Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company

Contemptible Little Armies (2nd ed)
World War I Rules

by Bill Rutherford

CLA is a set of miniatures rules dealing with land warfare during the World War I era and are suitable for any of the wars during that period. The rulebook is a plastic-spiral bound affair, 52 single-sided pages long, with a clear plastic protector for the very nice color cover. I’m a bean counter so I was put off a bit by the lack of scales which the authors address in the Scales section. They disdain pretty completely any figure scale (e.g., 1:10, 1:20, etc.), unit scale (“…a unit may represent anything from a platoon to a brigade…”), or ground scale (“…will obviously vary depending on what level of force…”).

A time scale is specified only when an event like dawn is critical to a game, and then only in a relative number of turns in a scenario description. The authors stress that balance of play, of forces, and of objectives are the more important factors and have based CLA on those premises. Organizations are based on proportions – no more than one HMG per 3 infantry units (around a dozen figures), that sort of thing. Designed for larger-scale figures, these rules assume that troops will be individually mounted and place a lot of emphasis on setting up a good-looking game.

The rules are written in a conversational, easy-to-read style which somewhat explains their length. I read the set in a single sitting and recalled most of what I read (a comment on the rules, NOT on my mental prowess!). Rules organization is interesting in that the first half of the book generally explains how the rules work and provides statistics for the various service arms. The second half of CLA deals with how to run a game, with descriptions of general scenario types, recommended points values (the first part of CLA provides points values for the various troop types), and the final ten pages actually provide the playing rules. The sequence of play is interactive sequential, with players alternating moving units.

Movement itself is probabilistic – units dice to see how far they go. Combat is quite simple, is not modified for range within the firing range of the attacker, and is based on a single modified die roll. Visibility isn’t addressed outside of standard LOS and specific scenario rules. Command control and morale are both dealt with quite elegantly, given the simplicity of the rules. In the former case, the sorts of orders that can be issued are determined by the general scenario type (attack, meet, withdrawal) and are written down. There’s less to doing this than one would think. In the latter case, units take morale checks based on casualties, gas attacks, and other situations. Morale failure is gradual, recoverable, and is noted by placement of markers. Supporting arms – tanks, armored cars, aircraft, etc. – are similarly treated. AFVs are akin to great mobile pillboxes that may or may not break down; aircraft are essentially unarmored MG emplacements that hover around over the battlefield shooting at and being shot at by the troops on the ground.

I like CLA despite their fuzziness. I’ve pushed some troops around and have carried out a few combats and they seem to work. I settled on a notional 1:1 scale with a turn representing “a very short time” and they have at that scale, a good feel to them. I’m an admitted Copplestone Castings junkie and found Contemptible Little Armies advertised on Copplestone’s website at http://gisby.org/clarmies.htm I suspect they’re available “on the ground” here in the US so I suggest checking your local game shop first to see if they can provide you the rules. If that fails, though, you can get them for £9.00 (plus shipping) directly from the Honorable Lead Boiler Suit Company at http://www.hlbs.co.uk/ or by writing to them at The Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company, 54 Vyse St., Hockley, Birmingham, B18 6HR United Kingdom. Recommended.

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