Breathing New Life into IGOUGO

A “Reactive Turn Sequence” for Wargame RULES

After a recent game of the most excellent Blue & Gray Quads I & II Deluxe a re-appraisal of a 1975 Quad game set of 4 x battles and later 8 x battles) of the American Civil War by SPI, I found myself wanting two things at once, despite Decision Games’ many fine advanced optional rules:

1. keep the clarity and decisiveness of a classic Combat Results Table system.
2. ditch the dead-time and “perfect coordination” that traditional IGOUGO encourages.
3. Create a superior and more involving game that provides and allows for greater generalship (or if you lost its “because your opposite number was better than you” and not “because your opposite number had better dice luck than you”).

This post is a write-up of a house sequence that does exactly that — it’s well worth a try even if you only use it for a single scenario night.
The Manx “Reactive” Sequence of Play
At the heart of the system is alternating unit activation, but with a crucial twist: fights already joined can’t be ignored unless you’re clearly and have stated as much building the fight.
Revised Simultaneous Sequence of Play

1. Instead of requiring to plot a simultaneous Sequence of Play is carried out as follows:
   1. Units can only move once and engage in combat offensively once. They may engage defensively more than one unless artillery. 
   2. Then the opposing player activates a Unit and the alternate activation system continues until all Units that both sides want to activate are activated. Note: there are no combat phases - combats are fought on a case-by-case basis when one side has positioned all its units into a combat position.
   3. The side that wins the initiative for that turn (or for Blue & Gray: the previous Odd-numbered turn) activates the first Unit of his choice (however any existing combats that (i.e. friendly Units adjacent to enemy Units) are not going to be reinforced this turn must be activated first). An activated Unit may:
      1. Engage in Combat (if already adjacent – this is required priority unless additional friendly Units can (& intend to) reinforce the combat.
      2. Move (including Limbering, Unlimbering and Charging as appropriate to Unit type). It does not need to engage in combat unless no other Friendly Unit can be moved into a position adjacent to an enemy Unit that the activated Unit is adjacent to.
         
      3. Move and Engage in Combat [if this activation brings the last Unit that is engaging a specific enemy into position a combat is fought immediately].
      4. Engage in Bombardment (Blue & Gray allows for artillery to bombard from non-adjacent hexes)
   4. Both Sides roll for Initiative as per any game rules or roll 2D6 each (in Blue & Gray: as per Rules 22.5.1 & 22.5.2 except that initiative is rolled for on every Odd-numbered turn).

Restricted Activation Scenarios

1. 1. 1. Note that where a side is limited to a certain number of Units activating in a turn then either: -
      2. it has the option to not activate a Unit or not by “Passing” but cannot do that twice in succession.
      3. Roll a number of D6 per activation phase. If the score is greater than the number of Units it is allowed to activate then it cannot activate a Unit in this phase of the Sequence.
         1. Where there is a restriction of no more than 7 Units can activate roll 2D6
         2. Where there is a restriction of no more than 12 Units can activate roll 3D6
         3. Where there is a restriction of no more than 17 Units can activate roll 4D6

Casualties from Combat

1. Instead of on an ‘AE’ result all attackers or on a ‘DE’ Result all defenders are eliminated only the number of Units equal or greater in strength than the opposite unmodified number are eliminated the rest retreat as in a ‘AR’ or ‘DR’ result (if they cannot do so then they are eliminated).
   1. Example: the Confederate side has a single defending Unit with an unmodified (for terrain) value of ‘5’ and the Union attacker on an ‘AE’ result has a ‘6’ and a ‘4’ then the ‘6’ value Unit would have to be eliminated and the Unit with the value of ‘4’ would retreat if if could – or be eliminated if it couldn’t].

Commentary
In play this converts the entire turn into one of bluff-and-counterbluff:

• Do I commit to a local fight now, before you hit my weak spot elsewhere?
• Do I reveal my main effort early, or shape the battle with bombardment and feints?
• Do I accept a risky “hasty” combat now at not-great odds, or try to build up [and allow the enemy to reinforce his position] and risk losing an  opportunity?
• Do I out-bluff him by making my opponent draw forces away from my main strike?
• If a hole is punched in an opponents line uncommitted units, especially cavalry, may be then activated to exploit the gap.

A rudimentary "Bell-curve" for D6 Results
Classic CRTs sometimes produce results that are technically consistent but whilst reflective of combat in theory they are also subject to the vagaries of the die (in this case a D6). This allows "Luck" to rear its ugly head, be it good or bad. 

Introducing the Average Die (D5)
If you want CRT outcomes that are less random without rewriting the CRT, you can change the die rolled instead of the table.
The dice

• D5 is a normal d6 with faces: 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5 (often called an “average die” in hobby circles)
• plus one normal D6.

The roll (keeps a 1–6 CRT intact)

1. Roll D5 and D6 together.
2. Start with the D5 as the base result.
   
3. If the D6 is higher, +1; if lower, −1; if equal, no change.
   

What it buys you
This produces a strongly centralised 1–6 distribution (extremes become rare) while still outputting a single CRT row number. In other words: fewer “freak” 1s and 6s, more 3s and 4s — which often feels more historical at brigade/division scale unless the odds/modifiers are already extreme.

What are the Odds?
This yields a strong “bell-ish” distribution across 1–6:

• 1: a 2.78% probability
• 2: a 13.89% probability
• 3: a 33.33% probability
• 4: a 33.33% probability
• 5: a 13.89% probability
• 6: a 2.78% probability

In Summary
OK so whether you thing these ideas are good or bad I hope that they have stimulated some ideas, ideas that can be put into practise in other games and indeed other tabletop wargaming rules where the IGOUGO system is operated.

I would suggest that even where it isn’t then this system can be adapted to replace or enhance other rules systems and we do intend to endeavour to try those out in our group’s massive collection of board games and tabletop wargame collections. We will try out other games to see how everything works out – from ancients to at least modern.

My many thanks to Doug Johnson and his team at Decision Games for an outstanding edition of these battles (we’ll be providing a full review of the Game once we have firstly fought a few more battles and secondly tried out all of the optional rules).