"Wanting to go full Boer" Topic

My painting desk is now clear, having just finished up a quantity of 15mm 1899 British infantry and cavalry (and heliograph teams!). I also have a nice supply of Boers that I painted earlier. Basing the figures is the next phase, but of course, I'd like to base according to a rule system. For order infantry I've used 10mm frontage before and I like it. So a base of 3 infantry figures would be 30mm wide. Cavalry is typically more like 15mm frontage, and I like to base them in twos.

So I'm keen to start some colonial wargaming in 15mm but I don't have any rule system picked out yet. For some reason I'm nostalgic to play some Featherstone-type rules. Something fairly simple, where brutal realism is secondary to just having some fun. Does anyone here know of such a set of rules that would work well for Boer War and maybe later Sudan?

Cheers!

Gallo

If you haven't already, you should check out this blog: link
He's doing the Boer War in 20mm and has come up with his own Featherstone-esque rules. He was kind enough to share his rules with me after I sent him an email.

If you want something a bit different you could use the Pony Wars rules with a few twaeks. Instead of being outnumbered by the opposition it's more that it will outshoot you.
The basic game premise of rescuing settlers form homesteads is easily changed to one of clearing out homesteads to deny them to the Voers.

I played Elandslagaate in 54mm using Stuart Asquith's Big Wars rules. Although simple (and bloody) they resulted in an historical result. Check out the rules here: PDF link

BillyNM, I am also interested in Pony Wars, but I think its mechanics favor asymmetric warfare and unpredictable indigenous tactics. Boer tactics were more predictable: Kill as many Khakis are you can before they get close enough to use the bayonet, then mount up and go to the next defensive position. Granted, they became more aggressive during the Guerrilla period of the war, but nothing like the Ansar or Plains Indians on the warpath.

Hello Nick and Billy,

I will check out the blog and Pony Wars. I do have an old set of rules that I just rediscovered on my bookshelf: "Imperial Wars – Colonial Warfare Rules 1860 – 1900" I don't know how Featherstonian they are but I'll look into it. Thanks for replying.

Cheers!

Gallo

The Sword and the Flame.

The Lardies developed a rule set over a long period of time that helps players explore the evolution of tactics during the war. Each base represents a platoon and so it is designed for handling large engagements. I think they played it in 15mm. While they are very keen on them I think they realised the commercial appeal is regrettably quite small and so they published them for ‘free' in the sense they were included in one of their bi-annual Specials, in this case it was the Christmas Special 2016. It's available as a downloadable pdf link

The Men Who Would Be Kings is fast and fun and just nods at history. I use it for Zulus in 6mm where one stand = 2 figures. Most units are 12 figures. And there are enough troops types and special rules to give the game some flavor.

We've successfully used "The Sword and the Flame" (from sergeants3.com ) with 15mm Boer games, as well as using it for many, many 25mm Colonial games.

link

link

Both of these games were played with individually mounted 15mm figures but used the 25mm measurements for movement and weapons ranges.

As you can tell, we haven't used these 15mm figures in quite a while but the games were really fun.

Jim

It turns out that I also have a set of "The Sword and the Flame" rules. Purchased some years ago, it is "Revision 1".
I'll look these over. I have to admit, this rule book makes more sense than I anticipated. I am under the impression that TSATF is mostly for skirmish games though. I was hoping to have infantry units of about 24, 3 to a base, and cavalry units of 12, two to a base. Also I imagine battles with over 160 or so figures on each side. Perhaps I could use elements from TSATF and combine them with Featherstone horse and musket rules?

Cheers!

Gallo

Sword & Flame is not really a skirmish game. It is for battles but uses figure removal, so assumes figures are singly mounted. But you could base as you prefer and then just mark hits, removing stands when the hits accumulate.

The Sword and the Flame is sounding better all the time. I was surprised to discover that I have some loose pages of notes in the rule book. Apparently I was trying to adapt TSATF to the 2nd Anglo-Boer War the last time I was reading it. That was about 25 years ago. Another reason to be glad that I'm retired, I can get back to my much neglected hobbies!

Cheers!

Gallo

Thanks to all who chimed in and gave me excellent advice. I will probably be using TSATF rules and modify them as needed. Good to know I can start basing the way I want. Does anyone here know of a typical frontage for a 15mm artillery piece for the British colonial period? One set of rules that I referred to stated that the frontage for 15mm artillery should be 10mm. I can't squeeze an artillery piece into something that small, let alone the crew!

Cheers!

Gallo

Gallocelt, just saw this thread of yours now, so I'm late to the discussion, but since sounded enthusiastic about TSATF and were also interested in larger battles/games, I want to tell you that there is a TSATF variant called "800 FIGHTING ENGLISHMEN" purposefully designed for such larger scale games. Unfortunately, they don't include stats for Boers, because together with the Egyptian regular army of 1882 they were seen as the least popular British colonial foe fielded by gamers. Still, the overall approach to converting from the single-figure based TSATF systems to multi-figure movement stands and battalions as basic units, may still be of some use to you. If you're interested in the variant, it's available from here:

sergeants3.com/18.html#

On a related front, here's a LINK to a blog post of mine from 6 years ago, when I was working out how to combine different aspects of TSATF and 800FE for an XL size game of my own. It was a Second Afghan War game, not Boer War, but again it might be of use as you decide exactly what you want to do rules-wise:

link

Hey, Mad Guru, this is looking good. I had never heard of "800 Fighting Englishmen", but it might be exactly what I'm searching for. I also liked the link to your blog spot. I looked over your movement sheet and noticed how similar it is to what I was working on. Great info!

Cheers!

Gallo

Gallocelt, very happy to hear you found north the links useful, and thanks for taking the time to say so! Hope you can post some info on -- and maybe some pics of -- your future Boer War games.

Mad Guru, I certainly could post some photos as things progress. I need to get to the basing first and I'll be buying more cut magnetic base bottoms from Litko. I'm still working on rules and might have to pick up a copy of "800 Fighting Englishmen." My ultimate goal is to create campaign scenarios like the battles to relieve Ladysmith.

Cheers!

Gallo

I have been using "Fields of Honor" for the 2nd Boer War. They work for 15mm but can be modified for use of 28mm like I have done.

link

Old Contemptible, that is a great looking game. I remember reading about that battle. The Boers weren't really digging in too much at that point so they weren't able to stop the British. Looking forward to gaming this battle at some point. I purchased a Victorian-looking train station some years ago. I'll have to get it painted up!

Cheers!

Gallo

Gallocelt, I'm another +1 for TSATF. It can be as big or as small as you want depending on how you run it. I just successfully ran an 11 player 600+ figure game at HurriCon-21 in Orlando Florida last weekend. I've also played in some of the15mm Boer War games Col Campbell has spoken of. It's originally designed for singly mounted figures but many of use multi fig based units. Have fun, experiment.

SgtGuinness, thanks for the encouragement and ideas. At this point I think TSATF will be used with modifications taken from other rule sets. A 600+ figure game using TSATF rules would be great to see.

Cheers!

Gallo