More thoughts on Grid war games.

A recent posting on another of my favourite 'go to' blogs  Battle Game of the Month has once again provoked some further thoughts in my mind concerning the use of square grids. What Ross raises here are some problematic features associated with the 'orthogonal only' convention. I mean, it works, but one feels that there ought to be some method of dealing with diagonal orientations. Would it not be wonderful if we could create a tessellation of regular octagons on a flat, two-dimensional surface?

Here was my immediate response.

In the matter of diagonals, I seem to recall discussing this with you about 18 months ago:

I didn't really follow up on that as I was not then thinking a going down the gridded wargames track. I've had reason to revisit the notion since.

I've been looking at Bob Cordery's Portable Wargames (I now have a copy of both his PW books) and looking to adapt my own Byzantine Army of c950-1050AD and its opponents (Bulgars and Georgians{Abasgians}) to the system.  Your current posting has got me rethinking about this.

The PW square-grid system measures moves and shooting by orthogonals only.  It would not add very much complexity in my view to add diagonals.  Talking specifically of 'Ancients', movement varies from 1 'step' (artillery), 2 (heavy infantry) to 3 and 4 for more mobile troops.  Weapon ranges are 2 or 3 except for the artillery, which is 6 squares.

The effect of this is that that the movement allowances and ranges themselves still form a square, but set at 45-degrees from the grid orientation.  A square lozenge if you like.

It occurs to me that you could add 'and a half' to diagonal moves and ranges, with the fraction dropped when you reach the target square.  For example, my heavy horse, movement allowed 3 squares, moves one orthogonal (1), one diagonal (2 'and a half'). It can move one more orthogonal (3 'and a half') but not one more diagonal (4).  

I'd also suggest that the unit ends the move facing the direction it was moving.  Otherwise a unit
1. Can begin the move with a 45-degree turn or 180-degrees;
2. Turn 45-degrees when stepping INTO a cell at the beginning of the step;
3. Count a 90degree turn as a full 1-square step

Where things get really tricky is shooting.  But that can be resolved in the Cordery system by ignoring the adjacent squares for shooting - that's close combat country - and limiting shooting to the orthogonals adjacent to the orthogonal line of facing, or the diagonals CORNER-TO-CORNER adjacent to the diagonal line of facing.  In the latter case I'd be inclined to exclude the nearest two outside diagonal squares.

It seemed to me a posting on my own blog was called for.

Left: 'Orthogonal-only' movement allowances:
Right: Movement allowance with diagonal 'steps'
permitted.

The first of this two diagrams compares the system of movement used in Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame, for any units with up to 4 'steps' allowed per move, all steps to be orthogonal - that is to say, through the sides of the squares - and my proposal that does allow diagonal movement.

If we count a move from one square orthogonally to the nest a 'step', let us count a move from one square diagonally to the next one-and-a-half steps. Two such moves would therefore be 3 steps; and three, 4-and-a-half. And so on. When counting off steps, at the end of the turn, you drop the 'and a half', and the remaining integer must be not greater than the unit's movement allowance in 'steps'. In the diagram above, I show the blue unit's allowance under my suggested scheme. Except for the unit with an allowance of 1 only (artillery), the movement range more nearly approximates a circle, which is my aim.

This leads us to facing. I suggest that the at the end of the turn, the unit remains facing the direction it was moving when it entered the final square.  If the moving unit comes adjacent to an enemy, then it must turn to face that enemy (or at least one of them). The Portable Wargame rule set is a lot more flexible in regard to turning.

Top row: weapons ranges with orthogonal facing:
Bottom row: weapons ranges with diagonal facing.

The problem Ross saw had to do with manoeuvring and facing threats from 'Northwest', so to speak, rather than 'due North' or 'due West'. It seemed to me that shooting arcs and ranges ought to be possible with a diagonal facing as much as an orthogonal one. For ranges, I use the same 'x-and-a-half' to denote distances through diagonals.

Some quick pix to liven up a dry posting.  Byzantine cavalry
 in pursuit of a Bulgar raiding force run up against a
reargurad of light horse and spearmen.

To begin with, I thought it might not be a bad idea to restrict the arc of fire using something derived from the DBM convention, namely, along the line faced, and the orthogonals adjacent.  In the diagrams above you will observe I do not indicate the squares adjacent to the firing units.  That is because enemies in adjacent squares are in close combat.  That made the thing a lot easier to figure out. Having said that I an not sure whether, under the PW system,  orthogonally adjacent enemies may or may not shoot at each other. Of course, units diagonally adjacent are in range under that system,

Battle is joined!  The Bulgars take heavy losses early -
down 4 strength points to no loss to the Byzantines/

The diagonal equivalent of this orthogonal convention was not so easy to nut out.  Eventually I arrived at restricting the arc to the diagonals corner-to-corner adjacent to the diagonal line of facing, excluding the squares not contained within the 90-degree angle formed by the square sides converging in front of the shooting unit.  Those squares are indicated by the asterisks in the diagrams above.  If you check out the artillery angles and ranges you will find the 'kill zone' for the artillery is equal in size (15 squares) for either orientation.

The spearmen look menacing, overlapping the Byxantine flank...

It so happens this topic is of considerable interest to me as I am thinking of adapting the Cordery rule set for 'Ancients' for my c.1000AD armies and enemies of Byzantium.  Many of the units, especially the Byzantines, comprise troops of disparate arms. The Byzantine Horse comprise lance-armed and bow-armed riders.  Even the elite cataphracts (kataphraktoi: fully armoured and with barded horses, not to be confused with the standard Tagmatic and Thematic heavy horse: kavallarioi) carries a small contingent of horse archers within its trapezoidal formation. The heavy spearmen (skutatoi) are complemented  by bowmen (toxotai)  in the middle ranks.  All the Bulgar horse, light and heavy, were armed with javelins and bows (as well as swords).

Indecisive, back-and-forth, combat ensues...
The Byzantines began with 29 SP, the Bulgars with 34. 

For Byzantine units that can not shoot you would be looking to the Varangian Guard (elite heavy spearmen in my army - the axe-toting Englishmen came later); or the rather poorer quality peltastoi spearmen (I don't really believe they were rough terrain troops, but could easily be wrong.  I can see them doing OK in urban fighting, say).

... the Byzantines taking hard knocks themselves 3 SP lost
to the Bulgars' 6...  This part game was played using the standard PW conventions, but all horsed troops could shoot.

I am also inclined to place a close combat premium on lances.  The Bulgars didn't use them, but the Abasgians (early Georgians) did, as of course did the Byzantines.

Tell you what, this will make the Byzantines a formidable army!   More on Portable wargames Armies and Enemies of Byzantium (c950-1050AD) another time.