"Lexington and Concord" is George Knapp's popular convention game. While essentially a board game, with the addition of miniatures and scenery, it has striking visual appeal. It is also easily converted for solo play. We have displayed the rules in plain text and have added notes in italics which discuss adapting the rules for solo play. The solo player directs the British while the colonial militia are "automated." 1. Introduction This is a simple simulation of the historic events that occurred on April 18 and 19, 1775 - the first days of the American Revolution. Although simple, this game is not simpleminded. I hope that you will find it challenging and historically informative. I hope you have fun playing the game - as much fun as I had creating it. 2. Game Design. The map shows the area between Boston in the east to just beyond Concord in the west. Boxes connected by roads represent villages, towns and geographical areas. The movement cost between boxes roughly represents mileage. Game pieces include the following. 24 British infantry figures representing 69 companies of redcoats. One British cannon with two gunners representing two guns and crew. Two mounted provincial figures representing Paul Revere and William Dawes. 31 American infantry figures representing approximately 80 companies of provincial militia. 15 cards representing supplies hidden in the area. Five of the 15 cards are blank. One card representing John Hancock and Sam Adams. Players must provide sufficient six-sided dice. Recommend 10 to 20. 3. Winning the game. Players accumulate points during the game. The side with the most points at the end wins. The other side must immediately demand a rematch or slink away in disgrace. 4. Setup the game. Place all British troops in Boston. Place Paul Revere and William Dawes in Boston. Place all the provincial militia in a group out of play at the western end of the map where they remain until alerted. The American player selects and places one card face down in each box except Boston and Charlestown. Examine each card before placing. Use strategy. Make note of the exact location of the Hancock and Adams card. This will be important later in the game. SoloNote: The Hancock and Adams portion of the game is too difficult to replicate in solo play. Therefore, the solo gamer needs to modify play to maintain balance. To do so, he removes the Hancock/Adams card He adjusts the remaining cards so that there are 12 supply cards and 4 blanks. 5. The game begins with Turn 1, 10 pm April 18, and continues for a total of 14 turns ending with the 9 pm April 19 turn. Notice that the first three turns each represent one hour of real time. The remaining 11 turns each represent two hours of real time. 6. Movement. Each figure has a movement allocation of six points (roughly miles) per turn. Figures move between boxes connected by roads and must have sufficient movement points remaining to go from one box to the next. There are two exceptions. It is possible to move between Boston and Charlestown and from Boston to Cambridge by water. On Turn I only, Paul Revere moves from Boston to Charlestown by paying 1 movement point. No risk. On Turn 4 only, the British raiding force of light infantry and grenadiers may attempt to move via water from Boston to either Charlestown or Cambridge. There is risk associated with either choice. (A third choice, moving via Brookline, carries no risk.) Beginning on Turn 7, British troops may move freely between Boston and Charlestown via ferry by paying I movement point. No risk. On Turn 1, Paul Revere and William Dawes begin in Boston. Revere moves by way of Charlestown while Dawes takes the route to Brookline. Revere and Dawes must roll one die for each box that they enter. On a die roll of 1, the courier is captured by British patrols sent out especially to prevent the alarm. The British players get I point each for Revere and Dawes if captured. Solo Note: Revere takes the northern route and stops at Lexington. Dawes stays on the southern route and tries to reach Concord without being captured On Turn 4, the British raiding force of light infantry and grenadiers begins in Boston. It may move via the road to Brookline by paying 6 movement points. It may move via water across the Charles River to Cambridge and to Menotomy. There is a risk. Roll one die. On a roll of 1 or 2, the force suffers great delay and ends its turn at sea. On a roll of 3 or 4, the force suffers some delay and ends its turn in Cambridge. On a roll of 5 or 6, the force enjoys no delay and may end its turn in either Cambridge, Brookline, Menotomy, or Watertown. It may move via water across Boston harbor to Charlestown. There is a risk. Roll one die. On a die roll of I or 2, the force suffers some delay and ends its turn in Charlestown. On a roll of 3, 4, 5, or 6, the force enjoys no delay and may end its turn in either Charlestown, Medford or Cambridge. On Turn 7, the British relief force begins in Boston. It may move via the ferry across Boston harbor to Charlestown paying I movement point and continue or it may move via road to Brookline. It may not use the water route to Cambridge. British units may move freely into any box as long as they have the movement points sufficient to pay the cost. American units obey the same rule except no American units may enter Boston. The presence of enemy units in a box has no effect on movement into, through, or from that box. Optional rule: Units pay one additional movement point when leaving or passing through a box containing an enemy force of equal or greater numbers. However, units may always move one box regardless of the presence of enemy units. Some part of the British force, typically the raiding force, must move into the Concord box at some time during the game before returning to Boston. If not, then the American player receives 10 victory points. The British reserve may freely move between Boston and Charlestown in the normal course of the game. It may not move beyond. All British units must end the game in either the Boston or Charlestown boxes. Americans receive one point for each British figure that is not in either Boston or Charlestown at the end of the game. The British artillery unit counts two points. American units move after all British units move. This gives the British the initiative advantage in each turn and gives the Americans the option to accept or decline battle. 7. Capturing Supplies. British units may "capture" supplies by searching - paying one additional movement point in each box that contains a supply card. It is optional. Roll one die. On a roll of 1, the search fails and the card remains face down. On a roll of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, the search succeeds and the British players examines and places the card inside the Boston box. The British players receive one point for each supply card that they capture. No points for blank cards. 8. Sam Adams and John Hancock. If Paul Revere or William Dawes successfully enter the box containing the Hancock and Adams card, then the British can not capture Hancock and Adams. Leave the card in place until British units pay the cost to capture. If warned by Revere or Dawes, then remove the Hancock and Adams card from play after the British pay the cost to capture. If unwarned, then the British capture Hancock and Adams after paying the cost and making the die roll. The British players get five points for capturing Hancock and Adams. Americans get no points for Hancock and Adams whether they are captured or not. 9. Combat. Battle takes place after American movement and can only take place in boxes that contain both American and British units. Battle is totally optional for both sides. Battles follow this sequence. British units that wish to fire and have ammunition roll one die. Infantry hits on a roll of 6. Artillery hits on a roll of 5 or 6. British receive one point for each hit. Mark each unit that gets a hit "out of ammo" for the rest of the game. Note that the British cannon has two crew. It goes out of ammo for the rest of the game after inflicting two hits. American units that wish to fire roll one die and get hits on a roll of 6. Americans get one point for each hit. American units never run out of ammo. Note that all figures remain on the table for the duration of the game. Figures do not get "killed". You keep a record of hits for victory points. Figures marked "out of ammo" continue to move normally. They just can't shoot anymore. 10. Alerting the Provincial Militia. There are three ways to alert the militia. (Important note: The militia alert phase comes at the end of the turn so that newly alerted militia can not move or fight on the same turn that they alert.) If Paul Revere or William Dawes successfully enter a militia box, then the militia unit for that box is alerted and placed on the map in the militia alert phase of the turn. If British units enter a militia box, then that militia alerts automatically in the militia alert phase of that turn. Beginning with Turn 7, the 7 a.m. turn on April 19, the American player begins rolling for the unalerted provincial militia. Roll one die for each unalerted unit. On Turn 7, the militia unit alerts on a roll of 6. On Turn 8, units alert on a roll of 5 or 6. Turn 9 alert on 4, 5, or 6 and so forth until all units are alerted. All unalerted militia units automatically alert on Turn 12. Alerted militia units may not move on the turn that they alert, but may move normally beginning the next turn. Solo Note: It is fairly easy to maneuver the colonial militia. The solo player wants to mass the colonials on the British units, firing as much as possible. Remember that the militia can score victory points by scoring hits on the British. This means the militia should be moved toward the nearest British unit and moved directly into the box with them. The British will fire first but whereas a British figure runs out of ammo as soon as it hits a colonial, the militia never run out of ammo. If you have ten militiamen in a box with six British, the militiamen will fire ten times every turn while the British start by firing six but the number officers decreases every time the British score a hit. Game Turn Schedule Turn Time Event 1 10 pm April 18 Revere and Dawes begin at Boston. Check for capture every box. Alert towns unless captured.* 2 11 pm Continue Revere and Dawes.* 3 12 Midnight Continue Revere and Dawes.* 4 1 am April 19 Continue Revere and Dawes. British raiding force leaves Boston.* 5 3 am Continue Revere and Dawes.* 6 5 am Continue Revere and Dawes. Remove both at the end of this turn.* 7 7 am Daylight Relief Force leaves Boston. Begin alert procedure for all unalerted militia towns (die roll 6). 8 9 am Continue alert procedure (die roll 5-6). 9 11 am Continue alert procedure (die roll 4-6). 10 1 pm Continue alert procedure (die roll 3-6). 11 3pm Continue alert procedure (die roll 2-6). 12 5 pm Alert all non-alerted militia towns. 13 7 pm - 14 9 pm Darkness All British must be in Charlestown or Boston.* * Night Turn. No searching or combat allowed. Militia Alert Schedule Militia Town Troops Arrive At 1 Acton South Bridge 2 Bedford Great Meadows 3 Beverly Medford 4 Billerica Great Meadows 5 Brookline Brookline 6 Cambridge Cambridge 7 Chelmsford Great Meadows 8 Concord Concord 9 Danvers Medford 10 Dedham Watertown 11 Dracot Great Meadows 12 Framingham Waltham 13 Lexington Lexington 14 Lincoln Lincoln 15 Lynn Medford 16 Maiden Medford 17 Medford Medford 18 Menotomy Menotomy 19 Needham Watertown 20 Newton Watertown 21 Norfork Medford 22 Reading Woburn 23 Roxbury Brookline 24 Salem Medford 25 Stow Barrett's Farm 26 Sudbury Lincoln 26 Waltham Waltham 28 Watertown Watertown 29 Wilmington Great Meadows 30 Westford Barrett's Farm 31 Woburn Woburn Turn Sequence Step Action 1. Move Revere and Dawes. Check for capture each box entered. Captured on roll of "1". Record captures for victory points. 2. Move all British units. Check to capture "supplies". Record captures for victory points. 3. Move all American units. 4. Combat. Mark "out of ammo" as needed. Record hits for victory points. Place militia units alerted by Revere/Dawes or British moves. Attempt new militia alerts. Place on entry boxes as needed. British Order of Battle Turn Unit Troops 4 Boston Raiding force. Grenadier and light infantry companies. 6 infantry figures. 7 Boston Relief force. Line companies. Artillery. 12 infantry figures, 1 gun with two crew. 7 Boston Reserve. (Must remain in either Boston or Charlestown). 6 infantry figures. Point System Americans 1 point for each hit given in combat. 1 point for each British figure not in Boston or Charlestown at the end of the game. 2 points if the British artillery piece is not in Boston or Charlestown at the end of the game. 10 points if no British units enter Concord by the end of the last turn. British 1 point each for capturing Paul Revere or William Dawes. 5 points for capturing John Hancock and Sam Adams. 1 point for each supply card captured (blanks don't count). 1 point for each hit given in combat. Back to MWAN #111 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum 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