A first outing for the "Rebels and Patriots" rules

Steve purchased a set of these rules by Dan Mersey and Michael Leck and published by Osprey Games.  As we like the Lion Rampant set from the same author, he thought that they may be suitable for a smaller, skirmish type game that we could play over a couple of hours, rather than our usual larger Patriots and Loyalists games (link) which may need to be carried over to the following week.

The scenario, comes from Jonathan Freitag's blog, and is set in the early days of the war and features a British/Loyalist force moving out from Boston intending to seize a cache of arms stockpiled by the local Revolutionary forces.  The arms are spread through a number of caches, each of which needs to be searched by the British/Loyalist force.  Each cache searched is worth 1 Victory Point, except for the one cache which contains artillery, which is worth 3 Victory Points.  The caches are allocated randomly.  News of the British/Loyalist advance soon spreads and Revolutionary units begin to march towards the cache.

The terrain for the game.  Revolutionary units arrive around the table edge, (allocated randomly), to support the unit already at the farm.  British/Loyalist units arrive along the road from the left.  They must arrive on the road, but may deploy left or right subsequently.  The various rule mechanisms are familiar to anyone who has played 'Lion Rampant' or other Osprey rule sets by Dan Mersey.  A set score is needed to activate a unit (enabling it to move, attack or fire).  If meleeing or firing, units have 12 d6, (halved if disordered); a standard score on the d6 is required to register a hit.  The number of hits required to inflict a casualty varies with range/cover for firing and defensive terrain/unit type for melee.  Morale tests are required for units taking casualties or seeing units wiped out.  As Steve has no individually based figures we used three 4 figure bases for each unit, a method which we also used in our Lion Rampant show games.

The British skirmishers lead the advance

 I had command of the British/Loyalist force and led with my British and Loyalist skirmishers.  The British/Loyalist force made slow progress along the road, but a worrying number of local militia units began to move forward.

Revolutionary forces begin to converge on the farm

Fire from the militia, minutemen and skirmishers began to whittle away at the Crown units, but when given the chance, the Crown forces were able to retaliate.

A unit of rifles attempt to outflank the Crown forces but are caught in the open by the light infantry

The Grenadiers attempt to drive off the unit defending the farm with a volley

I found that engaging in a fire fight just played to my opponent's strengths; my weaker units in particular being vulnerable to enemy fire.

The local militia inflict heavy casualties on a unit of Loyalist skirmishers

So, with time running out (game length was c10 turns), I took a chance and launched a charge by my grenadiers.

The Grenadiers resort to cold steel and charge a unit of minutemen

This proved surprisingly effective and after driving off the minutemen, the grenadiers followed up and also sent a unit of militia reeling back.

Even then, the Crown forces only won the game because, very fortunately, the one cache they managed to search contained the artillery, which gave them 3 Victory Points.  After lunch we ran the game again and this time it was a narrow revolutionary victory, suggesting that this scenario is nicely balanced.  Another report can be found on Matt Crump's blog link

So, what were our thoughts on this set of rules.  Well, they are pretty quick to learn, though perhaps our familiarity with 'Lion Rampant' helped.  You can use troops you have already based up, rather than have them on individual bases, which is useful.  In keeping with many new sets of rules actions can easily be fought on a  4 foot by 4 foot table and it is possible to complete a game in 2 hours.  This makes them suitable for club games where you may wish to play a series of linked scenarios, or even to set up a mini competition.  An enjoyable game can be played with 50-60 figures a side, so if you want to try out a new period the expense is not too great.

However, for some gamers the rules may seem a little too simplistic (this is a comment that we have had when putting on a 'Lion Rampant' game at a show), or lack the sense of scale they prefer.  They may also include a little too much 'chance' for some.

All that being said, on balance Steve and I thought that in certain settings, eg. show participation games to introduce a new period to visitors, or a quick game that will not take too much setting up, they fit the bill; providing an enjoyable game.