Published by The Perfect Captain (http://members.fortunecity.com/perfectcaptain/captain.html). Price: a donation to the charity of your choice! I've dallied with many scales and periods, according to what was in favour at whichever club I attended at the time, but I've always come back to the American War of Independence. I started with Airfix (when I was at school and poor), bought Hinchcliffe 25mm (when I was single and had the space and the money), tried 6mm with unsatisfactory results and am currently pushing 15mm figures (various manufacturers, as the figures caught my eye) around the table whenever the kids stay in bed and the wife doesn't need the dining room table. I've experimented with many rules sets in that time, ranging from generic horse & musket era rules to sets specifically for the AWI. For the last couple of years I've been using Patriots & Loyalists by Scott Holder and Arty Conliffe (the European wargames rules mountain). They are undeniably a good set of rules, and they are written specifically for the period (they even include scenarios and army lists all in the one book - an example others would do well to emulate), but I don't really like them. I can't quite put my finger on a reason, with the possible exception of the mental arithmetic and the use of percentage dice (I use percentage dice in roleplaying, so this should not be a problem, but somehow it niggles). In Lone Warrior 135, Ian Duncan reviewed a set of Crusades rules called Ironbow which were available free from the internet. I eventually got round to having a look (reasoning that I might be able to crib some ideas, if nothing else) and I discovered that the author of Ironbow (The Perfect Captain) had also written other rules sets, including Cousin Jonathan for the War of 1812. The rules are available as PDF files and you can also download army lists, reference sheets, brigade status forms, command counters and scenarios for the 1812 war. I'm not too bothered about the scenarios yet (although I've been reading Rich Barbuto's 1812 magazine on Magweb, so you never know), but the rules deal with just the sort of small army actions which characterised the War of Independence. Best of all, the rules are free (but the Captain does prefer you to donate to a charity of your choice). Your first task is assembling the rules booklet. Each PDF gives you two facing pages. There are thirteen PDFs for the rulebook and two more for the reference sheets. It's not too difficult once you realise that the pages are configured to make the booklet (so you get pages 4 and 13 on one sheet and pages 5 and 12 on the next - put them all together and fold in half and you have your rules booklet). It's the same principle as is used with newspapers. The rules are simple enough and are separated into the basics that you will use in every battle, such as moving and fighting, and Special Rules which are only used occasionally, such as Indians and fortifications. Figures are grouped into regiments or troops, which are in turn grouped into brigades under an individual brigadier. Brigadiers have a lot of control over their troops, but only within a certain radius, and much is made of the Brigadiers' abilities because they will have direct effect on how the troops under his command carry out their orders. The brigade status sheet is a very useful form, holding details of the brigadier and all the units under his control in one place. It also includes a space for you to draw the battlefield and mark objectives and any other tactical features, as well as the brigades' strategic orders (used when no other orders are available). Quite apart from the many benefits of this form while you are playing out the battle, it can also be filed in your campaign records to provide you with details of the battle and the units involved. Movement is simultaneous, with both sides placing order markers against units within their Brigadier's control radius then revealing them. The turn sequence is fairly traditional and logical (orders, compulsory moves, charges, firing, other actions, hand-to-hand, and finally morale resolution). The Brigadier's personality influences how his orders can be interpreted by the units under his command, although the troops discipline levels can also have an effect. That is basically it. The rulebook is rounded out with regiment ratings for the US, British and Canadian troops, followed by leader ratings for each side. I've only played a few games with these rules so far, but I'm impressed. Possibly my opinion will change as I graduate to larger battles with multiple Brigadiers on each side, but I'll be sure to let you know if that happens. As I say, I use the rules for the War of Independence rather than the 1812 war, but they work very well. They capture the small army feel which characterises the majority of the battles in both wars. They are no more designed for solo play than any other rules currently on the market, but they are simple (always a bonus) and so don't bog you down in the minutiae of unit control. Your units are either within your Brigadier's command radius, where they gain the benefit (!) of his direct orders, or they are out of range and so have to fall back on strategic orders. In that respect, each battle repays the amount of pre-planning you do (if you prefer to wing this whole command thing as the battle progresses, you will not like these rules nearly as much). No rules are ever perfect and I've never met a wargamer who didn't like to tinker with rules, but I'm pleased with these. They are ideal for the beginner to the period, giving them everything they need except the metal and the dice (D6's - thanks for asking). To the more experienced, they are still worth a look, and even if you don't find anything you can use, well you can't complain about the price. (Readers should be aware that the RNLI and the National Deaf Children's Society benefited from the sale of this book - charities may vary according to the giver) Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 142 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com