<Salute> Sir,
I believe your point is very valid and well made. I contend that moving a force of any size through a town, of any reasonable size, is fair to causing delay, confusion and disorder and a penalty for so doing is warranted. The caveat to this might be that it is only relevant in the initial stages/hours/day of a game and specifically with reference to the civilian population element of impediment given they will have either fled to the surrounding countryside or locked themselves into their homes as time progresses. It might also be considered that if continuous bodies of troops pass through a town/city that some enterprising commander may ‘mark the way’ for following forces in some manner.
Leaving aside, for a moment, the actual reality of moving a body of troops, a large body, through any unfamiliar/unknown built up urban area particularly within the period referred to, let’s first examine what the game provides us. Our games provide us a map and on it a town, big or small, with clear roads running through it, simple. If we want to maneuver a ‘force’ from one side to the other we merely follow the road, again simple. As you stated it does not take account of, and in particular in larger towns or even cities, the likelihood of getting lost or at the very least taking a wrong turn, wrong road etc. creating delay and confusion. If we take a wrong turn in a journey, we simply turn around and backtrack. In our individual case it’s not a problem or even for a small group perhaps, but for a body of 3,000 men, it has the makings of a nightmare of confusion and disorder I believe. Now it could be said that any commander attempting to do this would in all likelihood have the route for his force scouted/reconnoitred in advance where possible. But in our games we do not even need to go to that trouble and hence we don’t. We are however dealing with a period before the advent of organised traffic control systems, military police, in a possibly hostile environment or at the very least an unknown area and with perhaps insufficient or indeed no maps whatsoever of the locale. It also does not take account of the civilian population as stated, either fleeing or indeed welcoming, but in either event creating further obstruction, confusion and delay. We simply follow the road that takes us through the town/city, once again, simple or too simple perhaps, even too easy ! Obviously within our game system there is no way to model this other than house rule it by imposing a movement penalty.
A point of note: Gettysburg covers 31 hexes, 7 hexes North to South & 8 hexes East to West at it’s widest point. The same on a lesser and greater scale applies to both Corinth @ 24 hexes, 7 hexes East to West & 5 hexes North to South and Vicksburg @ 168 hexes, 15 hexes North to South & 17 hexes East to West ! 17 hexes equates to over 2,000 yards, 1.2 miles approx. of urban roads, streets etc, possibly constricted and narrow and not necessarily conducive to moving a large body of troops. Another House Rule and another debate but given the circumstances outlined well justified, in my opinion, in the case of a reasonable or larger sized town or city.
_________________ Karl McEntegart Major General Officer Commanding Army of Tennessee Make my enemy brave and strong, so that if defeated, I will not be ashamed.
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