"Running Young and Lawford's Charge!, help!" Topic

Greetings! I've always wanted to try Charge! or How to Play Wargames, but never had the minis or players. But in about three weeks I'm running a game with borrowed 28mm AWI miniatures for my local group. Now this may be a bit late to ask, but I would love to pick the brains of anyone who's run it for a group (could be anywhere between 6-12).

I'm borrowing miniatures from a member which are arranged into 24-man units, so I've been messing with the unit arrangements – 48-man infantry regiments and 24-man cav and battalions seem to work with my playtesting. (ignoring officers etc as unlike Grant's The War Game, they seem to have no role). The real issue here is numbers of units on the table, and also basing.

The gentleman lending the minis has a small number that are single-based, enough for two or three cav regiments a side, three infantry regiments, several militia battalions, and eight or so guns. This is less than half his collection however, the rest is in multibases. I'm thinking I'll need to use his multibase figures (mostly on six-man bases for infantry and two for horse) to increase this and mark them with dice to indicate casualties. At best, I suspect each player will have four units to work with; anyone familiar with Charge! think this will be untenable?

There are fewer Continentals than Brits and Hessians, so I am thinking something loosely akin to the Sittangbad scenario with Americans as the defenders and perhaps the bulk of the artillery. Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

It sounds reasonable to me. You might want to be sure each player has different types of units. It adds tactical variety, and four 48-casting battalions is a bit of a stretch. Keep in mind that Sittangbad as such tends to be a long game, so especially with newbie players you'll want to do what you can to shorten or speed it up.

I don't get as many chances to play as I like, but I do enjoy Charge!

Thanks for your thoughts! Three or four units per player would be at the outside; I suspect two is more likely, which at least would match the "Brigade" organization.

I am planning to hybridize the rules – using the Elementary rules with Advanced distances, formations and units. Keeping them simple but with the line, column-of-companies and column-of-fours that seems to typify the tactics of the period.

You don't say how long you want the game to last – the bigger the game the longer it will take. If they've never played CHARGE! before four figures per player is probably enough as it takes time to get used to the order writing (make some good order sheets to help – I also add colour pictures to help them identify which regiment is which). Two is probably too few as units get chewed up pretty quick – the rules are bloody. Multi-base will probably be OK, indeed it will sped the game up as moving single figures can be pretty slow – I still use it to keep the 'old school' feel. I have a couple of CHARGE! scenarios in The Wargamers' Notebook if you want some more inspiration – the old Charles Grant Teasers are also still on-line.
Email to request (free) magazine: Wargamers Notebook <wargamersnotebook@gmail.com>
Link to Table-top teasers: link
Good Luck!

Four to six hours is typical with our group, but the number of players is up in the air. I definitely will have premade order sheets, but will have to label the regiments (probably as "composite")! Thanks for the links, will check them out ASAP.

I should have mentioned most of the single-based chaps are on unit bases, which helps a bit.

I own a handful of the figures featured in the book.

If the single figures are from the same units as the multibased ones you can use them as casualties- so have a unit that is multibased with about half a dozen single ones and take them off as required until you can remove a multibase…

Reading the comments, I'm thinking of using the Elementary rules as much as possible, maybe doubling the movement/ranges and having different movement rates for column and line. There are no unit organizations in the elementary rules, just massed groups. Thoughts?

Just spent the afternoon at the club setting up. The borrowed 28mm figures are organized in units of 24 infantry and 12 cavalry, so I'm planning for each set to represent a company or squadron. Currently have about 15 American units (defenders) and 25 British with the table set up loosely like Sittangbad. Will likely have 6-10 players, so everyone should be able to have about four units, more if we have fewer players and I use all the units. Even on 6x12 feet, which sounds larger than the original, I expect the table to be crowded with figures.

For my first game, it probably would have been smarter to have a classic open battle, across the table width, but we'll see. I've been using my 20mms at work to familiarize myself with the rules.