A light rain spit coldly Into the faces of the tired and hungry highlanders huddled on Culloden moor. Many had not slept or eaten since the day before. They passed the morning hours grumbling about their leaders or watching the English army's scarlet lines grow larger as the light strengthened. They could see the mud-spattered English had anchored their flanks on the stone-fenced fields that bordered the moor. Dragoons, horses steaming in the damp, guarded the English right, the hated Campbells of the Argyll militia the left.

The above refight of the Battle of Culloden, 1746, was played using Chipco's "Le Petit Empereur" -- a fast-play horse and musket rule set. I modified it to hopefully better simulate the unusual battles of the Jacobite Rebellions, and this game was a playtest. This conflict was unusual because in most 18th Century wars, the infantry of each side was similarly trained and armed. However, the rebellion featured European style musketeers vs. irregular, poorly-armed - but enthusiastic - swordsmen.

In "LPE," line infantry does not shoot at range. The rules factor in the effect of the muskets when contact is made. Light troops do shoot, though. The major change for this game was to give that ability to all musketeers but not the highlanders. Balancing this, the highlanders would fight at +t in the first round of melee and rally one better (both rolls use a six-sided die). This should give incentive for the Scots to charge into contact as they did historically to keep from being destroyed at range by the English fire.

At Culloden, the Jacobites were outnumbered roughly 8,000 to 5,000, but would be less so in this game. Bonnie Prince Charlie's army was composed of 28 units. In LPE, one stand equals one unit (much like the popular ancients rules DBA / DBM). There were 22 units of highlanders, 2 of musketeers (French troops) and 4 of cavalry. The figures used were the dynamically-posed 15mm Old Glory highlanders. The Duke of Cumberland's English numbered 32 units: 17 musketeers, 3 highlanders (independent companies raised by loyal clans), 8 .cavalry and four light artillery. Most of the figures were from Essex's excellent 15mm Seven Year's War British line.

Warm and dry in their cottage. behind the Scots lines, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Irish general, John O'Sullivan (played by local garners Troy Boni and Joel Sams), had cooked up a surprise deployment for the English. Rather than charge them across the boggy field, two-thirds of the highlanders were sent clambering across the walled fields to fall upon the English left. The remaining third, with the French "Royal Scots" and "Irish Picquets" as well as all the Jacobite cavalry, would hold off the English in the center.

Across the moor, Cumberland and his generals (played by Terry Hollern and Allen Sams) laughed when they saw the Jacobite trick. They ordered the center, ten battalions of English foot with artillery support, to advance. The second line of the highland companies and four battalions followed at a distance, ready to wheel to Intercept the threat to their left. On the right, the dragoons would swing wide to try to encircle the Jacobite horse guarding that flank. On the English left, the Argyll militia took up positions behind a stone wall, ready to repel the highland threat.

When the English center moved within range, the artillery thundered out. The red-coated Irish Picquets were broken and sent fleeing from the right-hand side of the highland center. English muskets crashed out and the Royal Scots soon followed. The Bonnie Prince's European troops were unable to stand up to the English fire, how would the highlanders fare? After some galling casualties, the highlanders charged. One English battalion was staggered, but the charge was stopped and one clan regiment shattered. Meanwhile, the dragoons and Jacobite horse met to contest the exposed left flank of the highlanders. Baggot's Hussars, the lightest of the Jacobite horse, were sent reeling from the battlefield.

But now the Scots generals' trick was played as the main force of the highlanders wheeled towards the center. They were slowed down by the field walls, enabling the English second echelon to line a stone fence the bordered the moor and face them. Once again, the highlanders charged. Once again, they were thrown back or scattered. More highlanders flowed around the first wave to threaten the flanks of the English first line, which was steadily driving the Jacobite center back. However, it was too little to late. After giving a good account of themselves, the Jacobite horsemen had been beaten, and the center overwhelmed by superior numbers. of English foot and dragoons. The Bonnie Prince's stand in the wind and rain at Culloden was a final effort to pump life into the dying rebellion. It and the Stuart line's last chance at the British throne was trampled into the mud orr the Scottish moors.

The game moved very fast and was finished in less than two hours. LPE's mechanics are simple, picked up quickly, and produce a fairly "bloody" game. Units losing a melee either receive a demoralization marker (causing further -1 to rolls) or are destroyed outright. At the beginning of each side's turn, they roll to "rally off" these markers. A second marker causes recoil, a third destruction. Whichever side receives more damage at the end of a turn, loses one pip -off its "Morale Clock." Clocks starts at nine and the battle ends when one side's drops to zero.

Although there are normal modifiers to the melee rolls, there is no "base" combat factors for units like in DBA/DBM (or Chipco's own medieval "Days of Knights" or "Fantasy Rules!"). This makes it easier to roll more than double an opponent's score which causes it to be destroyed. After all, if you roll a "one," anything but a one or two by the opponent causes your unit to be destroyed.

As a matter of fact, the game finished so quickly the participants switched sides and played an encore. This featured a more conventional Jacobite deployment and resulted in a Scottish victory. I felt this vindicated the balance of the modifications I had made to LPE. The English artillery and muskets can slowly defeat the Scots unless they unleash a successful highland charge. If the English are in good position, as in the first battle, the charge can be stopped. If not, then the issue is more up in the air. If the Scots fight (or roll) better (as you could say they did historically at Falkirk and Prestopans), then they can sweep the English from the field.

Our final thoughts were that a game of LPE can be easily lost by a "bad streak" of die rolling. I liked the smooth flow of the game and the simplicity, but prefer a little more of a slugging match than it produced. Of course, this prompted more ideas. After all, if the Jacobite Rebellions flared up again and again in Scotland, surely my highlanders will feel the sting of rain in their face and charge across the moors again one day...