From: "Mark A. Campbell" Subject: Modified 1812 Rules -- Finally!!! Dear Consimmers: So many people sent me mail requesting my modified 1812 rules (13 by current count) that I decided that no-one would object if I posted them here. So here they are! Hope you all like them. Mark A. Campbell ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODIFIED RULES FOR COLUMBIA GAMES' 1812 ======================================= These may be reproduced for private use, but are copyright 1996 by Mark A. Campbell, and all rights are otherwise retained. 1. INTRODUCTION. 1812 is an excellent game, one which can be played to conclusion (!) in only 1.5 - 2 hours -- a very refreshing change, compared to the 30+ hour monster games so prevalent nowadays. However, it contains numerous historical flaws and inaccuracies. Some of these are endemic to the basic system, and cannot be easily fixed; however, others are easily improved. The following is one such attempt: questions and suggestions are welcomed. a. References to "M1812" means "modified" 1812; i.e., these rules. b. I have listed the reasons for the changes in [] after the body of each rule. 2. LENGTH OF THE GAME. Each game-turn (g-t) in M1812 corresponds to a specific month; the first g-t of each year is March; the last is December. There are a total of 26 game-turns in M1812; July thru December 1812, and March thru December 1813 and 1814. Thus the game starts with the July 1812 g-t, and ends with the December 1814 g-t. [The actual war started on 18 June 1812, when the US passed the declaration of war against Britain; but it wasn't until late July that actual combat operations commenced on the Northern frontier. The linking of specific months to each g-t is not only asthetically more pleasing, but also corresponds to the historical campaigning season (although the campaigning season often ended in late November rather than late December).] 3. TERRAIN. Add the following towns to the map: Youngstown (between Pittsburgh and Sandusky) and Cleveland (between Erie and Sandusky). Each new town has a supply/VP value of "1". [As is often the case with point-to-point movement games, the mapboard of 1812 is inaccurate; that is, some paths are *much* too quick to traverse, compared to history. This is a serious failing, but easily rectified. Only the most egregious two˙20cases are addressed herein. The town names given are anachronistic, but then so are many˙20of the other town names on the 1812 map.] 4. INITIATIVE. (Replace the relevant section of 4.2 with the following.) To determine which player moves first, roll *one* d6 at the start of each g-t; the player with the higher DR may choose to move first or second. The following modifiers apply: a. In 1812, the British player gets a +1 to the initiative DR. b. In 1813, the American player gets a +1 to the initiative DR. c. In 1814, neither side gets any modifier. [This represents the American unreadiness in 1812, the American successes in 1813, and the increased professionalism of both sides in 1814.] 5. MOVEMENT. It is implied in the rules, but not explicitly stated, that force-marching is allowed. Therefore the following rules are lifted directly from Columbia's NAPOLEON and inserted here (in my own language). a. Moving land infantry units can either move one or two towns. Each unit moving two spaces must roll for force march attrition. The single Dragoon unit on each side may move one, two, or three towns, and must roll for force march attrition *only* if moving three towns. b. Force march attrition. Roll one d6 for each unit force marching; on a DR of 4-6, the unit is reduced by one pip. 6. NEW MILITIA RULE. (Delete the old American Militia rule (16.0) and replace it with the following.) The supply/victory point number for each town is also the *militia* value for that town. When a town with friendly land units in it is attacked, one extra d6 is rolled for each town militia point. If the town is enemy-occupied, neither side in a battle receives any militia DR's. Note that the instant there are no longer any friendly land units in the town, the militia "run away", do not fire any more, and the town is immediately captured. EXAMPLE: If Kingston is British-occupied, and is attacked by an American force, the British get to roll 3 extra d6's until all British land units have either retreated/been eliminated. If Kingston were AMERICAN-occupied, and was attacked by a British force, neither the British nor the American player would get any additional dice. [This rule helps to fix the two most serious of 1812's problems, which are (a) the offensive-dominated nature of the original game, and (b) the tendency of the mapboard to become emptier and emptier of units as the game goes along. It also offers a more historical militia rule than the original game, inasmuch as the # of militia available in a specific locality depended on the population of that area. Since the American side has more towns, with generally greater supply #'s, than the British, the new rule also does not seriously affect the offensive/defensive-potential ratio of the two sides.] 7. LAND COMBAT RULES MODIFICATIONS. a. Indians. Fire at half CV (i.e., one d6 for every two pips, FRD). b. Pursuit Fire. Hits occur only a DR of "6" per unit, instead of 4-6. Note however that the Indian unit counts as one unit *FOR EACH PIP* for pursuit fire. [These are major improvements, because they allow historical retreats to occur. Without such modifications, it is almost NEVER advisable to retreat, because one may routinely expect a *better* exchange ratio of pips by fighting to the death than by retreating! The reason for the reduction of the Indian unit's combat power is that the Indians were notoriously unreliable in pitched battles, but were quite useful in more irregular situations, such as pursuits.] 8. SPECIAL NAVAL COMBAT RULE. (Modification to 1812 rule 6.2) If a lakeside town is captured, *each* operational naval unit in that lakeside town at that instant has a 50% chance (4-6) to escape to the Lake. If the lake is occupied by enemy naval units, however, a naval battle must be fought for at least one battle round, after which the battle is handled normally, like any other naval battle (e.g., retreats, etc.). 9. REPLACEMENTS. At the end of every friendly player-phase, the phasing player can add one pip to any ONE land unit which is not already at full strength. The following restrictions apply: a. Only units in *originally controlled friendly towns* can receive replacements. b. The unit receiving replacements must have an uninterrupted supply line of friendly-controlled towns to either Quebec (for the British) or Pittsburgh or Albany (for the Americans). Note that this supply line can be traced via one or more lakes as well, so long as each lake is *NOT* controlled by enemy naval units. c. The Indian unit can never receive replacements. [The main reason for adding this rule is to show, in a simple and (hopefully) elegant manner, the historical effects of supply lines, which are effectively ignored in˙20the original 1812. Another reason is to counter-act the previously-mentioned tendency in 1812 of there to be decreasing #'s of units on the board as the game goes on; reinforcements are not enough to counteract attrition from battles and winter effects.] 10. REINFORCEMENTS. The British 1814 reinforcements are changed and divided as follows: a. March: 4 units. b. July: 3 units. [In reality, not all the British units arrived as one huge pulse, and giving them all of them in March would allow the British side an ahistorical amount of flexibility in deploying them. In fact, part of the reason for the British attack on Lake Champlain was that they could not usefully be employed much further west than that in the 1814 campaigning season.] 11. RANDOM NOTES. As mentioned in the introduction, there are many other changes that might usefully be made to increase the level of realism of the basic 1812 system without seriously increasing its complexity. Among them are an increased counter mix, to reduce the certainty with which one can predict what sorts of reinforcements one will receive; fortification rules, to recreate historical tactics at Plattsburgh in 1814 and other places; and more detailed supply rules, to show more clearly the difference between water supply (i.e., via lakes or rivers) and land supply along trails/roads (which was horribly inefficient). Any suggestions for ways to *easily* accomodate these would be welcomed.