"New Boy...." Topic

Hi been looking through about the tsatf and couldn't find anything that actually gives me a rough idea of what its about, like?

could anyone help?

thanks

It's a wargame set in the colonial era – 19th century.

You have units of 12 cavalry, 20 infantry or 1 gun with 4 gunners.

The GM or the guy who set up the game flips a deck of cards. On a red card, one British unit can move. Om a black card, one native unit may move.
Roll a number of D6 depending on formation and terrain to see how much you can move.

When all units that can move have moved, the deck is re-shuffled.
Then in the firing phase, repeat drawing cards. firing is NOT simultaneous. A unit can be shot to pieces before it can shoot.
Firing is done by rolling a D20 for each figure firing and comparing the roll to a chart that gives a number based on quality of shooter versus the formation or ground the target occupies.

Melee is resolved by rolling opposing D6 per paired figures, combined with tactical factors.

You test for morale depending on factors such as losing a melee, falling below half strength, closing a charge, or standing up to a charge.

Any more and I would be violating copyright.

It is a fun simple game, and you are encouraged to tinker with the rules.
Rules questions SHOULD be resolved in a friendly manner, but some feel compelled to ask what is the "correct" way.
"If you are having fun, you are playing it right."

It was the first set of rules I ever played and to this day are still my favorite set of rules.

One of the best set of rules for Colonials!!!! I've played some others, and enjoyed them, but always come back to TSATF. Been playing since 1979ish.

Here's a link to a description of the rules:
link

and a link to an AAR:
link

There are, perhaps, Colonial rules that are more historical.

TSATF is hysterical.

You smile as you play it.

'Nuff said?

Hey thanks guys…..1979! blimey I thought they was a new ish set of rules…does anyone know who sells them in the uk?

Gary

does anyone know who sells them in the uk?

No one.
You can only order them direct from Sergeants 3 in the USA.
sergeants3.com/2.html

Hi Gary,

It's the single most important factor behind the popularity of colonial gaming in the States and yet it's almost unheard of, and virtually unplayed "over here"

John the OFM sums it up quite well – it's essentially a large scale skirmish game best for 50-150 figures per side. It's also a product of its time with some quite clunky mechanisms and not much historic feel to it, but games are fun. And there are plenty of official and unofficial supplements for other periods, if you want to do something other than the Zulus, Boers, Dervish etc.

You'll have no problems ordering direct from Sergeants 3 – my copies arrived quickly (albeit a few years ago) though I've now moved on to using a variant of "Sharp Practice" from TFL for my colonial games set at this level

Hi
I have a copy of SHARP practice, can you use them for colonial?

I've ordered a copy today from the U.S. and can't wait to get it (I'm in UK)! Reading various threads, understand that lots of people halve the unit size instead of the standard 20 for infantry and 12 cavalry. What I don't understand is how this affects the command figure and drummer/bugler etc. are these figures additional to the 10/6? Also being a fan of multi based figures, how does this work as I understand that the rules favour individual basing?

Cheers

TSATF is a rules set originally written for the British Colonial period by Larry Brom in 1979. It is the rules of choice for many colonial gamers. It was revamped in 2000 and has been adapted into many variants for different periods. It was designed for small skirmish battles between small forces. Foot units (and mounted infantry) field 20 figures, cav units 12 figures, artillery units 4 figures and one gun. The set gives ratios for native forces to British forces. For example Larry sets the ratio of Zulu to Brits as 3 to 1 for a balanced game. The variants include the following time periods – F and I War, ACW, Boxer Rebellion, Spanish American War, Philippine insurrection, Texas war of Independence, etc. I use the set for AWI and Napoleonic war games. Buy a set or borrow one and read it. I think you will have hours of fun with it. You can also use it to recreate certain battles like Rorke's Drift. I am going to use it in April to run a Lawrence of Arabia scenario at one of our cons here in Florida. And my friend Jeff and I have used it for a scenario based on the movie The Wind and The Lion.