"rules for horse and musket "small action games"" Topic

hello,

I am now 100% commited to the 18th century for 2010. I have decided to concentrate on smaller, lesser known actions in the seven years war. I see no reason why I cant cover both the western european theatre and north america for this.

My question relates to what I see as a sort of gap in the market fro rules. While we seem to have plenty of skirmish rules and large battle rules, there seems to be a lack of what I call "small action rules".

These would be small battles with 1-5000 men on each side. There are no shortage of battles like this during the era of course.

Now Im pretty open minded so I would consider scaling up a skirmish game or scaling down a big battles game. Id like something not too old school. It needs to cover formed units and skirmish types. I want a battlefield that has lots of individual skirmishers including rangers, indians, friecorps etc, as well as formed bodies.

Now I tend to prefer simpler "modern games" which I can play in 2-3 hours without having a headache at the end. Id probably like to start with 100-200 figures per side and maybe build up from there.

So far Ive cosidered scaling up sharpes practice or "this very ground" or perhaps trying british grenadier. The later sounds a bit old school for me perhaps and I wasnt to keen on GDB.

You might want to take a look at John Bull/Patriots from The Perfect Captain link

Should be easy to modify for Europe and the Perfect Captain Yahoo Group has experimental rules for companies operating as battalions

Sharp Practice can be easily ramped up to 1:10 or 1:20 ratio. They have battalion drill routines in the back.

Of course, card activated and variable end of turns may not be your cup of tea.

"Die Kriegunst" (sp), the 7YW version of GDB came out earlier this year. You might want to take a look and it might save you from writing-up rules modifications.

Ted

I play "This Very ground" at 1:10 scale (1 base represents 10 men). Works great! I use it to play AWI skirmishes that just have too many men to play at 1:1 scale. Lexington/Concord, Paoli. ECT.

Try "The Sword and the Flame": There's an offical variant -The Sword in the Forest- for N America; and an unofficial variant for Europe (The Sword and the Pandour?)that can be found on the swordflame Yahoo group.

This Very Ground is a really fun game.

Like the Sword and the Flame.

As well, consider making a variant for GASLIGHT.

I am assuming you want singly based units based on your preferences.

I don't know anything about Sharpe Practice but TFL games are generally pretty well done.

Two to ten battalions in a couple of hours? I'd just use WRG 16xx – 18xx. You could always halve the figure ratio (to 1:25) if you want more stuff on the table.

I think any AWI rule set would be a great place to start. The battles were pretty small for the most part. So you could try British Grenadier (the AWI version of General de Brigade) or any of a number of others.

Mark "Extra Crispy" Severin
Owner, Scale Creep Miniatures
ScaleCreep.com
FlagshipGames.com
DeepFriedHappyMice.com

Looking at your figure ratio of 1:25 (200/5,000), this would equate to five battalions, five squadrons plus artillery. With 11 or 12 units per side, you should have no problem playing within a two or three hour period.

Any of the large scale battle rules can be adjusted for figure ratio and linear distance. As most of the rules sets have their own online Yahoo group, you can query further for specifics.

Our last game had a Grenzer ambush of a Prussian encampment near a town. The fighting started near midnight and despite the sentries and watch fires, the Grenzers ran the Fusiliers ragged for three hours. A battle report should be up on the blog in a week.

Cheers,
Robert
18thcenturysojourn.blogspot.com

You might have a look at All The Kings Men.
I have not played it yet, but have read the rules a couple of times through. They look like they will be quite fun.

DRUMS OF WAR ALONG THE MOHAWK
oldregimerules.com

British Grenadier covers actions from 1:20 figure:man ratio down to 1:10, although it has been used at 1:5 (and there are scenarios for this in the official scenario books). A small action, such as the type you are looking for, will take you between 2 and 4 hours (shortenting as you become more familiar with the rules) and have a good "feel" for the period.

For more individual actions, or if you want a bit of narrative/human interest, then Sharp Practice is excellent.

Hello, Blucher

"It needs to cover formed units and skirmish types. I want a battlefield that has lots of individual skirmishers including rangers, indians, friecorps etc, as well as formed bodies."

I've found that "Drums of War Along the Mohawk" fits this description to a tea. I'd encourage you to try it. (See ge2002bill above.)

"Stand Your Ground" also fits the above. larrysgameroom.com/index.htm

I like "Sharp Practice," but feel card driven games are less suited to group games.

Good luck,

Brent

At our club we use Rank and File for both SYW and French Indian War and can actually finish a game in an evening with no mathematically induced headaches. Can't reccomend them enough.

thanks guys,

going to look into "Drums of War Along the Mohawk" and "this very ground"

Brent,

We are playing card driven sharp practice with a dozen participants – and it works fabulously.

but we also have a bar, which is very necessary while waiting for your card to come out.

It certainly worked but looks like hard work for peter :)

Another vote for Rank&File, as a comparatively simple system which has all the elements you specify. These rules work by bases, so you define what number of men a base stands for – 50, 100 or 200 are the examples given in the rulebook, but anything in-between is possible.

For a more complex system focused on 18th C. manoeuvering, I'd recommend Die Kriegskunst or Drums of War

I had a read through of Rank&File.

A bit generic/samey for my tastes.