"Which 19th century Colonial wars rules?" Topic

First things first – I am a novice at this period. I recently bought several large boxes of figures from a friend who is giving up wargaming because of ill health. Many I can use myself but the rest I will paint up and sell on. In the latter category I had intended to class three or four hundred 28mm Colonial British and many more Zulus, together with (so far uncounted) numbers of Sudanese campaign figures. As well as all the 28mm stuff there are lots of 15mm, too.

I now think I may change my plans and add another period to my army collection. With this in mind I am looking for some suitable rules. These days I tend to glaze over and start snoring when rules are very complicated, In Ancients/Medieval/Renaissance I am a fan of both DBA and Impetus. Are there any simple colonial rule sets out there? I am looking for a set which will cover both small-scale and larger actions, or even two sets if necessary to cover both.

Thanks in anticipation.

The Sword and the Flame.

The Sword and the Flame.

Hey, there's an echo in here!

The Sword & The Flame. Easy.

Personally I am not a huge fan of TSATF although it has a large following.

For larger battles you may wish to have a look at Battles for Empire, Principles of War and the innovative and rather wonderful Science versus Pluck by our very own Mexican Jack.

Depends what sorts of games you are after really, SvP requires a fair amount of scenario design.

If you are a fan of DBA, then look at the various Colonial options filed at the Fanaticus Resource page.

Price is right:

link

Our Colonial games are early 19th c. and enjoy using the DBA-HX variant. We are currently adapting this variant for use with 3.0.

Cheers,

If you want to do larger battles, I suggest Black Powder.

Jaz
Http://revolutionaryroads.com – a new breed of wargaming road!

I still like TSAF, but for a alternative try Colonial Adventures by 2 Hour Wargames. The game is unit based and figures can be mounted however you want. When you first get the rules they look complex, until you realize that the actual game rules are covered in only a few pages. The rest is army lists, scenarios, and how to play campaigns.

TSATF is a venerable classic, but there's a reason it's stuck around so long. It's easy to learn, easy to play, and gives some exciting games. It may be "more Hollywood than history" but it's fun! It is also a great introduction to the period, as it includes short summaries of the various forces and easy-to-follow-and-tweak army lists.

Cheers,

Christopher

I recommend Victoria's Battles. They are available for download on Wargames Vault. Very easy to understand and play with a good feel for the period. They use 8-12 figure units but they represent from a half company all the way up to battalion/brigades depending on the scenario. I have played them for years and always found them enjoyable.
Hope this helps,

Tom D

Science versus Pluck is probably my favorite game in the universe, but it really only works if you have a lot of friends who're enthusiastic about the period.

And for larger battles using the same organization as The Sword and the Flame, use 800 Fighting Englishmen also from Sergeants3 ( sergeants3.com ). There is also a Yahoo Group (swordflame) dedicated to Larry Brom's various rule sets.

TSATF has many variants, ranging from ancients (Romans vs Britons) to WW2 (US Marines vs Japanese) and much in between.

Jim

Principles of War will give you good games and the rules are easy to learn. They will have a lot of familiar concepts so you'll catch on fast.

TSATF are OK but really for smaller battles. But it is also the standard by which all other colonial rule sets seem to be measured.

SvsP is OK if you enjoy a large role-playing aspect in your mini games.

The "Best" colonial rule set I have found is sadly no longer in print. "Fields of Honor" by Pinnacle Games.
The original, not the 2nd edition that was for the Rev War.

The Sword and the Flame. Gold Standard for the period.

My thanks to everyone who posted replies. Lots seem to favour The Sword and the Flame, so I'll have a look at them first but I'll also look at the other rules suggested.

Thanks again

Battles For Empires for larger scale games where figures are grouped on stands and there are 4 stands to a unit. A unit may represent any level of formation according the scenario but usually a company or battalion.

For something very different, take a look at Volley and Bayonet. I use it for large scale battles like Omdurman and Isandhlwana and it works very well.

Welcome to Colonial gaming! It is full of pageantry, varied, interesting and quite fun! Some good suggestions here for rule sets. Since you are doing this era in two scales you have the luxury of using more than a single rule set.

Battles for Empire by Chris Leach is a great rule set that benefits from having a new edition being released fairly soon. TSATF is a fun and quite popular set. It will give you a different feel from most of the other sets. I have played them since they came out in the 70's. They do feel more like watching Gunga Din and have a Hollywood vibe. I don't think that's a bad thing. The Volley and Bayonet set should work for larger battles. My personal favorite is Field of Battle II by Brent Oman. It is an exceptional set of rules. I have used it for a quite large number of games. It doesn't get any better than these, IMHO. Nothing can be taken for granted. It introduces a nice dose of randomness/chaos into your games which is a perfect fit for Colonial battles.

I like the chaos inherent in Black Powder. I also like the mechanics. I have not used it for Colonials. However, I have heard quite mixed reviews about its use for Colonial games. YMMV.

Regardless, enjoy yourself. This is a wonderful genre to game in!

Thanks,

John

I had a mod of the Ambush Alley rules, it's posted in the AAG forums under 'Ambush Pass' in the Unofficial Period mods subforum.

Another welcome to colonial gaming – you won't regret keeping those figures and, done right, the Zulu and early Sudan wars will give you some of the most exciting and challenging games possible on the tabletop.

"TSATF is a venerable classic" sounds about right. It's probably done more to generate interest in 'colonial' gaming than any other set of rules, especially in the USA (I've rarely seen it used 'over here' at the heart of the Empire)and for that it deserves its place in the pantheon of 'great rules of their day', but I've never seen the long lasting appeal – it lacks real period feel, the mechanisms are dated (especially the interminable dice-rolling and 'last man standing' melees), owing much to 1960's Featherstone rules (not that there's anything wrong with the divine (and seemingly immortal) Donald, you understand) and so many more recent rulesets cover the period so much better.

Bearing in mind your rules preferences, if you want large battles in the Sudan, go for Battles for Empire or Black Powder. If you want even more period-feel, immerse yourself in 'Science vs. Pluck'.

If you want large scale skirmishes in 28mm, adapt "Sharp Practice" (it's NOT a role-playing ruleset) or ‘Muskets & Tomahawks' which both offer better ways of playing with up to 120 figures per side (at a nominal 1:1 to 1:5 scale) than TSATF do.

Hi Lion in the Stars

I'm a massive fan of the Ambush Alley rules and keen to see your mod but unfortunately the forum is down at the moment and I can't track it down.

Any chance you could include a link/email please?

Cheers

CretanArcher,

I too would vote for "The Sword and the Flame" if you were on my side of the pond . . . but you appear to be based in the UK (where it is not as universally played).

Putting my preference for TSATF aside, find out what people in your area prefer. How do you find out? Let us know what part of the UK you live in . . . not your exact address but rather the nearest sizable city or something like that.

Hopefully someone here will be in your area. Check on what rules THEY play . . . because a local group or even one guy who you can play with is more important that the rule set being used.

-- Jeff

@Gallbladder: drop me an email at lioninthestars at gmail dot com, I will kick you my files.

There's also an official colonial gaming mod of Ambush Alley in the works, not sure where it's wandered off to at the moment.

SJWalker failed to mention the very memorable Sudan games he put on with SvP.

Exciting, large and very unfortunate (for some of us…).

Thanks Tim/Bindon: that was back in 2007-8, where have the years gone?

One other possible set of rules if you can get hold of them is 'Death in the Dark Continent' by Chris Peers which is good not only for classic 'Darkest Africa' games but also Zulu and Sudan games as well.

Since my last post I've been lucky enough to join a couple of play test games of the forthcoming Osprey rules 'The Men Who Would Be Kings'. They won't be out till September 2016 but well worth waiting for.

Mount your figures individually and get some movement trays from Warbases so that you can organise your Brits in companies of 12 and the Dervish hordes in 16's: you won't be disappointed.

Wargamer's Newsletter – "Rules for Wargames in the 1880 Period Including Colonial Wars"

link

Armand