Leadership in the Campaign

 

Above : Mclellen (see attributions below)

Perhaps the last thing I need to consider before I can possibly throw some counters on a map and set up my rosters of starting forces is how the War Between the States rules on leaders and my table top V&B battles will interplay. How and when does McClennen appear on the map and what will his board wargame counter translate to on the tabletop ? What abilities will they have on the tabletop as a result of their abilities at the strategic level. 

The strategic rules come complete with a set of counters which model 2 star to 5 star leaders right through the war. 2 star leaders are capable on the map of commanding a division plus one brigade (a X 1-3 or X2-3 counter). A 2 star leader can take temporary command of a Corps in the event that the corps commander becomes a casualty. 3 star leaders can command corps. 4 and 5 Star leaders may command either army or corps headquarters counters (which appear in a piecemeal fashion during strategic turns at historically appropriate times). In addition they are able to amplify command to separate commands held by 2 or 3 star leaders or further individual brigade or division counters up to their command span. 2 and 3 star leader counter have an initiative and a combat value (in that order) and 4 and 5 start leaders have an additional middle value of their command span. 

Both sides begin with a small  roster of leaders. For the confederacy  (Initiative - Command Span - Combat Value) :-

• J Johnston **** (3-3-1);
• Gustave Toutant-Beauregard **** (3-3-1);
• Magruder ** (3-1);
• Polk *** (2-1); 
• Price *** (commanding the Missouri forces described in a previous post) (2-1) 

There are 33 additional leader counters that appear between August 1861 and June 1864. Robert E Lee is appointed overall commander with 5 stars and some decent statistics in June 1861 - prior to that he had an unsucessful  junior command in the early moves in West Virginia and then acted as an advisor to Jefferson Davis and focused on the engineering defences for Richmond.  

On the Union side they begin with the following :-

• Butler **** (0-1-0);
• Lyon ** (4-2);
• McClellan ***** (1-5-2); and
• McDowell *** (2-0) 

A further 40 or so leaders are then generated from July 1861 to May 1864.

The star ratings, initiative and command start data will be useful for command and control on the map for strategic moves and the construction of field commands. In terms of actual battlefield performance I need to look to the V&B rules and campaign and House Divided campaign supplement to see what leadership effects need to be modelled on the table top from any counters present during a combat encounter. In general terms a set number of units or the units under a leader can move based on a chit draw from a pool for each weekly turn phase governed by the year in question or additionally by the a roll against an individual leaders initiative. The general rule is that you need to use up your free moves for individual "forces" first (counters, or the counters under the command of a commander) before rolling against the initiative value for each leader. So for Beauregard below you can either use one of the handful of free force moves allowed for the month or roll a 3 or less after then. The implication is that a side should make sure that any priority movements are given automatic moves as there is no guarantee that a particular leader will be able to move after. You are not permitted to ascertain which leaders will have initiative and then to provide free moves accordingly. It seems a good system forcing a proper consideration of priorities within a fixed resource of "focus" and "talent" within each sides command structure. On the union side any history of the war is replete with examples of Abraham Lincoln hounding his commanders to activity only to be faced with continued stasis. In the Western theatre the inability of confederate commanders such as Braxton Bragg to follow up any tactical success on the battlefield with strategic movement to secure a meaningful victory cost dearly. 

Within the V&B rules table top rules command bases operate at the Divisional, Corps and Army level. Those bases can apply command to a grouping of stands within 6 inches or 6 inches of each other. I will need to decide whether a force without a senior command stand available should have a generic two star general provided to it. I think not - leadership was a clear and decisive factor within phases of the war. At times certain leaders would just not behave in an aggressive way. At other times a good cadre of available leaders were able to create clear strategic and tactical advantages by the use of rapid and effective marches. Units that lack command on the battlefield will suffer a series of detriments :-

• They are unable to move closer to an enemy (i.e. they will need to simply remain on the defensive or withdraw from the battlefield);
• Movements are reduced by half and cause disorder - disordered units out of command not being able to recover from that status;
• Out of command units can never become "stationary" - a designation which provides a firing bonus; and 
• Artillery is not able to limber or unlimber - I expect it might be liable to capture then

Units are able to have commanders attached. This confers a + 1 morale bonus but does cause the potential for a casualty on a die roll of 6 if casualties occur. I think it could be possible to use the actual combat value which varies from 0 to 3. A handful only of leaders have values of 0 or 2 or 3 - the vast majority confer a + 1 bonus.  But higher value/starred leaders should not be leading individual combats such as George Meade at Gettysburg. I will then roll a D6 if a casualty occurs with a roll or 1-2 being killed 3-4 being wounded and unavailable for D6 strategic turns and 5-6 being captured. Captured leaders can under the rules of the strategic game be substituted or "paroled" as a replacement leader for any potential leader that the other side wishes to deploy. i.e. you can provide a lower ability leader on parole. Presumably the union player would keep Robert E Lee under lock and key for the table remainder of the war. This would at best cause a delay for a better commander appearing as a side can withdraw leaders from command. 

Stands which are in command are able to lose any temporary disorder status on the expenditure of half of their movement allowance. Units with a permanent disorder marker rout (essentially if a disordered unit suffers further disorder). Routing units can be rallied if simply touched by a command stand.

I do not propose to use the combat values of leaders to confer advantages on individual units for shooting or melee. The ability to stand a result of pressure or "Rally behind the Virginians" because Jackson is "standing there like a Stonewall" is the effect we want. Equally Hood who is + 2 for combat on the map will stiffen his Texans to persist with an advance through a hail of musketry. The major ability of commanders on the field then will be to allow a ORBAT to simply operate and to rally routed units and increase resolve of morale. The absence of leaders will prevent a side from executing anything other than a static defence or withdrawal - i.e. not to apply a mobile battlefield strategy and again that feels accurate. At the map level leaders will be crucial for efficiently moving large bodies of men in concert which will simply not be possible without them. 

Apart from some detail from the rules around promotion for morale and specialist equipment and exhaustion levels in troops - recovery of casualties after battle or between battle days I think I have now considered or covered the bulk of the rules I will need to get the system to operate. 

I now feel ready to deploy the initial counters on the map and describe and analyse the starting position which a fairly detailed depiction of the two side stances in July 1861. 

Exciting doesn't describe it ! See you in hell Johnny Reb ! See you in hell Billy Yank !