The rules we use for our skirmish games are based on those published by Skirmish Wargames. Like so many of the very good rules written for our hobby they seem to suffer from a marked lack of publicity. As far as I know they are still available for purchase. I'll give you one address but you may still have to do some detective work. I assure you it will be worth it. The Secret Weapon Arrives on the Village Green. The titles they have written in my own collection include the following: Skirmish Wargames Colonial Period 1850-1900 The Old West 1816-1900 The Old West Part Two Flintlock and Ramrod 1700-1850 Twentieth Century Rules; Supplement; Tables and Lists. Included in the playing rules are ideas for games and campaigns, weapon data, plenty of helpful illustrations and much much more. Characters are classed as Veterans, Averages, and Novices and given an ability figure for such things as firing and melee. Although my scerTario mentions these it can, of course, be played with any rules you happen to be using. In England the rules are available, I think, from Newbury Rules, 15 Cromwell Road, Shaw, Newbury, Berks. England. (Also available from Enola Games, P.O. Box 1900, Brooklyn, NY 11201 - ED.). Tucked away in the pages of the early history of the Suffolk Regiment is what is claimed to be the only use of an AFV in action in East Anglia. The 11th Regiment of foot were quartered in the cathedral city of Ely, and were used to crush a revolt by the peasants. Protesting against the enclosure of common lands, and the loss of fishing and grazing on the marshy fenlands, the villagers planned to march on Ely, supported by a hand-cart on which had been strapped a number of wild fowling punt guns. The march failed, and the then incumbent Bishop of Ely hanged the ring leaders in the market square. CAN YOU do better - or worse, if you happen to see yourself as the church militant? For our purposes the action scales down to a 25mm or 30mm skirmish. Map A shows the area around to Kipton Green and the church. The cast list is as follows: 11th Regiment of Foot Sergeant Elias Crowe Veteran. Pike/2 Pistols. Private Bill HookVeteran. Musket and Bayonet. Private Mark Tyme Veteran. Musket and Bayonet. Private Jack HallVeteran. Musket and Bayonet. Private Bill LoweAverage. Musket and Bayonet. Private Matt Black Average. Musket and Bayonet. Kipton Villagers Henry Skegg Veteran (Leader of Revolt). Tom Atkins Veteran. Ralph Bean Average. lack Blake Average. The villagers are armed with an assortment of pitch-forks, bill-hooks. Blackham Villagers Henry Jones Average. Jack Dawes Novice. Tim Harup Novice. Harry Mobbs Novice. One flintlock blunderbuss, two pairs of pistols, two bows and four swords, to be distributed as you wish, plus the AFV. Patcham Villagers Peter Piper Average. Oliver Gibbs Novice. Clem Lister Average. Judd Ellis Novice. Our "men" are controlled by a card system: Six cards for Veterans- "A"; Four cards for Averages - "B"; Three cards for Novices - "C"; Four "Vehicle movement" cards in each pack. Villagers' cards are in one deck, the soldiers' cards in another. Decks are drawn from alternately. Fifteen buffer cards are added to the soldier's deck of 32 cards, (4 Vet., 3 Avg.) to equal the villagers' deck of 47. Firing and fighting abilities are also given: "6" being average; "8 or 9" being exceptional; "2 or 3" being very poor. "Six" would fire as per chart. "Eight" would be plus 20% and "Four" would be minus 20%, etc. This gives scope for characterization. THE PATROL Before the start of the game a secret dice throw establishes the starting position of the patrol: 0-60 At Patch Mill 61-70 One move from Patch Mill 71-80 Two moves from Patch Mill 81-90Four moves from Patch Mill 91-100Hidden anywhere on board except occupied cottages. They may thus be in an "Ambush" position, and remain off-table until they open fire or are observed by the Villagers. THE VILLAGERS The game starts with the Kipton villagers leaving their cottages to assemble on the green. Skegg and Atkins push the loaded punt-gun cart before them. The Blackham and Patcham villagers enter on Turn 1 on the appropriate roads. THE PUNT GUN Takes a card to lay on target. All four guns may be fired at once or guns fired as desired. Takes five cards to re-load. RISK TO FIRERS 4 guns fired at once 20% risk of accident 2/3 guns fired at once 10% risk of accident Patrol Objective: Kill or capture Henry Skegg. Kill, capture or wound majority of peasants. Villagers Objective: Defeat patrol and have at least half number of fit men, together with gun to march on Ely. Go to it, lads-and find out what it feels like to be a duck on a wild fowling marsh. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VII #4 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com