,little ,wars 7,a ,game for ,boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books7 ,with an ,appendix on ,kriegspiel ,by ,h4 ,g4 ,wells ,,contents ,i4 ,,of ,,the ,,legendary ,,past ,,ii4 ,,the ,,beginnings ,,of ,,modern ,,little ,,warfare ,,iii4 ,,the ,,rules-- ,the ,country ,the ,move ,mobility of the ,various ,arms ,hand-to-,hand ,fighting and ,capturing ,varieties of the ,battle-,game ,composition of ,forces ,size of the ,soldiers ,,iv4 ,,the ,,battle ,,of ,,hook',s ,,farm ,v4 ,,extensions ,,and ,,amplifications ,,of ,,little ,,war ,,vi4 ,,ending ,,with ,a ,,sort ,,of ,,challenge ,,appendix-- ,,little ,,wars ,,and ,,kriegspiel ,i ,,of ,,the ,,legendary ,,past ,,little ,,wars is the game of kings--for players in an inferior social position4 ,it can be played by boys of every age from twelve to one hundred and fifty--and even later if the limbs remain sufficiently supple--by girls of the better sort1 and by a few rare and gifted women4 ,this is to be a full ,history of ,little ,wars from its recorded and authenticated beginning until the present time1 an account of how to make little warfare1 and hints of the most priceless sort for the recumbent strategist4444 ,but first let it be noted in passing that there were prehistoric ,little ,wars4 ,this is no new thing1 no crude novelty2 but a thing tested by time1 ancient and ripe in its essentials for all its perennial freshness--like spring4 ,there was a ,someone who fought ,little ,wars in the days of ,queen ,anne2 a garden ,napoleon4 ,his game was inaccurately observed and insufficiently recorded by ,laurence ,sterne4 ,it is clear that ,uncle ,toby and ,corporal ,trim were playing ,little ,wars on a scale and with an elaboration exceeding even the richness and beauty of the contemporary game4 ,but the curtain is drawn back only to tantalise us4 ,it is scarcely conceivable that anywhere now on earth the ,shandean ,rules remain on record4 ,perhaps they were never committed to paper4444 ,and in all ages a certain barbaric warfare has been waged with soldiers of tin and lead and wood1 with the weapons of the wild1 with the catapult1 the elastic circular garter1 the peashooter1 the rubber ball1 and such-like appliances--a mere setting up and knocking down of men4 ,tin murder4 ,the advance of civilisation has swept such rude contests altogether from the playroom4 ,we know them no more4444 ,,ii ,,the ,,beginnings ,,of ,,modern ,,little ,,warfare ,,the beginning of the game of ,little ,war1 as we know it1 became possible with the invention of the spring breechloader gun4 ,this priceless gift to boyhood appeared somewhen towards the end of the last century1 a gun capable of hitting a toy soldier nine times out of ten at a distance of nine yards4 ,it has completely superseded all the spiral-spring and other makes of gun hitherto used in playroom warfare4 ,these spring breechloaders are made in various sizes and patterns1 but the one used in our game is that known in ,england as the four-point-seven gun4 ,it fires a wooden cylinder about an inch long1 and has a screw adjustment for elevation and depression4 ,it is an altogether elegant weapon4 ,it was with one of these guns that the beginning of our war game was made4 ,it was at ,sandgate--in ,england4 ,illustration3 ,showing a country prepared for the war game ,illustration3 ,showing countries prepared for the war game ,the present writer had been lunching with a friend--let me veil his identity under the initials ,j4 ,k4 ,j4--in a room littered with the irrepressible debris of a small boy's pleasures4 ,on a table near our own stood four or five soldiers and one of these guns4 ,mr ,j4 ,k4 ,j41 his more urgent needs satisfied and the coffee imminent1 drew a chair to this little table1 sat down1 examined the gun discreetly1 loaded it warily1 aimed1 and hit his man4 ,thereupon he boasted of the deed1 and issued challenges that were accepted with avidity4444 ,he fired that day a shot that still echoes round the world4 ,an affair--let us parallel the ,cannonade of ,valmy and call it the ,cannonade of ,sandgate--occurred1 a shooting between opposed ranks of soldiers1 a shooting not very different in spirit--but how different in results6--from the prehistoric warfare of catapult and garter4 ,but suppose1 said his antagonists2 suppose somehow one could move the men6 and therewith opened a new world of belligerence4 ,the matter went no further with ,mr ,j4 ,k4 ,j4 ,the seed lay for a time gathering strength1 and then began to germinate with another friend1 ,mr ,w4 ,to ,mr ,w4 was broached the idea3 ,i believe that if one set up a few obstacles on the floor1 volumes of the ,british ,encyclopedia and so forth1 to make a ,country1 and moved these soldiers and guns about1 one could have rather a good game1 a kind of kriegspiel4444 ,primitive attempts to realise the dream were interrupted by a great rustle and chattering of lady visitors4 ,they regarded the objects upon the floor with the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things4 ,but the writer had in those days a very dear friend1 a man too ill for long excursions or vigorous sports 7he has been dead now these six years71 of a very sweet companionable disposition1 a hearty jester and full of the spirit of play4 ,to him the idea was broached more fruitfully4 ,we got two forces of toy soldiers1 set out a lumpish ,encyclopaedic land upon the carpet1 and began to play4 ,we arranged to move in alternate moves3 first one moved all his force and then the other2 an infantry-man could move one foot at each move1 a cavalry-man two1 a gun two1 and it might fire six shots2 and if a man was moved up to touch another man1 then we tossed up and decided which man was dead4 ,so we made a game1 which was not a good game1 but which was very amusing once or twice4 ,the men were packed under the lee of fat volumes1 while the guns1 animated by a spirit of their own1 banged away at any exposed head1 or prowled about in search of a shot4 ,occasionally men came into contact1 with remarkable results4 ,rash is the man who trusts his life to the spin of a coin4 ,one impossible paladin slew in succession nine men and turned defeat to victory1 to the extreme exasperation of the strategist who had led those victims to their doom4 ,this inordinate factor of chance eliminated play2 the individual freedom of guns turned battles into scandals of crouching concealment2 there was too much cover afforded by the books and vast intervals of waiting while the players took aim4 ,and yet there was something about it4444 ,it was a game crying aloud for improvement4 ,improvement came almost simultaneously in several directions4 ,first there was the development of the ,country4 ,the soldiers did not stand well on an ordinary carpet1 the ,encyclopedia made clumsy cliff-like cover1 and more particularly the room in which the game had its beginnings was subject to the invasion of callers1 alien souls1 trampling skirt-swishers1 chatterers1 creatures unfavourably impressed by the spectacle of two middle-aged men playing with toy soldiers on the floor1 and very heated and excited about it4 ,overhead was the day nursery1 with a wide extent of smooth cork carpet 7the natural terrain of toy soldiers71 a large box of bricks--such as ,i have described in ,floor ,games--and certain large inch-thick boards4 ,it was an easy task for the head of the household to evict his offspring1 annex these advantages1 and set about planning a more realistic country4 7,i forget what became of the children47 ,the thick boards were piled up one upon another to form hills2 holes were bored in them1 into which twigs of various shrubs were stuck to represent trees2 houses and sheds 7solid and compact piles of from three to six or seven inches high1 and broad in proportion7 and walls were made with the bricks2 ponds and swamps and rivers1 with fords and so forth indicated1 were chalked out on the floor1 garden stones were brought in to represent great rocks1 and the ,country at least of our perfected war game was in existence4 ,we discovered it was easy to cut out and bend and gum together paper and cardboard walls1 into which our toy bricks could be packed1 and on which we could paint doors and windows1 creepers and rain-water pipes1 and so forth1 to represent houses1 castles1 and churches in a more realistic manner1 and1 growing skilful1 we made various bridges and so forth of card4 ,every boy who has ever put together model villages knows how to do these things1 and the attentive reader will find them edifyingly represented in our photographic illustrations4 ,there has been little development since that time in the ,country4 ,our illustrations show the methods of arrangement1 and the reader will see how easily and readily the utmost variety of battlefields can be made4 7,it is merely to be remarked that a too crowded ,country makes the guns ineffective and leads to a mere tree to tree and house to house scramble1 and that large open spaces along the middle1 or rivers without frequent fords and bridges1 lead to ineffective cannonades1 because of the danger of any advance4 ,on the whole1 too much cover is better than too little47 ,we decided that one player should plan and lay out the ,country1 and the other player choose from which side he would come4 ,and to-day we play over such landscapes in a cork-carpeted schoolroom1 from which the proper occupants are no longer evicted but remain to take an increasingly responsible and less and less audible and distressing share in the operations4 ,illustration3 ,showing the war game in the open air ,illustration3 ,the war game in the open air ,we found it necessary to make certain general rules4 ,houses and sheds must be made of solid lumps of bricks1 and not hollow so that soldiers can be put inside them1 because otherwise muddled situations arise4 ,and it was clearly necessary to provide for the replacement of disturbed objects by chalking out the outlines of boards and houses upon the floor or boards upon which they stood4 ,and while we thus perfected the ,country1 we were also eliminating all sorts of tediums1 disputable possibilities1 and deadlocks from the game4 ,we decided that every man should be as brave and skilful as every other man1 and that when two men of opposite sides came into contact they would inevitably kill each other4 ,this restored strategy to its predominance over chance4 ,we then began to humanise that wild and fearful fowl1 the gun4 ,we decided that a gun could not be fired if there were not six--afterwards we reduced the number to four--men within six inches of it4 ,and we ruled that a gun could not both fire and move in the same general move3 it could either be fired or moved 7or left alone74 ,if there were less than six men within six inches of a gun1 then we tried letting it fire as many shots as there were men1 and we permitted a single man to move a gun1 and move with it as far as he could go by the rules--a foot1 that is1 if he was an infantry-man1 and two feet if he was a cavalry-man4 ,we abolished altogether that magical freedom of an unassisted gun to move two feet4 ,and on such rules as these we fought a number of battles4 ,they were interesting1 but not entirely satisfactory4 ,we took no prisoners--a feature at once barbaric and unconvincing4 ,the battles lingered on a long time1 because we shot with extreme care and deliberation1 and they were hard to bring to a decisive finish4 ,the guns were altogether too predominant4 ,they prevented attacks getting home1 and they made it possible for a timid player to put all his soldiers out of sight behind hills and houses1 and bang away if his opponent showed as much as the tip of a bayonet4 ,monsieur ,bloch seemed vindicated1 and ,little ,war had become impossible4 ,and there was something a little absurd1 too1 in the spectacle of a solitary drummer-boy1 for example1 marching off with a gun4 ,but as there was nevertheless much that seemed to us extremely pretty and picturesque about the game1 we set to work--and here a certain ,mr ,m4 with his brother1 ,captain ,m41 hot from the ,great ,war in ,south ,africa1 came in most helpfully--to quicken it4 ,manifestly the guns had to be reduced to manageable terms4 ,we cut down the number of shots per move to four1 and we required that four men should be within six inches of a gun for it to be in action at all4 ,without four men it could neither fire nor move--it was out of action2 and if it moved1 the four men had to go with it4 ,moreover1 to put an end to that little resistant body of men behind a house1 we required that after a gun had been fired it should remain1 without alteration of the elevation1 pointing in the direction of its last shot1 and have two men placed one on either side of the end of its trail4 ,this secured a certain exposure on the part of concealed and sheltered gunners4 ,it was no longer possible to go on shooting out of a perfect security for ever4 ,all this favoured the attack and led to a livelier game4 ,our next step was to abolish the tedium due to the elaborate aiming of the guns1 by fixing a time limit for every move4 ,we made this an outside limit at first1 ten minutes1 but afterwards we discovered that it made the game much more warlike to cut the time down to a length that would barely permit a slow-moving player to fire all his guns and move all his men4 ,this led to small bodies of men lagging and getting left1 to careless exposures1 to rapid1 less accurate shooting1 and just that eventfulness one would expect in the hurry and passion of real fighting4 ,it also made the game brisker4 ,we have since also made a limit1 sometimes of four minutes1 sometimes of five minutes1 to the interval for adjustment and deliberation after one move is finished and before the next move begins4 ,this further removes the game from the chess category1 and approximates it to the likeness of active service4 ,most of a general's decisions1 once a fight has begun1 must be made in such brief intervals of time4 7,but we leave unlimited time at the outset for the planning47 ,as to our time-keeping1 we catch a visitor with a stop-watch if we can1 and if we cannot1 we use a fair-sized clock with a second-hand3 the player not moving says ,go1 and warns at the last two minutes1 last minute1 and last thirty seconds4 ,but ,i think it would not be difficult to procure a cheap clock--because1 of course1 no one wants a very accurate agreement with ,greenwich as to the length of a second--that would have minutes instead of hours and seconds instead of minutes1 and that would ping at the end of every minute and discharge an alarm note at the end of the move4 ,that would abolish the rather boring strain of time-keeping4 ,one could just watch the fighting4 ,moreover1 in our desire to bring the game to a climax1 we decided that instead of a fight to a finish we would fight to some determined point1 and we found very good sport in supposing that the arrival of three men of one force upon the back line of the opponent's side of the country was of such strategic importance as to determine the battle4 ,but this form of battle we have since largely abandoned in favour of the old fight to a finish again4 ,we found it led to one type of battle only1 a massed rush at the antagonist's line1 and that our arrangements of time-limits and capture and so forth had eliminated most of the concluding drag upon the game4 ,our game was now very much in its present form4 ,we considered at various times the possibility of introducing some complication due to the bringing up of ammunition or supplies generally1 and we decided that it would add little to the interest or reality of the game4 ,our battles are little brisk fights in which one may suppose that all the ammunition and food needed are carried by the men themselves4 ,but our latest development has been in the direction of killing hand to hand or taking prisoners4 ,we found it necessary to distinguish between an isolated force and a force that was merely a projecting part of a larger force4 ,we made a definition of isolation4 ,after a considerable amount of trials we decided that a man or a detachment shall be considered to be isolated when there is less than half its number of its own side within a move of it4 ,now1 in actual civilised warfare small detached bodies do not sell their lives dearly2 a considerably larger force is able to make them prisoners without difficulty4 ,accordingly we decided that if a blue force1 for example1 has one or more men isolated1 and a red force of at least double the strength of this isolated detachment moves up to contact with it1 the blue men will be considered to be prisoners4 ,that seemed fair2 but so desperate is the courage and devotion of lead soldiers1 that it came to this1 that any small force that got or seemed likely to get isolated and caught by a superior force instead of waiting to be taken prisoners1 dashed at its possible captors and slew them man for man4 ,it was manifestly unreasonable to permit this4 ,and in considering how best to prevent such inhuman heroisms1 we were reminded of another frequent incident in our battles that also erred towards the incredible and vitiated our strategy4 ,that was the charging of one or two isolated horse-men at a gun in order to disable it4 ,let me illustrate this by an incident4 ,a force consisting of ten infantry and five cavalry with a gun are retreating across an exposed space1 and a gun with thirty men1 cavalry and infantry1 in support comes out upon a crest into a position to fire within two feet of the retreating cavalry4 ,the attacking player puts eight men within six inches of his gun and pushes the rest of his men a little forward to the right or left in pursuit of his enemy4 ,in the real thing1 the retreating horsemen would go off to cover with the gun1 hell for leather1 while the infantry would open out and retreat1 firing4 ,but see what happened in our imperfect form of ,little ,war6 ,the move of the retreating player began4 ,instead of retreating his whole force1 he charged home with his mounted desperadoes1 killed five of the eight men about the gun1 and so by the rule silenced it1 enabling the rest of his little body to get clean away to cover at the leisurely pace of one foot a move4 ,this was not like any sort of warfare4 ,in real life cavalry cannot pick out and kill its equivalent in cavalry while that equivalent is closely supported by other cavalry or infantry2 a handful of troopers cannot gallop past well and abundantly manned guns in action1 cut down the gunners and interrupt the fire4 ,and yet for a time we found it a little difficult to frame simple rules to meet these two bad cases and prevent such scandalous possibilities4 ,we did at last contrive to do so2 we invented what we call the melee1 and our revised rules in the event of a melee will be found set out upon a later page4 ,they do really permit something like an actual result to hand-to-hand encounters4 ,they abolish ,horatius ,cocles4 ,illustration3 ,the war game in the open air ,illustration3 ,fig4 #a--;,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,general ,view of the ,battlefield and ,red ,army ,we also found difficulties about the capturing of guns4 ,at first we had merely provided that a gun was captured when it was out of action and four men of the opposite force were within six inches of it1 but we found a number of cases for which this rule was too vague4 ,a gun1 for example1 would be disabled and left with only three men within six inches2 the enemy would then come up eight or ten strong within six inches on the other side1 but not really reaching the gun4 ,at the next move the original possessor of the gun would bring up half a dozen men within six inches4 ,to whom did the gun belong8 ,by the original wording of our rule1 it might be supposed to belong to the attack which had never really touched the gun yet1 and they could claim to turn it upon its original side4 ,we had to meet a number of such cases4 ,we met them by requiring the capturing force--or1 to be precise1 four men of it--actually to pass the axle of the gun before it could be taken4 ,all sorts of odd little difficulties arose too1 connected with the use of the guns as a shelter from fire1 and very exact rules had to be made to avoid tilting the nose and raising the breech of a gun in order to use it as cover4444 ,we still found it difficult to introduce any imitation into our game of either retreat or the surrender of men not actually taken prisoners in a melee4 ,both things were possible by the rules1 but nobody did them because there was no inducement to do them4 ,games were apt to end obstinately with the death or capture of the last man4 ,an inducement was needed4 ,this we contrived by playing not for the game but for points1 scoring the result of each game and counting the points towards the decision of a campaign4 ,our campaign was to our single game what a rubber is to a game of whist4 ,we made the end of a war #bjj1 #cjj1 or #djj or more points up1 according to the number of games we wanted to play1 and we scored a hundred for each battle won1 and in addition #a for each infantry-man1 #a-a_/b for each cavalry-man1 #aj for each gun1 #a_/b for each man held prisoner by the enemy1 and #a_/b for each prisoner held at the end of the game1 subtracting what the antagonist scored by the same scale4 ,thus1 when he felt the battle was hopelessly lost1 he had a direct inducement to retreat any guns he could still save and surrender any men who were under the fire of the victors' guns and likely to be slaughtered1 in order to minimise the score against him4 ,and an interest was given to a skilful retreat1 in which the loser not only saved points for himself but inflicted losses upon the pursuing enemy4 ,at first we played the game from the outset1 with each player's force within sight of his antagonist2 then we found it possible to hang a double curtain of casement cloth from a string stretched across the middle of the field1 and we drew this back only after both sides had set out their men4 ,without these curtains we found the first player was at a heavy disadvantage1 because he displayed all his dispositions before his opponent set down his men4 ,and at last our rules have reached stability1 and we regard them now with the virtuous pride of men who have persisted in a great undertaking and arrived at precision after much tribulation4 ,there is not a piece of constructive legislation in the world1 not a solitary attempt to meet a complicated problem1 that we do not now regard the more charitably for our efforts to get a right result from this apparently easy and puerile business of fighting with tin soldiers on the floor4 ,and so our laws all made1 battles have been fought1 the mere beginnings1 we feel1 of vast campaigns4 ,the game has become in a dozen aspects extraordinarily like a small real battle4 ,the plans are made1 the ,country hastily surveyed1 and then the curtains are closed1 and the antagonists make their opening dispositions4 ,then the curtains are drawn back and the hostile forces come within sight of each other2 the little companies and squadrons and batteries appear hurrying to their positions1 the infantry deploying into long open lines1 the cavalry sheltering in reserve1 or galloping with the guns to favourable advance positions4 ,in two or three moves the guns are flickering into action1 a cavalry melee may be in progress1 the plans of the attack are more or less apparent1 here are men pouring out from the shelter of a wood to secure some point of vantage1 and here are troops massing among farm buildings for a vigorous attack4 ,the combat grows hot round some vital point4 ,move follows move in swift succession4 ,one realises with a sickening sense of error that one is outnumbered and hard pressed here and uselessly cut off there1 that one's guns are ill-placed1 that one's wings are spread too widely1 and that help can come only over some deadly zone of fire4 ,so the fight wears on4 ,guns are lost or won1 hills or villages stormed or held2 suddenly it grows clear that the scales are tilting beyond recovery1 and the loser has nothing left but to contrive how he may get to the back line and safety with the vestiges of his command4444 ,but let me1 before ,i go on to tell of actual battles and campaigns1 give here a summary of our essential rules4 ,,iii ,,the ,,rules ,,here1 then1 are the rules of the perfect battle-game as we play it in an ordinary room4 ,,the ,,country 7#a7 ,the ,country must be arranged by one player1 who1 failing any other agreement1 shall be selected by the toss of a coin4 7#b7 ,the other player shall then choose which side of the field he will fight from4 7#c7 ,the ,country must be disturbed as little as possible in each move4 ,nothing in the ,country shall be moved or set aside deliberately to facilitate the firing of guns4 ,a player must not lie across the ,country so as to crush or disturb the ,country if his opponent objects4 ,whatever is moved by accident shall be replaced after the end of the move4 ,,the ,,move 7#a7 ,after the ,country is made and the sides chosen1 then 7and not until then7 the players shall toss for the first move4 7#b7 ,if there is no curtain1 the player winning the toss1 hereafter called the ,first ,player1 shall next arrange his men along his back line1 as he chooses4 ,any men he may place behind or in front of his back line shall count in the subsequent move as if they touched the back line at its nearest point4 ,the ,second ,player shall then do the same4 ,but if a curtain is available both first and second player may put down their men at the same time4 ,both players may take unlimited time for the putting down of their men2 if there is a curtain it is drawn back when they are ready1 and the game then begins4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #b--;,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,a ,near ,view of the ,blue ,army ,illustration3 ,fig4 #c--;,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,position of both ,armies after first move4 7#c7 ,the subsequent moves after the putting down are timed4 ,the length of time given for each move is determined by the size of the forces engaged4 ,about a minute should be allowed for moving #cj men and a minute for each gun4 ,thus for a force of #aaj men and #c guns1 moved by one player1 seven minutes is an ample allowance4 ,as the battle progresses and the men are killed off1 the allowance is reduced as the players may agree4 ,the player about to move stands at attention a yard behind his back line until the timekeeper says ,go4 ,he then proceeds to make his move until time is up4 ,he must instantly stop at the cry of ,time4 ,warning should be given by the timekeeper two minutes1 one minute1 and thirty seconds before time is up4 ,there will be an interval before the next move1 during which any disturbance of the ,country can be rearranged and men accidentally overturned replaced in a proper attitude4 ,this interval must not exceed five or four minutes1 as may be agreed upon4 7#d7 ,guns must not be fired before the second move of the first player--not counting the putting down as a move4 ,thus the first player puts down1 then the second player1 the first player moves1 then the second player1 and the two forces are then supposed to come into effective range of each other and the first player may open fire if he wishes to do so4 7#e7 ,in making his move a player must move or fire his guns if he wants to do so1 before moving his men4 ,to this rule of ,guns ,first there is to be no exception4 7#f7 ,every soldier may be moved and every gun moved or fired at each move1 subject to the following rules3 ,,mobility ,,of ,,the ,,various ,,arms 7,each player must be provided with two pieces of string1 one two feet in length and the other six inches47 7,i7 ,an infantry-man may be moved a foot or any less distance at each move4 7,,ii7 ,a cavalry-man may be moved two feet or any less distance at each move4 7,,iii7 ,a gun is in action if there are at least four men of its own side within six inches of it4 ,if there are not at least four men within that distance1 it can neither be moved nor fired4 7,,iv7 ,if a gun is in action it can either be moved or fired at each move1 but not both4 ,if it is fired1 it may fire as many as four shots in each move4 ,it may be swung round on its axis 7the middle point of its wheel axle7 to take aim1 provided the ,country about it permits2 it may be elevated or depressed1 and the soldiers about it may1 at the discretion of the firer1 be made to lie down in their places to facilitate its handling4 ,moreover1 soldiers who have got in front of the fire of their own guns may lie down while the guns fire over them4 ,at the end of the move the gun must be left without altering its elevation and pointing in the direction of the last shot4 ,and after firing1 two men must be placed exactly at the end of the trail of the gun1 one on either side in a line directly behind the wheels4 ,so much for firing4 ,if the gun is moved and not fired1 then at least four men who are with the gun must move up with it to its new position1 and be placed within six inches of it in its new position4 ,the gun itself must be placed trail forward and the muzzle pointing back in the direction from which it came1 and so it must remain until it is swung round on its axis to fire4 ,obviously the distance which a gun can move will be determined by the men it is with2 if there are at least four cavalry-men with it1 they can take the gun two feet1 but if there are fewer cavalry-men than four and the rest infantry1 or no cavalry and all infantry1 the gun will be movable only one foot4 7,v7 ,every man must be placed fairly clear of hills1 buildings1 trees1 guns1 etc4 ,he must not be jammed into interstices1 and either player may insist upon a clear distance between any man and any gun or other object of at least one-sixteenth of an inch4 ,nor must men be packed in contact with men4 ,a space of one-sixteenth of an inch should be kept between them4 7,,vi7 ,when men are knocked over by a shot they are dead1 and as many men are dead as a shot knocks over or causes to fall or to lean so that they would fall if unsupported4 ,but if a shot strikes a man but does not knock him over1 he is dead1 provided the shot has not already killed a man4 ,but a shot cannot kill more than one man without knocking him over1 and if it touches several without oversetting them1 only the first touched is dead and the others are not incapacitated4 ,a shot that rebounds from or glances off any object and touches a man1 kills him2 it kills him even if it simply rolls to his feet1 subject to what has been said in the previous sentence4 ,,hand-,,to-,,hand ,,fighting ,,and ,,capturing 7#a7 ,a man or a body of men which has less than half its own number of men on its own side within a move of it1 is said to be isolated4 ,but if there is at least half its number of men of its own side within a move of it1 it is not isolated2 it is supported4 7#b7 ,men may be moved up into virtual contact 7one-eighth of an inch or closer7 with men of the opposite side4 ,they must then be left until the end of the move4 7#c7 ,at the end of the move1 if there are men of the side that has just moved in contact with any men of the other side1 they constitute a melee4 ,all the men in contact1 and any other men within six inches of the men in contact1 measuring from any point of their persons1 weapons1 or horses1 are supposed to take part in the melee4 ,at the end of the move the two players examine the melee and dispose of the men concerned according to the following rules3-- ,either the numbers taking part in the melee on each side are equal or unequal4 7a7 ,if they are equal1 all the men on both sides are killed4 7b7 ,if they are unequal1 then the inferior force is either isolated or 7measuring from the points of contact7 not isolated4 7i7 ,if it is isolated 7see 7#a7 above71 then as many men become prisoners as the inferior force is less in numbers than the superior force1 and the rest kill each a man and are killed4 ,thus nine against eleven have two taken prisoners1 and each side seven men dead4 ,four of the eleven remain with two prisoners4 ,one may put this in another way by saying that the two forces kill each other off1 man for man1 until one force is double the other1 which is then taken prisoner4 ,seven men kill seven men1 and then four are left with two4 7ii7 ,but if the inferior force is not isolated 7see 7#a7 above71 then each man of the inferior force kills a man of the superior force and is himself killed4 ,and the player who has just completed the move1 the one who has charged1 decides1 when there is any choice1 which men in the melee1 both of his own and of his antagonist1 shall die and which shall be prisoners or captors4 ,all these arrangements are made after the move is over1 in the interval between the moves1 and the time taken for the adjustment does not count as part of the usual interval for consideration4 ,it is extra time4 ,the player next moving may1 if he has taken prisoners1 move these prisoners4 ,prisoners may be sent under escort to the rear or wherever the capturer directs1 and one man within six inches of any number of prisoners up to seven can escort these prisoners and go with them4 ,prisoners are liberated by the death of any escort there may be within six inches of them1 but they may not be moved by the player of their own side until the move following that in which the escort is killed4 ,directly prisoners are taken they are supposed to be disarmed1 and if they are liberated they cannot fight until they are rearmed4 ,in order to be rearmed they must return to the back line of their own side4 ,an escort having conducted prisoners to the back line1 and so beyond the reach of liberation1 may then return into the fighting line4 ,prisoners once made cannot fight until they have returned to their back line4 ,it follows1 therefore1 that if after the adjudication of a melee a player moves up more men into touch with the survivors of this first melee1 and so constitutes a second melee1 any prisoners made in the first melee will not count as combatants in the second melee4 ,thus if ,a moves up nineteen men into a melee with thirteen of ,b's--,b having only five in support--,a makes six prisoners1 kills seven men1 and has seven of his own killed4 ,if1 now1 ,b can move up fourteen men into melee with ,a's victorious survivors1 which he may be able to do by bringing the five into contact1 and getting nine others within six inches of them1 no count is made of the six of ,b's men who are prisoners in the hands of ,a4 ,they are disarmed4 ,b1 therefore1 has fourteen men in the second melee and ,a twelve1 ,b makes two prisoners1 kills ten of ,a's men1 and has ten of his own killed4 ,but now the six prisoners originally made by ,a are left without an escort1 and are therefore recaptured by ,b4 ,but they must go to ,b's back line and return before they can fight again4 ,so1 as the outcome of these two melees1 there are six of ,b's men going as released prisoners to his back line whence they may return into the battle1 two of ,a's men prisoners in the hands of ,b1 one of ,b's staying with them as escort1 and three of ,b's men still actively free for action4 ,a1 at a cost of nineteen men1 has disposed of seventeen of ,b's men for good1 and of six or seven1 according to whether ,b keeps his prisoners in his fighting line or not1 temporarily4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #d--;,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,the ,battle developing rapidly4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #e;a--,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,red ,cavalry charging the ,blue ,guns4 7#d7 ,any isolated body may hoist the white flag and surrender at any time4 7#e7 ,a gun is captured when there is no man whatever of its original side within six inches of it1 and when at least four men of the antagonist side have moved up to it and have passed its wheel axis going in the direction of their attack4 ,this latter point is important4 ,an antagonist's gun may be out of action1 and you may have a score of men coming up to it and within six inches of it1 but it is not yet captured2 and you may have brought up a dozen men all round the hostile gun1 but if there is still one enemy just out of their reach and within six inches of the end of the trail of the gun1 that gun is not captured3 it is still in dispute and out of action1 and you may not fire it or move it at the next move4 ,but once a gun is fully captured1 it follows all the rules of your own guns4 ,,varieties ,,of ,,the ,,battle-,,game ,you may play various types of game4 7#a7 ,one is the ,fight to the ,finish4 ,you move in from any points you like on the back line and try to kill1 capture1 or drive over his back line the whole of the enemy's force4 ,you play the game for points2 you score #ajj for the victory1 and #aj for every gun you hold or are in a position to take1 #a-a_/b for every cavalry-man1 #a for every infantry-man still alive and uncaptured1 #a_/b for every man of yours prisoner in the hands of the enemy1 and #a_/b for every prisoner you have taken4 ,if the battle is still undecided when both forces are reduced below fifteen men1 the battle is drawn and the #ajj points for victory are divided4 ,note--,this game can be fought with any sized force1 but if it is fought with less than #ej a side1 the minimum must be #aj a side4 7#b7 ,the ,blow at the ,rear game is decided when at least three men of one force reach any point in the back line of their antagonist4 ,he is then supposed to have suffered a strategic defeat1 and he must retreat his entire force over the back line in six moves1 i4e4 six of his moves4 ,anything left on the field after six moves capitulates to the victor4 ,points count as in the preceding game1 but this lasts a shorter time and is better adapted to a cramped country with a short back line4 ,with a long rear line the game is simply a rush at some weak point in the first player's line by the entire cavalry brigade of the second player4 ,instead of making the whole back line available for the ,blow at the ,rear1 the middle or either half may be taken4 7#c7 ,in the ,defensive ,game1 a force1 the defenders1 two-thirds as strong as its antagonist1 tries to prevent the latter arriving1 while still a quarter of its original strength1 upon the defender's back line4 ,the ,country must be made by one or both of the players before it is determined which shall be defender4 ,the players then toss for choice of sides1 and the winner of the toss becomes the defender4 ,he puts out his force over the field on his own side1 anywhere up to the distance of one move off the middle line--that is to say1 he must not put any man within one move of the middle line1 but he may do so anywhere on his own side of that limit--and then the loser of the toss becomes first player1 and sets out his men a move from his back line4 ,the defender may open fire forthwith2 he need not wait until after the second move of the first player1 as the second player has to do4 ,,composition ,,of ,,forces ,except in the above cases1 or when otherwise agreed upon1 the forces engaged shall be equal in number and similar in composition4 ,the methods of handicapping are obvious4 ,a slight inequality 7chances of war7 may be arranged between equal players by leaving out #ab men on each side and tossing with a pair of dice to see how many each player shall take of these4 ,the best arrangement and proportion of the forces is in small bodies of about #bj to #be infantry-men and #ab to #ae cavalry to a gun4 ,such a force can maneuver comfortably on a front of #d or #e feet4 ,most of our games have been played with about #hj infantry1 #ej cavalry1 #c or #d naval guns1 and a field gun on either side1 or with smaller proportional forces4 ,we have played excellent games on an eighteen-foot battlefield with over two hundred men and six guns a side4 ,a player may1 of course1 rearrange his forces to suit his own convenience2 brigade all or most of his cavalry into a powerful striking force1 or what not4 ,but more guns proportionally lead to their being put out of action too early for want of men2 a larger proportion of infantry makes the game sluggish1 and more cavalry--because of the difficulty of keeping large bodies of this force under cover--leads simply to early heavy losses by gunfire and violent and disastrous charging4 ,the composition of a force may1 of course1 be varied considerably4 ,one good ,fight to a ,finish game we tried as follows3 ,we made the ,country1 tossed for choice1 and then drew curtains across the middle of the field4 ,each player then selected his force from the available soldiers in this way3 he counted infantry as #a each1 cavalry as #a-a_/b1 and a gun as #aj1 and1 taking whatever he liked in whatever position he liked1 he made up a total of #aej4 ,he could1 for instance1 choose #ajj infantry and #e guns1 or #ajj cavalry and no guns1 or #fj infantry1 #dj cavalry1 and #c guns4 ,in the result1 a ,boer-like cavalry force of #hj with #c guns suffered defeat at the hands of #aaj infantry with #d4 ,,size ,,of ,,the ,,soldiers ,the soldiers used should be all of one size4 ,the best ,british makers have standardised sizes1 and sell infantry and cavalry in exactly proportioned dimensions2 the infantry being nearly two inches tall4 ,there is a lighter1 cheaper make of perhaps an inch and a half high that is also available4 ,foreign-made soldiers are of variable sizes4 ,,iv ,,the ,,battle ,,of ,,hook',s ,,farm ,,and now1 having given all the exact science of our war game1 having told something of the development of this warfare1 let me here set out the particulars of an exemplary game4 ,and suddenly your author changes4 ,he changes into what perhaps he might have been--under different circumstances4 ,his inky fingers become large1 manly hands1 his drooping scholastic back stiffens1 his elbows go out1 his etiolated complexion corrugates and darkens1 his moustaches increase and grow and spread1 and curl up horribly2 a large1 red scar1 a sabre cut1 grows lurid over one eye4 ,he expands--all over he expands4 ,he clears his throat startlingly1 lugs at the still growing ends of his moustache1 and says1 with just a faint and fading doubt in his voice as to whether he can do it1 ,yas1 ,sir6 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #e;b--,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,after the ,cavalry ,mle ,illustration3 ,fig4 #f;a--,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,prisoners being led to the rear4 ,now for a while you listen to ,general ,h4 ,g4 ,w41 of the ,blue ,army4 ,you hear tales of victory4 ,the photographs of the battlefields are by a woman war-correspondent1 ,a4 ,c4 ,w41 a daring ornament of her sex4 ,i vanish4 ,i vanish1 but ,i will return4 ,here1 then1 is the story of the battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,the affair of ,hook's ,farm was one of those brisk little things that did so much to build up my early reputation4 ,i did remarkably well1 though perhaps it is not my function to say so4 ,the enemy was slightly stronger1 both in cavalry and infantry1 than myself ,footnote3 ,a slight but pardonable error on the part of the gallant gentleman4 ,the forces were exactly equal42 he had the choice of position1 and opened the ball4 ,nevertheless ,i routed him4 ,i had with me a compact little force of #c guns1 #dh infantry1 and #be horse4 ,my instructions were to clear up the country to the east of ,firely ,church4 ,we came very speedily into touch4 ,i discovered the enemy advancing upon ,hook's ,farm and ,firely ,church1 evidently with the intention of holding those two positions and giving me a warm welcome4 ,i have by me a photograph or so of the battlefield and also a little sketch ,i used upon the field4 ,they will give the intelligent reader a far better idea of the encounter than any so-called 'fine writing' can do4 ,the original advance of the enemy was through the open country behind ,firely ,church and ,hook's ,farm2 ,i sighted him between the points marked ,a ,a and ,b ,b1 and his force was divided into two columns1 with very little cover or possibility of communication between them if once the intervening ground was under fire4 ,i reckoned about #bb to his left and #ej or #fj to his right4 ,footnote3 ,here again the gallant gentleman errs2 this time he magnifies4 ,evidently he meant to seize both ,firely ,church and ,hook's ,farm1 get his guns into action1 and pound my little force to pieces while it was still practically in the open4 ,he could reach both these admirable positions before ,i could hope to get a man there4 ,there was no effective cover whatever upon my right that would have permitted an advance up to the church1 and so ,i decided to concentrate my whole force in a rush upon ,hook's ,farm1 while ,i staved off his left with gun fire4 ,i do not believe any strategist whatever could have bettered that scheme4 ,my guns were at the points marked ,d ,c ,e1 each with five horsemen1 and ,i deployed my infantry in a line between ,d and ,e4 ,the rest of my cavalry ,i ordered to advance on ,hook's ,farm from ,c4 ,i have shown by arrows on the sketch the course ,i proposed for my guns4 ,the gun ,e was to go straight for its assigned position1 and get into action at once4 ,c was not to risk capture or being put out of action2 its exact position was to be determined by ,red's rapidity in getting up to the farm1 and it was to halt and get to work directly it saw any chance of effective fire4 ,red had now sighted us4 ,throughout the affair he showed a remarkably poor stomach for gun-fire1 and this was his undoing4 ,moreover1 he was tempted by the poorness of our cover on our right to attempt to outflank and enfilade us there4 ,accordingly1 partly to get cover from our two central guns and partly to outflank us1 he sent the whole of his left wing to the left of ,firely ,church1 where1 except for the gun1 it became almost a negligible quantity4 ,the gun came out between the church and the wood into a position from which it did a considerable amount of mischief to the infantry on our right1 and nearly drove our rightmost gun in upon its supports4 ,meanwhile1 ,red's two guns on his right came forward to ,hook's ,farm1 rather badly supported by his infantry4 ,once they got into position there ,i perceived that we should be done for1 and accordingly ,i rushed every available man forward in a vigorous counter attack1 and my own two guns came lumbering up to the farmhouse corners1 and got into the wedge of shelter close behind the house before his could open fire4 ,his fire met my advance1 littering the gentle grass slope with dead1 and then1 hot behind the storm of shell1 and even as my cavalry gathered to charge his guns1 he charged mine4 ,i was amazed beyond measure at that rush1 knowing his sabres to be slightly outnumbered by mine4 ,in another moment all the level space round the farmhouse was a whirling storm of slashing cavalry1 and then we found ourselves still holding on1 with half a dozen prisoners1 and the farmyard a perfect shambles of horses and men4 ,the melee was over4 ,his charge had failed1 and1 after a brief breathing--space for my shot--torn infantry to come up1 ,i led on the counter attack4 ,it was brilliantly successful2 a hard five minutes with bayonet and sabre1 and his right gun was in our hands and his central one in jeopardy4 ,and now ,red was seized with that most fatal disease of generals1 indecision4 ,he would neither abandon his lost gun nor adequately attack it4 ,he sent forward a feeble little infantry attack1 that we cut up with the utmost ease1 taking several prisoners1 made a disastrous demonstration from the church1 and then fell back altogether from the gentle hill on which ,hook ,farm is situated to a position beside and behind an exposed cottage on the level4 ,i at once opened out into a long crescent1 with a gun at either horn1 whose crossfire completely destroyed his chances of retreat from this ill-chosen last stand1 and there presently we disabled his second gun4 ,i now turned my attention to his still largely unbroken right1 from which a gun had maintained a galling fire on us throughout the fight4 ,i might still have had some stiff work getting an attack home to the church1 but ,red had had enough of it1 and now decided to relieve me of any further exertion by a precipitate retreat4 ,my gun to the right of ,hook's ,farm killed three of his flying men1 but my cavalry were too badly cut up for an effective pursuit1 and he got away to the extreme left of his original positions with about #f infantry-men1 #d cavalry1 and #a gun4 ,he went none too soon4 ,had he stayed1 it would have been only a question of time before we shot him to pieces and finished him altogether4 ,so far1 and a little vaingloriously1 the general4 ,let me now shrug my shoulders and shake him off1 and go over this battle he describes a little more exactly with the help of the photographs4 ,the battle is a small1 compact game of the ,fight-to-a-,finish type1 and it was arranged as simply as possible in order to permit of a full and exact explanation4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #f;b--,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,position of ,armies at end of ,blue's third move4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #g--;,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,red's ,left ,wing attempting to join the ,main ,body4 ,figure #a shows the country of the battlefield put out2 on the right is the church1 on the left 7near the centre of the plate7 is the farm4 ,in the hollow between the two is a small outbuilding4 ,directly behind the farm in the line of vision is another outbuilding4 ,this is more distinctly seen in other photographs4 ,behind1 the chalk back line is clear4 ,red has won the toss1 both for the choice of a side and1 after making that choice1 for first move1 and his force is already put out upon the back line4 ,for the sake of picturesqueness1 the men are not put exactly on the line1 but each will have his next move measured from that line4 ,red has broken his force into two1 a fatal error1 as we shall see1 in view of the wide space of open ground between the farm and the church4 ,he has #a gun1 #e cavalry1 and #ac infantry on his left1 who are evidently to take up a strong position by the church and enfilade ,blue's position2 ,red's right1 of #b guns1 #bj cavalry1 and #cg infantry aim at the seizure of the farm4 ,figure #b is a near view of ,blue's side1 with his force put down4 ,he has grasped the strategic mistake of ,red1 and is going to fling every man at the farm4 ,his right1 of #e cavalry and #af infantry1 will get up as soon as possible to the woods near the centre of the field 7whence the fire of their gun will be able to cut off the two portions of ,red's force from each other71 and then1 leaving the gun there with sufficient men to serve it1 the rest of this party will push on to co-operate with the main force of their comrades in the inevitable scrimmage for the farm4 ,figure #c shows the fight after ,red and ,blue have both made their first move4 ,it is taken from ,red's side4 ,red has not as yet realised the danger of his position4 ,his left gun struggles into position to the left of the church1 his centre and right push for the farm4 ,blue's five cavalry on his left have already galloped forward into a favourable position to open fire at the next move--they are a little hidden in the picture by the church2 the sixteen infantry follow hard1 and his main force makes straight for the farm4 ,figure #d shows the affair developing rapidly4 ,red's cavalry on his right have taken his two guns well forward into a position to sweep either side of the farm1 and his left gun is now well placed to pound ,blue's infantry centre4 ,his infantry continue to press forward1 but ,blue1 for his second move1 has already opened fire from the woods with his right gun1 and killed three of ,red's men4 ,his infantry have now come up to serve this gun1 and the cavalry who brought it into position at the first move have now left it to them in order to gallop over to join the force attacking the farm4 ,undismayed by ,red's guns1 ,blue has brought his other two guns and his men as close to the farm as they can go4 ,his leftmost gun stares ,red's in the face1 and prevents any effective fire1 his middle gun faces ,red's middle gun4 ,some of his cavalry are exposed to the right of the farm1 but most are completely covered now by the farm from ,red's fire4 ,red has now to move4 ,the nature of his position is becoming apparent to him4 ,his right gun is ineffective1 his left and his centre guns cannot kill more than seven or eight men between them2 and at the next move1 unless he can silence them1 ,blue's guns will be mowing his exposed cavalry down from the security of the farm4 ,he is in a fix4 ,how is he to get out of it8 ,his cavalry are slightly outnumbered1 but he decides to do as much execution as he can with his own guns1 charge the ,blue guns before him1 and then bring up his infantry to save the situation4 ,figure #e;a shows the result of ,red's move4 ,his two effective guns have between them bowled over two cavalry and six infantry in the gap between the farm and ,blue's right gun2 and then1 following up the effect of his gunfire1 his cavalry charges home over the ,blue guns4 ,one oversight he makes1 to which ,blue at once calls his attention at the end of his move4 ,red has reckoned on twenty cavalry for his charge1 forgetting that by the rules he must put two men at the tail of his middle gun4 ,his infantry are just not able to come up for this duty1 and consequently two cavalry-men have to be set there4 ,the game then pauses while the players work out the cavalry melee4 ,red has brought up eighteen men to this2 in touch or within six inches of touch there are twenty-one ,blue cavalry4 ,red's force is isolated1 for only two of his men are within a move1 and to support eighteen he would have to have nine4 ,by the rules this gives fifteen men dead on either side and three ,red prisoners to ,blue4 ,by the rules also it rests with ,red to indicate the survivors within the limits of the melee as he chooses4 ,he takes very good care there are not four men within six inches of either ,blue gun1 and both these are out of action therefore for ,blue's next move4 ,of course ,red would have done far better to have charged home with thirteen men only1 leaving seven in support1 but he was flurried by his comparatively unsuccessful shooting--he had wanted to hit more cavalry--and by the gun-trail mistake4 ,moreover1 he had counted his antagonist wrongly1 and thought he could arrange a melee of twenty against twenty4 ,figure #e;b shows the game at the same stage as #e;a1 immediately after the adjudication of the melee4 ,the dead have been picked up1 the three prisoners1 by a slight deflection of the rules in the direction of the picturesque1 turn their faces towards captivity1 and the rest of the picture is exactly in the position of #e;a4 ,it is now ,blue's turn to move1 and figure #f;a shows the result of his move4 ,he fires his rightmost gun 7the nose of it is just visible to the right7 and kills one infantry-man and one cavalry-man 7at the tail of ,red's central gun71 brings up his surviving eight cavalry into convenient positions for the service of his temporarily silenced guns1 and hurries his infantry forward to the farm1 recklessly exposing them in the thin wood between the farm and his right gun4 ,the attentive reader will be able to trace all this in figure #f;a1 and he will also note the three ,red cavalry prisoners going to the rear under the escort of one ,khaki infantry man4 ,figure #f;b shows exactly the same stage as figure #f;a1 that is to say1 the end of ,blue's third move4 ,a cavalry-man lies dead at the tail of ,red's middle gun1 an infantry-man a little behind it4 ,his rightmost gun is abandoned and partly masked1 but not hidden1 from the observer1 by a tree to the side of the farmhouse4 ,and now1 what is ,red to do8 ,the reader will probably have his own ideas1 as ,i have mine4 ,what ,red did do in the actual game was to lose his head1 and then at the end of four minutes' deliberation he had to move1 he blundered desperately4 ,he opened fire on ,blue's exposed centre and killed eight men4 7,their bodies litter the ground in figure #g1 which gives a complete bird's-eye view of the battle47 ,he then sent forward and isolated six or seven men in a wild attempt to recapture his lost gun1 massed his other men behind the inadequate cover of his central gun1 and sent the detachment of infantry that had hitherto lurked uselessly behind the church1 in a frantic and hopeless rush across the open to join them4 7,the one surviving cavalry-man on his right wing will be seen taking refuge behind the cottage47 ,there can be little question of the entire unsoundness of all these movements4 ,red was at a disadvantage1 he had failed to capture the farm1 and his business now was manifestly to save his men as much as possible1 make a defensive fight of it1 inflict as much damage as possible with his leftmost gun on ,blue's advance1 get the remnants of his right across to the church--the cottage in the centre and their own gun would have given them a certain amount of cover--and build up a new position about that building as a pivot4 ,with two guns right and left of the church he might conceivably have saved the rest of the fight4 ,that1 however1 is theory2 let us return to fact4 ,figure #h gives the disastrous consequences of ,red's last move4 ,blue has moved1 his guns have slaughtered ten of ,red's wretched foot1 and a rush of nine ,blue cavalry and infantry mingles with ,red's six surviving infantry about the disputed gun4 ,these infantry by the definition are isolated2 there are not three other ,reds within a move of them4 ,the view in this photograph also is an extensive one1 and the reader will note1 as a painful accessory1 the sad spectacle of three ,red prisoners receding to the right4 ,the melee about ,red's lost gun works out1 of course1 at three dead on each side1 and three more ,red prisoners4 ,henceforth the battle moves swiftly to complete the disaster of ,red4 ,shaken and demoralised1 that unfortunate general is now only for retreat4 ,his next move1 of which ,i have no picture1 is to retreat the infantry he has so wantonly exposed back to the shelter of the church1 to withdraw the wreckage of his right into the cover of the cottage1 and--one last gleam of enterprise--to throw forward his left gun into a position commanding ,blue's right4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #h--;,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,the ,red ,army suffers ,heavy ,loss4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #i--;,battle of ,hook's ,farm4 ,complete ,victory of the ,blue ,army4 ,blue then pounds ,red's right with his gun to the right of the farm and kills three men4 ,he extends his other gun to the left of the farm1 right out among the trees1 so as to get an effective fire next time upon the tail of ,red's gun4 ,he also moves up sufficient men to take possession of ,red's lost gun4 ,on the right ,blue's gun engages ,red's and kills one man4 ,all this the reader will see clearly in figure #i1 and he will also note a second batch of ,red prisoners--this time they are infantry1 going rearward4 ,figure #i is the last picture that is needed to tell the story of the battle4 ,red's position is altogether hopeless4 ,he has four men left alive by his rightmost gun1 and their only chance is to attempt to save that by retreating with it4 ,if they fire it1 one or other will certainly be killed at its tail in ,blue's subsequent move1 and then the gun will be neither movable nor fireable4 ,red's left gun1 with four men only1 is also in extreme peril1 and will be immovable and helpless if it loses another man4 ,very properly ,red decided upon retreat4 ,his second gun had to be abandoned after one move1 but two of the men with it escaped over his back line4 ,five of the infantry behind the church escaped1 and his third gun and its four cavalry got away on the extreme left-hand corner of ,red's position4 ,blue remained on the field1 completely victorious1 with two captured guns and six prisoners4 ,there you have a scientific record of the worthy general's little affair4 ,v ,,extensions ,,and ,,amplifications ,,of ,,little ,,war ,now that battle of ,hook's ,farm is1 as ,i have explained1 a simplification of the game1 set out entirely to illustrate the method of playing2 there is scarcely a battle that will not prove more elaborate 7and eventful7 than this little encounter4 ,if a number of players and a sufficiently large room can be got1 there is no reason why armies of many hundreds of soldiers should not fight over many square yards of model country4 ,so long as each player has about a hundred men and three guns there is no need to lengthen the duration of a game on that account4 ,but it is too laborious and confusing for a single player to handle more than that number of men4 ,moreover1 on a big floor with an extensive country it is possible to begin moving with moves double or treble the length here specified1 and to come down to moves of the ordinary lengths when the troops are within fifteen or twelve or ten feet of each other4 ,to players with the time and space available ,i would suggest using a quite large country1 beginning with treble moves1 and1 with the exception of a select number of cavalry scouts1 keeping the soldiers in their boxes with the lids on1 and moving the boxes as units4 7,this boxing idea is a new one1 and affords a very good substitute for the curtain2 ,i have tried it twice for games in the open air where the curtain was not available47 ,neither side would1 of course1 know what the other had in its boxes2 they might be packed regiments or a mere skeleton force4 ,each side would advance on the other by double or treble moves behind a screen of cavalry scouts1 until a scout was within ten feet of a box on the opposite side4 ,then the contents of that particular box would have to be disclosed and the men stood out4 ,troops without any enemy within twenty feet could be returned to their boxes for facility in moving4 ,playing on such a scale would admit also of the introduction of the problem of provisions and supplies4 ,little toy ,army ,service waggons can be bought1 and it could be ruled that troops must have one such waggon for every fifty men within at least six moves4 ,moreover1 ammunition carts may be got1 and it may be ruled that one must be within two moves of a gun before the latter can be fired4 ,all these are complications of the ,war ,game1 and so far ,i have not been able to get together sufficient experienced players to play on this larger1 more elaborate scale4 ,it is only after the smaller simpler war game here described has been played a number of times1 and its little dodges mastered completely1 that such more warlike devices become practicable4 ,but obviously with a team of players and an extensive country1 one could have a general controlling the whole campaign1 divisional commanders1 batteries of guns1 specialised brigades1 and a quite military movement of the whole affair4 ,i have 7as several illustrations show7 tried ,little ,wars in the open air4 ,the toy soldiers stand quite well on closely mown grass1 but the long-range gun-fire becomes a little uncertain if there is any breeze4 ,it gives a greater freedom of movement and allows the players to lie down more comfortably when firing1 to increase1 and even double1 the moves of the indoor game4 ,one can mark out high roads and streams with an ordinary lawn-tennis marker1 mountains and rocks of stones1 and woods and forests of twigs are easily arranged4 ,but if the game is to be left out all night and continued next day 7a thing ,i have as yet had no time to try71 the houses must be of some more solid material than paper4 ,i would suggest painted blocks of wood4 ,on a large lawn1 a wide country-side may be easily represented4 ,the players may begin with a game exactly like the ordinary ,kriegspiel1 with scouts and boxed soldiers1 which will develop into such battles as are here described1 as the troops come into contact4 ,it would be easy to give the roads a real significance by permitting a move half as long again as in the open country for waggons or boxed troops along a road4 ,there is a possibility of having a toy railway1 with stations or rolling stock into which troops might be put1 on such a giant war map4 ,one would allow a move for entraining and another for detraining1 requiring the troops to be massed alongside the train at the beginning and end of each journey1 and the train might move at four or five times the cavalry rate4 ,one would use open trucks and put in a specified number of men--say twelve infantry or five cavalry or half a gun per truck--and permit an engine to draw seven or eight trucks1 or move at a reduced speed with more4 ,one could also rule that four men--the same four men--remaining on a line during two moves1 could tear up a rail1 and eight men in three moves replace it4 ,i will confess ,i have never yet tried over these more elaborate developments of ,little ,wars1 partly because of the limited time at my disposal1 and partly because they all demand a number of players who are well acquainted with the same on each side if they are not to last interminably4 ,the ,battle of ,hook's ,farm 7one player a side7 took a whole afternoon1 and most of my battles have lasted the better part of a day4 ,,vi ,,ending ,,with ,a ,,sort ,,of ,,challenge ,i ,,could go on now and tell of battles1 copiously4 ,in the memory of the one skirmish ,i have given ,i do but taste blood4 ,i would like to go on1 to a large1 thick book4 ,it would be an agreeable task4 ,since ,i am the chief inventor and practiser 7so far7 of ,little ,wars1 there has fallen to me a disproportionate share of victories4 ,but let me not boast4 ,for the present1 ,i have done all that ,i meant to do in this matter4 ,it is for you1 dear reader1 now to get a floor1 a friend1 some soldiers and some guns1 and show by a grovelling devotion your appreciation of this noble and beautiful gift of a limitless game that ,i have given you4 ,and if ,i might for a moment trumpet6 ,how much better is this amiable miniature than the ,real ,thing6 ,here is a homeopathic remedy for the imaginative strategist4 ,here is the premeditation1 the thrill1 the strain of accumulating victory or disaster--and no smashed nor sanguinary bodies1 no shattered fine buildings nor devastated country sides1 no petty cruelties1 none of that awful universal boredom and embitterment1 that tiresome delay or stoppage or embarrassment of every gracious1 bold1 sweet1 and charming thing1 that we who are old enough to remember a real modern war know to be the reality of belligerence4 ,this world is for ample living2 we want security and freedom2 all of us in every country1 except a few dull-witted1 energetic bores1 want to see the manhood of the world at something better than apeing the little lead toys our children buy in boxes4 ,we want fine things made for mankind--splendid cities1 open ways1 more knowledge and power1 and more and more and more--and so ,i offer my game1 for a particular as well as a general end2 and let us put this prancing monarch and that silly scare-monger1 and these excitable patriots1 and those adventurers1 and all the practitioners of ,welt ,politik1 into one vast ,temple of ,war1 with cork carpets everywhere1 and plenty of little trees and little houses to knock down1 and cities and fortresses1 and unlimited soldiers--tons1 cellars-full--and let them lead their own lives there away from us4 ,my game is just as good as their game1 and saner by reason of its size4 ,here is ,war1 done down to rational proportions1 and yet out of the way of mankind1 even as our fathers turned human sacrifices into the eating of little images and symbolic mouthfuls4 ,for my own part1 ,i am prepared4 ,i have nearly five hundred men1 more than a score of guns1 and ,i twirl my moustache and hurl defiance eastward from my home in ,essex across the narrow seas4 ,not only eastward4 ,i would conclude this little discourse with one other disconcerting and exasperating sentence for the admirers and practitioners of ,big ,war4 ,i have never yet met in little battle any military gentleman1 any captain1 major1 colonel1 general1 or eminent commander1 who did not presently get into difficulties and confusions among even the elementary rules of the ,battle4 ,you have only to play at ,little ,wars three or four times to realise just what a blundering thing ,great ,war must be4 ,great ,war is at present1 ,i am convinced1 not only the most expensive game in the universe1 but it is a game out of all proportion4 ,not only are the masses of men and material and suffering and inconvenience too monstrously big for reason1 but--the available heads we have for it1 are too small4 ,that1 ,i think1 is the most pacific realisation conceivable1 and ,little ,war brings you to it as nothing else but ,great ,war can do4 ,,appendix ,,little ,,wars ,,and ,,kriegspiel ,,this little book has1 ,i hope1 been perfectly frank about its intentions4 ,it is not a book upon ,kriegspiel4 ,it gives merely a game that may be played by two or four or six amateurish persons in an afternoon and evening with toy soldiers4 ,but it has a very distinct relation to ,kriegspiel2 and since the main portion of it was written and published in a magazine1 ,i have had quite a considerable correspondence with military people who have been interested by it1 and who have shown a very friendly spirit towards it--in spite of the pacific outbreak in its concluding section4 ,they tell me--what ,i already a little suspected--that ,kriegspiel1 as it is played by the ,british ,army1 is a very dull and unsatisfactory exercise1 lacking in realism1 in stir and the unexpected1 obsessed by the umpire at every turn1 and of very doubtful value in waking up the imagination1 which should be its chief function4 ,i am particularly indebted to ,colonel ,mark ,sykes for advice and information in this matter4 ,he has pointed out to me the possibility of developing ,little ,wars into a vivid and inspiring ,kriegspiel1 in which the element of the umpire would be reduced to a minimum2 and it would be ungrateful to him1 and a waste of an interesting opportunity1 if ,i did not add this ,appendix1 pointing out how a ,kriegspiel of real educational value for junior officers may be developed out of the amusing methods of ,little ,war4 ,if ,great ,war is to be played at all1 the better it is played the more humanely it will be done4 ,i see no inconsistency in deploring the practice while perfecting the method4 ,but ,i am a civilian1 and ,kriegspiel is not my proper business4 ,i am deeply preoccupied with a novel ,i am writing1 and so ,i think the best thing ,i can do is just to set down here all the ideas that have cropped up in my mind1 in the footsteps1 so to speak1 of ,colonel ,sykes1 and leave it to the military expert1 if he cares to take the matter up1 to reduce my scattered suggestions to a system4 ,now1 first1 it is manifest that in ,little ,wars there is no equivalent for rifle-fire1 and that the effect of the gun-fire has no resemblance to the effect of shell4 ,that may be altered very simply4 ,let the rules as to gun-fire be as they are now1 but let a different projectile be used--a projectile that will drop down and stay where it falls4 ,i find that one can buy in ironmongers' shops small brass screws of various sizes and weights1 but all capable of being put in the muzzle of the #d'g guns without slipping down the barrel4 ,if1 with such a screw in the muzzle1 the gun is loaded and fired1 the wooden bolt remains in the gun and the screw flies and drops and stays near where it falls--its range being determined by the size and weight of screw selected by the gunner4 ,let us assume this is a shell1 and it is quite easy to make a rule that will give the effect of its explosion4 ,half1 or1 in the case of an odd number1 one more than half1 of the men within three inches of this shell are dead1 and if there is a gun completely within the circle of three inches radius from the shell1 it is destroyed4 ,if it is not completely within the circle1 it is disabled for two moves4 ,a supply waggon is completely destroyed if it falls wholly or partially within the radius4 ,but if there is a wall1 house1 or entrenchment between any men and the shell1 they are uninjured--they do not count in the reckoning of the effect of the shell4 ,i think one can get a practical imitation of the effect of rifle-fire by deciding that for every five infantry-men who are roughly in a line1 and who do not move in any particular move1 there may be one 7ordinary7 shot taken with a #d'g gun4 ,it may be fired from any convenient position behind the row of five men1 so long as the shot passes roughly over the head of the middle man of the five4 ,of course1 while in ,little ,wars there are only three or four players1 in any proper ,kriegspiel the game will go on over a larger area--in a drill-hall or some such place--and each arm and service will be entrusted to a particular player4 ,this permits all sorts of complicated imitations of reality that are impossible to our parlour and playroom ,little ,wars4 ,we can consider transport1 supply1 ammunition1 and the moral effect of cavalry impact1 and of uphill and downhill movements4 ,we can also bring in the spade and entrenchment1 and give scope to the ,royal ,engineers4 ,but before ,i write anything of ,colonel ,sykes' suggestions about these1 let me say a word or two about ,kriegspiel country4 ,the country for ,kriegspiel should be made up1 ,i think1 of heavy blocks or boxes of wood about #c x #c x #a_/b feet1 and curved pieces 7with a rounded outline and a chord of three feet1 or shaped like right-angled triangles with an incurved hypotenuse and two straight sides of #c feet7 can easily be contrived to round off corners and salient angles4 ,these blocks can be bored to take trees1 etc41 exactly as the boards in ,little ,wars are bored1 and with them a very passable model of any particular country can be built up from a contoured ,ordnance map4 ,houses may be made very cheaply by shaping a long piece of wood into a house-like section and sawing it up4 ,there will always be someone who will touch up and paint and stick windows on to and generally adorn and individualise such houses1 which are1 of course1 the stabler the heavier the wood used4 ,the rest of the country as in ,little ,wars4 ,upon such a country a ,kriegspiel could be played with rules upon the lines of the following sketch rules1 which are the result of a discussion between ,colonel ,sykes and myself1 and in which most of the new ideas are to be ascribed to ,colonel ,sykes4 ,we proffer them1 not as a finished set of rules1 but as material for anyone who chooses to work over them1 in the elaboration of what we believe will be a far more exciting and edifying ,kriegspiel than any that exists at the present time4 ,the game may be played by any number of players1 according to the forces engaged and the size of the country available4 ,each side will be under the supreme command of a ,general1 who will be represented by a cavalry soldier4 ,the player who is ,general must stand at or behind his representative image and within six feet of it4 ,his signalling will be supposed to be perfect1 and he will communicate with his subordinates by shout1 whisper1 or note1 as he thinks fit4 ,i suggest he should be considered invulnerable1 but ,colonel ,sykes has proposed arrangements for his disablement4 ,he would have it that if the ,general falls within the zone of destruction of a shell he must go out of the room for three moves 7injured72 and that if he is hit by rifle-fire or captured he shall quit the game1 and be succeeded by his next subordinate4 ,now as to the ,moves4 ,it is suggested that3 ,infantry shall move one foot4 ,cavalry shall move three feet4 ,the above moves are increased by one half for troops in twos or fours on a road4 ,royal ,engineers shall move two feet4 ,royal ,artillery shall move two feet4 ,transport and ,supply shall move one foot on roads1 half foot across country4 ,the ,general shall move six feet 7per motor71 three feet across country4 ,boats shall move one foot4 ,in moving uphill1 one contour counts as one foot2 downhill1 two contours count as one foot4 ,where there are four contours to one foot vertical the hill is impassable for wheels unless there is a road4 ,infantry4 ,to pass a fordable river one move4 ,to change from fours to two ranks half a move4 ,to change from two ranks to extension half a move4 ,to embark into boats two moves for every twenty men embarked at any point4 ,to disembark one move for every twenty men4 ,cavalry4 ,to pass a fordable river one move4 ,to change formation half a move4 ,to mount one move4 ,to dismount one move4 ,artillery4 ,to unlimber guns half a move4 ,to limber up guns half a move4 ,rivers are impassable to guns4 ,,neither ,,infantry1 ,,cavalry1 ,,nor ,,artillery ,,can ,,fire ,,and ,,move ,,in ,,one ,,move4 ,royal ,engineers4 ,no repairs can be commenced1 no destructions can be begun1 during a move in which ,r4,e4 have changed position4 ,rivers impassable4 ,transport and ,supply4 ,no supplies or stores can be delivered during a move if ,t4 and ,s4 have moved4 ,rivers impassable4 ,next as to ,supply in the ,field3 ,all troops must be kept supplied with food1 ammunition1 and forage4 ,the players must give up1 every six moves1 one packet of food per thirty men2 one packet of forage per six horses2 one packet of ammunition per thirty infantry which fire for six consecutive moves4 ,these supplies1 at the time when they are given up1 must be within six feet of the infantry they belong to and eighteen feet of the cavalry4 ,isolated bodies of less than thirty infantry require no supplies--a body is isolated if it is more than twelve feet off another body4 ,in calculating supplies for infantry the fractions either count as thirty if fifteen or over1 or as nothing if less than fifteen4 ,thus forty-six infantry require two packets of food or ammunition2 forty-four infantry require one packet of food4 ,n4,b4--,supplies are not effective if enemy is between supplies and troops they belong to4 ,men surrounded and besieged must be victualled at the following rate3-- ,one packet food for every thirty men for every six moves4 ,one packet forage every six horses for every six moves4 ,in the event of supplies failing1 horses may take the place of food1 but not of course of forage2 one horse to equal one packet4 ,in the event of supplies failing1 the following consequences ensue3-- ,infantry without ammunition cannot fire 7guns are supposed to have unlimited ammunition with them74 ,infantry1 cavalry1 ,r4,a41 and ,r4,e4 cannot move without supply--if supplies are not provided within six consecutive moves1 they are out of action4 ,a force surrounded must surrender four moves after eating its last horse4 ,now as to ,destructions3 ,to destroy a railway bridge ,r4,e4 take two moves2 to repair1 ,r4,e4 take ten moves4 ,to destroy a railway culvert ,r4,e4 take one move2 to repair ,r4,e4 take five moves4 ,to destroy a river road bridge ,r4,e4 take one move2 to repair1 ,r4,e4 take five moves4 ,a supply depot can be destroyed by one man in two moves1 no matter how large 7by fire74 ,four men can destroy the contents of six waggons in one move4 ,a contact mine can be placed on a road or in any place by two men in six moves2 it will be exploded by the first pieces passing over it1 and will destroy everything within six inches radius499 ,next as to ,constructions3 ,entrenchments can be made by infantry in four moves499 ,they are to be strips of wood two inches high tacked to the country1 or wooden bricks two inches high4 ,two men may make an inch of entrenchment4 ,epaulements for guns may be constructed at the rate of six men to one epaulement in four moves499 99 ,notice to be given to umpire of commencement of any work or the placing of a mine4 ,in event of no umpire being available1 a folded note must be put on the mantelpiece when entrenchment is commenced1 and opponent asked to open it when the trench is completed or the mine exploded4 ,rules as to ,cavalry ,charging3 ,no body of less than eight cavalry may charge1 and they must charge in proper formation4 ,if cavalry charges infantry in extended order-- ,if the charge starts at a distance of more than two feet1 the cavalry loses one man for every five infantry-men charged1 and the infantry loses one man for each sabre charging4 ,at less than two feet and more than one foot1 the cavalry loses one man for every ten charged1 and the infantry two men for each sabre charging4 ,at less than one foot1 the cavalry loses one man for every fifteen charged1 and the infantry three men for each sabre charging4 ,if cavalry charges infantry in close order1 the result is reversed4 ,thus at more than two feet one infantry-man kills three cavalry-men1 and fifteen cavalry-men one infantry-man4 ,at more than one foot one infantry-man kills two cavalry1 and ten cavalry one infantry4 ,at less than one foot one infantry-man kills one cavalry1 and five cavalry one infantry4 ,however1 infantry that have been charged in close order are immobile for the subsequent move4 ,infantry charged in extended order must on the next move retire one foot2 they can be charged again4 ,if cavalry charges cavalry3-- ,if cavalry is within charging distance of the enemy's cavalry at the end of the enemy's move1 it must do one of three things--dismount1 charge1 or retire4 ,if it remains stationary and mounted and the enemy charges1 one charging sabre will kill five stationary sabres and put fifteen others three feet to the rear4 ,dismounted cavalry charged is equivalent to infantry in extended order4 ,if cavalry charges cavalry and the numbers are equal and the ground level1 the result must be decided by the toss of a coin2 the loser losing three-quarters of his men and obliged to retire1 the winner losing one-quarter of his men4 ,if the numbers are unequal1 the melee rules for ,little ,wars obtain if the ground is level4 ,if the ground slopes1 the cavalry charging downhill will be multiplied according to the number of contours crossed4 ,if it is one contour1 it must be multiplied by two2 two contours1 multiplied by three2 three contours1 multiplied by four4 ,if cavalry retires before cavalry instead of accepting a charge1 it must continue to retire so long as it is pursued--the pursuers can only be arrested by fresh cavalry or by infantry or artillery fire4 ,if driven off the field or into an unfordable river1 the retreating body is destroyed4 ,if infantry find hostile cavalry within charging distance at the end of the enemy's move1 and this infantry retires and yet is still within charging distance1 it will receive double losses if in extended order if charged2 and if in two ranks or in fours1 will lose at three feet two men for each charging sabre2 at two feet1 three men for each charging sabre4 ,the cavalry in these circumstances will lose nothing4 ,the infantry will have to continue to retire until their tormentors have exterminated them or been driven off by someone else4 ,if cavalry charges artillery and is not dealt with by other forces1 one gun is captured with a loss to the cavalry of four men per gun for a charge at three feet1 three men at two feet1 and one man at one foot4 ,if artillery retires before cavalry when cavalry is within charging distance1 it must continue to retire so long as the cavalry pursues4 ,the introduction of toy railway trains1 moving1 let us say1 eight feet per move1 upon toy rails1 needs rules as to entraining and detraining and so forth1 that will be quite easily worked out upon the model of boat embarkation here given4 ,an engine or truck within the circle of destruction of a shell will be of course destroyed4 ,the toy soldiers used in this ,kriegspiel should not be the large soldiers used in ,little ,wars4 ,the ,british manufacturers who turn out these also make a smaller1 cheaper type of man--the infantry about an inch high--which is better adapted to ,kriegspiel purposes4 ,we hope1 if these suggestions catch on1 to induce them to manufacture a type of soldier more exactly suited to the needs of the game1 including tray carriers for troops in formation and 7what is at present not attainable7 dismountable cavalry that will stand4 ,we place this rough sketch of a ,kriegspiel entirely at the disposal of any military men whose needs and opportunities enable them to work it out and make it into an exacter and more realistic game4 ,in doing so1 we think they will find it advisable to do their utmost to make the game work itself1 and to keep the need for umpire's decisions at a minimum4 ,whenever possible1 death should be by actual gun- and rifle-fire and not by computation4 ,things should happen1 and not be decided4 ,we would also like to insist upon the absolute need of an official upon either side1 simply to watch and measure the moves taken1 and to collect and check the amounts of supply and ammunition given up4 ,this is a game like real war1 played against time1 and played under circumstances of considerable excitement1 and it is remarkable how elastic the measurements of quite honest and honourable men can become4 ,we believe that the nearer that ,kriegspiel approaches to an actual small model of war1 not only in its appearance but in its emotional and intellectual tests1 the better it will serve its purpose of trial and education4