Rules for man-to man combat

[Pyrrhus]

Hi all. 
I think most of wargaming is about shooting other's soldiers, with cannons, catapults, and arches. However, I played as a child (and not-so child) another fighting way to decide who won. It can be especially useful when fighting with an human groups without strong firing devices (for example, the American natives, who only have arcs and arrows, whom cannot fire well nor strongly in older sets).

The way was man- to man combat: suppose two enemy soldiers having each a sword in the right hand (it can be any other weapon, as an axe or even a musket): you simply determine who win by hiting both clickies in such a way that both blades (or shafts) hit each other, one of them getting lost from the hand of one clicky. the clicky losing its sword loses and dies (there is not chance of having the courtesy treatment of letting him grasp his weapon back: if you do not have weapon and the other does, you are dead, unlike the movies, if one fellow has a knife and the other not, is the fellow without knife the one who dies).

I take turns for each side when fighting, in each turn, each artillery piece of each band shots once (thus, the side with most artillery has an advantage). And you can also advance land troops, 20 cm. for infantry, 40 cm. for cavalry, in each turn. Rifles and pistols do not shoot, they as used just as swords or white weapons, the only shooting that can kill is from artillery.

Cavalry has the advantage over infantry of reaching body- to body fight faster (thus avoiding easier being shot by artillery) and of being more difficult to kill by most cannons because of their greater sustentation base (my lithobolos callista catapult can however throw them with Playmobil cannonballs). Man to man, however, they do not have advantage.

Medieval knights may fight other cavalry by getting the point of their lance into the union between legs and torso of the other clicky and then pushing against it, they do not kill their enemy, but force them to fight as infantry, being vulnerable to cannons. The fight is clearly more equal between two knights with lances each.

[Pyrrhus]

Some clickies have stronger hand grasps than others, thus one's strategy is to put in the divisions of body- to body fight those clickies with stronger grasping capabilites. The weaker can be artilliers (there must be necessarily one artillier on a cannon for it to shoot).

Rifles are worst to fight hand- to hand than sabers: so the clicky must grasp it in the region between the cannon and the but of the musket. Thus, it would be most likely to be lost when crossed against a saber, the most likely case in reality.

[Pyrrhus]

So, the number of horses (and then cavalry) or strenght of hand grip may be factors as useful as the potence of fire and number of artillery pieces when wargaming. In addition, if we use buildings as cover, as Capt. Henry does, the amount of hiding places a group has can also count.

I think that when we are alone to play the battle, we cannot think too much on different strategies for each band; at least it is difficult to me to try to have the strategy for the better use of one band's forces without taking into account the strategies for the other side (each general would not know for certain what the other would do).

Then, I think we can make an strategy for just one of the bands, and for the other just a standard and reasonable defensive posture, to be superated by the band with strategy. The outcome of the battle may be a test to our strategical capabilities.

If we want to do things more difficult for our strategical use of our forces, we may provide the side without special strategy of fighting with the better cover, by fighting in their own territory, defended from artillery shooting by their own buildings, while the attacking force, in their quality of invaders, would be generally less provided with cover, as in sieges.

[Pyrrhus]

I use to make anachronistic battles, which may seem unfair, but not so much if we take into account rifles and pistols are not better than swords or even sticks as they do not shoot. Catapults do not need to be any worst than cannons.

In my Playmobil world, Roman armies can fight Medieval knights, and pirates can fight US troops. In my world, time has passed at different rates in different places (for example, Rome, Nuremberg, and the US West).

Romans can compensate their worst artillery by the use of their big shields, which make more difficult to make them fall by shooting them with artillery. In my particular case, they have the advantage that the lithobolos torsion catapult I made is the strongest artillery piece I have, both in reach and impact strenght (however, I just made one of them). They have also assault towers which enable them to be protected even when advancing.

Some tips:
-Cavalry is the force most likely to get engaged in body- to body combat, try to give them the regiments with more clickies with hands that grasp more firmly.

-If you do not have Medieval knight with lances (lances with guards), avoid cavalry with that kind of lances, and direct to any other target. They had advantage over other types of cavalry, as they can send them to the ground. This has some logic: a knight with lance can reach a cavalryman with a saber (for example) before the saber guy has its opponent at the reach of the saber.

-This greater value of the heavy Medieval cavalry implies we should try to shoot they down them preferentially (catapults are better for this). They can not only drop cavalry, they can also engage in body- to body combat also.

-Infantry needs more time to reach the enemy, and so more exposition time to artillery. Try to hide them behind cavalry from the enemy line of shooting, to make their advance easier. Hide them and try not to make them advance if the army does not have much cavalry.

-Try to not to advance if you have better reach than the other army. Let's the other support the casualties of the advance.

-If the hideouts of the other army are too difficult to shoot, you better forget the gun power and advance. You can move your cannons by losing a turn of shooting for the moved cannon (as in other rules), but you need to dedicate a horse at least to move the cannon (thus limiting the numbers of your cavalry).

-all Playmobil cannons may be able to get horsemen down (if sufficiently close) by using larger home-made bullets. Try not to waste them against cavalry. However, you need to shoot the horseman from the side (in a disposition like that of Balaclava, you can hardly get a horseman down if it is headed towards the cannon). So, try to head the cavalry towards the cannons. An so, try to put the artillery aiming trajectories at 90º angles (each horse can not be headed at both cannons at the same time).

-Hide the defenders in as much as possible, but the cannons may retain a not so-hide position so as to still being capable of shooting in the position it is. this will tend to make the defender artilliers not- so hided and vulnerable to attack. On the other hand, you can hide your defenders more, sacrificing their firing capacity, but it is senseless: it only means to retard the coming man- to man combat.