Given the recent series on the various armies involved in the American War of Independence (AWI), it seems a good time to look at a new set of rules specifically for this interesting conflict. Patriots & Loyalists (PAL) was devised by Scott Holder (with assistance from Arty Conliffe) and released in late 1998/early 1999. Like many rules these days PAL is designed for quick learning, fast play and fun. To meet these goals there is some simplification, but the end results are very impressive. The figure scale is 15-30 men per figure for infantry and artillery, or 15-20 men per figure for cavalry. This sliding scale allows PAL to be used to re-fight any AWI engagement, from the larger battles in the North to the much smaller but equally important ones in the South. PAL can be played with either 25mm or 15mm figures, mounted three to a base for infantry, two to a base for cavalry, and one gun per base for artillery. However, it is the number of bases within the unit rather than the number of figures per base that is important in PAL. Any existing figure basing system could be used under PAL, as long as both sides use the same basing system. There is no ground scale, players are encouraged to set up their terrain so that it looks or feels right. Similarly, there is no time scale. PAL's approach to the AWI is to concentrate on the morale of the units involved, rather than their quality, weapons, numbers, leaders, etc. While all of these are factored in using one form or another, it is a unit's morale (and how a player boosts it) that is crucial to their performance. Holder argues that "units do not fire better because they are elite; rather, higher class troops respond better to being fired at". Given the standard of both side's weapons and munitions, and the rough terrain and harsh conditions in which everyone fought, it is a good point. In PAL there are six classes of units. The better a unit's class the higher their base morale (expressed as a percentage), the greater their chance of passing morale tests, rallying or pre-empting/ reacting, the fewer actions they need to change formation, and the greater their contribution to their brigade's morale. Units are organised into Brigades, with a general commanding each brigade, and the army as a whole being commanded by either a separate army commander or a senior brigade commander. Generals have no real function other than to help a unit's morale test(s) with their assistance points, and their brigade's morale with their leadership points. Assistance points can be used repeatedly. Leadership points can only be used once. Each turn is divided into the following phases: Action Determination Phase, during which the phasing player rolls to determine how many actions each unit in the army can perform during that term. The norm is 3 actions, but poor rolls result in only 2 actions, good rolls result in 4 actions. Each action can be used to move, fire or reload. So three actions allows musket armed infantry and artillery to fire, reload and fire again, or to move three times, or to move once and then change formation (if their class allows them to make the change in two actions). Rif les, an important weapon with their longer ranger and greater affect on the target unit's morale, take two actions to reload, and so can only fire twice per turn when an army has four actions. Players do not need to track who is loaded or unloaded because PAL assumes any unloaded units reload during the enemy's turn. Movement/Fire/Pre-Emptive/Reaction Phase, during which both players move and/or fire their units. When an army has 3 or 4 actions, its units can move and/or fire, and any opposing units can attempt to react to those moves and/or fire. But when an army has only 2 actions, any move and/or fire of each of its units can be pre-empted by an opposing unit firing on it or (if cavalry) charging it. This sounds rather simple but presents all types of challenges on the tabletop. If your army suddenly has a minimum number of actions, the enemy's higher class units (which are easier to react/pre-empt with) can cause all sorts of problems, especially if they are facing units of much lower class. When units are fired on they take morale tests. The target unit's base morale is determined and then modified by the fire the unit is receiving (including multiple volleys, flanking fire, range), the terrain they are occupying,the formation they are in, whether they are isolated (no friends within 6"), and whether the unit's officers and NCOs are leading from the front. The owning player rolls percentile dice, and if the result is higher than the unit's morale level the unit receives a permanent marker and retires. If the result is lower there is no affect. Then, if the unit's officers and NCOs were leading from the front, you roll again to determine their fate. A unit's officers and NCOs can boost its morale by up to 20% during a morale test. But the down side is you must then test for NCO risk, and roll less than 100 minus the percentage the officers and NCOs added to the unit's morale level. If you roll higher than this figure the unit receives a permanent marker and retires. So it is possible for a unit to pass the initial morale test for being firing upon, but then fail the subsequent test for NCO risk. Or even worse, fail both tests and receive two permanent markers and retire. No figures are removed from a unit, all its stands stay on the tabletop until the unit either retreats off the battlefield or its brigade fails a brigade morale test. However, each permanent marker reduces a unit's morale level by 10%. After receiving several permanent markers some units will be unable to hold their position in the line and become effectively useless. Melee Phase, during which any melees are resolved using a sequence determined by a deck of ten cards. Five of them resolve the melee, the other five are equally nasty – causing attackers and defenders to fire or test their morale. Melee resolution occurs over two rounds, and involves players calculating each unit's melee level and then rolling percentile dice, resulting in between 0 and 2 permanent markers being applied to the unit and it possibly retiring. And yes, general and NCO risk tests are needed if generals and/or NCOs were added to a unit's melee level. At the end of a melee all units recalculate their melee level and roll more percentile dice to determine if they stand and continue fighting or retreat. Units that stand wh en their opponents retreat can make breakthrough moves, contact other units and trigger another melee. In short, melees are rather bloody and decisive. Brigade Morale Phase, during which any brigades that have reached or passed their brigade morale level must test their brigade morale. Both brigade and army commander leadership points can be expended to assist a brigade pass this test. Brigades that fail this test have all their units immediately removed from the table. In our experience, when a brigade reaches its brigade morale level it's pretty much gone, regardless of how many leadership points its commander and the army commander assign to it. It's often a case of barely enough too late. And having saved the brigade once, one more permanent marker on any of its units will cause another brigade morale test, and its likely that there will be no leadership points available to prevent it breaking next time. Players continue cycling through these phases, one cycle each per turn until the battle is decided. The arbitrary victory conditions are the routing of all brigades in the opposing army, but other victory conditions can be used. So you beat the enemy by making him take morale tests in response to fire, melee or leadership risks. Eventually these tests will inflict enough permanent markers to force individual units to retire, and entire brigades to break. One of the ironies of PAL is that the owning player inflicts these misfortunes on him or herself – the owning player rolls all test dice. The British morale edge is often nicely balanced by the larger number of American units. So the British may find themselves testing more often than they would like, with every test having the risk of a permanent marker. For example, on one occasion the British Guards (base morale 100%, the best unit in PAL) declined to use their NCOs to offset an existing permanent marker (-10% off a unit's morale). Their general then rolled 95% and they received a second permanent marker. If they were to continue fighting at the highest possible morale level, their NCOs would have to always lead from the front (adding their 20% bonus to the Guards modified 80%), which would in turn cause them to test for NCO risk. So, do they roll once at their modified morale level, or do they use their NCOs and roll for NCO risk as well? The Americans, as you would expect, are not quite as good as the British. Some of their smaller brigades can only take a handful of permanent markers before they need to test for brigade morale. Militia are the worst morale class, and the Americans have quite a few of them while the British might have one or two at most. One of PAL's advantages is that it is written specifically for the AWI. This allows it to address AWI specific situations without creating odd situations for other conflicts. For example, units can move in column, but cannot fire when in column and are halved in melee if in column. Remember, this is the age of linear warfare. Similarly, lower morale class units are automatically halved when fighting in melee to reflect the fact that they did not have bayonets, or did not know how to use them, or were not the slightest bit interested in getting close enough to use them! PAL are fairly well written, well illustrated, and contain optional rules and four scenarios (Bunker Hill, Princeton, Freeman's Farm, and Guilford Court House) complete with orders of battle, maps, and some play balance ideas. As a further bonus, there is a subset of rules for the French and Indian wars. So PAL can be used for two interesting and colourful conflicts. PAL has its own website (http://www.dauphinehotel.com/PAL.htm), and Scott Holder can be reached at two e-mail addresses, or using traditional physical mail. The website is quite good, containing a further three scenarios, rule amendments, and clarifications. I have contacted Scott a few times, and have found him most helpful and quick to respond to questions or comments. Problems Of course there are a few problems with the rules. What set of rules is perfect? The lack of ground and time scales makes creating other scenarios a little harder than it should be. The conversational writing style is easy to read and makes learning PAL a bit quicker, but it slows finding information at times. The rules also need a good proof read, they contain a few typos and discrepancies (the most obvious is leadership points being called victory points on the quick reference charts). The visibility rules also require careful reading. Some players have commented that the movement rates seem a little slow. Others have sugg ested that the British should move faster than the Americans to reflect their better drill. But counterbalancing these problems is the building block that PAL offers to AWI enthusiasts. PAL's relatively simple structure, systems, and procedures could be easily customised. For example, why have one action die roll for an entire army, why not roll for each general's actions? And then, why not introduce action dice roll modifiers for particularly bad or good generals? This could really enhance the existing command system. So how does PAL play? Well, pretty much as advertised - quickly, simply, fairly true to AWI battles, and with much fun. In several games we have played, five complete AWI novices and myself fought a battle in about three hours. Everyone picked up the rules very quickly, and began to develop some feeling for the nuances of the AWI and PAL itself. Some of the group had obviously been playing too much DBM and Napoleonics, and were intent on sending small cavalry units charging into crack infantry battalions with devastating results – for the cavalry. And our re-fight of Princeton, an encounter between a small high quality British force and a large poor quality American one, was most interesting. The British used their better quality and leadership edge to maintain a thinly spread battle line. But when their Brigadier was seriously wounded and left the field, taking his assistance points with him, it all went very pear shaped and pretty historical. PAL are available from Essex Miniatures Australia or MilSims, and at $35 are pretty good value for money. They make a welcome change from WRG's aging Wargames Rules 1685-1845 (which is still passable, but at the wrong figure scale). If you're interested in the AWI you should try PAL. Back to Table of Contents -- Kriegspieler #8 To Kriegspieler List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Kriegspieler Publications. 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