"Featherstone's Peninsula Rules" Topic

Hi all,

Was flicking through my copy of Wargaming in History: The Peninsular War by Donald Featherstone over lunch and came across the rules therein, which I had completely forgotten existed. They brightened my day as they seem to be rather nifty. No figure removal required, so I can use them for the 1 base = 1 battalion forces I am going to build in anticipation of Honour:Blucher. Very simple, concentrating on Morale using percentage dice rolls to see how badly affected troops are by engagements. Battalions have a set number of attrition points depending on their quality, and once they are all gone the unit is classed as exhausted and must quit the fight. The whole mechanics of the thing fit into just 4 tables (inc movement distances and the like and effect of fire and melee). I will probably change the movement distances and weapon ranges to suit my base sizes, but all in all it looks very exciting.

Has anyone here tried these rules perhaps? What did you think?

Josh
outflanked.blogspot.com

I have this book. I have never tried these ules exactly as they have always seemed VERY biased towards the British. To the point were I wonder if anyone could enjoy a game as a French playe. On the othe hand its combat system seemed sound and I always liked the attirtion point system.

sorry my R key is a little dodgy

Hi Edwulf,

interesting points but I am not sure were on the same page – Featherstone even goes to some pains in the rules chapter to say that other rules written by British players tend to overestimate the qualities of British regiments. These rules seem very generic to me, no national chracteristics are present – unless you count the paragraph saying Brits should fight in line and French have the option of the column (which can of course be ignored if required), so it all depends on the rosters the player draws up as to what units are classed as elite etc. The French if attacking a line in column are likely to get shot up of course, but they can always attack in line and in any case such were the realities of the contemporary tactics. Am I missing something crucial?

One base= one Batallion?
Whats the basing and how many figs per base?
Like DBN or Volley & Bayonet?

Joshua, I'd love to hear an AAR after you fight a game.

I've tried them and found some wrinkles I could not address at the time. And there are odd things that can happen that I guarantee will drive most wargamers up the wall and across the ceiling. A few examples:

Two French units in column close to melee with a British unit in line. Does the British unit get to shoot at both or only one? If both, how is this done? Do you have the British unit fire on each unit as if it is the only target? Or do you half the chances of inflicting a morale loss on each unit? Then when you do the melee, does the British line melee with each column or just one? How do you resolve when both columns melee with the British unit? And so on. This situation of multiple units firing at or trying to melee the same unit is simply not covered in the rules and you need to decide for yourself how to handle it.

One method I tried was for each French unit to melee with the British unit and have the British unit melee back at the same time. Then the next French unit did its melee and the British unit fought back. Then I applied the combined results to the British unit with the provision it could never loose more than 3 morale points in the same phase.

So in one game two French units hit the same British line unit in opposite flanks (I don't recall there being flank attack modifiers). Each French unit failed to inflict a morale loss on the British unit and the British unit inflicted the maximum morale point loss possible on each French unit. I later worked out the probabilities involved and was amazed to find this wasn't as unlikely as I thought (it came out being close to a 1 in 10 chance). My opponent and I agreed most players would not be happy with this.

I like the overall concept and continue to believe they can be made into an excellent game, but it got to the point I wasn't willing to work on it further.

Captain Brummel, there are no proscribed base sizes or number of figs required in the rules, it just gives suggested movement rates, which can of course be adjusted keeping the correct ratios between foot and cavalry etc. I plan to use Battalion bases 100mm wide by 50mm deep, this gives me the space to put two lines of 9 men (18 total on the base) in 15mm for the British battalions and 3 lines of 7 men (21 total) for the French battalions. This makes for a nice diorama effect and the bases aren't too large.

Gamertom I can see how the problems you have pointed out might rile! I will have a good look at the rules – they do not appear to me to be broken in any way, they just lack clarification of less common mechanisms and events. I think with a few house rules they have a lot of potential to be cracking good fun. I will probably lay a C&C mechanism over the top, perhaps nicking the written orders and dice rolls to change orders from General de Brigade.

The rules' simplicity indicates to me they will be conducive to fast and clean play which is always good! Once I have some free time I shall give them a thorough go.

Interestingly enough, Featherstone took the idea from these rules and applied to ancients (See his new book Lost Tales).

They do need a little tweaking. Perhaps I will just ask him what he does.

I considered using them about 10 years ago but there was a problem for me. I seem to remember that skirmishers weren't adequately explained or catered for or something.
Max