Fields of Honor (FoH) is a rules set that I think has been unjustly (and unwisely) overlooked by Civil War gamers, probably because the cover sports a full-color painting of British soldiers at Isandlwana. Although it was published in 1994, it wasn't until Historicon 96 that I discovered just how much fun it was, playing in a marvelous Boxer Rebellion scenario. I since have used it for several Civil War engagements.

Published by Chameleon Eclectic Entertainment (better known for their role-playing and collectable cards), FoH covers the entire age of rifles from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to World War I. The goal of author Shane Lacy Hensley was to write a rules set that shows the evolution of warfare during this period. I think he succeeded.

Scale

Of course, others have written rules sets that cover the same period. What makes FoH unique is its sliding scale. With this same set of rules, you can fight both the entire battle of Gettysburg at the brigade level (1:132), and zoom down to the individual level (1:1) to fight just a small part of the battle. I am convinced, though, that it does not work as well at these extremes as it does in the mid-range scales: Company (1:8), Battalion (1:33) and Regiment (1:66). I think that the weapons ranges and movement in these scales are much more playable.

Regardless of the scale, the basing of the troops is the same: 3 infantry or 2 cavalry on a 1" wide by 3/4" deep base. This is especially nice for me, since my troops are based for Fire and Fury, and this allows me to play smaller actions without rebasing for some other rules set.

Troops in the game are assigned ratings of A (elite) to E (poor training or equipment) in each of three categories: morale, fire and melee. This allows the gamer to develop the personalities of individual units. The personalities of the individual commanders also come into play. FoH lists seventeen different personalicy types (such as bloodthirsty, brash, cautious, timid, stalwart) and defines the effects of those personalities on play. Between these two, the game can truly capture the flavor of particular battles.

The sequence of play is fairly typical for a miniatures game: charge movement, regular movement, fire, melee and morale checks. Each phase is resolved by both sides before the next phase begins.

Charges in the game are fairly difficult to complete. A unit driving at the enemy's front usually will be subjected to so much "opportunity fire," that it will falter and fall back before completing its movement. More likely, lines of soldiers will creep forward in the movement phase, until they are blasting away at each other in a deadly short-range firefight. This is consistent with most of the reading I've done on the period. More importantly, it feels right.

For movement, the side with the initiative will roll 1d6 this indicates the number of units that may be moved. Then these are moved, the other side rolls ld6 and moves. This continues until all units on the board have moved once. The nice thing about this is that, when combined with the simultaneous fire, it creates some of the feel of simultaneous movement games like Johnny Reb, but avoids the gaming cheesiness that some are inclined to.

Fire Combat

Fire combat also deserves some further discussion, especially since the rules as written can be confusing. First, the attacking player will roll a number of six-sided dice, depending upon the type of gun, or the number of stands in the firing unit. Each die that equals or exceeds the accuracy number indicates a possible hit. The accuracy number depends upon range (short -2, medium -3, long-4 and extreme -5). Modifiers also are applied for improved rifles, and such.

Each die that indicates a possible hit then is picked up and rerolled. The pips on the dice are totaled and compared to a kill number. For each multiple of the KN, a hit has been inflicted on the enemy. The base KN is 5 (modified for cover, quality of troops firing, formation of target, flank shots and so on). So, if the attacker rolled a total of 24, and the final KN was 6, a total of 4 hits were inflicted. Markers indicating this would be put near the unit. Melee is resolved in a similar fashion.

At the end of each turn, morale checks must be made by any unit that suffered casualties during the turn. Morale is resolved with the roll of two six-sided dice against a base number of 5. For units failing their morale check, the results depend upon how badly they missed.

Casualties are removed at the end of the morale phase. Half of the hits scored during the turn become casualties. The other half go away. For each three casualties, one stand is removed.

This is a nice mechanism. As the author explained it at Historicon, the shock of taking fire would create many effective casualties that had not actually been hit. After a time, those would recover from the shock, pick themselves up and return to action. However, during the time that they were reeling, they would have an effect on the morale of the unit

Calamity and Fortune

Another thing that makes this game so much fun is the calamity and fortune tables. Whenever the morale roll results in a 2 (calamity) or a 12 (fortune), a check is made on these tables. The results range from the troops are inspired by a speech made by their commander, to panic caused by smoke and confusion on the battlefield. Other results may award victory points tO one side or the other.

The game also includes rules (some are optional) for advanced command and control, playing with pre-written orders, speculative fire, bombardments, surrender and prisoners. A point system is offered for creating competitive games. Army lists are provided for many conflicts, which include the Civil War. Other conflicts besides those mentioned are also covered.

Fields of Honor has 112 perfect-bound 8 x 11-inch pages in a glossy cover (featuring the aforementioned British soldiers.) Production quality is high, and the text is readable. The only glitch is the errata (included below). I highly recommend these rules.

Fields of Honor is available for $25 from any store that deals with the major distributors. (Chessex, Greenfield, Wargames West, Armory). It's listed under Chameleon Eclectic Entertainment in the Games Quarterly Catalog.

The following is a list of errata posted on the Chameleon Eclectic WWW site. Some are important and may affect play. Most are just annoying.

ERRATA CONTENTS:

• Rules Errata
• Army List Errata
• Notes on Section Scale
• Notes of Fighting with Points
• Notes on Mixed Brigades at Brigade Scale

Real-life Calamity

Last year, as we were backing up the final version of Fields of Honor prior to sending it off to the printer, a bizarre hardware malfunction struck our computer. It corrupted both the main copy and the backup, and when we went to retrieve older back-ups, we found them corrupted as well. When we finally assessed all the damage, we found that the complete text and layout of Appendix A and certain sections of other chapters were destroyed beyond retrieval and this was less than forty-eight hours before our deadline!

Chameleon Eclectic and Pinnacle staff worked around the clock to repair the damage and meet the printing date, but in the rush it seems we missed a few things. Here, then, is the errata for Fields of Honor. This should fix what we missed in Appendix A, as well as a few other mistakes that were simply overlooked. We at Chameleon Eclectic apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and hope it will not detract from your enjoyment of these rules. Other problems: e-mail us at cee@bev.net.

2 Playtesters: Thomas Jenkins' name should be added to the list.

17: Fire and retire: A unit that is caught while attempting to retire is considered routing from that point on.

22 Horse Holders: In the example for horse holders, General Reno should have been Major Reno, not important but very embarrassing. More imporrant is that the example is wrong. It should read: A US cavalry troop is made up of 3 stands (6 figures), so Reno loses 1 figure to horseholders when dismounted. This would convert to 2 infantry stands (6 figures) with one casualty.

34 Melee: Shaken caught in melee may fight back at +2 to their KN.

35 Pursuit: A group pursued to 75% casualties is eliminated and cannot return.

38 Rallying: A unit may attempt to rally from Suppressed status if it has moved, the check is simply automatic 1t lt does not.

45 Mid-Level Commanders: Mid-level commanders lend a morale bonus to troops in command range. The overall commander may continue to add his bonus as well.

54 Visibility: It is unclear in the rules as to whether or not a leader stand can spot the enemy if not attached to a unit. It was intended that they could not, since they cannot normally be shot unless in range of snipers. If you wish to change this, it is suggested that you allow artillery to snipe as well. Leonidas Polk was killed in this way during the American Civil War.

59 Fight On: A unit that receives a Fight On result is considered Shaken and fights at +2 to the KN.

Army List Errata

69 Model B: French Brigades in the Franco-Prussian War only should really have 2.5 stands per Battalion. If you aren't comfortable with such large brigades, divide them into regiments of 3 battalions each, instead.

70 Point Table: Engineers cost +2 points. Melee weapons other than lances are always free.

74 Mexican-American War: American regulars with Winchesters cost 31, riflemen cost 35. Mexican riflemen cost 25.

75 Crimean War: French chasseurs cost 31 points. British engineers cost 29.

77 Franco-Austrian War: French guard cuirassiers cost 22.

79 Austro-Prussian War: Prussian line troops cost 35 points. Grenadiers cost 37. Landwehr cost 29. Grenadier guards cost 41, guard landwehr cost 33. Cuirassiers cost 20 points, hussars cost 14, uhlans cost 16, dragoons cost 25, and landwehr cavalry costs 12.

80 Civil War: All Civil War cavalry can skirmish and dismount. The text is unclear on the composition of Civil War artillery. It should read: Both sides must spend half of their artillery points on 6 and 12 pound SBs at regimental or brigade scale. The rest may be spent as desired. Also, both armies also may buy 6 lb. SB Horse.

81 Abysinnian Campaign: Dragoons cost 29, lancers cost 16.

83 Franco-Prussian War: French regular hussars cost 29, guard guides cost 33, chasseurs d'Afrique cost 29.

84 Plains Indian Wars: U.S. rifles cost 31, U.S. cavalry with Winchester carbines cost 29. Mounties csot 27. Cheyenne archers cost 13. Sioux with rifled muskets cost 29. Lancers have lances and rifled muskets.

85 Russo-Turkish War: Russian regular grenadiers with Berdans cost 35, engineers cost 31. Bulgarian Legion costs 25. Allied Kalarashi cavalry costs 10. Turkish rifles cost 31, and irregular cavalry may not skirmish.

87 Zulu War: Lancers cost 18, Natal Mounted Police cost 33. British can buy Natal Native Contingent for 4 points, and they are E/-/D and may fire as Zulus. All Zulus are mobs.

88 First Boer War: British have artillerists as per 2nd Afghan War, 9 lb. RML, and Gatlings. They may buy 20% artillery.

89 Sudan: Beja cost 19 Irregular cavalry cost 12 and have lances as weapons. 90 Second Boer War: Hussars cost 33.

91 Sudan: Allied irregular cavalry cost 16, Beja cost 19. 92 Boxer Rebellion: Chinese line cavalry is 14.

NOTES ON SECTION SCALE

Some players have been confused by the enormous ranges listed for weapons at section scale, where every inch is equal to only two meters. The general theory at this level is that if you can see it, you can shoot it. The ranges listed are historical ranges for 1:1 scale. Very rarely should you even look at the weapon charts, since practically everything is in close range. If you are used to a more traditional scale game, but like the feel of 1 figure equals 1 man, use the company scale ranges instead. This should put things back into a more traditional wargamer's perspective.

Also, an optional set of rules concerning officers at section level was deleted for space considerations. When playing at 1:1 scale, an officer stand becomes a troop stand with morale, fire, and melee QRs of A. Officer stands are usually equipped with pistols that have half the range of a carbine of the appropriate era. They can be shot as and other stand and may take three casualties before being eliminated, and are then worth the appropriate VPs.

NOTES ON FIGHTING WITH POINTS

When creating an army with points, it is entirely possible for one player to spend all of his infantry or cavalry points on a relatively rare troop type, such as highlanders or engineers. We didn't want to put percentages with every troop cype for the simple reason that, at section or company scale, it is quite possible to have an entire group of such rare troops. The defense of Rourke's Drift, for example, was carried out by nearly 100% engineers. At battalion through brigade scale, this can cause things to be fairly unhistorical, so we suggest the following optional rule:

At battalion, regimental, or brigade scale, at least 50% of an army's infantry and cavalry points must be spent on line units.

Some armies will need to interpret this rule differendy. For instance, British armies frequently consist of far more Sepoy levies than line units. Use your best judgment. If you really want to create unrealistic armies (such as 100,000 highlanders), it's your game.

NOTES ON MIXED BRIGADES AT BRIGADE SCALE

If you create a brigade of mixed types at the brigade scale, that brigade then has the average statistics of those units that compose it. If a particular group later detaches, it regains its own statistics.

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