"WRG 1685-1845 AWI" Topic

Just read through the pdf, seems a solid enough ruleset with short turns in terms of scale. Quite detail-oriented with the weaponry, which I like. Also, surprisingly free-form rules which reminded me of Too Fat Lardies.

Some questions though:

1. With regards to point costs, what would you assign for different troops in the American Revolution? I could strictly play scenario games so this is not a big issue.

2. With regards to the reaction rolls, are they always a single D6 roll against the total value of the reaction tables added up? If so, will a value of 7+ always fail?

3. Can I go with single-basing all my troops and line them up to form units? Do you form for instance battalions/regiments with 8-12 figure groups that fire or melee as elements of 4 figures? The way I understood it, a unit is either 4 figures or 2 figures as skirmishers.

4. How do you divide casualty figures inside the unit? As I understood, units are either formed by 4 figure lines into larger bodies of men, 2 figure skirmisher lines, and casualties are removed figures from the total unit.

5. Can a unit fire more than once inside a "bound" or turn? The rules mention 20 seconds per discharge (well-trained men) so that would divvy up to 4 shots per bound with 80 second turns.

6. How many commander figures do I need per units on the table? Are commander figures divvied up between elements that compose of a larger number of figures? Are flag-bearers and drummers used within command units in these rules?

That's it for now. Will probably come back with more questions as I read through the rules again.

They are solid you don't spend 30 plus years as a rule set without being solid or playable.

2 reactions are on a single dice so yes 7 is a fail. You roll 1 dice per unit for morale. A unit is made up of elements.

3 for Regular troops each element is 4 figures for foot reg skirmishers 2 figs. Units generally are 12 – 20 figures. For a 12 figure unit I would do 2 bases of 4 figs 1 base of 2 and 2 single bases.

4 casualties are removed as single figures

5 units fire once per turn,one dice per element a unit of 12 figures, 3 x 4 fig elements roll 3 dice.

6 command figure, drummers, etc are for decorations only.

Hope that helps a wee bit

Good choice, 1685-1845 have formed the basis of my own AWI rules for over 30 years now. We originally used 1:25 figure scale, rather than 1:50 (i now use 1:10, and a larger groundscale).

Frostydog's answered most of your questions already.

1. I've not played points based games for many a year, but i remember it was easy enough to compile lists for the AWI – after all you're mostly talking raw/trained/veteran/elite regular infantry and light/light medium guns. The high value of cavalry was an attempt to underline their rarity – and overdone i think, i'd use the normal light cavalry values and just have a gents agreement to stick to realistic numbers.

I'd advise dropping the big negative modifier in the being charged test for infantry not in square – inappropriate for the AWI and 18th C in general. One down-side of the rules is that they are not always clear which modifiers are intended for which periods, and that one was clearly for Napoleonics.

How would you tweak the game to suit your choice of 1:25 or 1:10 scale? Sounds more tactical (thus fun) for me :) I might use Perry miniatures so I'd be looking at smaller battles to start with. Do you have a document for your version of the rules?

One more question. Is there a flowchart created to follow the turn sequence or something that clarifies this portion of the rules?

There are a couple of yahoo groups the Australian wrg group which has the rules in a more readable format and a step by step sequence of play. There is also a wrg 1685-1845 group. Both have army lists and other bits that may help. Wargames Factory have a range as well to look at. Also decide which part of the AWI are you going to look at it will determine what you need to buy.

I'm glad to hear that you've come over to the Light Side!

Where did you download the rules from?

link

Thanks

For 1:25 we didn't change anything (you could argue that we should've halved the ground scale, doubled artillery firepower, etc, but it didn't prove necessary).

For 1:10 i would halve the ground scale, and do something about artillery (maybe 2 dice per gun model). My current 1:10 rules have only preserved the turn sequence from WRG, almost everything else is different.

I'd also suggest classifying most British post 1775, and many yanks as light infantry – the increase in movement is significant, and realistic.