Tinkering is fine by me.... R2E started that way it was originally and adapted version of BLB because a major multiplayer game of Dresden had gone into meltdown when we were using General de Brigade and our group wanted an alternative. I started from the rules I had written and just continued to develop them over 6 iterations and 4 years to what they have become.
Concepts by nature have to be defined so that people can understand and use them. They can then become something a little more dangerous when committed to print such as a perceived historical interpretation of facts, the gospel according to MrX or a piece of 'new' historical research.
The battery refit rule is actually none of these. It is as William says a game mechanic and in that context works exceedingly well BECAUSE it makes the player think differently.
He is thoughtful about how artillery should be used: Just like a real commander. He doesn't do all of the wargaming idiot activities:
- Blast away at everything within extreme range every turn in the hope of causing some damage. Fairly strict training and instruction was in place to prevent this. Artillerists were educated men not rich twits.
- Constantly and arbitrarily switch targets with no reference to the chain of command
- Use the God like omnipotence beloved of table top Generals.
- Use the artillery like machine guns.
All I would ask is that players look a little beyond the 'act' and consider the effect.
Of course there is historical precedent for including the mechanism (Uffindell's book on Ligny) but that is only the 'shop window'. What I am trying to convey is this:
No gun battery in whatever army would have fired continuously for 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 + hours which is what happens in wargames IF you don't limit something either ammo or ability to operate. The problems would be legion. Running out of ammo, powder, broken equipment and tools, equipment fouling, exhaustion or the men, accidental injuries, lack of water and food, smoke etc. Have you ever tried loading a cement mixer with a shovel for 20 minutes?? spare a thought for undernourished men rolling back a 12pdr 60 times!
This stuff hardly ever gets considered when we sit with our beer,cigars, tape measure and dice.
This is actually what the REFIT Rule portrays..
interruption to continuity. Humans and nature not machines and abstraction. The physical removal of the battery just 'locks' the player's thought process in to the fact that 'its over' for a while. Again referencing William's point, not enough info is available on precisely the points I am making as artillery is for most historians and gamers alike, an infinitely less alluring topic than cavalry charges, bayonet attacks or epic defences of outposts.
I absolutely welcome the discussion here on the Forum and as you may be able to tell am very engaged with the topic so William's comments are great stimulus to the ongoing debate about how to strike the balance between enjoyment, playability and realism on the tabletop. Those who know me will recognize that logic is my main tool and not emotion when it comes to argumentation so keep it coming.. my battery doesn't have to refit for another 3 turns!!!