Drums of War
Along the Mohawk

Rules

by Daniel Groves

Wargame rules for the French and Indian Wars by William Protz.

One of the most pleasant wargame tasks I have had recently is to review Bill Protz's new rules for wargaming the French & Indian Wars. If you are not aware, Bill is the founder of the Seven Years WarSociety and the publisher and editorof its newsletter. He has been gamingtheSeven Years Warsince the 1960s and his knowledge of the period is extensive. He is also the author of The Wargarners' Guide to the English Civil War, now in its second printing.

The rules can be purchased direct from Bill for $12.00 and $1.25 postage. For this you get a 56 page booklet with a 1-page tear-out rule sheet, and a 12"x21" hexagon map of the Lake George, New York area. The booklet is illustrated with 15 photos of figures, terrain and buildings, and 2 drawings by Frederic Ray. There is an annotated bibliography of 40 volumes, many of which I know I will have to read. Seven pages are devoted to the campaign rules for the Lake George map.

The most exciting aspect of the publication is the historical background that is provided. The chapters titled "HOW TO PORTRAY AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LEADER" and "RULES FOR A COLONIAL SIEGE" are probably worth the price alone if you do not have a background in the period. There is detailed organizational information for all unit types. Bill also provides background as to how he arrived at the organization he uses.

Having read the chapters titled "THE RULES OF WAR" and "HOW TO DEPLOY UNITS ON THE TABLE TOP", a very satisfactory game can be played the first time using the tearout rule sheet. Movement is decided by the draw of cards, the commander deciding the order his units move and fire. The fire rules are straightforward, 2 dice being thrown and after modifiers are applied, the resulting number is compared to a chart and the number of castings firing. Kills are either dead or wounded and saving throws are used. Melee is computed in a similar way and is just as simple as fire. Morale is thrown for in 9 different cases. Modifiers are added or subtracted and morale is good if a 6 is totaled. All in all the morale system is quite simple. One added advantage of these rules is that they can be used in both skirmish games as well as larger brigade-level ones. Scale is 1 inch to 1 yards and 1 casting equals 5 actual men.

My favorite chapter is the siege rules. I have always had a problem with siege rules. I never quite was able to come up with a workable set of my own. Well, let me tell you, these rules look as if they will work. They are simple enough to be playable yet complicated enough to give a very good feel of what a siege was all about. I would suspect that with the plethora of gun emplacements, gabions, and other useful items for a siege that are available nowadays that there should be an increase in siege games once the rules get around.

While I have not played the Lake George Campaign game yet, at first read the rules seem simple enough and should not overwhelm the players with minutia. The main purpose of the game as I see it is to provide a simple campaign system in order to give reason to the table top games. As such they are perfect.

Bill's rules owe a lot to a couple of previous sets: CHARGE OR HOW TO PLAY WARGAMES by Peter Young, and THE WAR GAME by Charles Grant. Bill's seem to be an improvement over these with more of the feel of the period coming through. That feel is very important in a set of rules, especially a single figure game. Feel is very much what these rules are all about! It is obvious that Bill loves the French & Indian Wars period and is very well read in it. He has captured the essence of the period and translated it into rules for us to enjoy. I cannot thank him enough for this.

One thing that I do not like is the tear-out rule sheet. It is printed on dark red heavy paper with black ink. While it can be read quite easily, the dark color of the paper makes it impossible to photo-copy. When one pays $12.00 for a pamphlet, it is too bad that you must pay for additional tear-out sheets.

Their cost is $2.00 with 30 cents postage for 3 and can be ordered from Bill. Extra campaign maps can be ordered for $6.00 and 50 cents postage also.

I cannot recommend these rules too highly. They should provide the newcomer to the French & Indian Wars with a solid base from which they can expand their knowledge of the period. For the experienced garner they offer a new look at gaming in the period. For both they provide a fast, simple rule system that should be a delight to experience as well as a wealth of information. it seems appropriate to end this review with Bill's own words from Chapter 1: "... listen carefully, you will begin to hear the steady and closing distant drum beat of the enemy. It's time to grab your flintlock. There are drums of war along the Mohawk!" (Wargames that is)

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