My Light Infantry are glued on bases in twos. As you know I favour alternate moving and firing as per H.G. Wells. One man on a base fires during A's move and the other fires during B's move. As they can fire before or after moving they can be quite effective if properly handled. At this point let me say quite frankly that you are fully entitled to blow a big raspberry at my rules if you want to. I think rules are a matter of personal choice and cater for the wishes of those who make them. So don't be afraid to tell me my ideas are no good. If I am playing with someone else concealment is no problem. A card with the points value written on top and the units designation underneath will do. If the visibility range is, say, 36, you will have cards moving up towards each other, with their points value declared but their indentity a secret. Once within eye range the cards are flipped over and the units put on the table. One can just see some of the situations & panics likely to arise then. This method can also be used to conceal reinforcements or reserves. Talking about reserves leads me on to the order of battle. The units are usually broken down into 3 units of: 1. Advance guard (2 battalions of Line Infantry supported by cavalry) 2. Main Body. 3. Reserves and dice for the time of coming onto the field. Assume the day starts 8 p.m. throw a dice - the score so many half hours after 7.30 p.m. Having fixed the time of arrival for (1) throw for (2) and (3). If an umpire is present only he can know the times of arrival 80 the generals will have to revise their strategy as they go along. A point here about my cavalry moves -- I found that fighting with someone else leads to a peculiar situation, as I have the attacker striking the first blow we were treated to the spectacle of opposing cavalry virtually shadow boxing in order to $at up the inches. If A's cavalry charge B's and end up an inch or so short he has had it! B will charge him on the next round and will strike first. Hence a reluctance on the part of the cavalry to get too close to each other -- could this be a real life situation perhaps? On meleeing, it is not point for point but man for man. I was rather vague on that point I'm afraid. I have no saving throws except in meleeing. After a round of fighting the side who moved first, if he lost more men must throw 4, 5, 6 to stand otherwise other side does on his next move. I use artillery as per 'bouncing' stick method, it is quite effective. Grapeshot: use delta front rank caught one point off, ranks behind 1 point. I have battalions of 20 men giving 4 (5 men) companies so the usual method for my French to advance is as follows: I have single rank firing only, the single company columns count as squares if attacked by cavalry. A column against a line - cancel out rank for rank, the extra ranks in the column will push back line 1" for each rank. I have no illusions about these, they suit me which is what they are supposed to do. I like a spectacle with the minimum of fuss. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 101 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1970 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com