"Can We Really Do Historical Battles?" Topic

In the pre-poll discussion, I mentioned Cowpens.
The results were almost entirely based on the personalities of the commanders.
Tarleton was brash and impetuous. Morgan anticipated that and planned accordingly.
Morgan "gave the militia permission to run away". Literally. He knew they couldn't stand up to British regulars, or trained troops.
"After you give me two shots, I want you to cleverly run away, but cleverly rally THERE! You're good lads, and I'll need you for later!"

Tarleton marched his lads all night on an empty stomach. As soon as he saw the first line he ordered a charge. The battle went exactly as Morgan planned.

How can you recreate that? 🤷

Whenever I see a battle recreated as a wargame by the actors in a movie (which is extremely rare!), it's done as a moving diorama. Both players know exactly what is going to happen. That shouldn't be what we're doing.

If we have a completely accurate OOBs, and terrain, which would be nearly impossible, how do we recreate the personalities of the commanders?
"Bill, I want you to do a series of dumb things. Also, I expect bad die rolls."

Is that what we want?

I think the best we can probably do is try to match the initial set-up and our best estimation of the orders of battle, then it is up to the players to go from there. Sometimes it turns out similar to the actual battle, but most times it doesn't. That's where the "fun" comes from the game.

Jim