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Wednesday 25 September 2013

My Rules - Don't Laugh  

Over the years I have developed my own rules, learning from early experiences where once battle is joined it can take an hour or more per turn to resolve combat with complex charts and tables. These rules work for me and have no tables and are on one sheet of paper. They have two things which speed things up: 1; the use of coloured measuring sticks and a set of dice for each colour on the stick,numbered with higher probability for close range and lower for long range. 2; is that morale calculations are based on % casualties with a few adjustments. Everything else is much the same as other rules but greatly simplified. Here is the measuring stick for infantry in use. The British are firing on the Russians. Eight figures firing at medium range means two orange dice marked with 0,0,0,1,1,2 (see below)









Here are the rules as set out:

Bob’s quick play Crimean rules
Rule 1 – These rules should consist of no more than one side of A4 paper.
Scale: 1 figure = 33 soldiers. 1mm = 1yard.
Equipment: small arms measuring stick (300 yds); artillery measuring stick 1000 yds
Movement

Normal Move
Charge
Skirmish
River/hill/obstacle
Infantry
100
150
120
50
cavalry
200
240
200
100
Horse Artillery
200
200
-
75
Foot Artillery
150
150
-
50
Firing:
Muskets and carbines use orange and red sections only (200 yds)
Units fire once per move, charging units are fired at half way through the charge.
Use appropriate measuring stick to work out range (short, medium, long) roll one dice for every four figures or battery firing. Total dice roll is number of figures deducted.
Dice face value- , Green = 0,1,1,2,2,3; Orange = 0,0,0,1,1,2;  Red = 0,0,0,0,1,2 
Morale
Morale is based on casualties and is accumulative:
10% = Unit halts if advancing for one move, 20% = Unit pulls back half a move, 30% = Unit retires full move, 40% = unit retreats rear facing enemy, 50% = rout. (last two considered disorganized).
Adjustments
+ 10% if in hard cover, if Army commander present,if winning melee
-10% if General is killed, if under effective artillery fire, if flanking unit routs

Melee
Roll 2 ordinary dice, highest score wins deduct casualties based on one green dice for loser, red dice for winner.
Adjustments –
 +1 if uphill, if charging, if elite, defending building. Russians have +1 in melee
-1 artillery in a melee, skirmishers caught by formed infantry, -2 if caught by cavalry -1 if disorganized

Special rules
British have mostly Minie rifles, Russian have high number of muskets (except jagers). Russians use column, allies line. Russians get +1 in a melee


10 comments:

  1. Many thanks for posting re your rules.They are simple yet elegent.Have you used them for any other period?
    best wishes
    Alan

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    Replies
    1. They are in fact an evolution of my Napoleonic fast play rules. There is a small section missing in them I noticed, which includes formation changes and limbering unlimbering - but they are pretty much the same as in most rule sets.

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  2. I'm tired tonight and apologies if I have missed the information but what ias the length of each coloured section on the stick?
    Thanks ( or apologies)
    Alan

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    Replies
    1. In the case of rifles 100 yds and artillery 350 yds.

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  3. Thanks for the clarification,most helpful.I'm considering using them for some Seven Years War gaming in 25mm.I wondered about increasing the distances/measurements by a third .I'll let you know how it goes...

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  4. Many thanks for the rules, tried them for a Crimean game using my S range minifigs, they worked really well. One question with the Russian fighting in column we decided to give the front 2 out of the 4 rank deep colm the opportunity to fire. The Brits/French/Turks were in 2 lines and we gave both ranks firing. Was this right? The Russina came unstuck quite a bit. We also down graded the Turks to the same firepower/range as the Russians and this seemed to work. Anyway they were great fun congratulations.

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    Replies
    1. I am pleased to learn that the rules worked for you. Regarding the Russians firing from columns, I guess you could reflect this, although you would need to decide if they stop or fire on the move. If on the move it would be just one shot as reloading would be problematic. In the rules I have tried to reflect the very poor Russian firearms and the essence of Russian tactics that rely on the resilience of the Russian solder, as well as upon the bayonet and close combat, as well as the use of very effective artillery support. As for the allies firing from line, this too reflects their tactics and the advantage of superior weapons; although I would give the Turks less of an edge given the high numbers of conscripts and auxiliaries in their ranks.

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    2. Many thanks, that all makes sense. I am writing up the game for my blog, do you mind if I point people at your blog? I think it is great to see these figures back in use.

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    3. No problem - what is the link for your blog as I would like to read your account.

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    4. Hi, I have only just started my blog, so haven't written the game up yet. Some of the S range figures are on our site abcwargamers.blogspot. Game report and more pictures to follow.

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