"10 free colonial scenarios" Topic

Hi all,

At long last the scenario supplement is finished for Battles for Empire II (BFE II). For old BFE hands several of the scenarios will be familiar, but they have all been updated to the new rules.

The scenarios are easily transferable to other systems so have a look.

Here is the link:
PDF link

All the best,
Chris

Here is the list of scenarios:
1. IMPERIALATTACK:THEBATTLEOFTAMAI,SUDAN,1884
2. NATIVEASSAULT:THEBATTLEOFKHAMBULA,ZULUWAR,1879
3. NATIVE AMBUSH: THE BATTLE OF AHMED KHEYL, AFGHANISTAN, 1880
4. NATIVEAMBUSH:THEBATTLEOFINTOMBE,ZULUWAR,1879
5. IMPERIALFIGHTINGWITHDRAWAL:FICTIONALBATTLE,SUDAN,1883
6. IMPERIALRAID:THEBATTLEOFTHEROSEBUD,PLAINSWAR,1876
7. RIVER CROSSING: THE BATTLE OF NYZANE, ZULU WAR, 1879
8. SIEGE:RORKE'SDRIFT
9. GUNBOAT ASSAULT: OPENING THE YANGTZE, FICTIONAL, BOXER REBELLION, 1900 10. NATIVEASSAULT:THEBATTLEOFISANDLWANA,ZULUWAR,1879

Thanks

Thanks Chris!

No worries. Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Chris

Thanks very much, Chris!

Very cool!

What a gracious act on behalf of TMP and TMPers.The scenarios are very welcome. Thank you kindly.

Very much appreciated.

Cheers Chris – I look forward to giving these a go

Very nice, thanks!

Looks good. Thanks.

THANK YOU – Busy painting my 6mm colonials so these will be very useful

:-)

Hope that people enjoy these. I wonder how many of you are BFE players or are using other systems?

Thank you so much, Sir!
Sausagesca, when I give 'em a go it will be with TSATF.
Peter

Thank you very much!

Very good. Let me know how they convert over to TSATF. I played Peter Gilders rules, TSATF and, when those didn't satisfy my gaming interests I wrote BFE. So, I do have a sense of other games and believe that the scenarios should provide the basis of a good game regardless of rules.

Thank you very much for sharing! I'd have charged for them ;-)

Eclaireur,
Three of the scenarios were in the first edition of the rules and three were published earlier in War-games illustrated, so it wouldn't be kosher to charge for them. All of the old scenarios have been reworked a little to suit the new rules. Of course, there are new scenarios and I hope that people will purchase BFE II! As an inexpensive pdf I think that it is worth a try. Lots of guys on TMP have made mention of the worth of my rules so do give'em a try!
Cheers,
Chris

p.s. Trying new things is healthy. My group has played games like Shako and Armati for decades. We love them and they continue to evolve. However, we try new games all the time. As an aging group it is essential to keep learning. : )

When I attempt to order a PDF of the new rules, the site wants to charge $4.00 USD for shipping. Is this a glitch?

No idea. I will contact Eric.
Chris

Did you order the CD? Will clarify asap.
Chris

I just tried it and no additional charge was noted -- I think you selected the CD option(?).

Thank you, Chris, this is very generous of you! As a Second Afghan War devotee I just read your Ahmed Khel scenario -- looks excellent, with some elegantly simplified details that retain the essence of the action. Now I have to read all the others too!

Awesome! Thanks for sharing these. Maybe I can convince the local gaming group to play colonials instead of Flames of War…

Hey Mad Guru,

Hope you enjoy the scenarios. I designed them to extract the spirit of the actions not to be slavishly accurate. Sometimes this meant horrendous simplifications, but for an evening game I saw this as an asset.

Please do let me know how they go. Eric and I will post more in the future.
Cheers,
Chris

Many Thanks! Scenarios are always welcome!

Let me know what you think.
All the best,
Chris

just to add my kind regards for your action here.
Hopefully Black Powder will do justice to them all!

Depending on the size of your collection, they should work with BP. You might need to scale the OOBs down for BP as it tends to use larger units compared to how most play BFE. Of course, you could just use BFE2! :)

Have fun regardless of the rules.
Chris

Just bought the rules. Been meaning to. Just kept slipping my mind. Downloaded the scenarios. looking forward to printing them off then getting a game in.

Thanks,

John

Excellent John. Thanks. What campaign are you interested in or are you like most of us Victorian gamer nuts and do several?
Cheers,
Chris

Yeah,I do Zulu War and Sudan in 1/72 and 6mm. I do NWF IN 54mm. Pony Wars are in 15mm. Zulu 1/72 and Pony Wars 15mm are the most complete armies so far. Can't wait to print out the rules.

I'm one of the guys who helps mod the Yahoo group.

Thanks,

John

Great. Many thanks. My 10mm armies will have 10 new reasons tobe on table now!!

Thanks John and good luck desmondo!

John, how do you base your 6mm stuff? I have often thought how great it would look to do a Zulu force 1:1 in 6mm for BFE….

We did #5 recently with 28mm Black Powder. Very easy to adapt and a lot of fun, with a surprise ending.

link

Big thanks to Chris for these, I'm positive we'll be adapting the others for the Sudan.

Thanks for giving some feedback. It sounded like a great game and very different from our play tests. I also find it interesting that groups amend the OOBs to suit their collections and this, of course, has an impact on the narratives that arise. This should be encouraged as it allows for replays of the scenario. I would also encourage players to use the scenarios and apply them to different campaigns. There is no reason that A Sudan scenario couldn't be converted to one set in the Zulu War or Boxer Rebellion.
Cheers,
Chris

I use 6-8 figures per stand. I believe I will use 2 stands to equal 1 BFE Native one. I have around 2000+ Zulus so far. It should look pretty cool. That's why I dove into 6mm Colonial. I wanted that MASS native effect on the tabletop. I think the Dervish forces will look pretty cool too. Egyptians marching out early in the War to do battle with them.

Yeah, Colonials are way too much fun!

Thanks,

John

Hi John,
I missed this message. 2000 Zulus! Sounds great. I too use 6-8 figs per double depth base for my Native forces and it looks great. Mind you, in 28mm my total numbers are a little less. I have about 35 units of Zulus and the same in Dervishes. I find this gives me lots to play with for an evening game. Of course in 6mm you do get that mass look, as you mention.

Hi Chris. I also do Colonials in 1/72-20mm. I have around 3-400 Dervish and Zulu forces painted up. I use those mainly with Field of Battle. They are set a level up from BFE.

It took me many years to realize what 6mm had to offer. Then I dove in. I have Egyptians, Dervish, British (for both the Zulu and Sudan campaigns) and Zulus. Having 1-2000 natives really amps things up! Terrain plays more of a part as well.

Been reading through the rules and especially the scenarios. I can't wait to get a game in.

Thanks,

John

Hope you enjoy them and give some feedback. Good or ill, if we can improve the rules and scenarios it is all to the good.
Cheers,
Chris

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has played the scenarios and would provide some feedback….

Cheers,
Chris

Very nice effort.

Reading the Rosebud scenario, wondering why you went with so few allied Indians for Crook – they were critical to avoiding the battle being more akin to Little Bighorn (and roughly 20% of his force – and a very active part of his force – on the day)? Was it just to make it a more playable scenario? I certainly understand doing so. In the same vein, if I were to use your map, I'd include another hill – maybe two – just above the river. Again, elements key to the historical event. Game-able scenario needs do sometimes trump historical accuracy, of course.

I did not design this scenario but I am sure the designer will chime in on his decisions. I think your final observation shaped his decisions.
Thanks for the feedback.
Chris

No Boer War scenarios in the list! Where can a new colonial gamer find some scenarios?

Sorry barcah2001. I really need to get some new designs out there. The Boer War was tested with fictional scenarios and the first edition of the rules had a large, but scaled down version of Colenso, but we tend to play later actions set in North Africa.

barcah2001,
I recently tried a scenario based on the Battle of Wagon Hill, also known as Plastrand. The Boers tried to end the siege of Ladysmith by launching a surprise night attack on the British defenses to the south of the town. It was one of the few battles during the offical phase of the war where the Boers were the attackers. I have tried to play some of the earlier 2nd Boer War battles, though never with BfE. They tend to be very one sided, with the British pinned down and simply trying to locate the well dug in Boers. You almost don't need Boer figures for those. Things get more interesting toward the end of the offical war and the guerrilla phase with the "Bitterenders". Has anyone tried BfE for the 1st Anglo Boer War? Majuba Hill could be fun with the right tweaks. Another battle where the Boers took the offensive.

I play tested the Second Boer War with 28mm figures. I always feel that at the level of BFE, smaller figures/bases and a scaled down set of measurements would provide the space needed for this campaign especially.

I posted a report on one of the scenarios played last week: Intombe. It was a really fun and close game with the British just barely winning.

Here's a link to a Sudan game. Scenario one I think. The poor egyptian troops were battered. I replaced some British to give the mahdists a chance. We'll adapt the non sudan ones next.

link