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    17 - PDFsam - Moves 01

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    tao xu

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 8
    1» World War! Active com 1875 400,000 1888. 427,000 1890. 468,000 (2022) 11894 436,000 11898 557,000 1900 574,000 1905 584,000 ‘year Active (21.28) 1876 400,000 1888 400,000 (a2 1890 420,000 1894. 453,000 1898. 460,000 1900 470,000 (2123) 480,000 (2123) 1912 567,000 (20.23) 1914 827,000 1906 (Numbers in parentheses indicate age of troops.) GERMANY Rosve (aaa) (33-42) 300,000 900,000 ‘900,000 900,000 920,000 900,000 (2332) (3342) 980,000 900,000 11500,000 900,000 11,600,000 920,000 2,100,000 960,000 FRANCE Reserve (2726) (37-48) 120,000 ° 400,000 ° (53 (38-47) ‘440,000 300,000 700,000 300,000 11,100,000 340,000 11,200,000 460,000 an (4247) 1,800,000 240,000 (2438) (39-49) 11500,000 800,000 (2425) (36-48) 11,400,000 1,080,000 When war came, France found herself at 9 lsadvantage with regard to units in the field, ‘This wos not the fault of 109 litle avaiable ‘manpower, bt, rather, one of organization, There were other, less salient factors affecting ‘the quality of avalable manpower, First ia Importance was the quality of the manpower oat, In counties sich as France, Germany, England eed the others of Western Europe, the state of lteracy ard bslth were relatively high ‘and equal, In countries auch ae Italy, Austria ‘and “Russa, the levels of both neslth and Titeracy were lower, but not fatally 50, for aniy Austra had sovere demands an her manpower, The Austro-Hungarian Empire was 8 conor eration of ‘basle groups: German, Moayst, North Slav (Czech, Slovene, Pole, Ukranian} and South Slav (Serbs, Croats, Albanians, and thers). The Germans ran the show with 3 Strong ais from the Magyar, but here unity really ended, The only thing the soldiers had in common was the uniform they wore, The Flsslans also had a problem with “ethnic ix” but. thee were 2. minor iration when compared. with their command probleme, Unique problem of the Russans was one of instability of manpower for quiek concentra tion, No other power had. sufficiently wide territories or terribly underdeveloped rellways 1 face this problem, Incidental problems with the manpower poo! ‘side, the reserve systom did have. one ‘major Srawback — age, The men, once trained, began 10 grow old and invariably lost their etary Skills along with thelr youth In recogeition of this problem, the pool of trained manpower ‘was ‘divided! Into three groups, ‘The first consisted of those currently undergoing training: the active army, The second group consisted of those only a few years out of the service who would be called back into ther ld Units fn order to fl them out in wartime, The ‘third graup consisted of the older reserves who were usally formed Into units alo, Some of ‘hese units. would be “stiffened” with a percentage (usually not more than 20%) of ‘weteran or active troops so. that the larger reserve units could be used alongside the active army units, Men near the end of thei service ‘bligation” were ubually detalled to form small unite for guarding sundry rear area Installations, The surplus of the younger resawes constituted the “replacement” pool from which battle losses in the fighting units would be made up, Wile all_nations using the reserve spstem suffered from the problem of aging reserves, France suffered worst of al because of her attempt to outstrip Germany, which had ‘early twice as many people, I @ manpower Fare, deh nation had a certain amount of men coming of age each yaar for military service Although the birtheate varied somewhat, the ‘yearly “class” wae usually a fay. fixed Proportion of the national population (3). If ne nation with a population of 37 milion, ‘ich’ as France, wished 10. mintain an acmy ‘equal to a nation of 67 million, such as Germany, the smaller nation would have t0 be lees discriminating in choosing ts recruits, As an exomple, let_us use the Class of 1912 in ‘both Germony and France, This class amount. fed to some 250,000 “available” (4) men France. France had a two year active sonvice ‘obligation in that year, thus its active army of '567,000 ren, less same 70,000 regular NCO's ‘nd” officers’ to. hold it’ together, ‘needed 7 18 £280,000 men yearly to keep Its ranks filled, ‘Thus, in the class of 1912, fhe out of every ‘sven men would serve, In Gerrrany, the class 9f 1912 came to 600,000 available. men, Germany also had a two year obligation and her 727,000 man army needed 300,000 new ‘men yearly, Only one man in two would be Called, providing for much greater solectuty, “The class of 1912 woutd beain walning in the Fall of 1912 end be “ready for mobilization” by the Spring of 1913, They would asst the regular eadre in training the cass of 1913 the following year, and, had not war broken out in 'mid-1914, they would have been released from otive service in the Fall of 1914, 1¢ usually took two to three of these released clases 10 bring the army up to strength in wartime, The est would form the resrve units, and It was here that the French agsin mismanaged their manpower pool, Only during the Napoleonic period had France relied on @ ehllan army, Attor the disaster of 1870, sho was forced to adopt the reserve system, This was done reluctantly and not very tfciently, Initaly the service was for five Years, wir onerhalf ofthe year's recruits being alfowed to get off with only one year's service, This gave France a very large peacetime army, while not clsrupting the lives of too many men with military “service, However, it cid not produce a large pool of reserves this was t0 ‘rove tho decisive operational element of the 4814 campatgn, BY 1889 France had roctfied her error with regard to large yearty cassis of recruits, and was producing reve troops on ‘the samme level os Germany, The "war of ‘the late 19th and early 20th ‘centuries produced an intensified manpower race, Germany had the edge on thls race, 35 hhad been mentioned earlier, and managed to ‘maintain more and younger men in her eserve pools By 1914, Germany had 2.3. milion men between the ages of 23 and 32 in her reserve ool for reinforcement of active army units and the formation of combat units of resewes, ‘The French reserves, 14 million in number, were between the ages of 24 and 35, The secondary reserve ool, which provided rear ‘area security and second line combat units, Conssted of 1.4 million men betwoon the 2925 fof 38 and 42 for the Germans, while the French had but 1.08 million betwoon the ages of 36. and 48, Tho French, for this anda umber of other reasons, did not place 3 ‘much faith and rlianee ot the reserves a5 the Germans, ‘There never was any possibilty of a manpower shortage during the decisive 1914 campaign, ‘The French kapt some 600,000 men available as combat replacements, Aman could. be suitably trained for combat in two oF three months, thus with only some 55% of this, replacement pool expended In early October, the French still had time. to. train more replacements, The same applied to Germany, feven though she put for More men Into rere ‘units - 100,000 of er replacements were ‘organized into units and wore eventually used fe such, As wos noted eater, Germany Rad far ‘more untrained, and thus uncommittad, men ‘oa whieh to draw than Franc, ‘The manoower position of al the contending powers in 1914 was as follows COUNTRY POPULATION ACTIVE ARMY Germany 67,000,000 761,000 ‘AustHung 51,000,000 478,000 Russia 164,000,000 1,448,000, Serbia 4,000,000 152,000 Montenegro 400,000 2,000 France 36,600,000 827,000 England 46,000,000 247,000) Belgium 7,500,000, 48,000 Holland 16,000,000 32,000 COUNTRY TOTAL MEN TRAINED AVAILABLE — MANPOWER. Germany 9,750,000 4,400,000 (17-4516) ‘AurtHung 6,120,000 3,000,000 (19.42 Russia 17,000,000 6,000,000 (21.43) Serbia 440,000 300,000 (1850) Montenegro 60,000 60,0007 (1862) France 5,940,000 3,400,000(e) (2048) 6,000,000(4) 660,000 (20-40) 300,000 360,000 (19.32) Holland 800,000 300,000 (2140) COUNTRY FIELD ARMY Germany 2,147,000 ‘Aust Hung 1,338,000 Pussia 3,400,000 Serbia 247,000 Montensgro 60,000 France 1,800,000 England 100,000%6) Belgium 160,000 Holland 100,000 Notes: {) Half of these wore stationed overseas in the colonies (6) ages of men in manpower poot (e) Includes 67,000 native and Foreign Legion oops (a) No actual reserve system set u were simply the men available within the ge limits shown (0) A reserve systom had been set up but was not fully functional, yet The adoption of the reserve systom by most of the major European powers gave them all th the exception of Britain, sufficient manpower reserves 0 cafty out a protracted war of attrition, While was not manpower itslf that brought ‘about the deadlock i the west, the amount of manpower available, coupled with Innovations in weapons and fan might sy the lack of innovations) in tactics, brought about the deadlock. But oven the man-tosmeterof. front ratio could not have been enaugh to sve ‘tho Fronch had they boon any more lackluster in their attitude toward the efficleney of reserve formations, Their propensity to rele {gto nearly all reserve units to rear area duties vory nearly gave the Germans the elbow room ‘and. pumerieal superiority on she firing tine ‘hey needad to achieve victory. The lack of & resarve. system in Englond, and. its. belated Introduction in Belgium and. Holland. mace FFranes's position more. precarious, On the stern Front the mutual inefficioncy ond complementary shortcomings of Russia and ‘Austria Hungary assured a stalemate, In the West varying denrees of competent efficiency and shortsighted obtuseness led 10 avery fluc Situation; 8 situation In Which the war may ‘ery well have been dociled, as 30 many predicted, in x weeks (6). NOTES: (1) Quoted from Scharnhorst, the “founder” ‘of the madern German military system during ‘he early 19th Century uphoavats in Germany, ‘due 10 the ascoess of Napoleon and his original French "reserve system.” (2) This wos the rule of thumb initially employed by many European powers, partic Ularly the Germans, (3) It huctuated between 23% and 436 of the population each year. Thus, the avalable males ‘would came to between 8% and 23 yearly (2) There were exemptions slowed "for students, cleray, clita! oscubations and certain others, Exempted or deferred cate ‘gorles varied, of course, rom country. to (5) The German troops were broken dovn 3s follows: 4 years in the Resor - thase troops would fil out tive units and form new ones Jn the event of war; the next six years were spent In the Inactive resorve, 10 be used 35 replacements, etc, and finally Landwehr, oF seond fine units: The remaining time was Spant ina totally inactive reserve with no efinite duties in wartime, The older men ‘would probably end up with the home guord for Landsturm, while the remainder,” the ‘younger ones, would probebly end up at che front. “The French hoki men in the reserve for ten year, thus hoving entire units of reserves with ‘en considerably older than similar German Units, A further seven years would be sper in the inoetive reserve, These ren would be used 1 replacements for resorve units or even active ‘Ones, The oldest category of men would again be the “home querd’” or territorial troops, AAs the reserve classes became older, their rrumbers decreased, 36 more and more of thery Feceled exemptions for physical deficiencies, (8) As our tople is manpower, it would be lustrtive 10 show ‘whet toll the war of 9 t00k On the manpower resouroes 3s showin in the preceeding chars COUNTRY TOTAL MEN (% CASUALTIES) AVAILABLE Germany 9,750,000 (55%) Austria (eax) Serbia a) 2,200,000 (52%) France 6,940,000 (75%) England 6,000,000 (40%) Belgium ‘200,000 51%) Rusia 17,000,000 (49%) 7 S&T 25, featuring the Centurion (Tac 13) game “The Centurion game is similar to Tac 14 (S&T 22) and covers the period {1065 552A01 vm whizn the Roman logon was the dominant military power. The game '5 tactical im scope (units of some 500 men with about 100 meters toa hex). Unit types included cover swordimen (Ftomans), ba Saran infantry, speateen, skirmishers (ight infant, ight cavalry, oentl cavalry (mounted chers), and Byzantine Cota ‘hrochts (professional newy cavaly). Units fare combined to form 17 scenarios, repce senting the most decisive botiles of the period (rom Numidia, 2068. to. Busta Gallorum, S2AO}. Special rues eflect changes in organization, doctine, tactics nd equipment. Also in issue 25 are articles fn. the Floman Army. {fom 753BC to T4S3AD and the second part of the series fon the war in. Russia (1941-5). This article overs the Organization of German Ground Forces, This includes 2 22x28" sheet com taining organzstianal dala on oll‘ Germon Units, The gume nas 2 22x28" mapsheet, Uinmounted counters ete, Plus our regu ‘$3.00, from Simulations Publications S&T 22, featuring the Tac 14 (Renaissance of Infantry) game Taccal Game 14 contains DeKaR" map, inmounted counters and. other lay-ids ‘The gore fs tactical (ean vine represents tome 800 men, esch Nex sore 100 mete 1 vows the period 1250 1SE0AD wien infantry. replaced. the mounted. “mont tion” (knight?) a6 the decisive weapon, Each unit present a atlerent (ype Gf soldier (lkemen, light and heavy early tong: snd crossbowmen, artillery, argue busers, ete) Thea are’ combined t0 pro Goce’ 30 itterent bottles of the period rom. Adrisnople, 31BAD to. Pov, TSZADI, Special rules Rave been deve pad to recreate the une conditions of tocticl level warfore, Alea in faue 2 an rice on the Renaizance of lofonty, 95 well asa Protie”artide on the Geveiop tment ond use of the German Me-108 fighter Introduction of GAGE. gome reviews. pls $5200, rom Simulations Publications Ne COUNTRY KILLED SEVERE(H) LIGHTIe! WOUNDS WOUNDS Germany 1736 106% 2% Austria 15% 14%, 38% Serbia 35% 15% 07% France 28% 12% 39% Englend 13% 10% 24% Belgium 28% 6% 1% Fuse 13% 06% 28% Notes: (a) total mate population (©) wounds ‘which provont 3 man_ from returning to service, usually 1088 ofa limb or Sinan incapacity {Gl other wounds. Many man received wounds but this ir counterbalanced, 0 some degee, by the numbers of wounds ‘which were not reported, Also not included ‘ae noncombat causitis, which are of an ran milder severity. then light (combat) wounds, BIBLIOGRAPHY De Nedertandsche Seiidmacht, Kooiman DE rect and Indirect Costs of tha Great World War, ‘Carnaule Endowment for International Peace (EL. Bogert) ‘The Great War, Vol. II, GH. Allen, eta Orica! German Documents Relating to the Wotd War, Carnegie Endowment. (von Mom tesla) Miltary History ofthe War, MoE ntoe “SOLITAIRE WARGAMING sin ssn ne of the interesting and complex problems confronting the wargamer today Is how to play ‘wargames solitaire, consider myselt an export n solitaire wargaming, as | have been playing ‘solo ever since I got into the hobby. In order to comprehensively cover the problem of how 10 play solitaire wargames, I wil first discuss ‘the methods of which I presntly know, and then discuss my own methods, Chess, which | consider a wargame of sorts, ‘provides perhaps the best known method of Solitaire wargaming. This method consists of simply giving 2 problem or “puzzle” to the layer. There are many books which give nothing but chess problems in the form of 3 Slagram of a chess board which has a certain setup. question is then asked of the player Such as “how many roves wal it toke Block 10 chieve checkmate?” A good example of this, 2 applied to more conventional wergames, f= the contest in each isaue of the Avalon Hill Genera The big problem with this form of solitaire wargaming Is that one person's idea of the correct solution may not (and isnot likely to bel the same as another's. & perfect example (of this is Avalon Hill's Stalingrad contest of 3 few months back, The solution Avalon Mill ‘ove fulfilled the necessary requirements, but "Ro German In hig right mind would ever make 3 move ike that in an aetual ame! “The situation can be clarified by separating the problem into” two classes” tactical and frategic, The Avelon Hill problem was 9 tactical one and they gave a tactical answer, Wy, you may ask, are. there. no. stratogic problems or rather, tactical problems. with rategi limitations 20 that it would be likely that a problem situation would occur in an actual game? ‘To hove this kind of problem, it would be recessry 10° define the srateny being used, fand there ore. probably as many. diferent Strateaies as there are players of a given game. Another form of solitaire play is the type included in the Grune (S8 T1026) rules, This Is also the type used by many miniatures layers, Basically, it consists of roughly Dredetermining any and all enemy action, of having @ set of cards which give the general enemy ‘movements. for each “turn, Although they are gallant ties, in-my opinion 2 first ‘grader could supply greater opparition and they ‘wil fal to give any satisfaction to the advanced wargame. In explaining wy the France, 1940 (S87 190.27) sume did not have a solitsire version, the Strategy & Tactics staff made the statomont that solitaire wargaming is orgy @ matter of attitude, They are most certainly correct, as you will sao as 1 cscuss my rmathods of solitaire play. The first thing 10 do fs to decide what you want a solitaire wargame to do for you. Osside this right now, before reading any further. Ht you decided that you want 2. solitaire wargame to provide all the competition and Bressure of a reaulor two player game, withthe ‘@ccoption that there is no opponent, you might as well forget about playing solitaire wargames In any form other than the puzzle wpe. 1f, on the other hand, your view fs similar 10 mine, you may be in busines. 1 take the view that any sola play in any. game (wargame oF otherwise) should, frst of all, increase the ablity of the player In that game, with the secondary Anyone who scotts at the frst point has a standing invitation to come and test the result (of most daly solitaire play on my part, ‘The second point f, however, the important ‘one, AS far 35 the frst point is concerned, if you do any solitaire gaming at all, you vill in in ability, whether you want to oF not, but you must always take the role of spectator and ‘be absolutely’ impartial in your play. | ‘even go fo aich extremes as t0 90 t0 opposite fends of the board rather than maneuver both forces from the ame side of the board, You can, of course, cheer and sympathize with fone side’ as much as you want, But you must always play your best regardless of whieh side is moving, To help you in this at frst, Imagine ‘you have just gone ta a friend's house to play Sand you find that he and a third fiend are in the middle of @ gama, The third friend then leaves and you take over bis forces. Repeat thie hein of thought at the begianing ‘of each side's turn until you are able to play quite impartaly. Of course, there isn such thing as 3 “perfect” system, and to see the big problem in mine, do the following: when you become used to my system, pull out your copy of Midway ‘oF Goeben or some similar game, Once you try i you will sce what I maan, It is almost Impossible (0 be tole with these naval games, ‘Your only course of action is to forget about who wins ‘or loses and make the. battle ‘The problem experienced with naval games can be remedied by changing and/or adding rules, sich az using a die roll for search procedures. however, do not recommend doing this sins ‘you are’ then playing a different game. and therefore lose some of the “educational” value In solitaire worgoming, 1 might also mention that the pu22te type of ‘game can be used with any number of players “whinever there is aot enough tims to complete ‘an actual game, or when no ane wants 9 play 2 full game. The procedure is simply to take turns setting up problems for the other people to solve. Thisean get vory interesting. THE ADVANTAGES OF MODULARIZING YOUR CORRESPONDENCE ... There is very great benefit for the both of us land. expecially for you) if you "modularize” your correspondence | break it out ‘into seporete letters by ‘catagory. Basically, we get six ltferent types of eorespondenee from Vou: 1. Praise, Criticiim and Suggestions and/ (or request for information 2. Orders for Merchandise and Subscrio» Complaints concerning Subscriptions Complaints concerning merchandise (game, book, and/or equipment orders delayed, damaged or unfulfilled). 5. Change of Address Notification 1. Game Rules Questions. You ean greatly expedite the handling of ‘your correspondence if you do not mix the six categories listed above in a given letter. The best thing to-do is to send al correspondence under separate cover ac- cording t0 category. If you find that to be too much trouble, then do the next best thing: put each atogory of correspon- ence on 2 separate sheet of paper (wth Your name and addres on each sheet) and title each sheet with one of the six categories. The very least we would Tike Yyou to do is to Keep your orders separate from all other correspondonee. This will reduce the possibility of error and increase the speed of order fulfillment Game Questions ‘uestions concerning the rules of play and ome procedure will be answered if submitted in the following manner: [AML questions must be acked in a “yer-or-00" format, or ia 9 "multiple choice” format or in such a way that they require a simple one or {wo word. answer. “Questions requiring an esay” answer will not be considered. We simply do not have the staf time available to answer lengthy, essay-type questions. ..nor do wwe have the time to directly answer questions Pertaining to "game design” or Mistorical Fationale, We're soery that we can't spend time with “conversational letters concerning the ames, Dut we feel that you'd rather have us ‘evote the time saved 10 the design of new ‘ames and products. IMPORTANT: All game question leters must be accompanied by 3 stamped, sof addressed envelope, Please write your name snd address {at the top of your letter. Please do not mic ‘ame question letters with any other type of Correspondence Iie, orders, complaints, love letters ete). Pease head your letter with the name of the game that you are inquiting about. If mare than one game is being asked ‘bout, categorize and label your questions By Bamotitie, Remember, most questions can Be answered simply by te-eading the rules (and ‘You can thereby save us and your sof a fot of figimorole), All gome questions and suages tions automatically become the property of Simulations Publications Inc. Address your letters 10: Game-Questions Editor Simulations Publications, Ine. 44 East 23 Street "New York, N.¥. 10010 t10duction to . “Advance yleonics Thie i the third and final instalment in Me Viewmayer’s series. The first and. second instalments sppesred in S&T nes. 15 and 25. Although it should be obvious, we frequently forget thot sbout 1/3 of the war game players who use models ore senressive people, The Balance are artists wo like to paint uniforms, ioramists who like the splendid scenery layouts and actors who like the pageantry, pve Fistorians who like to weenact'a moment ct fof the past — like 2 person born out of hie These latter people are sometioes appalled at the loud. alterations that can occur at 3 ‘wargame, Butt must be remembered that pure ‘worgamers are an aggressive broad, and i only takes (wo to add extra excitement to an otherwise cllized affair So let vs look at what we can do to eliminate these problems and speed up the gare, 1, In farce games, consider dividing the game into" subdivisions, or even separate. boards, ‘ach playing at their own rate, This eliminates slays. Ile people cause mischiet 2, To reduce the number of people for each board, separate beards ean be'put in different rooms, A rule ean be wed to keep players by Fred H. Vietmeyer from one roore from talking while visiting boards with which they are act iavoved, 3, We have found that after» certain number of hours of ploy, fatigue aets in and even lithe thing can couse friction, When we start a game at 10:00 AM, with one hour off fr lunch and Siscussions, ifthe game nas. not been foncluded ‘on the 4:00PM tun or other freed upon time, that turn is concluded and 9 Combet eflectiversss count is made by both ‘dee (considering CE terrain and objectives, i any). H both sides ace still above 75% of ter Srmy strength, then the battle fs a draw It nly one side is dropped Below 75%, it loses the battle, such 9s the Russians at Eylau and 1 both sides have fallen below 75% CE, then the current CE counts are divided by the ‘original “army strength. The side with the Nighwst percentage remsining wins, The oppo. sing side retreats slomly in good cxder inthe ‘oncoming darkness, 4, A question frequently asked is what is far peasy for infringements, interference, ete, We allow g free anillery shot af the enemy opreie commander's choiee, rior tothe pent win. Info ere, et Kp ros 5, How can you feslve rule disputes without ‘an umpire” All diutes should be discussed only Dritty by the involved parsons and no one else, 11M Stuation cannot be resolved quickly, the Players. will explain their position 1 their Fespective gerorala. The two supreme corm tmonsers will then sze if they can arrive at 2 Geeision by themselves, Finally, if necessry, the host wil call for an end to the diseustion ‘2nd o de cast will decide and the result will be Walid for the balance of that gpme, Aor the ome, when all emotion has sibsided,_ the ‘matter can be resolved, perhaps ata later Sate Finally, Jet me change the subject, Having completed your basic arias, you may well be preparing %0 verure into other nationalities, but are. having a. problem finding coloring intormtion for the uniforms, Well, your search is aver. Finally @ two-volume set hasbeen released which hae jus about frerything” L'Uniforme. nt les Armes des Solas du Premier Empire by Liliane and Fred Foncken, Caster man Publisher, 1969, Volume 1 as 74 pages in fll color, showing ‘ver 300 unitores, And Volume II, believe it fr not, essentially duplicates the effort — both copies for an approximete total cost of $14. French, British, Prussian, Russian, Austrian, Spanish, Swedish ete. ave depicted. The text ia Freeh, but this is realy hardly any problem Because country names. 300) the rristary units ce easly discernible & a Kursk Operation Zitadelle, 4 July 1943 $5.00 Stalingrad was not the decisive botle in the ‘east during WAW II, Although the Germans lost 24% of their divisions in Rusti during that campaign they not only survived it, But wore ‘23ain tveatening to overrun the Russians again in the Spring of 1943, Gut they aign't, An attack in May would have had 2 0/50 chance Of success. There wot no attack, A attack in June would have Been oven more succesful There was no attack. An atack in July against the Tully prepared Rustiane was auieise, Thole wien the Germans steuck, with 74 divisions, 22 of ‘ham armored or motorized plus three heavy Tiger tank battalions, heavy Panthor tank” brigade anda battalion of heavy Fercinand seit-propes 88mm guns, Bvt the Russians had over 200 divisions, 25 of them armored, plus numerous artillery, anti-tank and cavalry units. They had also Horii the act of the German offensive, he Kursk saliont, with twoofortited z0905, The Germans were going for broke Kursk is six games in one. Six different Orders of Battle are provided, covering the situations ‘in May, June and July 1943. Two reductions of the playing board are given showing historical placement of nits for the orginal July attack ag well as the Avgust Pustan Summer Offensive. The last senario shows ‘what would have happened ifthe Germans ad ot sttcked” and simply waited forthe Rusian Summer Offensive in July. Kura i 8 division forthe Germans/Corps (Vor Russians) scale ame, Each hex equals 16 Kms, Eoch tuen enuals twa days. Each gome is she turns long, Motorized nite uso. 9, dOubIa movement phase system, Tactical air powoe i ed 22 BIAS FOR BETTER BALANCE KEITH BAKER It almost seems axiomatic that wargamers be dissatisfied with the play balance of thelr fomes, Most have thelr own method for Improving these real or imagined imbalances, ‘These methods are known %0 range from a slight liberalization of the rules. to. the sutreptitious introduction of loaded alee 1, too, have my own favored method of cextablishing play balance. All tht fs needed Ts ‘2 pal of dice, @ rule of correspondence, apd a Tittle time, Oh yes, you have to know how ‘much you want 10 bios the game and for which sce, It Is porhaps easiest to ilustrate the mothod by means of an exemple, rather than attempting a ‘sori verbal explanation, Let us assure that ‘you are dissatisfied with the play balance of Stalingrad and that you figure. playability would be improved by biasing the game in Yovor of the Germans, Actually, the following ‘method works equally well with any single die combst results game and can’ be -eailly ‘madifid tobias any af thor, ‘Step 1 Determine the percentage bias you intend to introduce, Let us assume that you ‘decide the Germans should have 810% ede fn both attack and defense, Step 2 Convert the single dle combet results {able fo a two dice table, Exhibit 1 shows what the Stalingrad ‘able looks lke after it has been ‘expanded t0 2 two dice table, With the single fle table, any presentable madifiation must terms of 1/6. or multiples thereof. By utilizing a two dice table, you are slowed t0 ‘make mosifiations ranging from 1/36. 10 16/36, {See the chance columns in Exhibit 1 for ity of making any single roll of the ‘Step 3 Establish 9 rule of correspondence for both the ottack and defense, A rule of correspondence is merely a ranked order of preference of all posible results in rolling of @ fight. For example, we can assume thatthe Germans In any attack will prefer most to eliminate the enemy and. least. prefer” to. be. themsalvas sliminated, When on the defensive it Isate to saume thatthe Germans will always prefer the Opposite results, The following chart shows fone method of ranking a rule of correspon ence. ORDER OF CORRESPONDENCE Preference Attack Detonse 1 Deliminated ——Actiminated 2 D back 2 A back 2 3 Exchange Exchange 4 A back 2 D back 2 5 Acliminated —Deliminated ‘Stop 4 Determine the number of percentage points needed to effect the chosen bias, Exhibit 1 has eleven columas usd for resolving combat, Each column has 3. pro- bability of 36/36 or 100% of determining reaults All eleven colurmns have 2 probability ‘of 396.396 If you caro to add them up, 19 ferder to bias the odds by 10%, we ned to add 58,6 bf 40 points Into the ‘combat reals 1able, Step 6 will show us how to do this, Step 5 Allocate the bias points as equally as possible among all of the columns in’ the expanded combat results table. If all of the folumns do not have an equal number of bias points (they probably won't), allocate the fextra paints 10 the center coluinn (ExmIbit 2 ‘Shows the suggested distribution of added bias points for our Stalingrad example) ‘Step 6 Increment the bias by applying the rule fof correspondence, In order to increment the bias, you need merely move up in rank (according to the rule of correspondence) precisly the number of bias points allocated {or each column, 19 genera, | try to improve ‘the worst poste altemative, Le, the one With the lowest rank, For exami, let us ‘sume that you have decided to add four bias points to the 1-1” column for an attack Situation, Acconting to Exhibit 1, a ol of five has a probability of 436 and would mean that ‘the attacker Ie eliminated. In an attack situation "A" eliminated has a rank of &. We change the results for a roll of five to "A" ‘back 2 and thus add four bas points tothe 1-1 column, We follow analogous steps for all columns inthe table and thus produce a "German Attack Combat Results Table which is. biawed by 10% in favor of the Germans, Exhibit 2'shows a completed table, In order to produce a table wich is biased in favor of the German defense, we simply follow. the same steps with the’ defen rule of correspondence. Exhibit 3 shows a completod table which is blazed by 10% in favor of the German defense, ‘Step 7 Ploy the game, The Germans will use Exhibit 2 to resolve any of thelr attacks and the Russians will use Exhibit 3 to resolve thelr stacks, Otherwiar the rules of the game remain unchanged, The only difference le that the game is now biased In favor of the Germans by 10%, ‘As you can se, its perfectly possible to bias the” gone to. whatever extent you. feel acesiary In order t0 Improve ploy ability. | have, myst, used the tables many times and personally feel that they greatly Improve the Play balance of Stalingrad. The uso of these fables does not autometically result Ino Victory for” the Germans, It is possible (but Father unlikely) to play an entire game and fever roll any. of the numbers which give the Germans an edge, But, in the ong run, I think ‘that you will find thet the use of these tables oes improve the German's chances by about 10%. We've Changed Our Address How about that... second time in twolve ‘months, We've moved our main offices to larger" and “infinitely. more wonderful carters right Up the block from our old ftddress, Direct ai mal to Simulations Publications, Ine. 44 East 23rd Street ‘New York, N.Y. 10010 Not so diferent from the old adress, inn fact it's fait easy to confuse with the old address... the only diference is that now it's Forty-four (44) instead of ‘Thiny-tour (34) East 23d Steet. Don't \worry about any mail you've recently sont Xo our old addrest~ the Postal Service wil forward it ous. Who Are YOU? ‘The customer isn’t aways right... expe cially when he forgets to include his name fd ‘address with his order! We've come across this problem a distressing number Of times (particularly with Business Reply fenvelopes people simply neglect to fill ‘ut the address block). Now wo appreciate ‘getting your money and everything, but ‘we really do want to fulfil your order, 30 plese include your name, addres and Zip. Is good proctice to put full address information on every sheet of paper you send us (we're not so perfect either). Do hot raly upon the return address on the outside’ of your envelope . .. envelopes ‘may get torn or schmesred when handled allsafe” your order by putting your adress on each sheet. Thanks! A Brief, Physical Description of Simulation Series Games ‘The physical quality of Simulation Series Gamos is very similar to that of the games included in iaues of Strategy & Tactics, “The primary diferences are (1.) the map i= produced on heavy cardstock 9s opposed 10 the lightweight stock used in magazine ‘games, (2.)a dio is included and (3.) the map is only folded twice (down to approx: imately 11" x 14") and the game. is shipped in 2 plain envelope with a corru: fated. stiffener (unboxed). Usually, Simulation. Series games have a. great amount of uxilary tables end. gome charts included with them. EXHIBIT 1 Expanded Combat Rests Table (Unbiased) Die Roll Die Chance ‘Combat Odds eet er 2 79612.8%) Ab2AB2_AZ AZ ABZ ADDR ez 3 236(56%) Ab2_—«AL2_—=sA2_=AZsEX EX © DZ_CBCOb e2 4 390(89%) Ae = Ab2_ADZ As Aw Ak De 5 436(11.1%) Ae Ae Ae_SABZs ee ABZ De 6 S36139%) Ae Ae Ae Ab Ae Ae Ex De 7 63616.7%) Ae Ae -—AB2._—s ApS? CDeSDk«S CO De 8 536(13.9%) Ac AeA ABZ ABZ HDR De ° 430(11.1%) Ae ese ABZSEx Ex DBZ_BR_ De 10 336(83%) Ae ABZ_—ABZ_ Aa ABZ ABZ Ase De u 2.96(5.6%) Ab2 ABZ ~—«AZ_~=«=«ALZ_=—«=S«ADZ~=—=ADZ_=—AB2?~Cb2 Sb? ez 2 1-36(28%) Ab2_—«Ab2_ABZ_= ABZ AMZ ADK ERB Dez EXHIBIT 2 Gorman Attack Combat Results Table (10% bias) Die Roll Die Chance Combat Odds ec a 2 1¥3612.8%) Aez Ab2 ABZ AZ ABZ DBZ EX DZ hZ Oe 3 2.3615.6%) Ab? Ab?sAb2_Ss«E=SCEk=—«B2Ss(DeS«(eSCiS Ce 4 336(8.3%) Ex -Ab2_seAe A Dee 5 496 (11.1%) Ae Ab2—Ab2 ~—Ab2 ~

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