In the late 1950's and early 1960's my father, Charles A. Sweet, was in his 40's, a banker living and working in Bristol, Connecticut. He was also one of the few know historical miniatures wargamers in the United States. For example, Jack Scruby's pioneering War Game Digest had a subscription list in 1957 of fewer than 50 people, one of whom was my father. Although my father had had a set of medieval wargame rules published in the War Game Digest, in the late 1950's and early 1960's his favorite wargame was a 30mm American Revolution Game. His normal opponents were his brother (my uncle) Robert Sweet and, eventually, myself (who was brought up by my father as a wargamer).

My father had painted up both armies -- slightly over 100 figures a side. His painting sourccs were basically Leffert's Uniforms of the American Revolution and some sets of uniform cards from Fort Ticonderoga, New York. My father had, with the help of correspondence from Jack Scruby, taught himself to make his own molds and cast his own figures. The American Revolution infantry were almost all home cast figures. The cavalry had a few home cast, but were largely conversions (from, as I recall, figures such as the SAE Cowboys and Canadian Mounties).

My father was almost always the Americans (Continentals, with some French), his opponent the British (including Hessians and Loyalists/Tories). We played on a painted masonite board that was about 8 feet by 4 feet, permanently grided into 6-inch squares, and built to fit on top of a pool table in the family cellar. The terrain included cardboard roads and rivers, and trees and buildings either adapted from railroad terrain or scratch-built (my father had also written about that for the War Game Digest). The period atmosphere was improved by a record player that was fixed up to pipe in military music during games.

The American Revolution rules were a set of house rules, fairly simple, sometimes changing. I have included a printed version from about 1969 at the end of the article, with some added notes. The rules generally gave a good game. Also, they were designed so that a game could be set up, played, and put away, all in a single night or (weekend) afternoon, which was usually all my father then had available at a time.

While in college at Washington and Lee, my father had been on a conference championship football team. A Sports Illustrated writer contacted him to do one of those 'where-are-they-now' type stories. However, as my father tells it, when the writer came up to do an interview, the writer saw our study with some figures, then my father showed him the cellar with more soldiers, castles, etc. So the writer (apparently) sold his bosses on a new story idea on wargaming and came back.

The result was an article in a January 1965 issue of Sports Illustrated with title to the effect that a little war can be a lot of fun. This article featured a wargame between my father and my uncle, had some photographs, and generally treated wargaming respectfully. Some time later, a CBS television new crew came to the house. The result ran as about a 10-minute national piece on Walter Cronkite, slightly shorter on Mike Wallace (this was before the "60 Minutes" show). It took hours to shoot the minutes of footage used. The rules used model firing guns for artillery fire (see below). My father made a near perfect shot into the middle of my uncle's model troops. A CBS crewman who wanted another camera shot then said, "Fine, do it again."

My father indicated that as a result of the magazine and TV publicity, he received a stack of letters about two feet high. He had a mimeographed answer run off -- no photocopies in those days -- and tried to add a personal note to the end of each one, such as "Good luck with the [X] regiment" or "The information you want can only be found in Leffert's..." According to my father, 98% of the letters are the same thing, to the effect that "I was always interested in toy soldiers, but was afraid to tell anyone. You brought it out into the open."

However, there were apparently some direct "converts." Robert Jones, in a July 1966 article in Table Top Talk, said that when the Sports Illustrated article came out, he was hooked.

My father continued to wargame and was, among other things, one of the founders of the Society of Ancients (publishers of Slingshot). My father has since retired and lives in Florida, but he still wargames.

Sweet Rules for a 30mm American Revolution Wargame, about 1969

By Charles Sweet

Sequence of Play 1) Combat sequence:

a) Move
b) Fire guns and mortars
c) Throw grenades
d) Light infantry fire rifles
e) Fire muskets and pistols
f) Fight melee

3) No troops may fire grenades, muskets, rifles, or pistols in, into, or out of a melee circle. Guns and mortars caught in melee, if properly served, may fire.

4) Artillery fire:

a) Guns--Require 4 men to move. May either move 1 OR fire. Four men (2 at trail) required to firer if with 2 artillerymen (1 at trail), full effect; if with 1 at trail, half effect; if no artillerymen, cannot fire. - To fire, remove scale gun and replace with working model. Fire using "Q-tips." Place center of burst circle over tip of Q-tip at its last position. Those stands that are within or are touched by the edge of the burst circle are killed. - To destroy special targets, such as houses, bridges, or guns, first designate, then hit, then roll 5 or 6. If successful, 2 men by house, on bridge, at trail, etc. are destroyed along with target.
b) Mortars--require 2 men at trail to move. May move 1 AND fire. Requires 2 foot soldiers at trail to fire. Cannot destroy special targets. Fire as with gun using mortar burst circle.

5) Grenade fire: Roll 1 die. Resulting number within burst circle are killed.

6) Rifle fire (light infantry): May pick target. Must fire singly. Roll 1 die per man firing; a 5 or 6 kills.

7) Pistol fire (cavalry, commanders): Must fire at closest enemy. Must fire singly. Roll 1 die per man firing; a 5 or 6 kills.

8) Musket fire (artilleryman, line infantry): May fire singly or in volleys. To be considered a volley, group must be placed stand to stand. Must fire at closest enemy. Roll 2 dice for each man if firing singly or 2 dice per volley. Kill according to Musket Firing Table.

9) For every full 6 men in a regiment of line infantry add 1 to dice roll.

10) If men are behind a breastwork (so designated before game) or on a hill, subtract 1 from each roll of men firing on them and add 1 to each of their rolls, except for grenades, which do not change.

11) If artillerymen or line infantry roll a 2, 3, or 4 or if grenadiers, light infantry, cavalry commanders, or a gun firing at a special target roll a 1, then a chance card is drawn and its directions followed immediately.

12) Melees: To cause a melee, move any soldier within 1" of an enemy soldier and state "I declare a melee." Place a center of melee circle over the head of the initiator. All those whose stand lies within or is touched by the outer edge of the circle are engaged. Total up values and draw MDI's:

a) if deployments similar, inferior force loses the amount by which it is inferior, then troops are killed on an equal combat value basis;
b) if deployments dissimilar, superior deployment adds 50% to value, the proceed with destruction as above.

13 ) All ranges are measured from stand to stand.

Musketry Firing Table
Number Firing	Number killed if dice roll is:
	2,3,4,5	6,7,8	9,10	11,12
1	0	0	0	1
2,3	0	0	1	1
4,5	1	1	1	2
6,7	2	2	3	3
8,9	3	3	4	4
10,11	4	4	5	5
12,13	5	6	7	7
14,15	6	7	8	9
16,17	8	8	10	11
18,19	9	10	11	12
20,21	10	11	12	13
22,23	12	13	13	14
24,25	13	14	15	15

Appendix: Ranges

1. Usual gun range is a maximum of about 40". Burst circle is 1 1/2" radius.
2. Usual mortar range is a maximum of about 18". Burst circle is 1 " radius.
3. Grenade stick is 6" long. At end, with its center the tip of the stick proper is a circle of 1 " radius.
4. Musket stick is 12 1/4" long.
5. Pistol stick is 7" long.
6. Rifle stick is 16" long.
7. Melee circle has a 6" radius.

Melee Deployment Chart; for use with MDI's (Melee Deployment Indicators)

LINE is superior to COLUMN and SQUARE.
FLANKING is superior to LINE and SQUARE.
COLUMN is superior to FLANKING and PINCERS.
PINCERS is superior to LINE and FLANKING.
SQUARE is superior to PINCERS and COLUMN.

Additional Notes to
30mm American Revolution

In retrospect, I can see how much the house rules took some things for granted. Some of this was natural. For example, the armies and the board were basically fixed, so it was not considered necessary to mention them.

For the board, see the article above. Each army normally had about 80 line infantry, 12 light infantry, 6 grenadiers, 2 (field) guns with 6 artillerymen each, 1 mortar, 15 or 20 cavalry, and 1 commander. I have not included any special sapper rules--the sappers were used in only a few special scenarios, not in a regular game. At that time, the 30mm figures were left singly on their bases. When killed," a figure was knocked over where it stood. As a game went on, this gave a rather graphic picture of where the action had been.

The terrain was setup before the game and unless in a campaign setting, generally strived for balance. Initial army setup was done by placing a large screen (another board, braced with angle brackets) across the middle of the playing board. Each player then normally set up blindly anywhere on that player's side up to, for example, the third line of squares from the back of the player's side. The screen was then removed and the game began.

Although the ruled do not note it, the combat sequence was for an alternate-move game--each player would run through the entire sequence, then the other player would move. At the start of the game, dice were rolled to see who had the first move. All of the moves on the table are given in tcrms of squares. The combat values are per figure.

Not mentioned in the rules is that a player's movement of the figures were normally timed with a kitchen timer. Each turn, a player would have 2 or 3 minutes (a set figure) to rnove as many figures as possible, but had to stop when the timer rang. This led to bunching figures and focusing on whatever spots the player thought were key. (Firing and Melee were not timed)

The musketry table was deliberately skewed to reward large volleys by line infantry (artillerymen, while included in the table, rarely fired unless they were strays for some reason, such as the destruction of their gun).

Having grenadiers throw grenades in a field battle may have been the least historical aspect of these rules. However, for game purposes, this added balance, because the grenade could be "thrown" over obstacles if the grenadier could move up close enough with the short grenade range.

In this game, light infantry preferred to riflemen (painted up by my father as Morgan's rifles and I Hesse Cassel jagers). The optional split move may be somewhat unclear, but was why light intantry were annoying and sometimes devastating. A light infantryman could start behind cover, move into the open, fire his rifle, and move back another 1 to the safety of cover (not necessarily the same place if; for example, enemy line infantry were near).

As the rules indicate, artillery fire was done with model firing guns. These were, as I recall, originally Marx plastic cannon with a cut-down spring. The Q-tips had their heads dipped in paint and allowed to dry, to create a lightweight shell that tended not to harm the models. My father still advocates the firing gun method for simulating artillery.

The mortar also used a firing model. As I recall, this was modified from what was originally a 'missile launcher" (possibly from a cereal promotion). As modified, the model had a shorter range and less accuracy than the model gun, but the advantage of arching fire, whereas the model gun was basically straight line.

Cover, such as a building or tree, prevented line-of-sight musket or rifle fire, but not grenades. Guns and mortars were blocked only in the physical sense. A player could try to bounce a shot around, but it was usually easier, especially with the model gun, to fire at a target in the open. As can be seen from the rules note on breastworks, special rules were sometimes made for special types of terrain.

The rules printed here for causing a melee, determining who was engaged, and totaling values were fairly well established at the time. However, the melee resolution method printed here represents a change in the late 1960's, under the influence of the ideas of Gerard DeGre, to the use of Melee Deployment Indicators (MDIs). Each player had a set of 6 identically backed, differently labeled MDIs (ours painted the labels on the front or "pip" sides of dominoes). To resolve a melee, each player chose an MDI and placed it face down. They were then turned over simultaneously with the results noted in the rules. This introduced some variability into the melee results, which, as I recall, had previously been more or less straight numbers based. For chance cards, see below.

Chance Cards for the
Sweet 30mm American Revolution
Wargame of the 1960's

Note by David Sweet, 1996: The "chances" below were written on home-made cards, cut from cardboard into squares of about 3 inches by 3 inches. Before the game, the "deck" would be shuffled and placed face down. The originals were not numbered--that is done here to keep track. As you can see, they were designed to be mildly bad or--more rarely--mildly good. If the player who drew the card had no one who qualified for the card's result, then nothing happened.)

1. Two Light Infantrymen discover Ebenezer Peabody's hidden still, imbibe freely, and stagger two light infantry moves to the rear.
2. Infantrymen at furthest rear who, was presumed dead, is discovered to be malingering and is returned to the battle.
3. Light Infantryman on furthest line of advance who is hiding behind tree, stops to light pipe, sets tree afire and is f'orced to move into open. (Same square)
4. It's very hot today, so your right flank artillery man falls out for a drink for one move.
5. Artilleryman on right flank gun has allowed powder to become wet and on next shot from this gun effectiveness is reduced by half.
6. Two infantrymen standing in same square with water allow priming to become wet and are unable to fire for one turn.
7. Troops have allowed priming and fuses to become damp with the result that no one is killed as a result of this roll.
8. Drunken mess cook mistakes officers' wig powder for flour. Three infantrymen incapacitated--unable to move for two turns.
9. Patriotic barmaid doctors your infantry's beer with the result that one of your second line infantry passes out for two moves.
10. Light Infantryman receives news that his wife has run off with a sailor. In his anger he is able to move a total of 3 squares instead of 2. (Move may be made in entirety even though normal moves are completed)
11. Left flank grenadier accidentally ignites grenade while lighting pipe. In spite of warning, nearest infantryman is killed.
12. Your left flank infantryman is a SPY!! He runs three moves into the opposing army, joins up with the enemy.
13. Lead Cavalryman's horse goes lame. Cavalryman reduced to infantry length moves.
14. This group has been steadily on the range so that despite the "1" that was rolled to draw this card, results are that of a "4" (or if a 2,3,4 is rolled, that of a "9").
15. Green Troops panic and fire into one another--your leading infantry officer is killed.
16. Mortarmen in haste of moving mortar forgot shot and it must be brought up from last square in which mortar was.
17. One of your grenadiers goes completely berserk and as a result for one move rushes and acts like a light infantryman but can still throw his grenade.
18. If any of your men are crossing a bridge, fording a stream, or are in or over water, the one on the left flank falls in and drowns.
19. Four infantrymen on furthest line of advance misread signals and countermarch two infantry moves to the rear.
20. Horse becomes frightened so that left flank cavalryman veers I cavalry move to the right.
21. Your leading cavalryman's horse throws a shoe and has to go back 3 infantry moves to a field forge.
22. Your man nearest the river (if there is one) finds a ford so on the next move he can cross the river if you want him to.
23. Snake bites your right flank infantryman so he needs medicine and can't be used for two moves.
24. Second furthest advanced man behind a tree bumps into a bee's nest and while fighting the bees he can't be used for your next move.

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