Morschauser Horse and Musket Rules - sort of.

 These are the rules we used for our New Year's Eve remote game, based upon the rules in Joseph Morschauser's book, How to play Wargames in Miniature, including somr of the ideas he sets for in the later chapters of the book, and using a gridded tabletop (which he subsequently became a great advocate of). The grid speeds play and works especially well with a remote gaming set up. 

Following that is the same set updated a bit from the experience of playing the last game. 

Morschauser-style gridded Horse and Musket Rules, Mark 1

Unit Type	Move-inches	Move-boxes	Hits	Melee- Front	Melee- Other
Light Infantry	15”	5	4	2	1
Infantry	12”	4	5	3	1
Grenadiers	12”	4	6	4	1
Light Cavalry	18”	6	4	4	2
Heavy Cavalry	15”	5	6	5	2
Artillery	12”	4	3	1	1
Leaders	18”	6	2	1	1

For gridded game, costs 1.5 to move on the diagonal

Costs 3”/1 box for each turn of up to 90 degrees

Increase Move by 50% if the entire move is along a road. 

In melee roll as many dice as hits remaining to the unit, Each die scoring the melee value or less is a hit on the enemy.

Minus 1 to melee when attacking uphill, from stream, into woods, or units in buildings

Unit Type	Range-inches	Range-boxes	To Hit	Special
Light Infantry	18”	6	4, 5, 6	May enter Woods
Infantry	18”	6	5, 6
Grenadiers	18”	6	5, 6
Light Cavalry	12”	4	6
Heavy Cavalry	N/A	N/A	N/A	No shooting
Artillery-Shot	48”	16	4, 5 ,6
Artillery-Grape	12”	4	2, 3, 4 ,5, 6
Leaders	Must stay w/in 24”/8 boxes of his command; units farther away move ½ speed. May Rally once per turn 1,2 = fail, 3,4,5,8 = 1 hit,

Units may Fire at the beginning or end of their move, but not in between.

Each unit gets one shot, no matter how many hits it has taken, until eliminated.

Minus 1 to shooting into woods, behind walls, or in buildings.

Units in a stream or ford may not shoot.

If entering an enemy zone of control (within 3”/the 3 boxes to the front) must stop, and melee will result. Must face into the box of at least one enemy unit whose ZOC you enter.

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Morschauser-style gridded Horse and Musket Rules, Mark 2

Organize the Army into commands, each with a Leader. Leaders only affect their Command.

Players alternate turns. Dice for who goes first at the beginning of the game. 

Unit Type	Move-inches	Move-boxes	Hits	Melee- Front	Melee- Other
Militia Infantry	6”	2	2	2	1
Light Infantry	9”	3	4	2	1
Infantry	6”	2	5	3	1
Grenadiers	6”	2	6	4	1
Light Cavalry	15”	5	4	4	2
Heavy Cavalry	12”	4	6	5	2
Artillery	6”	2	3	1	1
Leaders	18”	6	2	1	1

For gridded game, counts as 1.5 boxes to move or measure range on the diagonal

Costs  1.5”/1/2 box for each turn of 45 degrees

Increase Move by 50% if the entire move is along a road. 

Only Light Infantry may enter woods. Cavalry and Artillery may not enter buildings.

If entering an enemy zone of control (within 3”/the 3 boxes to the front) must stop, and melee will result. Must face into the box of at least one enemy unit whose ZOC you enter.

All defending units who are attacked, or have an enemy in their ZOC may fight in melee. 

Minus 1 to melee when attacking uphill, from stream, into woods, or units in buildings

Minus 1 to melee if their Command is Shaken. 

Units losing a melee Fall Back 6” (2 boxes), facing the enemy.

Unit Type	Range-inches	Range-boxes	To Hit	Special
Militia Infantry	12”	4	5, 6
Light Infantry	12”	4	4, 5, 6	May enter Woods
Infantry	12”	4	5, 6
Grenadiers	12”	4	5, 6
Light Cavalry	9”	3	6
Heavy Cavalry	N/A	N/A	N/A	No shooting
Artillery-Shot	48”	16	4, 5 ,6
Artillery-Grape	12”	4	2, 3, 4 ,5, 6
Leaders	Must stay w/in 18”/6 boxes of his command; units farther away move ½ speed. May Rally one unit once per turn 1,2 = fail, 3,4,5,6 = 1 hit regained

Each unit gets one shot, no matter how many hits it has taken, until eliminated.

Units may Fire at the beginning or end of their move, but not in between

Minus 1 to shooting into woods, behind walls, or in buildings.

Minus 1 to shooting if their Command is Shaken. 

Units in a stream or ford may not shoot.

Units suffering 2 or more hits due to fire in a single turn Fall Back 6’/2 boxes, facing the enemy. 

Morale 

Command Morale: When ½ of the units in a Command have been removed it becomes Shaken and must immediately retreat 12”/4 boxes. Units which are part of a Shaken Command move at half speed, except to the rear (retreating), and suffer an additional minus 1 penalty to shooting and melee. 

Army Morale: When all the Commands in an army are Shaken the General must concede. 

Extras

Guard troops 

are treated as their type, but get two additional hit boxes. Should be very limited!

Poorly motivated troops and less than enthusiastic allied troops could also be handled like the Militia.

Leader Quality 

Roll a D6 for each Leader at the start of the game:

1,2= Poor (minus 1 to Rally rolls)

3,4 = Average (no change)

5,6 = Superior (plus 1 to rally rolls; a modified “7” = 2 hits regained!

The quality roll itself could be modified -1 for armies with overall poor leadership, and +1 for armies with excellent overall leadership.

Peleset (Philistine) Warbands, Skirmishers, and Leaders

Along with the Hittites, there were quite a few other Chariot era figures I acquired from Bill's collection. Those needing the least work were the Peleset warriors. 

These figures were very familiar to me, as I have them in my collection already - Old Glory!

They were well painted, and just needed reorganizing, rebasing, and minimal touchup. 

Note the black lining on the tunic pattern!

The second unit has a white "kilt" with an orange pattern...

and a blue head dress.

Very menacing looking!

These additions will double the size of my Peleset forces. The Pelset were one of the Sea Peoples, and are often equated with the Philistines of the Bible. 

Some surplus figures were used to make a unit of skirmishers...

and a couple of leaders/heroes.

Since the Old Glory figures come 30 to a pack, I did much the same thing with mine!

A little dry brushing altered the colors of the head dress feathers 

to Turquoise and Orange from the base blue and  dark red.

Last Game of 2020: Morschauser hosted on Skype!

   On New Year's Eve (but well before cocktail hour!) Jon (Palouse Wargaming Journal) and I played a remote game by Skype. The rules were based upon those in Joe Morschauser's book, How to play Wargames in Miniature.  It was my second attempt at hosting a remote game, and some things went well, and others... didn't. The new webcam installed easily and worked fine... except in Black and White!* I had planned to use my i-phone and i- pad as additional cameras to give different views of the table, but it looks like each needs a unique email address and username for that to work. I'll have to try setting that up for the next attempt. Anyway, Jon kindly observed that the B&W images added to the "Old School" feel of the game. We both felt that we should perhaps have worn jackets for the game! I observed that  it was a bit early in the day, even on the East Coast and on New Year's Eve, for the proverbial glass of Port!

* I tried unsuccessfully to adjust the camera settings. An internet search after the game solved the issue- you can't change the camera settings and have them take effect while Skype is running - you have to log out of Skype, then change the camera settings, then log back in to Skype. I did that, and it worked fine; I now have color with the webcam, just a day late! 

Test set up for fit on one of my brown paper battlefields with a 4" grid; 16 boxes in each direction, a little over 5 feet. 

I went over the above grid with a thick black Sharpie (felt tipped pen) to make it heavier and more obvious for remote gaming. I chose a scenario from OHW; the river is everywhere fordable, but in order for the supply trains of the advancing armies to pass, control of both ends of both bridges is required. The ridges are from the items I acquired from Pastimes on the Square late in 2020. The fields are purely decorative. 

Your host tying to set up his i-phone as an auxiliary camera.

Each army was identical, 8 units of Line Infantry, 2 Light Infantry, 2 Grenadiers, 2 batteries, 1 Heavy Cavalry and 2 Light Cavalry. I took the Swedes (near) and Jon the Russians (far). Each army had three command groups with the main effect being the ability of the Command group leader to attempt to rally losses off of one of his units once per turn.  We alternated setting up one command group at a time

View from the Russian side after 2 moves, The combat is centering around the bridges, as expected. As soon as we started to shoot, it became apparent that the planned shooting rules would be far too bloody, and more like playing a WW1 game in the open!  The rules were promptly adjusted by mutual consent (I'll present them with thoughts in a separate post). 

Mid game: The Russian Hussar had charged over the bridge, eliminating a unit of Swedish Jagers; on my move the Swedish Light Dragoons have countercharged!

At the other bridge, the battle of attrition favored the Swedes;t he Life Grenadiers have just charged across the bridge, eliminating one of Jon's batteries. The dice in the background show that I got 3 hits (needing a 4 or less) rolling 6 dice, just enough to eliminate the artillery. 

Late game overview- the far bridge is about to fall into Swedish hands; there is but one very battered Russian defender left (each "rock" represents a hit on the unit). At the near bridge, the Swedes are battered and vulnerable; only the Andra Lifguard opposite the bridge are in any kind of shape!

Situation at game's end; Jon concedes , being down to just a battered unit of Pavlov Grenadiers and a battery for the Russians vs 2 batteries, 1 Line infantry and 1 Jager for the Swedes.

    As expected, Jon was a gracious player and a lot of fun to game with.  The rules were bloody, as expected, and need a few clarifications, a bit more robust command and control function, and some basic morale added to them. Still, they fit on one side of a piece of paper, and gave a game that lasted about 2 hours. If I had never fought a wargame before, they would be easy to pick up, and we both had fun playing the game. Although the mechanics of fighting are completely different, the game reminded me a lot of those that we played at the home of Charlie Sweet in Bristol, CT, way back when I was ages 18-22 (!), and also some later Napoleonic games at the home of Joe Polsen in Stamford, CT, using his beautifully painted Napoleonic collection. 

2020 in hindsight

 

In the aggregate, I am sure this is how most of us feel about the year now concluded! 

    Well, it's time for an accounting of the most unusual year in memory! Personally, I was very glad NOT to be self employed, as many of my physician colleagues were severely effected by the  sharp drop off in patient visits from March through July. I was also fortunate that no one in our family has contracted the disease thus far, and none of my patients who have gotten it died (although several still have no sense of taste or small 6+ months later). There were 300,000+ in the US who were not so fortunate. My employer, Nuvance Health Network, like most health care organizations in the US, had a 150 million dollar budget loss as direct result of Pandemic effects. Not good! On the other hand we coped with the flood of Covid patients in the Spring better than most, and are weathering the storm so far this winter. Hopefully the month of January is not as bad with Covid-19 as we fear it will be! 

    All of our vacation plans were cancelled this year, becoming "stay-cations". Like many, the resultant savings were diverted into home improvements. Despite the huge global burden of illness and economic hardship, the explosion of Telemedicine ("virtual visits") was for the most part a plus. Most of us painted more figures than usual, with little else to do. Remote gaming allowed some of us to actually game more in 2020 than we have in a long time. 

Expenses:

October 2020

Staples  $112.61 (still more Really useful Boxes - 20% off sale), Pastimes on the Square $84.10 (Terrain items)

November 2020

Wargames Vault $10.64 (Starmada pdf's), Foundry $149.41 (Christmas sale - French Legere, assorted Chariot era figures). 

December 2020
On Military Matters $33.95 (copy of Big Bloody Battles - Jared's school group has used for big Napoleonic battles)

4th Quarter Totals: $390.50

3rd Quarter Totals: $943.67

2nd Quarter Totals: $123.40

1st Quarter Totals: $567.21

Year 2020:  $2,024.78

Review of 2020 Expense Goal: I increased the allowance to $2000. Goal met!

Commentary: Almost half of this was the replacement of my Wizard Kraft terrain; actual figure purchases were low, and no convention expense this year :-(. 

Prior years: $2,684.49 for 2019, $2,671.52 for 2018, so about a 30% drop from prior years, mostly attributable to no Historicon expenses. 

Painting:

October 2020

Henry Bard's Regt of Foote (20 figures/100 pts), Edward Fitton's Regt of Foote (20/100), 6 Chariots* w/ 18 crew (120 pts)  

November 2020

Hittite Spearmen* (24/60 pts), 12 Chariots* (240 pts)

December 2020
Hittite Axemen* (24/60 pts), Hittite Guardsmen (24/60 pts), Hittite Skirmishers and Leaders (10/ 25 pts), LI Slingers* (28/70 pts), LI Archers* (16/ 40 pts), LI Javelinemen* (46/115 pts)

4th Quarter Totals: 1,090 points (* I have counted refurbished units at half normal). 

3rd Quarter Total:  650 points 

2nd Quarter Totals: 1,450 points

1st Quarter Totals: 555 points

Year 2020: 3,745 points

Army	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery	Command	Points
Napoleonic  French	360			170	530
Napoleonic Austrian	180	160	220	185	845
ECW (roughly 50/50 K or P)	400				400
Ancient Macedonia	520	120		10	650
Ancient Roman		220		30	250
Ancient Thracian	120	200			320
Ancient Hittite	205	360			565
Ancient Canaanite	225				225
Siege Artillery			80		80

Essex Renaissance Gendarmes on the painting table. 

Review of 2020 Painting Goals:

"I expect painting output may fall this year as well; still, I'd like to do at least 2000 points worth."  Goal markedly exceeded, a Covid-19 side effect!

1)  Once again, the lead for a large Macedonian Army I picked up several years ago is high on the list. Some progress was finally made on that front, but the bulk of the lead remains unpainted! Goal met, although some Macedonian/Thracian lead does remain.

2) Add to my French and Austrian Napoleonic armies (already my largest, mind you), in preparation for both the 1809 Campaign in a Day on the Danube (see below), and a 2021 or later return to the Battle of Wagram. Goal met.

3) Rebase the Chariot era troops from Bill McHugh's Collection to my system. Goal met.

4) Maybe some additional ECW reinforcements late in the year (needs the Old Glory Order)

Added 4 regiments of Foote; Goal met. 

5) Paint the Murawski Polish Horse Artillery and Krakus. Of course, should they chose to do the Baden Hussars, those will rise to the top of the list! No progress... but Murawski just announced they are planing on doing the Baden Hussars!

6) Paint some of the backlog of Great Italian Wars troops (recurring unmet goal!). I have some of the exquisite Eureka Gendarmes assembled and primed, though! Goal not met, but there is a unit on the painting table nearing completion. 

7) Avoid starting any new projects! Goal met. 

Commentary: just barely an all time high since I started tracking the stats; not surprising with the Pandemic effects! Prior years 1,941 in 2019, 2,857 in 2018, 3,717 in 2017, 3,320 in 2016. Given the large unpainted reserve and low figure purchases, the lead pile has shrunken this year. 

Games:

October 2020

Worksop,  16 December 1460 (Test of Resolve), "Garden Party" (Macedon vs Republican Rome, TTS!)

November 2020

Bosworth Field,  22nd August, 1485 (ToR), 1st Newbury September 20, 1643 (ECW, solo, FoB3)

December 2020

Barnet 15th April 1471 (ToR), Tewkesbury 4th May 1471 ToR), Battle of Leppävirta March 11th 1808 (Neil Thomas OHW), Henrik at the Bridge (Modified Morschauser rules, report to come)

4th Quarter Totals: 8 (1 FTF outside, 2 solo, 5 Remote)

3rd Quarter Total: 5 (1 solo, 4 Zoom)

2nd Quarter Totals: 11 (2 solo, 9 Zoom)

1st Quarter Totals: 2 (1 solo, 1 assist with Jared's school Campaign in a Day event). 

Year 2020: 26 (6 solo, 2 FTF, 18 Remote)

Review of 2020 Gaming Goals:

Try to exceed 12 games run/assisted with/played in again this year. Greatly exceeded!

We are due to start a Warplan 5/5 based multiplayer game this year. My country is the Kingdom of Obajosa, based upon Napoleonic Spain, and using my Spanish army, Pandemic casualty thus far. 

Run a Campaign in a Day at The Portal in Manchester, CT, again this spring, based upon the April, 1809 "Crisis on the Danube" .  Pandemic casualty; everything was set up, had to be cancelled a few weeks before the event. Maybe Fall 2021? 

Run the same (doubtless with some changes) at Historicon in July; most likely that will be the last time I'll do a Campaign in a Day at Historicon, but you never know!  :-)  

Historicon itself was a Pandemic casualty! Would not attempt in 2021, maybe 2022?

Probably run a Siege game using Vauban's Wars at Historicon. Pandemic casualty, maybe 2021. 

The Historicon theme this year provides little inspiration for me for other games, aside from the outside possibility of a French Revolutionary Balloon Corps appearance; color that unlikely! That means one or more smaller  1809 games with Field of Battle 3rd edition are likely to be on the roster. One or more games with To the Strongest/For King and Parliament are likely. Pandemic casualty!

With the return to Lancaster, I might even run a Sunday morning game! Not in 2020, Bub!

Jared and I have discussed doing a version of the 1809 Campaign in a Day at his Game club this summer, possibly with different rules. Pandemic casualty, remotely possible for 2021. 

I haven't decided yet whether to attend HAVOC in April this year and run a game there; I find the drive there and back to be long, and would probably be better served just doing a game at home. On the other hand, a game from Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is a possibility. 

HAVOC was another Pandemic Casualty.

Commentary: 

Like everyone else, games this year were pretty much solo or remote, or little at all. Tyhe list of unmet goals due to the Pandemic is of course long. Still, the total was impressive- averaging a game every 2 weeks. That is the most games I have played in a year since High School. Remote games certainly aren't ideal, but they do allow us to play with opponents 1,000 or more miles away, and you can't beat the driving times! Gaming certainly looks to be limited to solo and remote through the first half of 2021, aside from perhaps some outside gaming by late Spring. Each of my two attempts at hosting remote games encountered issues, but each time the issues were solved after the fact, positioning things better for the next outing. 

Blogging:

There were 107 posts in 2020, an all time high. For what little it is worth in the bot era, cumulative page views have now exceed 1.3 Million. 

Review of 2020 Blogging Goals: Maintain about the same number of Blog posts - circa 80 - 100 per year. Goal exceeded.

Rules:
A quite active year - assisted with some proofreading of FoB3, playtesting Vauban's Wars (which was released in q$ 2020, and really needs a post of its own), many Zoom play test games for Wars of the Roses "Test of Resolve". New rules tried - Galleys and Galleons for my 15 mm Renaissance Galleys, FoB3-ECW, Neil Thomas OHW (Napoleonic), Morschauser-based Horse and Musket rules.

Review of 2020 Rules Goals:  I have a lot of sets that I want to try out, and did none of that last year (see last years planning post!); maybe 2020 will be the year! Goal met... but even more rules I want to try out still!

Happy New Year, all, and a not so fond farewell to 2020!