Review:

Washington's Wars

Rules

by Ken Bunger

Washington's Wars by David R. Hoffman is a set of rules for the French and Indian War or the American War of Independence. Written for 15mm figures they can be converted to use with 25mm. They are not skirmish rules, but are designed to fight any size battle of the subject wars. The author specifically denies any attempt to represent either a ground scale or a model/man ratio.

There is an adequate point system with troops assigned a fire combat, melee combat and morale class rating. All battalion lines are represented by 20 figures in a single line. Cavalry units are 10 figures in size. Irregular units can be 12 to 28 in size for foot and half that for cavalry. In order to provide the "fog of war" the rules use blocks of wood as "dummy" units when units are out of sight of the enemy. A move/counter-move system using either a simple die roll to determine first move or the drawof cards. The cards determine which units are to be active in a particular phase. The list of actions a unit may undertake during a particular phase include skirmish and mass - there is no distinction between a loose order line, a two rank line or three rank line. Since these were all extensively used, and had important consequences, these distinctions should be incorporated (either specifically or abstractly) in a set of rules for the American campaigns.

Columns are not allowed to charge which doesn't allow for those instances where storming columns were used. The skirmish formation is only available to light troops which is really too limiting for this theater. It's not clear what the mass formation represents. There ia chart for terrain modifications. One questionable point is that lines move 4" through light woods and columns only 2" which I think should be reversed.

Fire and melee combat are both worked out in similar manner using 3D6. Our local group had a bit of difficulty with the system and found it extremely bloody. The author does an excellent job with his historical notes explaining his rationale for particular rules. I'd suggest a similar system of examples of play.

Melees are decided by morale checks at the conclusion of the phase. The morale system uses 2D6's compared to a modified morale number. The difficulty is that the rules don't say which table to use, until one reads the footnote on the quick reference chart and is referred back to one of the combat charts (the "combo table"). An example would be helpful. The rules have sections for victory conditions, weather, observation, scouting and an extensive system for setting up the game. Clever rules for planned routs and premature fire are included.

The rules include adequate lists of suggested troop ratings and leader abilities which is something all rules should include so as to give some historical context to the ratings system. One of the best features are the eight sample historical battles for use with these rules. Each sample gives an order of battle, troop ratings, number of castings, brief history weather and victory conditions.

The map of each battle is nicely done except there is no scale! There is an extensive painting guide providing uniform information for most of the units that were present in these campaigns (by Peter Berry and Roy Page). Considering the space available the author did an excellent job. There is a bibliography included.

The primary concern that I have with regard to these rules is the author's stated purpose of ignoring historical scales. One of the features that distinguishes historical wargaming from just gaming is an attempt to represent the tactics of the period based on the considerations of unit strength, weapon range and ground scale with which historical commanders had to deal. It's difficult to use these rules to represent historical battles if we are left to guess at unit strength representation or ground scale. This is particuarly important for the American Revolution where unit strengths varied wildly.

If one assumes an effective range of 150 yards for a musket with the rules providing for a 14" range, then 1"=10 yds. If one assumes a 300 man battalion in two ranks with the rules providing for a 200mm frontage then 1" = 12yds. It would seem that the 38" maximum range for artillery is too short. This is just a guess.

The rules are otherwise complete and clearly demonstrate that the author has given a lot of thought to the various rule systems. The physical layout of the rules is very attractive with a glossy cover, 60 pages, quick reference card, drawings and many photographs (several in color of reenactors and figures). The price is $19.95 available from Soldiers & Swords, 25 Fayette Street, Binghamton, NY 13901.(607)723-4556.

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