[Consim-l] Re: Stonewall at Cedar Mountain

[bieksza at erols.com]

On 15 Feb 2007 at 7:42, Markus Stumptner wrote:
 
>> 2) "Two optional rules were in effect for this game, a bonus for artillery 
>> fire into the target's flank (which never occurred) and the requirement for 
>> a routed unit which failed to rally to retreat. . . . The other side of the 
>> coin was that repeated failures would sent the unit out of command control 
>> range.  This also put Williams' Division in a dilemma:  one brigade 
>> occupied a key position in the front lines and the other rallied well to 
>> the rear.  An 'advance' order for the benefit of the latter would have 
>> required the former to stick its neck out!"
> 
> Though if it had been rallying well to the rear, at least it would stick 
> its neck out well to the rear of the other unit, right?  It's not that it 
> would be forced to overtake the other unit.

My solitaire notebooks are only meant to jog my own memory, so 
the descriptions are not as clear as they could be.  To clarify the 
situation, the division in question had two brigades, one in a good 
defensive position in the front lines and the other well to the rear.  In 
order to bring up the rear brigade an "advance" order would be 
necessary, but because the order applied to the entire division the 
front brigade would have to advance at least one hex forward -- 
hence "sticking its neck out."

>> 3) "Once Ewell had seized objective C it let Hill's Division continue the 
>> pressure on the Bluecoats, aiming instead for objective D.  That was a 
>> tricky maneuver.  First Ewell had to use a 'retreat' order to reach the 
>> South Fork.  Then, because Bayard's cavalry occupied the objective, it had 
>> to switch to an 'attack' order.  But the Bayard chit was pulled first, and 
>> the horsemen retired to the other side of the mountain.  That meant the 
>> 'attack' order would have to be treated as an 'advance' order and the 
>> division would have to head northwards!  However, Gen. Ewell was able to 
>> roll his initiative and the objective was captured after all."
> 
> I assume the 'northwards' was necessary because the closest enemy unit was 
> now in a different direction?  Yes, that's also strange. Generally I think 
> that geographical objectives work better than enemy units as targets. (The 
> Gamers/MMP CWB prohibits using units as targets and requires to put 
> descriptions in terms of geography.)

Again some clarification is necessary.  An "attack" order means the 
division in question must make at least one attack, regardless of 
direction.  If it cannot, the "attack" order becomes an "advance" 
order meaning movement must be toward the enemy leader or the 
enemy's edge of the map -- which for Stonewall at Cedar Mountain 
is the north map edge.

Cedar Mountain is at the southeast corner of the map, and the 
Confederates enter generally from the southwest corner.  The initial 
attacks on the Yankees took the Rebs northeastward.  To move 
southeastward and capture the Cedar Mountain objective hex, Ewell 
needed a "retreat" order -- i.e., movement toward the Confederate 
edge of the map.  

But an enemy cavalry unit occupied that hex.  So once Ewell was in 
the vicinity he had to switch to an "attack" order.  Had his chit been 
pulled first there would have been no problem.  Instead the cavalry 
chit was pulled, and rather than get clobbered it skedaddled to the 
other side of Cedar Mountain.

Thus when Ewell's chit was pulled, the division had an "attack" order 
but it was physically unable to reach any enemy units.  Thus the 
"attack" would have converted to an "advance," requiring the 
division to head northward.
 
> However, the rolling the initiative bit is ok. Essentially it means that 
> good subordinates will be better able to deal with conflicting 
> requirements or obsolete orders.  And if they're not able to, they'll 
> occasionally be forced to do something stupid. That's arguably not an 
> anomaly, but the point of an order system - that your command control may 
> lag behind what's happening on the field.

I agree.  Stonewall at Cedar Mountain had limited components and 
just 12 pages of rules, yet it was able to deliver quite a sophisticated 
gaming experience despite an occasional anomaly.