Steve's Simple Wargaming Q&A for Fields of Honor

Homework time.  Steve's Sound Officers Call blog recently featured a post on the Allure of Simple Wargaming.  In that post, Steve presented a case for simple wargaming and proposed a closer look into that genre of quick to learn, easy to play rules.  A handful of rulesets were identified as likely candidates and a list of post-battle questions posited to apply to each of the games played in his experimental study.

I took up the challenge and applied Steve’s questions to my recent games of Fields of Battle: AWI.  See battle report, Action at Mill Creek Redux for a blow-by-blow presentation of the battle used in completing the following Q&A.

Steve's post-battle questions (and a few of my own) with my responses follow:

• Rules: Fields of Honor: AWI.
• Rules' complexity: Simple.
• Period: American War of Independence.
• Gridded/Open:  Both GRIDDED and OPEN rules are included.  I used GRIDDED with four inch hexes.  Any conversion between hex and open form is easy.
• Figure size: 15mm.
• Table size: Small with a grid of 8x6 4 inches hexes. 
• Method of play: Solo.
• Scenario: Action at Mill Creek.
• Scenario Author:  Derived from Norm's scenario of the same name as found in his Two Flags - One Nation rules.  Modified slightly and transported back into time for the AWI.
• Victory conditions:  British player must take the bridge and have two regiments on the heights before sustaining 50% units lost. 
• Game duration: About one and a half hours including note taking and photos.
• Number of in-game rules' consultations:  Two.  One to check on leader casualty procedure and the second to confirm mechanisms for multiple attackers vs a single defender in melee.  No more than two minutes to find and interpret the answer in each case.
• Battle victor: American defenders in a closely contested battle that went down to the wire.
• Contributing factors to victory:  Attacking is hard work especially when only slightly outnumbering defenders in good ground.  The British suffered heavy casualties in the first fire exchange losing one regiment and having two others damaged.  Later, Smallwood's regiment destroyed two regiments in quick succession.  Having the American officer only wounded rather than killed by a sniper may have prevented an American defeat.  Although the British were clearing Rebels from the American right rapidly, it was too little too late. 
• Game satisfaction (0-None to 5-Complete): 4.
• Reason for satisfaction score:
• Pros: Sequence of Play is straightforward without complication.  With nine units per side in this small battle, play was quick.  Only a handful of modifiers needed for each of FIRE/MELEE/MORALE resolution.  Not all modifiers are applicable in every situation and quickly can be committed to memory.  Resolution of each interaction is fast.  Unit quality modifiers highlight the differences between the various troop types.  British line definitely fight with different attributes than do American militia.  Unit attributes easily adaptable by Quality Modifiers to account for a wide variety of troop traits.  Total possible combinations of unique unit qualities is 125 (5x5x5).  Sequencing of the turn phases lends to dynamic game play.  A feel for a tense battle ebb and flow as each combatant takes a turn putting the enemy off balance before the turn reverts to the opponent.  The Events Table adds some uncertainty and creative randomness into the battle.  These events can aid in driving an interesting narrative.  The in-game narrative developed during play was engaging especially with the battle hanging in the balance on every turn.  System uses 1D10 having uniform distribution but in this case, 1D10 variability is no issue since there are no opposed differential computations.  Solitaire suitability very high.  Game was very enjoy as a solo exercise.  Rules work well with my single element BMUs.  
• Cons: Rules have some ambiguity and are not as complete for all situations but omissions are easily resolved.  Leaders are all rated the same with a +1 DRM for FIRE/MELEE/MORALE CHECKS when attached.  When faced by a high ratio of leaders to units, leaders may become too effective in driving an attack or defense.  With sections of the rules written for both hex/counter and miniatures, there is some confusion and overlap.  Some inconsistency in the tabled values between text and back cover QRS.  

• Extraordinary, noteworthy, heroic, or cowardly events:  See battle report linked above for a fully detailed examination of the action.  A few notable events include:
• Pennsylvanians on first turn discover they are low on ammo with a Calamity Event.  They will remain so for the entire battle.
• With the British left hitting the 7th Penn hard near the bridge with six hits and needing only three hits to destroy the unit, the PA boys shrugged off four of those hits to remain on the battlefield.
• With the American right reeling under heavy pressure from the attacking British, Smallwood's regiment marches up the hill to plug the gap created by the retreating Americans.  Smallwood then proceeds to scatter the British 9th Foot before descending the hill to destroy the British 4th Foot and retake the bridge.

Having gotten Fields of Honor out onto the gaming table for two games, I plan to keep this easy to play game in my back pocket for days in which I want a light but satisfying gaming experience.  With the Fields of Honor AWI version fresh in mind, I am tempted to use the older and more detailed, colonial version to tackle the Spanish-American War.  I ought to capitalize on the groundwork laid learning the AWI version.