Colonial Campaigns Club (CCC)

Is there any feasible way of representing the impact of the smoke produced when troops and artillery fire repeatedly?

Since a unit can block the enemy's LOS beyond, is it possible for a "smoke unit" to be created in a hex when units fire and which then gradually moves and/or dissipates according to wind speed and direction. The presence of (often low-lying) mist on the battlefield might also be represented in this way, since restricting visibility with a pdt file isn't really effective as this affects the entire battlefield. Individual "mist" or "smoke" counters belonging to neither player can be placed, moved or removed by the game engine.

Major Rich White
28th North Glos Rgt
Right Wing, British Army 1776

Smoke has been an issue in several game systems and it probably easier to simulate in the "modern" (WWI and after)wars, with smoke shells for artillery and mortars.

I guess it is more difficult in the pre-modern eras as the smoke is more an atmospheric aspect of the overall musket fire and not a deliberate attempt to obscure movement.

In the modern games, with smoke, you plot the hex(es) you want smoke in and fire into there and the smoke reduces fire out or in by some factor, as well as reducing visibility by some factor.

If smoke is already factored into HPS's modern series, it could presumably be modified slightly and carried over into the black powder era, but appearing automatically as units fire volley after volley. I believe SSI's old game <i>Age of Rifles </i>included it back in 1996, so it's certainly possible.

The smoke caused by black powder weaponry was a feature of battlefields from the introduction of firearms right up to the late 19th century when black powder was replaced by smokeless nitrocellulose propellants. The consequent reduction in smoke make it easier to see the target and also made it harder for the enemy to locate the position of the firer.