I've picked up quite a few FLINTLOQUE figures at the past two conventions. These are Napoleonic figures sculpted in superb detail, a little over 30mm tall, based on Captain Sharp's adventures in the Peninsula. What is truly unique about the FLINTLOQUE figures is that despite the correctness of the uniforms, the figures themselves are dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, etc., in other words, a fantasy Napoleonic line.
FLINTLOQUE figures are not cheap... about $7 for a small packet of two cavalrymen, and the same price for three or four infantrymen, depending upon the particular figure.
FLINTLOQUE is thus pushing its line for skirmish gaming, and it is selling its own skirmish rules. I haven't played the rules, but a quick perusal of the system indicates:
- a. Each man must be tracked on his own data sheet. Records are kept of his wounds (3 wounds kill a dwarf, 2 kill an elf, etc.) and whether or not his musket is loaded.
b. No scale is given. Movement and firing distances are given in centimeters. A musket reaches out to 40cm (15 inches, where it has a 10 percent chance of hitting). At close range... under 5cm (2 inches)... the chance of hitting the target is 70 percent.
c. The sequence of move, fire, combat, etc., is laid out, but there's no indication if the phases are alternate or simultaneous.
I decided to somewhat "up the scale" of the game... and instead of tracking each individual man, I grouped the men in squads of three, and it's the squad's parameters that are recorded. I've found that a squad of three is quite fluid and 'malleable' for all eras of skirmish gaming, be it ancients, medieval, WW II, or fantasy Napoleonics.
Each squad's data sheet looks at 3 parameters:
- a. 18 'hit boxes' which must be crossed out before the squad is removed from the battle. I realize that 18 hits would seem quite a lot, giving the squad too long a longevity, but hits come in 2's and 4's, and the boxes accumulate rapidly.
b. A morale factor which starts at 85 percent and decreases as the unit takes hits.
c. A combat factor for each man, which decreases as the squad accumulates its hits.
First Encounter
The first encounter occurred at Fulgar's Farm... it took place between four squads of beastie boys and two squads of normal-looking troops, the Alteans. Altean squads 1 and 2 were ordered to hold the farm... unfortunately, odds of 2-to-1 proved too much for them, and they fell back.
One Altean squad, the 1st, proved extremely difficult to beat back... they were stationed in the farm proper, and despite being under continuous fire, and being charged several times by the bad guys, they held out until the last minute. Each time a squad is fired upon, it loses anywhere from 1 to 4 boxes... but it always loses at least 1 box. Which means that Altean squad #1, despite taking it on the chin for about 5 bounds, wouldn't vacate the farmhouse.
When a squad fires, each man contributes 25 Firing Points (FP). Adding up the FP of the squad gives the total probability of hit (POH).
This POH is used as the reference for a percentage dice roll...
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Target crosses out 1 box | |
| POH | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Target crosses out 2 boxes, Target takes a morale test | |
| 1/2 POH | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Target crosses out 4 boxes, Target takes a morale test, Target loses 1 man to the Rally Zone. | |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Note that a toss below half the POH results in hard times for the targeted squad. Thus, on the above chart, when an enemy squad fired on Altean #1, we went through the following procedure:
- a. First, the three bad guys that fired would normally contribute 25 FP each
b. Second, since the Alteans were in cover (the farmhouse), we reduced the FP per man to 20 FP each.
c. This gave a total POH of 60 percent.
d. Dice were tossed, and if, say, the resulting roll was 23, which is below half the POH, then the Alteans would cross out 4 boxes, 1 man would be temporarily removed to the Rally Zone, and the Altean squad would take a morale test.
Combat between squads runs along the same lines as that described above... first there's a casualty-producing phase, and second, the surviving men, S, in the squad, and the number of enemy casualties, C, are combined to determine which unit falls back.
I fought the first skirmish in solo fashion, and determined that the Altean squads couldn't hold out after six bounds. End of battle... about 1 1/2 hours game time at table side. A bound was defined as a run-through of a number of cards called the sequence deck, which determined the side that moved and the number of actions it had. The deck was invaluable for conducting a solo game, for it took out of my hands many of the decisions concerning which side did what to whom.
There were 7 cards in the sequence deck:
- 1. Side A's squads have 2 actions
2. Side B's squads have 2 actions
3. Side A's squads have 3 actions
4. Side B's squads have 3 actions
5. Each side may target enemy officers, and Each side designates one opposing squad to test morale.
6. Cavalry of both sides move.
7. 1 squad on each side fires hastily, and End of action phase
When one squad contacted an enemy unit, the cards were still drawn, and the opposing squads still fired, or moved, or whatever, until the "End of action phase" card appeared. At that time, all combat was resolved.
The complete sequence for a bound consisted of 5 phases in all
- 1. Dice for the active side, Side A
2. All of Side A's units get a move of 5 inches.
3. Draw cards from the sequence deck until the "End" card shows up.
4. Resolve melee
5. Rally phase
Note that following combat resolution, there was a rally phase for both sides. Men that had been placed in the Rally Zone due to the firing and combat procedures diced to see if they would reappear on the field. Each had a 50 percent chance of doing so. Failure meant that they remained in the Rally Zone, depriving their squads of their services.
Also note that individual figures were never "killed"... it was only complete squads that were permanently removed from the battle, and only after their entire allotment of boxes had been crossed out.
Now that the Alteans had been driven out of Fulgar's Farm, it was time for their counterattack. This next battle pitted 6 squads of bad guys versus 8 squads of Alteans as the Alteans came on with a vengeance.
Two of the bad guys squads were turn-coats... I didn't have enough beasties to assemble a total of 6 squads, and so I appointed 2 of the regular squads to fight for the enemy. Somehow, the Alteans sensed this, and they focused on, and banged the whatchamacallit out of these traitors.
I should note that I had two types of bad guys. One was a sort of uniformed, musket-bearing, zombie-like creature, not defined in the FLINTLOQUE handbook. The other, also in proper uniform, was a fat froggy-like creature, also bearing a musket. I didn't care at all for the zombies... but I kinda liked the froggies.
Alas, but the froggies were not fighters. They failed too many morale tests. And each time a squad failed a morale test, the opposition, here, the Alteans, received 10 "anti-officer" sniping points. In the above listing of sequence cards, Card # 5 states that each side may target enemy officers. It's on this card that the sides may use their "anti-officer" sniping points.
They simply total their points, point at an enemy officer, roll percentage dice, and BANG!, if the toss is lower than the total, the officer keels over. Unfortunately for the froggies, they permitted the Alteans far too many sniping points.
Now for look at a typical squad data sheet:
The very top line, the F's and the L's, stand for Fire and Load. Note that it takes 2 actions for a squad to reload its weapons.
The rules for crossing out boxes are:
- With 1 hit, cross out a box on the lowest tier
With 2 hits, cross out 1 box on the lowest tier, and 1 box on the next highest tier
With 4 hits, cross out 2 boxes on the lowest tier, and 2 boxes on the next highest tier.
Next, there are a number of morale levels listed, running from a high of 85 to a low of 60. The level, i.e., the number, to be used is the highest number not completely surrounded by crossed out boxes. For example, if a squad has been blasted with 2 consecutive 4-hit volleys, there would be 4 boxes crossed out on the lowest tier, and 4 on the next highest tier:
The highest morale level not completely surrounded by crossed-out boxes is 75... and that's the squad's current morale level.
Last, on the data sheet, a CV number is listed on the right side. This is the per-man combat value of the men in the squad. Thus a full 3-man squad, with no hits on it, would have a total combat value of 60 points. If one man was in the Rally Zone, there'd only be 2 men left and the combat value of the squad would be 40 points.
I used one other deck of cards to help out... a 'pre-melee' action deck. For each melee, I drew from this 9-card deck, and the units acted accordingly:
- 1. All defending squads fire hastily
2. All attacking squads fire hastily
3. 1 defending squad fires hastily
4. 1 attacking squad fires hastily
5. 1 defending squad takes a morale test
6. 1 attacking squad takes a morale test
7. Defending squad calls upon 1 friendly squad, within 5 inches, to assist.
8. Attacking squad calls upon 1 friendly squad, within 5 inches, to assist
9. Resolve melee
For each melee, I drew cards from the deck and the squads acted accordingly... a support unit might move up, the squads might fire, etc., until the "Resolve" card appeared.
The second battle at Fulgar's Farm went smoothly for the Alteans... many melees won, many 4-hit blasts at the enemy in the firing phases, many anti-officer sniping points. Vengeance was theirs.
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© Copyright 1998 Wally Simon
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