ON TO MOSCOW!

                                           Wars of the Age of Reason

                              Sweden vs. Russia in the Great Northern War, 1700-1721

In Strategy & Tactics n. 171

Review
By LODOVICO BADALI

INTRODUCTION

The topic of this game is interesting for two main reasons: for the importance of the argument and for the classical situation of quality against quantity. About the first reason, it is sufficient to write that the Russia, after the victory over the Sweden, became a European major power and from that war the history of Europe and of the World was always influenced by the decisions made by the Russians. The classical situation “ quality against quantity “, ever present in the history, is more complex. In this introduction, we anticipate that this item will be the centre of our review and after a general view on the Sequence of Play, the correlated rules and other game features ( we will use all the rules, standard and advanced ), we will write an extensive analysis on how it works in “ On to Moscow! “.   

THE SEQUENCE OF PLAY

Each game turn is divided in several Phases and some Phases are dived in various Impulses. In On to Moscow, the Swedish side goes always first.
Event Phase. During this phase, one of the two players rolls two dice on the Event Table and the result is applied: the Event Table shows the major historical events that occurred during the war.
Diplomacy Phase. All states that can enter the play are listed on the Alliance Display on the map. A State can be either Allied of one side or Neutral. If a state is neutral, neither player may use its forces and its territory. A State joins one alliance at the instant: 1 ) a Historical Event requires it; 2 ) any unit, belonging to the opposite side, moves into a city or fortress of the neutral state; 3 ) the opposing side attacks any unit of the neutral state. When a Neutral State joins one alliance, it may never become Neutral or switch side. 
In addition, the two sides may arrange a Prisoner Exchange. Combat units and leaders may be exchanged in any combination, as long as both sides agree to the deal and no game rules are violated.
First Impulse. First Side’s March Segment. During this segment, the phasing player may move all of his forces. All the friendly units that choose to begin moving together compose a force. The player rolls a die on the March Table, modified by the consistence and the quality composition of the force and the strategic value of a leader, if he is part of the moving force, and then the player consults the Table to find the result. There are five possible results. 1 ) No March: the force cannot move at all. 2 ) March: the force can move up to the MPs’ allowance of its slowest unit. 3 ) Forced March: the force doubles its MPs. 4 ) Fall Back: the force must move to any friendly un-besieged fortress and stop when it reaches the fortress; if the force cannot reach any friendly fortress, the result becomes No March. 5 ) March to the Guns: the force must use its normal Marching Speed to move adjacent to nearest enemy-occupied hex. If the force cannot reach any hex adjacent to an enemy force, the result is No March. It is possible, when the results are March or Forced March that Attrition can occur. In this case, the force must lose one unit of any kind and size. If the player moves a leader alone the Attrition result is not applied. The March Table has three columns: the best for the marches made during summer turns, the middle for the spring or fall turns, the worst for the winter turns. The players move the units on the map in their hidden status, so that only the State symbol is visible. The units reveal their values only in three cases: 1 ) the instant one force attacks another; 2 ) the instant a force conducts a successful reconnaissance: 3 ) the units’ owner decides so. Every force has a Tactical Zone ( consisting of the six surrounding hexes ): a Tactical Zone allows a force to conduct Reconnaissance ( to know the exact composition of an enemy force ), to intercept an enemy force ( if it is successful, a Meeting Engagement occurs ) and, in addition, a Tactical Zone interrupts the LOC of an enemy force. If the force contains a leader, only the leader is moved on the map ( in his hidden status ), the other units of the force are placed in the leader’s display out of the map. Each leader has three values: a Tactical Value, a Strategic Value and his MPs. If a force is under the command of a leader, it is possible ( but not mandatory ) to use his Strategic Value as a die roll modifier on the March Table. There are also several boxes out of the map: they represent the part of a country not covered by the map. Only a friendly force can move in or out of the boxes to the map: all the normal rules for movements are in effect. The Sweden player can move up to three units by see and, in addition, he has some counters that represent his combat fleet, which are used as normal artillery units in costal hexes. There is no limit for how many units/forces can stack in the same hex ( enemy units or forces can never stack together ). 
In “ On to Moscow! “, there are several kinds of units: combat units ( infantry, garrison, cavalry, dragoons, artillery and pioneers ); supply trains; leaders and fleets. Each combat units has three values: its combat strength, its discipline class ( there are four classes: Guard, the best; Veteran; Line; Rabble, the worst ): its Movement Allowance. All of these values are explained when they are used in the Sequence of Play. 
First Impulse. First Side’s Combat Segment. Combat takes place between opposing forces in adjacent hexes. There are two types of combat: Battle ( against non-Fortress hex ) and Siege ( against Fortress hex ). Combat is voluntary for the attacker. The Battle and the Siege is resolved in the same manner. Not all the unit in an attacker hex must attack, the owing player has the choice to use some or all of his units in the attacker force. A player may lunch more than one attack against a single enemy defending hex in a single Impulse as long as each attack comes from a different force. A player may not combine units from different hexes in a single attack, or attack units in more than one hex. There are several steps in the Battle Resolution: here we give a short and general view about it. 1 ) Each player secretly selects his Battle Plan. There are four Battle Plans. STAND, no change. ASSAULT, make a Discipline check for each Good Order unit in the force; with a  P result, double the units’ SPs prior to any other modifiers, with F, no change, with a D result, the unit immediately becomes demoralized. MANOEUVRE; make a normal Discipline check for each Good Order cavalry unit in the force; with a P result, double the unit’s strength for purpose of determining Cavalry Superiority; with an F result, no change; with a D result, the cavalry unit becomes demoralized. DISENGAGE, if both side selects Disengage, no battle occurs; if only one side selects it, make a normal Discipline Check for each combat unit in the disengaging force. There are three possible results: P, the unit retreats one hex prior the battle’s resolution and it is not affected by the battle’s outcome: F, the unit stays in place and must fight: D, the unit becomes Demoralized, if it is already demoralized it is eliminated, if the unit survives, then the unit must fight. 2 ) The players compare the total strength of their forces and the largest one is divided by the smallest: then the players find the column corresponding to the odds ratio on the CRT ( this is done after rounding any fraction to the next whole number ). Then make the eventually columns’ shift for the terrain in the defender hex: the shift is always in favour of the defender. Then the active player rolls a die on the CRT and adjusts it applying all the modifiers. There are several modifiers to the die roll. 1 ) One leader’s Tactical Value for each force involved in the battle ( the attacker’s value is added, the defender’s one is subtracted ). 2 ) The number of friendly artillery units, the same procedure as for the leaders. 3 ) If a side has at least double the opponent’s cavalry SPs, then subtract or add one to the die roll, depending if the Cavalry Superiority is of the defender or of the attacker. 4 ) +/-2 if one side has at least 50% of all friendly SPs belong to the Guard and Veteran classes, it is possible to apply both +/-2. 5 ) If the terrain of the defender is Rough or Defile, the side having at least double the opponent’s Light Troops SPs add or subtract one to the die roll ( the addition or subtraction depends from which side has the advantage as for the Cavalry Superiority ). The CRT shows the percentage of SPs lost by each side. If the result is in bold, then all the units in the affected force must undergo a Discipline Check. The CRT also shows, in some cases, a DF or RT result. In the first case, all the units in the losing force must undergo a Discipline Check: in the second case, all the units in the losing force must undergo two Discipline Checks. The Discipline Check consists on rolling a die for each unit and then consulting the Discipline Table. The possible results are: P ( unit passes ), no penalty; F ( unit fails ), it become demoralized, if already demoralized the unit, in a battle, become Prisoner of War; D ( unit deserts ), the unit is eliminated and placed in the friendly Recruiting Pool. If a DF or RT result occurs, the side receiving the result loses the battle: the other wins. If neither side receives one of these results, the combat ends in a draw. A force with a DF or RT result must retreat one hex after the combat. A force in a Fortress is not required to retreat. The winning side can advance in the hex where the battle took place, with some or all his units. The winning side gains Shock Points. The number of Shock Points gained depends from the size of victory: Loser’s SPs affected 1-8, one Shock Point; 9-20, two Shock Points; 20+, three Shock Points. The Shock Points are also received from Historical Events, occupying a Fortress or from the Pillage of an enemy Fortress. The Shock Points represent the overall political and military situation of one side. If one side has ten Shock Points ( the maximum allowed ) and the other has none, the game ends immediately with a Continental Victory for the side having ten Shock Points. In combat, each side may expend one Shock Point to modify the die roll in his favour. 
There is another kind of battle called Siege. Siege occurs when a force attacks a Fortress hex. The Siege is resolved in the same manner than a battle with the columns shift for the fortress. The attacker has the possibility to besiege a Fortress instead of assault it directly. All the Fortress are controlled by the side which has al least one SP or one leader in it. All the Fortresses are of two kinds: First Class ( like San Petersburg ) or Second Class ( like Moscow ). The First Class Fortresses shift three columns in combat, the others only one. The control of the Fortresses on the map determines the Victory at the end of the game. At any time during the friendly combat segment, the active side can offers the Honours of War to the force in the Fortress: if the enemy side accepts, all the units are moved one hex out of the Fortress and there is no combat. The offering side gains the control of the Fortress. Instead of assaulting a fortress, the phasing player can besiege the fortress. In order to act so, the force must contain at least one Pioneer unit and start the Movement Segment adjacent to the fortress. During the Movement Segment, the active force, without moving, enables its pioneer unit to deploy an entrenchment marker with an arrow pointing to the fortress: from this moment, the fortress is under siege and no enemy unit can move in or out of the fortress without winning a battle against the besieging force. Every force in a besieged fortress must roll on a disadvantageous column during the Attrition Phase at the end of each turn the fortress is under siege. At every time, it is possible to remove the besieging marker or to assault directly the fortress without any additional penalty than the fortress itself. 
First Impulse. Second Side’s March Segment. The same as for the First side.
First Impulse. Second Side’s Combat Segment. The same as for the First side.
Second Impulse. The procedure is the same to the First Impulse. The unique difference is that a force that moved again has more possibilities to suffer Attrition.
Third Impulse. Every force can move a third time, but the chances to incur in the Attrition become greater.
Rally Phase. Each side may attempt to rally any and all friendly Demoralized units. Each player rolls a die on the Discipline Table, the possible results are: P, the unit rallies; F, the unit remains demoralized; D, the unit deserts, it is eliminated and placed in the friendly Recruiting Pool.
Logistics Phase. During this phase, each side must check the supply status of all its forces in play. The following forces and units are always in supply: Leaders, Supply units, Fleet units ( they must be on a costal hex during the Winter turns, or they are eliminated ), Forces in an un-besieged fortress hex with no Pillage marker, Forces that just performed Pillage, Units in off-map boxes, Forces of a neutral state. A force is considered in supply, if one of the following occurs. 1 ) The force can trace a Line of Communication to a friendly controlled Fortress not besieged; 2 ) the force expends one supply train that is in the same hex; 3 ) the force Pillages the hex; 4 ) the force is in the same hex as a friendly fleet ( only for the Swedish ). During the winter turns, a force is in supply only in an un-besieged Fortress or expending a supply train. A LOC has a maximum length of three hexes over land, or four hexes, if it is entirely traced along a road, or six hexes by water ( along rivers or costal hexes ). Every unsupplied force must roll on the Logistic Table under the appropriate column ( which depends from the terrain in the hex ). There are three possible results: 1 ) S, the force is supplied; 2 ) F#, if the total SPs of the force is equal or less, the result is same to S, otherwise the force is unsupplied; 3 ) X, attrition, the force is unsupplied and must lose the 50% of its SPs. If a force is in a city or fortress hex, it can pillage the hex ( if not already pillaged ) in order to avoid the attrition: the hex remains pillaged until the end of the next autumn turn. 
Recruiting Phase. Both sides receive new and previously eliminated units as reinforcements through Recruitment. In addition, same units are received as automatic reinforcements or are removed from play due to Historical Events. 
Each side has its own Recruiting Pool where are placed all previously eliminated units. At the beginning of the Recruitment Phase of a Winter Turn, each side performs Recruitment. The players multiply the Recruitment Multiple of each State under their control by the number of fortresses this state controls and add to the result the Recruitment Value of any off-map box ( belonging to the selected State ): the result is the Recruitment Points of that State. The Recruitment Points serve to purchase the units from the Recruitment Box. Each unit has it own cost depending from the type of unit ( infantry, cavalry, etc. ) and the unit’s Class Value ( the Guard is the most expensive, the Rabble the cheapest ). The units can be placed in any friendly fortress; the units purchased by the Recruitment Points of an off-map box must be placed in the corresponding box. The leaders are removed from play if they are eliminated: a leader can never be purchased. There is a Special Recruitment during the spring, summer and fall game turns. Each leader in a friendly fortress, only one per fortress, may perform Special Recruitment. Expend one Shock Point for each leader; multiply the leader’s strategic value by his State’s Recruiting Multiple: the result is the total Recruiting Points available for the leader. The reinforcements are received due to scenario instructions and Historical Events, they ere placed according to the instructions provided in the scenario or Event. Some Historical Events call from removing units from play, in this case the Event itself gives the instruction for removing the units. 
Pillage Removal Phase. All pillage markers are removed from play at the conclusion of the Recruitment Phase of each autumn game turn.
Fog of War Phase. During this phase, all open units are flipped back over their hidden side. 
Turn Completion. Once both sides have completed each segment, the Game Turn ends. The play continue with the new seasonal Game Turn ( if the Season marker enters the Spring space, advance the Year marker to the next space ). The play continues until the end of the scenario, one side capitulates, or both sides agree to a Treaty, at which time victory is determined.               

THE MAP

The game map of “ On to Moscow “ shows Eastern Europe and Russia ( from Warsaw to Moscow, from west to east, and from the southern part of Finland to the Dniestr River, from north to south ) as it was in the early 18th century. The map sheet also contains several charts and tracks.
Alliance Display. It indicates which country is allied with which side ( the Sweden is always one side, the Russia the other one ). 
Discipline Table. It determines whether a unit passes or fails a Discipline check. 
Fortress Nationality Codes Chart. It lists the colour and two letter codes used to identify which state originally controls each Fortress printed on the map.
Off-map Areas. The “ Siberia “ area represents Siberian and Volga regions of Russia. The “ Saxony “ area represents the German state plus other parts of the central Europe. The “ Sweden “ area represents the rest of the Swedish Kingdom. The “ Brandenburg “ area represents the part of the Brandenburg state not on the map. The “ Ottoman Empire “ represents this state that is not included in the map. Each Off-map area has its own Recruiting Value. 
March Table. It shows if a force can move or not, if there is attrition and the other special movements ( Fall Back, Forced March and March to the Guns ).
Combat Result Table. It shows the result of a combat indicating the SPs lost and if one side received a DF or RT result.
Percentage Loss Table. It helps the players to calculate the number of SPs that should be eliminated as a result of combat.
Prisoners of War Boxes. Each side places the captured unit and leader here.
Recruiting Chart. It shows the cost to enter into play a friendly unit of a particular type and Discipline Class, which is currently located in the Recruiting Pool Box. 
Recruiting Pool. Here are kept the friendly units not in play ( including previously eliminated units ).
Shock Chart. It lists the various changes that can occur, which shift the current Shock Index marker’s position to the left or to the right.
Shock Index. It records the degree of morale superiority of one side or the other.
Terrain Chart. It aids in the visual identification of the different terrain types on the map with the movement costs, combat effect and other pertinent information about all terrains. 
Turn Track. It records the current Year and Season and, in addition, the current impulse of a turn.        
Leaders’ Boxes. Every available leader has his own display where the unit under his command can be placed. In this manner, the players move only the leaders on the map: exception, a unit or force without a leader in command.

QUALITY AGAINST QUANTITY

In the “ On to Moscow! “ game, the Swedish side has not only the best troops but also even the best commanders: on the other side, the Russian player has a very few good units and a mass of rabbles with the most part of the commanders of low capacity ( the only exception is Peter the Great ). In this situation, the Swedish player has a formidable force in his hands, but at the same time, there are several factors that reduce the possibility of action. The Russian player, on the other hand, fights in his home country and he has the possibility to replace a great number of losses. In other words, here we see how quality against quantity works in all its aspects. First, there are two kinds of quantity in the Russian hands: the number of troops and replacements and the greatness of the Russian territory with the terrible climate conditions of that land. The Russian can count on a greater force than the Swedish can and on the possibility to replace a great amount of losses. This is due not to the fact that the Swedish Recruiting Points are low, but to the fact that the majority of the Russian troops have a lower cost. Expending the same amount of Recruiting Points, the Russian can purchase the triple of units than the Swedish. The major part of the Swedish Class Value is Veteran, for the Russian is Rabble: if we compare a Swedish infantry unit of Class Value Veteran with a Russian infantry unit of Class Value Rabble, we find that the first costs six points, the second only two. In the long terms of a campaign, this difference becomes more evident and in most cases decisive. It is true that a Veteran unit fights better than a Rabble one and, for this reason, the Swedish army is far better than its Russian counterpart is. But the fact that the Russian normally defend in a fortress renders all the battle an assault or a long siege. It is easy for a Swedish force, even outnumbered, to win against a greater Russian force; but it should be nonsense for the Russian player to risk his troops in a field battle where the Swedish has so many advantages. The Russian plays in his home country and starts the game with major part of the fortresses under his control; it is easier to defend the fortresses and to compel the Swedish in difficult assault or in long sieges that are always of uncertainty outcome. Another important consideration is that the Russian can lose a great amount of troops and he still has the possibility to recruit new units, having at the end more troops than at the start. The Swedish normally is on attack at an odd not better than one to one, only his favourable die roll modifiers allows him to win; but a surprise in the quality and/or in the number of an enemy force with a bad die roll is always possible. In this case, the Swedish could lose not only a battle, but also, and this thing is even worse, troops that he may not replace. As it was historically, only one decisive defeat should mean the end of every hope of victory upon the Russian Empire. The Swedish must attack, if he wants to win, but at the same time every battle reduces his possibilities to recover his initial force strength; on the other side the Russian increases his forces every turn and even after a disastrous defeat he is capable to recruit a sufficient number of units to render the Swedish victory a Pyrrhic victory. Normally, every game ends with the Swedish to have on the map less than one half of his available units and the Russian more recruiting points than units to purchase. The terrible nightmare of the Swedish is to achieve success after success only for seeing the Russian forces still on the map and even more numerous. At this point, becomes evident how it is difficult for the Swedish not to win some battles or conquer some fortresses, but to defeat the Russian Empire and its immense human resources. The work for the Russian is simpler: stay on defence, purchase all the available troops and avoid as much as possible any field battle. But when the time comes, a bold stroke on a Swedish force is mandatory in order to inflict as many losses as possible. The thing most important is to inflict to the Swedish as many losses as possible rather than to win a battle; naturally if a battle or siege becomes a victory for the Russian, it is a one more weapon in his arms. The major problem for the Russian is to avoid that his units become prisoners of war, because it almost impossible that the Swedish gives them back. In  “ On to Moscow “, normally several Russian units becomes prisoners of war during the course of a game, but it is very difficult that some Swedish units become the same; so the Swedish normally has no interest in a prisoners’ exchange. 
There is another kind of “ quantity “ that is present in the game: the immense Russian territory. The Russian player can, not only lose battle after battle and a great amount of units, but also a great part of his country. For the Swedish it is impossible to be anywhere with a consistence force; normally, he has two major forces, the others are small and they risk a lot if they move too deeply in the enemy country. With two major forces, the Swedish is capable to extend his influence only on a little portion of the Russia: the major part remains always in Russian hands. The greatness of Russia in conjunction with the necessity of an attack strategy compels the Swedish to push his units in more than one Movement Segment per turn making the attrition a constant presence and a major cause of losses among the troops. Considering the shortness of the LOC and its total absence during a winter turn, it is easy to image the difficulties and the costs to move continuatively in order to conquer as many Russian fortresses as possible and to avoid the countermoves of the Russian. The Swedish must always consider the attrition problem before making any action; if he underestimates it, it is sure that he will see his magnificent army die due to starvation and lack of sufficient supply. However, even the most conservative Swedish player cannot completely avoid the attrition problem and the risks to move his forces several times during the same turn. Obviously, every Swedish player has no intention to move his units during a winter turn, when there is no LOC and often a force receives a No March on the March Table: but it is during these turns, that the Russian could compel his adversary to move and to risk. For the Russian, peasants, the life of whom has no importance, compose the largest part of his army. In a game of “ On to Moscow “ it easy to see the Swedish loses around the 25 % of his troops during the continuous marches made even in the worst weather conditions. Most part of the marches has no conclusions: when the Swedish arrives, the Russian is already in a different part of the map; or after having resolved a problem, the Swedish must move again, and fast, to resolve another problem in the opposite side of the map. The Swedish wins only to have again the same enemy consistency: it is a continuous moving only to move again upon arrived. 
These two kinds of quantity, the number and the greatness, are the real weapons in the Russian hands and the key of his victory and the adversary’s defeat. It should be nonsense to sustain that the Russian could win having a better strategy than the Swedish could; even the best Russian player has only a mob against a real war machine. In “ On to Moscow! “, it is evident that having better troops and better commanders is not sufficient to win. The Swedish bases his strategy on the quality, but it is impossible not to count on the Russian errors and the good luck. Then, we have the opinion that even the best quality, but with scarce resources, is not the key of success if the adversary has almost unlimited resources and a territory too vast to be controlled. The Swedish pays a high cost for every error and even for every bad die roll: it is natural that a player makes some errors and that the die rolls are not always the best. On the other side, the Russian can make several mistakes without losing the game; he has the resources to recover his army. We find that, not only in “ On to Moscow! “, the quantity allows to play with more solidity and calm and to make some mistakes without the problem to have no possibility to recover from them. 

A FINAL CONSIDERATION

The game “ On to Moscow “ is really an interesting historical-military simulation, with a fluid and, at the same time, intriguing game system. It gives the opportunity to study an important moment of the European history that is too often underestimated. The historical article, in the magazine, is well written and it could be the start for a more deeply study of the item. Who like to play in team will find “ On to Moscow “ very suitable, having several leaders who can be commanded by different players.