To save or not to save … that is the question?

Over the past few days I have had plenty of time to think. I seem to have spent hours behind the wheel of my car driving to and from the hospital my father-in-law is in, or sitting in family rooms waiting to see him whilst numerous doctors and nurses ministered to his medical needs.

My thoughts turned to the recent play-test of the latest draft of my adaptation of Joseph Morschauser’s ‘Modern’ period wargames rules, and the points that had it had thrown up. The most important of these was the possible need for ‘saving throws’ for troops in cover.

Now I have never been a great advocate of the ‘saving throw’ mechanism. I always thought that if you got your basic mechanisms right – particularly the probability of something happening – there was no need for them to be used … and yet the fast, furious, and deadly combat that results for the use of Morschauser’s firing rules do seem to require something to tame the results down a bit. The options seem to be:

• Reduce the D6 die scores needed to hit from 5 or 6 for most weapon types (or 4, 5, or 6 for all types of machine gun) to 6 (or 5 or 6)
• Introduce a cover ‘factor’ of some sort into the rules
• Use Morschauser’s Roster System, which give Units several ‘lives’ before they are destroyed
• Use saving throws

Now all of Morschauser’s mechanisms are simple ones, and I wanted to keep to the spirit if not the word of his original rules. For that reason I rejected both reducing the die scores (such a change would skew the results away from what was originally intended) and the introduction of the ‘cover’ factor (I could not see how I could introduce this change without completely re-writing the rules; I also felt that it was not in keeping with the original rules). I was therefore left with two alternatives: Morschauser’s Roster System and introducing ‘saving throws’.

The obvious choice was to go with the Roster System. It was included in the original book – HOW TO PLAY WAR GAMES IN MINIATURE – and is designed to fit in with the original rules. However I have always found that players do not like writing things down or recording things on paper during battles, and for that reason I looked very long and hard at introducing ‘saving throws’. I then remembered that at various points in his book Morschauser repeats the mantra ...

LET THE DICE DECIDE
... and that clinched it for me … I would introduce saving throws in the next draft of the rules.

My thoughts are that every unit that is hit by gunfire (but NOT Units destroyed during Close Combat) would be allowed a saving throw:

• 6: Units in the open are not destroyed
• 5 or 6: Units in soft cover (woods, built-up areas etc.) are not destroyed
• 4, 5, or 6: Units in hard cover (trenches, pillboxes etc.) are not destroyed

Its advantages as a mechanism are that it is easy to remember, requires no recordkeeping, and is in keeping with Morschauser’s mantra.

The next play-test will show whether or not this is a good idea that should be included in the rules.

PS. As I was about to finish this blog entry it struck me that introducing a saving throw mechanism could also make it possible to take into account the different types of Tank Units that sides might field during a battle. For example:

• 6: Light Tank Units are not destroyed
• 5 or 6: Medium Tank Units are not destroyed
• 4, 5, or 6: Heavy Tank Units are not destroyed

Something else for me to think about over the next few days.