Imperialism

Victorian Era Rules

review by Bob Beattie

5th Edition copyright by Lynn Bodin and Savage and Soldier Magazine, 23902 SE 42nd St., Issaguah, WA 98027. 11" format, offset printed, 12 pages, $6.00.

It is a bit pretentious to assume that one can fully evaluate a set of rules which were ten years in the making after only a couple of readings and two games. But since our readers want to know about developments in the hobby, we must go to press with a quick, but, hopefully, thoughtful analysis. Imperialism is a set of rules intended for gaming colonial warfare in the second half of the 19th Century. There is, however, nothing which restricts these rules to that particular genera of history. What, after all, is "colonial" warfare? May I suggest that it is warfare between an agricultural state and an industrial state fought in and over the resources of the former. Keep in mind that the forces of the agricultural state can be armed with a mixture of melee and firearm weapons along a continuum of almost all melee (e.g., Zulus) to all firearm (e.g., Boers). Some rules are more useful for a colonial situation and some of those better for the melee end of the continuum. Imperialism does not need to be restricted to any part of the weapons mix continuum; working well for both Zulu-type and Boer-type opponents of an industrial state. Furthermore, I see no reason why it could not be used for war between two industrialized states such as those related to the unification of Italy and Germany in mid-19th Century Europe or those in North and South America at the same time.

It is, however, the intention of the author, that these rules be applied to colonial wars and it is to that end that I studied them and playtested them.

Playtesting consisted of two games, a week apart, involving 5 experienced gamers. All were very familiar with The Sword and the Flame and various combinations were experienced with more complex systems such as Johnny Reb and WRG Ancients. All had read the rules during the week prior to the first game and studied them further between the games. The first game was between Pathans and British; the second between Zulus and British. In the latter close attention was paid to creating a balanced scenario.

The game puts players in a command position over armies, not small units as in skirmish type rules. The unit of maneuver is the battalion and its native forces equivalent. Infantry is organized by units of eight stands, each of which is to have 2 figures and a combat strength of 8 to3. Notethat we used single figure and seemed none the worse. More figures would be more ascetically pleasing but no need to rebase your TSATF forces or go on a spending spree to enjoy Imperialism. A roster is needed to keep track of losses for each unit. A British line battalion is to be represented by 16 figures on 8 stands, each at a strength of 6, compared to a Zulu spear unit of 16 figures on 8 stands each with a strength of 8. Strength refers to the casualties a stand can take before it is removed and is generally equal to its melee value. Units have point values so balanced games can be formulated. The above mentioned British unit is worth 176 points while the Zulu is 152.

Play proceeds in a simultaneous manner; players marking each unit's move, each turn, on a map of the battlefield. An order sheet can be used if movement directions are well defined. The sequence of events is movement, artillery fire, other fire, melees, and morale (for units not having done so as a result of fire or melee). Movement is fixed for each troop type and not dependent on any random determination. Infantry, for example, generally move 6" and charge 8" (Zulus 12" and 15") regardless of formation.

A number of particular rules are quite interesting. Charges, for example, have a morale calculation which determines the fire of the defender, a shock phase, and a melee phase. Morale is easy to compute; it combines a unit's remaining strength (compare to its original strength), troop type, position, and a random factor. Natives are divided into +1, regular, and -1 categories and have their own result table which includes an uncontrolled advance option. Regulars, too, have three morale categories.

For the most part the rules should be easily understood by anyone with previous gaming experience (can any rules be picked up and played by a complete novice?). The order of operations is quite logical and the procedures to resolve combat, both fire and melee, create intuitively pleasing results.

The core of the rules takes up only 7 pages (including a very detailed discussion of terrain effects), with one and one-half more devoted to gunboats and a half to command rating and hidden movement. One page of the appendix is devoted to troop capabilities while the rest covers suggested readings and a very comprehensive listing of figure sources. A novel idea which I hope catches on is the inclusion of advertising pages. These are helpful for the reader looking for figures and for helping keep down the price of the publication.

Let me make a few observations about the format. The computer generated type face is small and a bit hard to read in an ill-fit basement; perhaps the next edition could be a few points larger. Also, the headings of a couple of sections ended up at the bottom of a page while the text began on the top of the next column - shrapnel fire, rifle... fire, and major morale. Also, there is a lack of consistency among the subheadings within each topic. For example, sometimes subtopics were capitalized, sometimes numbered, sometimes underlined, and sometimes in lower case. These are minor typographical issues but they contribute to difficulty in looking up rules during the course of play.

A major complaint from all, however, was the lack of a summary sheet for the various tables and charts in the text. Inclusion of this has become standard practice of late in rules and is needed here. With such a "cheat-sheet" one could easily play the game with only a few referrals to the full text. The roster system is useful but it would be helpful if there were a page of blank rosters which the gamer could photocopy and use as needed. (By the way, players wondered why the one roster example of a British line battalion had 9 stands instead of 8; that was just about the only typographical error, if it is, that we found.) Note, too, that a number of different dice are needed regular six-sided; average; a melee dice which must be made up with sides showing 1, 2,2, 3, 3,4; a pom-pom gun dice showing 1, 1, 2, 2,3,3,; and other special ones if the optional command rating is used. A hand calculator is also needed for those who cannot do multiplication in their head.

There were only two substantive aspects of the rules which troubled us. First, it seems that cavalry is not capable of winning a melee against natives. In our Zulu game, regular horse (there is no provision for different types such as lancers) was repulsed in all attacks on native units whether at full strength or shot up prior to being charged. Our reading on the period led us to believe that cavalry was more effective. Secondly, artillery fire either hits the target or vanishes. There is no provision for a near miss. True, some fire would be harmless in its effect, but we would like to have some chance to hit what is not aimed at. There also needs to be some provisions of artillery destroying structures and equipment.

These observations notwithstanding, let me say that all players expressed strong positive comments toward the concepts inherent in the rules and the course of events they generated in the game. The appendix alone is almost worth the price of the publication. Imperialism should be tried by anyone who wants to do big colonial games.

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