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Ivan: Perhaps what’s needed to better model the chaos and personal relationships of Dark Age and Medieval combat is trying to incorporate some schizophrenia into the mix. Everybody is thinking about this question from a European, top-down and Westphalian perspective when reasonably well trained armies were “commanded and controlled” by officers who, whether they were competent or not, had a reasonable expectation that their troops and subordinate officers would do as they were told, if an order was given and received. There was considerable social conditioning to obey orders drilled into folk and the cost of not obeying orders was very high. However in the Dark Ages and Medieval period in most of Europe such well conditioned and well trained armies were uncommon outside of Byzantium and the later Mongol armies. So maybe the C&C approach for Dark Age and Medieval combat should be turned upside down?! Rather than being commander-centric, why not start with key subordinate commanders and generate traits and abilities/disabilities or strengths/weaknesses for each of them randomly during a one-off game or at start of a campaign game and then replace or reshuffle them, demote or promote them as the battles unfold in a campaign. Each subordinate will have a small suite of “moves” which he (or she) will use in combat or conflict. Thus have the job of the CinC be the managent of these various personalities and their strengths/weaknesses to execute their moves for victory points. Whichever player does the best job of managing these wilful and not necessarily fully cooperative subordinates will gain the most victory points and will ultimately win the game (even if they might loose the battle). Finally a game where a well executed rearguard action might win the game even though the retreating army lost he battle! The Song of Roland being brought to life! Using this bottom-up command/management perspective, siege warfare might be fun to play too. Managing your subordinates as they deal with boredom, disease, intrigue, duels of honour or vengeance, harassing enemy raids, securing lines of supply, etc. could make investing a castle or a fortified town a fun game without necessitating a suicidal frontal attack. How could subordinates be managed? That’s a question for the game designer to work out. Skill tests, contested rolls based on trait scores, whatever you need to get it right. C&Cs would also have traits and strengths/weaknesses but unlike subordinates they would not be randomly determined, but would rather be bought by players before the start of the game or campaign. Then players would use their traits and abilities to shape the intelligence gathering, preparations, execution and exploitation/resolution of the conflict at hand. Scenarios could include non-combat challenges which the C&C might have to use prescious resources to manage (like disease, shortages of monies, malnutrition or bad food among the troops, the arrival of the Dominicans and their Inquisition, etc. to add additional frictions into the mix. Oh, and then there is the battle too! Giscard de Tours is a drunken sot, prone to debauchery but is a formidable and charismatic subordinate whose followers idolise him and who is prone to impetuos military improvisation. Haloric of Aachen is a cunning polititician but a poor combatant and only a fair sub-commander but he is ambitious and well connected politically and financially. Bishop Imar – the Hammer of God is a religious fanatic and a brutal Church Militant who will never spare a Saracen or a heretic but who has the ears of the Pope and his bankers. Bezu the Barbican is a clever and resourceful mercenary with formidable tactical skills and very well trained soldiers, but he does not want to waste the lives of his well-trained men and will wait until the moment is right to strike, even if his C&C thinks otherwise. How will each player manage a preparation for battle and a battle with four or five such individuals as subordinates serving them? There’s your C3I challenge! Now have at it and then we’ll begin pushing pretty lead minis about the table while you both sort that out. Cheers and good gaming. Rod Robertson.
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I remember reading in “Battle for Wargamers” or “Military Modelling” at one of the London wargame shows in the late 70’s – early 80’s about a Star trek game where the players had to don thick gloves and baseball helmets when the ships lost life support and the game was played by having to move small card counters for action / events.I played in a couple of those games; first as an umpire, and then in another game as the admiral of the Orions.
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