"Best Ruleset for the American Revolution?" Topic

Which rules do you prefer for the American War of Independence?

I like Age of Reason for the AWI. No particular reason why, but, they work.

British Grenadier

Peter Pig's "Washington's Army"

Guns of Liberty

Warfare in the Age of Reason.
The Sword and the Flame.

Well, that's what we use.

There is no wrong answer here.
I have played a whole bunch and all had their points.
I gave up on the Holy Graul and instead fell back on the two that the OFM recommended.
We are on agreement on many things.

Warfare in the Age of Reason and Guns of Liberty. Winston, what the heck is a holy graul? Just asking.

You have never heard of "Fifty Shades of Graul"?

Loose files and American Scramble.

Again what type of fight?
Skirmish
Eutaw Spring
Brandywine?

Many if not most rules wil not work well for big battles as having a pb of space and command.
Pure 7yw rule are a no go as too many casualties, different way of fighting.

British Grenadier with ammended command ( e.g. Regulating unit) might wotk well except skirmish, flexible enough.

Regimental Fire and Fury would too.

Lower level Sharp Practice.

*Will McNally's
*Ian Drury's Redcoats & Rebels
*Washington's Army
*Black Powder

That's the order in which I have most recently played them. It's also the order by price I think (the top 2 being free) …

As for best? I may have got the top two in the wrong order

Phil

I really like how PP's washintons army deal with militia, skirmishers and cavalry.

Black Powder or British Grenadier for large scale battle, Sharp Practice for small scale skirmish and Light Bobs for the stuff in between.

I like black powder and the rebellion supplement is very good.

Patriots and Loyalists.

I've enjoyed Day of Battle's "Light Bobs" rules.

I also like Fife & Drums AWI Rules.

I continue to push the old chestnut, 1776.

I have to put up another vote for Black Powder.

Oh well, what the heck, I might as well put in my oar for Fife & Drum rules for the AWI, which are my own rules.

I give them away for anyone to use. Just visit the Fife & Drum website and download the PDF

link

Happy July Fourth everyone!

I play 54mm exclusively for awi. I have used "All the KIng's Men" by Ken Cliffe. Great set! I also like Black Powder's Last Argument of Kings. Too Fat Lardies' Sharp Practice for 54mm.
Steve Miller
DFW Irregulars

Channelling Spontoon.

There is only one!
WRG 1685-1845, all else is heresy!

Any of the above would be good choices.

I am planning to use Field of Battle 2.

Redcoats & Minutemen!

Available for free from Yours Truly (meaning me).

In no way should be interpreted as a serious, in-depth rules system. They're for quick fights with the cheap plastic sets sold at the various battle sites. Put some terrain and toy soldiers on a table and start rolling dice.

Good enough to satisfy my patriotic urges, and perfect for the kids, too.

If you want 'em, send an "electric postal dispatch" addressed to my TMP member name, with the @ symbol and AOL.com appended as per standard Internet practices. (I defy a spider bot to figure that one out!)

Guns of Liberty

I am still working on Flames of Liberty…..

Der Alte Fritz and Parzival, thanks for your generosity!

Guns of Liberty is great for larger battles and I have even tweaked the rules to run the Battle of Kings Mountain. However, for just shear fun and something that captures the drama well I like using the supplemental rules in the back of Brother Against Brother for AWI. Those rules work especially well for the French and Indian War. I plan on giving Washington's War a try sometime down the road. I will have to say that the AWI is perhaps my favorite Horse and Musket period to war game. Now with so much to chose from in 28 mm from the Perry's, Foundry, and now plastics from the Perry's and Wargames Factory it is easier to get into this period.

I still like Loose Files and American Scramble. They are Free on the internet if you search…

British Grenadier is good (and the authors freely admit that they borrowed their rules for accumulating disorder on Loose Files above). They are a bit old fashioned in still scoring casualties individually rather than using stands/unit status, and they can be quite complicated if you play using the proper command system; but somehow they generate a great period feel.

Black Powder are good rules ( they just lack that specific AWI feel that I personally get from the above). I do use them pretty exclusively now for the rare game of Napoleonics.

Honestly however, I have yet to find a set that really makes me go "yep, thou art the one". I had high hopes for the recent Osprey Land of the Free book, but they did not seem to capture the imagination as much as I expected, and have yet to try them out…

Almost forgot – the above all relates to larger engagements; for skirmish size games I really do love Muskets and Tomohawks. Something about the card activation, the scenarios and side-plots that makes for a great game with areal period feel.

British Grenadiers.

Age of reason is good and has stood the test of time as far as I am concerned. 1776 had some interesting mechanics and has that old school feel if you are into that.

Of the ones I played I like black Powder with the associated Rebellion supplement for larger actions.

For skirmishes I like Muskets and Tomahawks.

I also like Regimental Fire and Fury but have not used it for AWI yet.

I think Muskets and Tomahawks works great for small skirmish style games.

British Grenadier.

1776 and The British Are Coming.

Guns of liberty.

Parzival

Electronic postal dispatch sent.

Rules received. Thank You Parzival.

Also Thank You to DAF and all the others who provide rules and other support to their fellow gamers.

War in the Colonies.

Disperse Ye Damned Rebels

Guns of Liberty.

Big game many players Black Powder Rebellion supplement can't go wrong.

Our club rules "Sons of Liberty."

Another Guns of Liberty vote here.

For small not quite skirmish battles The Perfect Captain's rules are quite good and free to boot. For larger battles I like British Grenadier or Guns of Liberty. They both have their strong points, I personnaly go with BG but ymmv. Redcoats & Rebels is a good game and free too, as noted above.

British Grenadier for me.

British Grenadier

British Grenadier.

Best set I've played (and there's been a few) since I started AWI gaming with Airfix figures and Featherstone's "Handbook" back in the late 70s.