Bloody Big Battles: Langensalza hex map

I have a confession to make – when I started this blog, I envisioned it basically as an after action report log, with the occasional intermission being represented by reviews and home rules. However, I quickly realized that producing readable battle reports is something I basically loathe. First, it’s just a ton of work – I understand it must be fun for the fine people whose blogs I enjoy reading, but to me it just feels like work, and I prefer using my precious gaming time for something else. Second, you have no guarantee that when you actually sit down to take notes and photos of a game, it will produce a remotely interesting course/outcome, and there is a very real chance of starting from scrap again and again. Third, and perhaps most important, the whole level of extra attention needed to remember taking photos, being able to trace back the history of units moving and taking hits (or whatever the rules call for) at each point in the game, etc etc just ruins my enjoyment of the game ‘in the moment’.

On the other hand, I feel that some of the content I keep producing for my ultra-compact, highly utilitarian games might prove useful to fellow wargames “with limited time and space”, as Mr. Thomas puts it. I have tons of maps, unit labels, etc etc in my hard drive that I’ve never shared with anyone, because they were originally intended to be premièred as part of hypothetical after action reports that will probably never be. So I decided that from now on I’ll just share the tools I put together to play a game (or series of games), glossing over the outcome of my actual replays only briefly, if at all.

I’ll start with Bloody Big Battles [link], a game you really should try sooner or later if you’re remotely interested in 19^th century warfare. One of the most recommended novice scenarios is Langenzalza 1866 [link], the third or fourth battle in history being fought on the same approximate spot, and the first documented involvement of Red Cross medical personnel in a combat mission (useless trivia mode off). It’s a smallish engagement in BBB, involving a total of less than 30k combatants. It can be fought on a 4’x4’ table with the 1” square bases recommended in the official rules; a map roughly half that size would probably suffice to play it with Kriegsspiel blocks [link]. But if you’re into ‘awfully limited time and space’ gaming like me, you can try using wooden microblocks [link] on this map:

This hexed version is totally superimposable with the original scenario map, which is in turn 100% superimposable with period maps.

Your blocks/counters should be large enough to fit in either one or two hexes, depending on your preferences. If your main goal is to have units with realistic historical frontages, then they should only occupy one hex on this map. However, if your goal is to transpose the official rules onto the grid as closely as possible, you should use units with a two hex frontage when deployed in line (except artillery). I did the latter, using the same movement/shooting conventions I jotted down for One Hour Wargames here [link]… Fire and move distances are basically measured in the same way in OHW and BBB.

I’ve also prepared a playsheet with the map and the OOBs: just print it on A3-sized paper (I gather it’s called ‘Ledger’ in the US?), then cross out losses instead of removing individual bases, as suggested by the author himself in the rulebook. You can also conveniently keep track of turns/hours with the checkboxes at the bottom.

The playsheet in all its glory.

You have no excuses now: try BBB and be a convert.

[Edited to add: here is the pdf of the playsheet]