St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-02-14
For tIlr Children,
PLAYING WITH TOY SOLDIERS.

AUSTIN Strong. One OF Lloyd Osbourne's
notes is as follows:
Mr. Stevenson and | used to play
very interesting game with tin soldiers.
We called it the war game" or "krieg-
SPIEL" for it was much the same as the
mimic campaigns played by German
officers in Europe. 1t was the most
elaborate game ever heard of, and the
longest, for sometimes a single war last
ed two months. A map was drawn on
the floor, with rivers, mountains, towns
and roads all marked in different colored
chalk, and the two antagonists, with
foot-rules, pen and paper and some FIVE
hundred tin soldiers apiece, occupied the
territory assigned them. Everything
was calculated to day s-marches, and in
some proportion to real life. Infantry
marched ten inches a day ON roads, cav
airy eighteen inches, or twelve when him
dered by light cannon, while the heavy
artillery crawled along at the rate Of
three inches day. The range of infan-
try fire, when unaccompanied by cannon
was twelve inches; the range of canon
was eighteen inches; and the number of
shots was regulated by the number of
regiments Of four tin soldiers each. Thus
an army of forty regiments, with heavy
artillery, would be permitted forty shots;
or eighty shots lift possessed two heavy
cannon. The firing was managed by
means of little spriDg-gun loaded with
duck-shot pellets. A single pellet was
the plain infantry or cavalry shot; two
pellets the light-artiley charge; six pei
lets the heavy artillery. must say that
if Mr.. Stevenson usually out-maueuvered
me by his brilliant combinations and
dashing play, l was deadly marksman
with the spring-gun.
The evolutions of the mimic armies
were nicely calculated to scale, while the
question Of provisions and ammunition
was met by little tin dies that had to be
expended in proportion to the amount Of
firing or marching. -Four tin dies day
was the price OF heavy artillerys exist
ence, and two for light cannon; and for
every shot fired single die had to be
paid back to the base. The dies were
brought back again in carts" which
held twenty dies apiece, and very often
an army would get woeiully short from
want of foresight and thrift in this
department. When an army could no
longer meet its daily expenses, it had to
desert its guns and carts on the road,
and scatter in every direction; then the
enemy's cavalry would get after it, and
take every man prisoner who was with
in shooting range.
The game began by covering the
ground with bits of paper, on which was
written the strength of the force they
represented. Then a week might be
spent in little cavalry skirmishes by
which both sides would try to "uncover"
the others paper and learn his DISPOSE
tions. If you beat in the enemy's out
posts, he had to tell you whether he was
'in force" or not-that is, whether he
had more or less than FIVE regiments,
with or without artillery. 1t used to be
very exasperating sometimes to fail in
uncovering these slips, and find halfway
through the game that you were still in
the dark. Perhaps you might be scared
into massing troops to hold bit of
paper in check that stood for nothing at
ALL"
The weather, too, was not neglected,
and like the real article in the real world
it played an important part in cam
paign; for sometimes the troops could
march only half distances, and the heavy
guns would be absolutely blocked by
stress of rain or snow at most critical
periods of war. The big battles were
very exciting, and many difficulties had
to be overcome in order to succeed, or to
minimize defeat; the reserves had to be
sufficient, the weather good, the army
well provisioned and supplied, the lines
of communication well guarded, so that
they might not be cut by sudden caval-
nv rush, and regiments must be stationed
at bridges to blow them up in case Of
disaster. But one was often compelled
to fight under un(avorable conditions,
for perhaps an innocent looking piece of
paper that you treated with contempt
would blossom out into vast force
Occasionally two opposing bits of paper
would bluff each other through an entire
game, and materially alter it's whole
character.
When your army was five times great
er than the enemys fighting line taken
together with twice his reserves, he had
to surrender without shot. But in
order to achieve this you had to tell him
how many regiments YOU possessed, and
unless they were sufficient to make him
surrender, he did not have to tell you
anything about his own strength. Thus
you took the risk of his knowing your
entire force without getting any CORE
spending advantage. In fact, secrecy
was s,ich an essential mart of the game