Organising an Organisation

One of the things I have been giving some thought to for the armed forces of both Fezia and Rusland is not only the equipment used but also the organisation of the same. For the whole set up - across the four sub-periods -  the opposing sides will be broadly similar in composition and surprisingly compact. I am using as the basis of all the periods I intend gaming that which is used in Charge - Or How To Play Wargames by Messrs Young and Lawford. This may seem a little unusual, especially for the mechanised period, but my reasons are driven by some less than conventional requirements.

My games will be primarily solo affairs or with the occasional particpation of a guest or two. My preferred method of fighting is to use a hexed based system and so the rules of choice will be Commnd and Colours based or, more likely derivatives thereof - and of course the Big Battle Portable Wargame series. The are I shall be fighting over will be 13 x 9 hexes or the same size as aCommand and Colours battle board. Most the games I shall fight will contain a mximum of 12 to 15 units a side with 8 or 9 being the usual average.

With these criteria to consider my projected organisation makes a little more sense as I am going to be basing the infantry element around 48 rank and file figures, individually based. Charge has a basic organisation of an infantry regimnet of three companies of 16 rank and file so you can see my reasoning. To illustrate this further, under both Command and Colours and the Portable Wargame an infantry unit consists typically of 4 figures. Suddenly my 48 rank and file can become 12 such units. On top of this are the command figures weighing in at around half a dozen or so. For the rifle and smoothbore era I will need to consider troops attired differently for grenadiers and light infantry but the basic concept remains the same and indeed, Charge made use of mixed regiments with both a light and a grenadier company accompanying the two line companies.

Cavalry would also follow a similar system although it would be rare for me to fight with more than the equivalent of a couple of Charge sized squadrons - these are 8 figures plus command whilst the standard Command and Colours cavalry unit is 3 figures strong. Two Charge squadrons would then furnish 5 units which would be rare under the rules I will be using, save for special scenarios.

Artillery will be the sole exception to the Charge system because not only will this include infantry support weapons - machine guns and mortars for example - it will also work in a slightly different way. I want to have single weapons and crews repesenting the units in question rather than the two pieces used in Charge.

Similarly, any vehicles will operate on the table as individual models (although usually 2 or 3 strength points in 'size').

Taking all this into consideration it can be readily deduced that the largest collection (in terms of figures and models) will be the mechanised era - the figures count will be quite modest but the 'extras' in terms of vehicles etc will be quite extensive. The earlier eras will feature progressively more figures but given the criteria I am working to - I like to call it the Charge factor - they will be not be onerous to prepare. In contemporary parlance they could be likened to DBA armies with all the options.

In closing the mechanised era will be the first port of call and using the word port leads me nicely into the subject of the next post - the naval dimension and revisiting some earlier posts on the subject.