Maudlin Jack Tar’s Shambattle campaign

Recently, Maudlin Jack Tar has been fighting an interesting campaign using the map from SHAMBATTLE (a wargame book published in 1929).

In the original rules, two countries - Bluvia and Redina - were separated by a river. Each of the countries had three cities, which were connected by roads. There were also two hills, two forests, and two marshes, and the border river was crossed by three bridges.

The opposing armies were equal in size, and comprised:

• At 40 soldiers (infantry and cavalry)
• 6 medical corps men
• 1 cannon
• 2 machine guns
• 3 hospitals (of which 2 are field hospitals)

The troops were placed according to the following rules:

• At least half of the soldiers were to be deployed in cities, with a third of these figures in each city
• The permanent hospital had to be deployed at a fixed spot, but the field hospitals could be placed anywhere within the country’s territory
• Each player chose a soldier to represent themselves
• Each player secretly picked an enemy soldier who would act as a spy. The identity of the spy was written on a piece of paper, and this was placed in one of the cities near the border

Maudlin Jack Tar has taken the map, and altered slightly so that it now fits onto an 8 x 8 grid.

Each army comprises three divisions, each of which has three brigades. Initially, Bluvia and Redina each deployed a dividion to protect their respective capital cities whilst the others were mobilised close to the border.

To date, he has fought:

• The Opening Moves in the Blue/Red Campaign
• Red/Blue Campaign Turns 2-4
• Red/Blue Campaign Turn 5
• Red/Blue Campaign Turn 6 & Battle Report
• Red/Blue Campaign Turn 7
• Red/Blue Campaign Turn 8 & The Last Battle

I have followed this campaign with great interest, partly because of its interesting use of original SHAMBATTLE map, and partly because he is using my PORTABLE WARGAME rules to fight the battles. It was an exciting campaign, and ended up with a decisive victory for one side ... which could well lead to further conflict in the future.

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Please note that the second map featured above is © Maudlin Jack Tar.