The best Horse & Musket Rules that appeared as magazine articles

In my opinion, these are the best Horse & Musket rules (of those that I've read!) that appeared originally as magazine articles. I rate them mainly for the originality of the ideas presented and playability. If you have any another favorite, please tell me in the comments.

Simplicity in practice by Neil Thomas (Generic Horse and Musket) — Battlegames #23 See Battlereps HERE
Showdown by Samuel D. Campbell (Skirmish ACW, Old West) — The Courier #71.See Battlerep HERE
Rules for the mid-eigtheenth century by Stephen Simpson (Jacobite Rebellion, French and Indian war, 7YW) — Wargames Illustrated #75, with scenarios in #134
The rules with no name by Brian Ansell (Skirmish ACW, Old West) — Wargames Illustrated #105, with optional rules in #106, #114. Also published in MWAN #82
Aelred Glidden's Napoleonic Rules (Napoleonic) — MWAN #87 with clarifications in MWAN #106
Victoria Cross by Gerard W. Quinn (Colonial) — MWAN #105
Our Brutal Rules by Chris Brown and the Thule Gamers (ACW) — ACW Gamer #5
On to Richmond by Paul Koch (ACW) — The Courier Vol.3 No.5 with clarifications on Vol.5 No.6 and Vol.7 No.3. A booklet version with a campaign system was also published separately.

PS. My Napoleon in Egypt Campaign has been delayed due to a shipment of desert buildings that got lost. I have sorted it out with the seller and it is coming.

Comments

5 wargaming mechanics that I dislike

1. Command Radius . Ok, it may work if there is only one general (like in DBA), but this business of each commander having his own radius as if it is a shouting contest... Wally Simon debunked it long ago better than I could: "There was only one way Kris could maintain control of his entire division, keeping them all within his magical 3 inch radius, and that was to continually scrunch all six units together in one solid mass, cavalry, infantry and artillery [...] There are many gaming ploys that deal with command response functions, systems that supposedly reproduce the difficulties of commanders keeping their forces under their control, and, in my considered opinion, the 'mysterious aura' ploy is probably the worst of them all" (PW Review May 1999) Guilty party example: Grande Armée. 2. Rerolls . The kind of rerolls that bother me are not those tied to some mechanic but what I call the insert-coin reroll. You start the battle with X rerolls and you may use them wh...

Simplicity in ACW

A variant for Simplicity in Practice (Battlegames issue 23) for the American Civil War FIRING RANGES Infantry 15 cm Cavalry 10 cm (mounted or dismounted) Artillery 40 cm RELUCTANCE TO CLOSE-IN All infantry and cavalry units that wish to charge must take a test (Elites +1). Roll a d6: 1. Unit advances half way to the target of the charge, stops and fires with 2 dice. There is no melee. 2. Unit advances half way to the target of the charge, stops and the target tests to see if they retreat 10cm (50% chance, 16.66% for elites and units in cover). There is no melee regardless of the result. 3-6 Charge normally CAVALRY DUAL ROLE Mounted: They act for all purposes as LC in SiP Dismounted: They act for all purposes as LI in SiP, except they cannot interpenetrate. Movement deduction for mounting/dismounting 5cm. Only one change of status is allowed per turn. They may fire in the turn they dismount but with 2 dice (in successive turns 4 dice). LIGHT COVER (rail fe...

One-hour Simplicity - Bridgehead (scenario 5)

A contested river crossing is one of the hardest situations in warfare. I present scenario 5 from the book One-Hour Wargames , but resolved using another Neil Thomas' ruleset called Simplicity in Practice (SiP). For adaptation notes see my first battlerep with this combo HERE . The objective of the scenario for BLUE is to consolidate a bridgehead north of the river The composition of the armies is: BLUE: 4 infantry, 1 skirmishers, 1 cavalry RED: 3 infantry, 1 skirmishers, 2 cavalry Blue will arrive along the road and Red piecemeal at three random points: west of the woods, on the road and east of the hill. At the start BLUE has a single unit north of the river: shadowy voltigeurs have taken the woods. The first RED units show up west of the woods Since cavalry cannot enter the woods, they take a tortuous route around them. Unseen, the lurking skirmishers take aim BLUE cavalry crosses the bridge benefiting from a road move of 30cm. In a river crossing, Space i...

Morris' Wargaming Escapades

Search This Blog