Scouting in Solo Wargames

As wargamers we, especially when playing solo, can often skip over some of the worries real, boots on the ground, commanders would have faced.

We line up our troops (usually) in the order we want, aimed at key terrain features, ready to contest the pre-agreed crossing points of a river or stream; the ford or bridge we placed at the agreed spot.

Our troops nimbly pick their way along the clearly marked path between patches of swamp, or happily descending the reverse slope of a hill that we could not have seen from our vantage point at the start of the engagement, but that we had agreed with our opponent was a certain gradient that would give a certain movement penalty.

We may not know exactly which enemy units we face, through the use of blinds or tokens, but we know which patch of tall grass is actually marsh and exactly how much it would slow our troops if they pass through it.

And our light cavalry? They don't have one of their battlefield roles to fulfil so they spend the fight trying to harass the enemy infantry while staying away from their heavy cavalry.

Over the years i've read and played a lot of rule sets that have some form of scouting phase, but none have really dug deeply into replicating the terrain side of fog of war.

Ivar the Boneless checking the depth of a river before deciding on the best way to cross.

This is something i've been thinking about while developing "By Fire or Steel" and "With Me!" (my mass battle and skirmish wargames), how to add this into the games.

The first question to ask ourselves is how familiar could either commander be with the battlefield?

A skirmish between one of the very first Viking Raiding parties to land in Britain and the local Anglo-Saxons is very unlikely to be fought over ground the Vikings have seen before. As they crest a ridge line they could see a river winding through a valley, so we wouldn't have to hide the river from one player, but would they know how deep it is from a distance?

But the Saxons would know every inch of the land. They know the depth and any crossable points.

If we were playing as the Vikings and the Saxons were controlled by the game mechanics we would need to get close enough to the river to find the crossing point, or points. If we can afford the time we can advance slowly while smaller units search the river bank for a ford. But if there is some time pressure, maybe we need to reach our longships by dark, do we take more of a risk and split our force into two and approach the river en-masse, knowing that half our force would find they are a long way from the crossing?

What would the Saxons be doing? Patiently waiting for us to find the way?

And of course with roles reversed; we know there are two fords. Do we split our force to block both. Do we place our forces so they could get to either, but also use a reserve unit to form up near a point where the river cannot be crossed in the hope the Vikings waste some time/manpower heading for water too deep for them to cross?

Of course this can also apply to player versus player battles. One players light cavalry trying to spot the path through broken ground or march for their infantry, while their opponent it trying to block them getting close enough to do so.

It is not something I intend to be game-breaking, or the only thing the battle revolves around, but now there is a more realistic feel to the early stages of battle. 

As the rules for each get closer to completion I'll start posting some battle reports, so hopefully this makes more sense when see in action.