the fort on 26th August 1813 and they stopped on 30th, in time for the infantry assault on the 31st. This average of 1000 shots/gun for the 5 days is so devastatingly convenient (!) that it did rather dominate my calculations thereafter! We know that 7 of the guns were in a separate battery, which was found to be ineffective, and were shifted to join the main effort against the breach, so some moving about was included in the 5 days.

Righto - let's take the overall numbers. 1000 roundshot per gun over 5 days gives 200 a day. My guessed average rate of 10 shots an hour (which already includes some maintenance and changes of shift) would require 20 hours for 200 shots. It's a long day, but maybe we are heading in the right direction.

A quick check with the rules: guns firing roundshot may opt to use what I have called "continuous" fire (better terminology probably exists) when they are really trying very hard (completing a breach would be such a time). Continuous fire gets you extra dice to fire with, but uses powder at a scary rate and also introduces the possibility of damage to the guns as they overheat, so the idea is that it is something you don't do if you don't need to. 

In my rules, a gun model represents a half-battery of 3 pieces, and a turn is a half a week (so 3.5 days). 

Let's see how our 200 shots a day figure average works out. Vauban's estimate of one-third of the shot poundage works very nicely with a 3-gun half-battery - a model 24pdr on the table will require 24lbs per single volley, which is very close to a quarter of a barrel, and therefore a full barrel every 4 volleys. A turn is 3.5 days at 200 volleys, which is 700 volleys, which works out at 175 barrels. Interestingly (convenience strikes again), at 22 barrels per ton, 176 barrels would be exactly 8 tons. 

Now I've been working with this system for a while, and, in the absence of better terminology, I've informally defined a "Load" of powder as "the amount of powder consumed by a model 24pdr firing for 1 Siege Turn", and I know that a model gun is really a half-battery of 3. "Load" is not a good word - perhaps it is short for a "Wagon Load" or something, but I know what I mean, and it's simple to work with. If (say) the Garrison is expected to hold out for 8 weeks (16 turns), then each model 24pdr will need 16 Loads in the magazines to last the duration.

My rules stipulate that a 24pdr (model) firing during a Siege Turn will  be marked with a "Puff" of cotton-wool. This indicates that it has fired, and at the end of the Firing phase the "Puffs" will be collected in, added up and converted into a deduction from the powder store; 1 Puff indicates consumption which requires to be replenished by the delivery of 1 Load of new powder to the 24pdr gun. My housekeeping calculations have been in Puffs/Loads, which are (interchangeably) the same amount. There is also a smaller size - a half-puff - which represents the consumption of half a Load [4 tons] of powder. 

[It is possible that, in the interests of simplicity, I will continue to use the Puff/Load measurement system; the only new information coming from the calculations above is that I now know that a Load actually weighs 8 tons. There would be a touch of elegance in multiplying all the numbers by 8, and dealing in tons, which is a real weight which anyone would understand. I offer this simply as a matter of personal preference; you might even consider multiplying by 176 instead of 8, which gives the amounts in barrels, which feels even more authentic. The downside is that the arithmetic becomes more of a chore, the numbers less memorable - maybe the whole thing moves another step nearer to a clerical job rather than a pastime? With a little extra work, you could convert the amounts into buckets, or teaspoons, which would guarantee you a lifetime award of the Bruce Quarrie Medal for Spurious Accuracy (BQMSA). Sorry - I digressed a little there - this is entirely a question of what you like; personally, I consider that pocket calculators, like tape measures, are things I don't really wish to see on my tabletop.]

A 12pdr field gun will use half as much powder as a 24pdr, so that's a half-puff each turn; let's assume that a standard mortar uses the same powder as a 24pdr, if we include the powder in the shells, but only half that amount if it is firing stones; a heavy mortar will use 1-and-a-half puffs firing shell, but only 1 puff if firing stones; a little Coehoorn mortar, which fires short-range fragmentation grenades, is probably most likely to be used during a Tactical Turn, but in a Siege Turn would consume half a Puff. 

Let's add up the requirements, then, for a complete Garrison. We'll now talk in terms of models, not half-batteries, for simplicity. Say they have three 24pdrs, two 12pdr field guns and two standard mortars - the requirement for a turn, if everyone is firing, would be:

3 @ 24pdr                      3 Puffs
2 @ 12pdr                      1 Puff
2 @ Mortar                    2 Puffs
                                     -----------         
Total                              6 Puffs [48 tons] per Turn; 96 Loads for a 16-turn siege 
                                      [768 tons] 

Thus the Governor needs 96 Loads in his magazines; the preliminary audit should be adjusted by rolling 2D6 and applying the Randomizer table [mentioned in Section 3 of Siege Note (3)]; if the Governor is not happy with the result, he may choose to re-roll the Randomizer, but he must accept the re-roll.

That is quite straightforward, and is all settled (secretly, if necessary) before the siege commences. The powder store in the fortress will be depleted by each turn's powder usage (count the Puffs), and possibly by Event Cards and Espionage activity. Remember that artillery firing roundshot may opt for Continuous Fire in a Turn, which doubles powder consumption and also effect, but also risks overheating the guns.

Misfires, which don't hit anything, still consume powder as usual.

What about the Besiegers? For this same 16-turn siege, we assume that the train will carry 2 weeks' (4 turns') powder with them, and then a regular supply starts from Turn 5. At the start they arrive with

6 @ 24pdr                      6 Puffs
3 @ 12pdr                      1.5 Puffs
1 @ Heavy mortar         1.5 Puffs
4 @ Mortar                    4 Puffs
                                     -----------         
Total                              13 Puffs [104 tons] per Turn; 52 Loads for the 
                                      first 4 turns [416 tons], which has to be Randomized
                                      in the normal manner 

Subsequent deliveries:  The scenario may set conditions here, depending
                                      upon how hostile the surrounding countryside is, 
                                      how difficult the supply route. In this case, the 
                                     Besiegers should arrange a regular delivery of 13
                                     Loads each turn (Randomized on arrival); the scenario
                                    may also stipulate that a Randomizer roll of any double
                                    (or selected doubles) means that the delivery fails to 
                                    arrive. If the Digging Standard is currently 6 (or higher), 
                                    the shipment will not normally arrive. No-one said this 
                                    was easy.  

In all of this, the results should be secret for a competitive game, and the Commanders have the usual entitlement to a single re-roll (which is binding) for any Randomizer use.

That's certainly quite enough about gunpowder, but it will reappear when we get to the Firing rules.

 

Trenches - How Fast, and Who Digs Them?

 

Sapping - specialist work

 

The Vauban's Wars rules have all digging being done by Sappers, which doesn't seem right to me. What I have read suggests that the Sappers did the specialised digging of forward saps, but the main body of the labour of making trenches and redoubts was provided by the Poor Bloody Infantry (who else?), or else by gangs of civilian contractors (slaves?) - an alternative which I haven't managed to work into the game as yet.

 

According to Chris Duffy, work parties of infantrymen would advance after dark to the site where the digging was to be done (eye witnesses say that these gangs might be up to 3000 men, but 1200 is mentioned as a sort of average - handily, this is about 2 battalions in my game...). The location would be at the current heads of sap, and the men would carry fascines (to mark out the line of the new trench) and digging tools. They would place their fascines as instructed by the engineers, would form a line about 2 paces behind the fascines, with 2 paces between each man, and would start digging, excavating a trench about 1 metre deep, and piling the spoil up between the forward edge of the trench and the fascines. There was an obvious motivation to get this work to a stage where the diggers were in cover before the sun came up!

This is all fine, but I need a few numbers to see how it works. The hexes on my battlefield are 200 paces across, which implies a line of 100 men stretched across, digging furiously. In such a line, a battalion could theoretically attempt a trench on a ridiculous front - 6 hexes - 1200 paces. No - such a sparse line would be very vulnerable to a night-time raid, the men could not dig for much more than a couple of hours at a time - maybe less than that. I've adopted a system where a battalion (600 men) placed in a hex would at any moment have 100 men digging, and 500 waiting to relieve them, carrying stuff about and (importantly) standing guard. In fact, half a battalion could probably handle a hex-width of trench like this.

One of my Siege Turns represents half a week, so the working crew have the dark portions of 3.5 days to complete the digging, tamping down, widening and reinforcement of a section of the parallel. Normal practice was to replace them with another regiment at the end of each shift. Is it simply a foregone conclusion that they will finish the work? Well, very bad weather might stop them, as might some initiative on the part of the Garrison. The fortress gunners could put up a star-shell, and then fire on the working party - if they can afford the powder, and for as long as the star-shell burns. After the embryonic trench reached about 2 feet deep, the diggers could lie down and be in cover - it would be an interruption though. If the diggers had lots of armed friends, they could probably see off any kind of sortie or trench raid.

A number of rule sets make completion of a trench section automatic if you get the diggers into the right place. I've thought my way back and forwards on this. One argument against guaranteed success for me is that my Vauban forts all look pretty similar, and the standard approach to conducting the siege might often look similar too. Suppose all my Louis XIV period sieges consist of

* Dig 1st Parallel 1200 paces from the Covered Way
* Send forward 3 zig-zag saps
* Dig 2nd Parallel 800 paces from the Covered Way 
* Add emplacements for heavy guns to eliminate the Garrison's guns
* Add emplacements out to one or more flanks, to provide ricochet fire to enfilade the faces of the bastions adjacent to the intended breach site
* Etc

At this stage, the only differences between this siege and the last one I played out might be the chance variations in fire effect, and maybe the odd Event Card. The idea of always getting to the same situation horrifies me, first because it isn't necessarily authentic, and second because it makes the game rather pointless. Having thought about it (again) I am currently back in favour of having a chance element in the completion of the siegeworks - that produces some extra variety. The soldiers succeed by beating the current Digging Standard (DS) with die rolls (and they get extra dice if they have an Engineer handy); they'll probably manage it - especially if the DS is low, but if they don't they are left with a section of the trench which is incomplete - it may be a botch-up of gabions and whatever they have to hand, but if the end of the Siege Turn shows that some of the trench sections are in this state, then the soldiers in them will be only in soft cover, and potentially in trouble. They will attract a lot of attention when the Garrison gunners have their turn.

 

Digging Standard die clearly on view in an ECW siege

 I'll talk about this again when I walk through the Digging rule. 

To finish off this time-out note, I'll mention Duffy's Sandhurst Kriegspiel Society game, as described in his Fire & Stone book. Under those rules, forward saps were advanced at a prodigious speed, and a party of infantry, with an officer present, would be crammed into the sap, where they would be fired upon by the garrison artillery. Provided the officer and at least 50% of the infantry figures survived, they could then be placed in position to dig a section of parallel, and the new trench would be placed along their length. The detail of what was going on is maybe not how you or I might have played it, but it attaches a chance element to progressing the siegeworks; as I sit here today, I am in favour of this chance element. Anyone who has had the experience of seeing landscape gardeners arrive in the morning, and then coming home after work assuming that everything will have gone well, may appreciate my preference.