freewargamesrules blog

Last night myself and Garry playtested the new Crusader Rank and File rules.

The following battle report discusses the rules and 20mm ACW game we ran. For ease of learning the rules each side had the following troops:

2 x Generals
2 x Medium Smoothbore Artillery batteries
2 x Average Cavalry
1 x Veteran Infantry
1 x Raw Infantry
4 x Average Infantry

All infantry armed with smoothbore muskets.

The initial deployments are shown below I was The Rebs and Garry was the Yankies.

The turn sequence is Charge Phase, Rally Phase, Initiative, 1st Side Move, 2nd Side Move, All Firing, Morale, Melee, End Turn.

I won initiative on the 1st turn. The movement rules allow you to move a unit double distance providing you don’t start or end within 12 inches of the enemy. The unit may not change formation nor fire.

I pushed both cavalry units down the flanks.

Garry moved up his cavalry on his flanks. We were now a charge distance apart. On the next turn both Cavalry units charged each other on the flanks. Meanwhile in the middle I pushed the troops up to defend the wall by making a double move to take it.

On the left the infantry also defended the wall.

The two cavalry melees were a 50-50 chance for both sides as all units were in the same formation, they were in the same ranks and of the same quality.

The cavalry on the right flank took 2 hits to Garry’s one so I lost the melee, became unsteady and retired 13”. I too lost the melee on the left flank and retired unsteady on the left. More of concern was that Garry was still within charging distance of both his victorious units….

…more soon

I have just been sent a set of Convention WW2 rules that were used in Nashcon 2009. These look interesting and are ideal for Club games.

Our Nashcon 2009 game is a tactical encounter during the might-have been German invasion of Great Britain. The Germans believe that seizing selected airfields coupled with random troops landings will force general panic and compel a British surrender.

The battlefield is a 6 X 12 foot table with 28mm troops. Each player commands a company

You can download them here

Like Blue Oyster Cult (of Don’t Fear the Reaper Fame) and like Warhammer. Then combine them together:

What happens when you combine hard-rock with the madness and fury of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning? We found out when Eric Bloom (well-known gamer and Level 40 Sorc on Ironfist server!) and Richie Castellano - WAR fanatics and members of the legendary rock band Blue Öyster Cult - dropped in to tour Mythic headquarters and then headed into the recording studio with the Mythic crew to lay down a track dedicated to the Dwarf Slayer!

The resulting song - “Kiss My Axe (While I Drink My Beer)!” - is available for the first time here, to celebrate the launch of the oath-sworn Dwarf Slayer! So slather your Mohawks with pig fat, crank up your speakers and enjoy!

Download here

The other day I purchased the Warcosm from Precis Intermedia. They are only $6 as a PDF download.

Steve Holland and I played the two starter scenarios that came with them, we found they played very well. Quick and bloody.

Each side rolls a dice and the lowest roll moves one of his ships first then the other player moves a ship and players alternate moving ships. When all movement is done the player with the highest initiative then shoots with one of his ships first. Players alternate shooting until done.

Each ship is represented by 4 lines of stats that show the shields, plate armour and hull (called frame). Drives: hyperdrive, tactical and manoeuvre. The third line shows subsystems (e.g. Point Defence Systems etc) and the fourth line are the weapons.

Shooting mechanism is by use of rolling a target number on a D10 depending on the range of the target and the weapon used. If hit the target may roll to see if the shields etc absorb the hit or they go through. Some weapons ignore shields and are applied to the frame.

The rules have 4 scenarios with plenty of ships to get you started and a ship construction section. These rules are definitely are going to be become my rules of choice. They remind me of the old Starfire rules before they over complicated them.

I have written an excel spreadsheet to help calculate the construction of ships.Download Spreadsheet

A new version of F.A.D. has been released. Whats new:

Campaign rules
Scenario system that factors in your army’s stance, aggression and the importance of pre battle scouting

Points cost formula
An intriguing “force priority” system to generate random forces. Pick your parameters and the system will generate a force that matches those choices.

Opportunity fire to control and deny ground
A number of new traits to further customize your units

Rules for demolitions and psionics
A task system suitable for any non-combat actions like hacking, repairing and negotiating.

Vehicle morale
Vehicles further have been reorganized and integrated into the main rules

Hidden movement, scouting, and minefields and much more.

Mark from Crusader Publishing has announced on several forums the imminent release of his new Horse and Musket rules called Rank and File.

Rank and File are a set of horse and musket rules that cover the period from 1740 through to 1900. The basic game mechanics are designed to be simple and easy to learn with the aim of being able to play large games within a reasonable time frame

I already have the Crusader rules, which I really like and they are very well presented. This looks like they will follow the same quality.

They are being released in the next few weeks in both hard copy and PDF format. Definitely will purchase these.

Just seen an announcement from Ed at Two Hour Wargames that he is releasing an update to Chain Reaction 2.

And now we’re giving you Chain Reaction 3.0.

That’s right, ‘giving you’ as in it’s free. All the latest mechanics currently used by our regular games, like 5150, All Things Zombie, and the rest.

Due to be released next week. I’m looking forward to this one.

***Update***
They are now available Download