Rank&File

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Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

Introduction Troop Types & Formations Turn Order & Initiative Movement Firing Charges & Melee Morale Single Stands Skirmishers Generals Army Morale Period Specific Rules

Page 3 Page 4 Page 9 Page 13 Page 19 Page 25 Page 32 Page 38 Page 41 Page 44 Page 48 Page 49

Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3

Fast Play Sheet Extended Example Army Lists Example

Page 52 Page 54 Page 58

The Rank & File rules have been designed so that a fairly large game can be set up and played to a conclusion within an evening. They are ideal for club games where any number of players can bring along their figure collections and join in - the rules are simple enough to explain in a few minutes and one game is all it takes to grasp the core mechanics. The main rules cover a large period of history and many conflicts; the core rules apply to all of these periods but there are also period specific rules sections that give more detail according to the wars and campaigns that you are fighting. You'll find that there is a great deal of flexibility within the core game mechanics and you should tailor the details of the period specific rules to suit any particular era. These are fast play rules but that doesn't mean that they use simplistic game mechanics that bear no relation to the battles and periods they are representing. You'll find that different troop quality and weapons are important but so is a decent plan and proper use of your commanders. Charging headlong at a solid line of infantry and artillery is a sure way to lose good troops - just because the rules are simple doesn't mean to say it has to be a simple game. No set of rules can hope to cover every eventuality and still be playable, so if you have a situation that is not covered then - in order of preference - take the Umpire’s decision, take a vote, roll a die. Before jumping into the rules you may want to head off to Appendix 2 where there is a very straightforward extended example - this will give you a fairly good idea of the basic rule mechanics and how they work together. OPTIONAL RULES are added throughout this book - these add more realism to the game but at the cost of time - use these at your own discretion, but it is best to make sure all players know which rules are being used before play begins! Finally I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all the members of the Stafford Wargames Club for their invaluable help in designing and testing these rules, especially considering the numerous versions and last minute changes I put them through! Regards, Mark Sims Stone - 2009

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Throughout the period we are dealing with there are many troop types, but for the sake of simplicity these have been condensed to the following categories: formed and skirmish infantry formed and skirmish cavalry foot or horse artillery and finally - elephants The weapons, troop quality and period specific rules will all be used to differentiate between various armies, nationalities and units.

determine the number of figures that would make up a stand. Throughout the rules you will see that almost all the examples use 40mm square bases for infantry stands, 50mm square bases for cavalry stands and approximately 60mm by 80mm stands for artillery. Generals are mounted singly for low level commanders and with 2 or more figures for higher level commanders. Many of the examples and photographs use 28mm figures as that is what I have in my collection! The rules work just as well for a variety of scales from 6mm through to 40mm.

Figure Types Units are grouped into stands of figures, the scale, number of figures per base and size of these stands are not hugely important - Rank & File uses bases as the basic building block of units. You can obviously use figures that have been based individually - simply

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

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Depending on the scale of battle that you are fighting a stand represents anything from 50 to 250 men with a skirmish stand counting as a 'half stand'. Each artillery model represents anything from 1 gun and crew to a complete battery. Appendix 3 shows examples of various formations using different ratios.

Infantry

Artillery

Infantry units may be either formed or in skirmish order. In some periods and for some troop types you may be able to choose whether to field a unit as formed stands or as skirmish stands and some may be designated as 'shock' troops that gain a bonus when charging into melee. The minimum sized unit that should be fielded at the start of a battle is 4 stands of figures - the maximum 10. Anything else should be represented by either splitting large units or combining smaller ones. You are free to split units even if they have 10 or less stands. A 9 stand unit could be split into 2 units of strength 4 and 5 for example. You must decide at deployment how your units are going to be organised and this may not change throughout the battle.

Each artillery stand will be designated as light, medium or heavy as well as having details of the type of guns that they are armed with and whether they are foot or horse artillery. The crew do not have to be integral to the artillery piece base but if you have separate figures the crew may not man guns other than the ones they started the battle with. Artillery pieces are designated as single figure stands even though they may be grouped into batteries.

Generals

Cavalry Cavalry have the same options open to them as infantry. They may be 'shock' troops, certain cavalry may deploy into skirmish order, may mount or dismount during the course of a battle and while dismounted will follow the same basic rules as for skirmish infantry. Unit size is the same as for infantry, no smaller than 4 and no larger than 10. As with infantry a cavalry unit may be split at set up.

Depending on the level of battle, the number of units and players, there may be various numbers of generals on the table. There is no specific allotment of generals but each obvious grouping of troops should have a commander, whether this is at the brigade, division or corps level.

Elephants Elephants are single figure stands rather than being organised as units. They will follow some of the same rules as formed troops and some of the ones for artillery who are also single figure stands.

Camels Will act in the same way as cavalry apart from the fact you'll have different models on the table! They may frighten horses and so gain some advantage in melee with other cavalry.

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Unit Stats

Morale Class

This combination of different morale classes, unit sizes, formations, weapons and period specific abilities allows for quite a variety of units to be fielded on the tabletop. It will be up to players to decided which troops deserve Green, Regular or Veteran status and a little research on the period will give you numbers, organisation and armament.

All troops will be represented by one of three classes of morale. These are Green, Regular or Veteran. This starting morale class will determine the unit’s chance to pass morale tests when it is forced to take them as well as its chance to rally when it gets into difficulties. Green troops are brittle and will find it difficult to recover once they become unsteady, Veterans are solid troops and will often (but not always) take quite some punishment before they are broken.

In large battles it may help to label your units with their statistics - the command stand of each unit is the most obvious one to put the label on and it simply needs to show you the starting number of stands in that unit so that you can work out when the 50% rule applies and morale modifiers for lost stands. A note can be made of its morale class G,R,V with an asterisk for shock troops and the weapons that it is armed with (if need be).

OPTIONAL RULE Elite troops may be added to the list of morale classes. They act as Veterans with the same morale level and modifiers but in addition to this they may re-roll one morale or rally test die roll each game. If you are playing a campaign some troops may even increase beyond elite state - in this case simply allow them a second morale re-roll. This re-roll is only used for morale and rally tests, it does not apply to any tests that happen to use the morale value of troops (like forming squares for example). A test that is automatically failed (when the unit has reached 50% losses for example) is not rolled so there is no re-roll allowed. You may not re-roll the same test more than once.

Weapons The entire unit will be armed in the same way depending on the period, dates and nationality that you are fighting with. You may not arm different stands with different weapons within the same unit. OPTIONAL RULE If you want to make 'mixed' units then you may but it is up to the player to keep track of which stands are lost as casualties, which fight in melee and so on.

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Formations Each unit on the table must be in one of the following formations, if a unit does not have the space to deploy into a certain formation then you are not allowed to place them into it. You'll find that while very large units may have an advantage in combat they are awkward to move about on the battlefield so you'll need to bear this in mind when choosing how to deploy your troops.

OPTIONAL RULE Period Specific Formation. Some formations are only available during specific periods and some may be unavailable to certain troop types depending on the period of the game that you are playing.

Line All of the stands in the unit are side by side in a straight line one stand deep. The line may bend to accommodate terrain features but otherwise must remain in a straight line. In some period specific rules it may be able to refuse flanks.

Attack Column The stands that make up the unit must be at least as deep as they are wide. This means that a 6 stand unit would be 2 wide by 3 deep, a 4 stand unit could be 2 wide by 2 deep and so on. When casualties are removed they must be taken so that the unit remains in column formation - you may not remove stands so that a column becomes a line for example.

March Column The unit is one stand wide and as many deep as required. It may snake as much as it likes and is usually used to gain extra movement distance. Units that arrive on table throughout a battle will usually arrive in march column. Units that are in march column while engaged in melee will suffer from having to fight disordered.

Square All of the stands of the unit form a square - you should try to make sure that each face has as even a number of stands as possible. A square has no movement allowance at all. If a square is forced back through melee or morale it will change to attack column formation rather than moving in square.

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Supported Line A line of stands 2 deep. This can represent 'deep' lines or supporting lines of troops. You must keep the number of stands in each rank as even as possible - you could not, for example, have a double line that had a front rank of 6 stands and a rear rank of 3. This formation is always available to cavalry units in any period but may be restricted for infantry by the period specific rules.

Mass

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

For troops that do not have any proper organisation they are counted as being in 'mass'. There are no restrictions on how many ranks or files of stands with the exception that each rank should have the same number of stands in it if possible. For example a 9 stand unit could have 3 ranks of 3 stands or one rank of 5 and one rank of 4 but could not have a front rank of 5, a second rank of 3 and a third rank of 1.

Skirmish Order If you have specific skirmish stands for your figures then all of the stands in a unit in skirmish formation should be touching. If the stands are normal formed infantry stands that are simply spaced apart then they should take up double the usual frontage of the same stand when it is formed. There are no set formations for skirmishers - they may be as many stands wide or deep as required and facing in any direction.

Limbered The artillery are ready to move and may not fire.

Unlimbered The artillery are ready to fire and may only move by prolonging if that is allowable for their type or they may change facing on the spot. OPTIONAL RULE Brigade Level Double Line. When fighting large battles that have a unit representing a brigade the period restrictions on double line formation for infantry may be waived. This represents the separate battalions within the brigade being in mixed formations of lines and columns or multiple battalions in line one behind the other.

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Each turn of the game represents anything from approximately 15 to 30 minutes of time. The turn order table below will let you know who does what - and when. You will find that some of the phases are in slightly unexpected places but the reasons for this will become clear as you read the rules and play your first games.

The Rank & File rules try to avoid bookkeeping and having to record too much information about units and their status. Some things will need to be remembered however and it is up to players to decide how they do this. In many ways the methods that you use will depend on the number of units each player needs to control.

Some parts of the turn are done simultaneously and others are done in sequence with one side doing all of their actions and then the other side taking their turn. Each phase should be completed in its entirety before moving onto the next.

For example you may need to know which units have moved in the movement phase as there is often a modifier to their firing, also any unit that has lost a stand to enemy fire this turn will need to pass a morale test at the end of the turn. If you only have 5 units to control then most players will have no trouble keeping track of this sort of thing in their heads - when you are player with 30 units it may be worth using counters to aid game play.

The Turn Order Charge Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Rally Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Roll For Initiative

Highest side chooses to move first or second

First Side Movement Second Side Movement Firing Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Morale Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Melee Phase

Both sides, side which won the initiative decides which order

End Turn Phase

Check for Army or Force Break Point, attach and detach leaders

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Each phase is briefly described here. Full details will be given in the relevant sections of the rules.

Charge Phase Both sides declare any units that they would like to charge with. Only troops that have a valid target may declare charges. Once made charge declarations may not be cancelled but it is OK for players to 'wait and see' whether the enemy is charging before declaring their own charges, so these do not have to be declared in any particular order. OPTIONAL RULE Players need to make a note of which units will charge and then all reveal at the same time - charged units that have not themselves declared a charge may always decide to counter charge at this point if that is a valid option open to them. Once all charges have been declared charging troops are moved at the same time all units that would cross paths or meet at some mid-point should have their movement pro-rated. Routing units or skirmishers that choose to flee from a charge are also moved at this time. Chargers are moved to within 2” of their target.

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Rally Phase The rally phase comes after the charge phase as this means that troops that have declared a charge may not attempt to rally. This inability to rally also applies to the target of a charge, whether they are skirmishers that have fled, routers that have evaded a charge or troops that are counter charging or just standing their ground - none of these units may attempt to rally during this rally phase. Troops will be in 3 states of morale throughout the game - good, unsteady and routing. So long as a unit is not at 50% or more losses in stands, is not in bad Army Morale and has not been the target of a charge or is charging itself then it may attempt to rally from being unsteady or from routing. Both players simultaneously roll to recover their morale for units that are allowed to. Those that fail remain in their current morale state, routers will continue to rout, unsteady will remain unsteady throughout the rest of this turn. Troops that pass their morale test will immediately gain one 'level' of morale. It may be that a unit has only just failed a morale test in the preceding turn’s morale phase; even so it still gets a chance to rally and recover the same as any other unit. This may mean it spends a very brief amount of time 'unsteady'.

Roll For Initiative and Movement

Firing Phase

Each turn both players' Commander in Chief rolls a D6, the highest will get to choose whether they move first or second. Re-roll ties.

Both sides will fire simultaneously so any stands removed as casualties will still get to fire back at the enemy. With large numbers of units it is worth placing the 'dead' stands behind the unit to remind yourself that they should still be calculated in the unit’s fire. This also has the added advantage of showing which units will need to test for morale later in the turn.

OPTIONAL RULE Add the command modifier of the CinC to the D6 die roll - this will only make a difference when you are using the optional commander quality rules. Re-roll ties without the command modifier. The side that has the initiative may now move all of their units that have not yet charged, made a charge reaction or been pinned by a charge. Units that have just rallied from routing will now be unsteady but they may move as normal during this phase. Routing troops that did not rally and so have already been moved in the rally phase do not move again during this part of the turn. Once the first side has moved all of their eligible units the second side does the same.

Morale Phase This is the phase where all of the units that need to take a morale test because of enemy fire do so. Any unit that has just lost a stand must take a test, even if they are charging or are the target of a charge, the same applies to single stands that have lost a casualty. It may be that chargers halt or their targets flee - in this case the melee will not happen. The morale of units that fail their test will get worse - from good to unsteady or from unsteady to routing. Results are applied immediately - if the unit becomes unsteady it retires a certain distance according to type and is marked as unsteady. If the unit routs it is immediately moved its rout distance.

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

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Melee Phase When you have determined which units will contact each other it is time to decide the outcome of all melees. This is a bloody affair and one side or the other will retire or rout before the end of the melee phase. A melee will not carry on from one turn to the next though it may last for more than one round of actual fighting. The side that wins the melee is allowed to occupy the ground of their opponents so in some rare cases it may be important which order you carry out the melee in - if this is the case the player who won the initiative die roll decides in which order to do them. Stands that are touching and one stand overlap on each flank will fight in the first round of a melee - if the melee lasts more than one round then all stands in the unit get to fight in subsequent rounds. Each side will roll a number of D6's and modify these rolls with a few simple factors. The side that causes the most casualties will win, the loser will retire unsteady if they were originally in good morale, they will rout if they are already unsteady. In some cases a unit will rout its opponent automatically if it wins the melee. If the first or subsequent rounds of melee are a draw you keep on fighting until you have a winner, you cannot have a turn end with two units still locked in melee.

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Turn End This is when you will roll to see if wounded leaders recover, roll for re-enforcement, flank march arrival and so on. Players should check to see whether the formations or army has reached its Break Point. If you are playing a campaign this is the best time to make sure everyone has made a note of units that they have removed from the table and what their final status is with regard to casualties. Leaders are attached and detached from units in this phase. Leaders may detach from one unit and attach to another in the same turn so long as they have the movement distance to do so. The end turn phase is the only time that you may attach a leader to a unit.

No matter which period you are playing troops will move at a given speed according to the type of troops they are, the formations they are in and the terrain they are crossing. Movement rates are quite generous - you'll find that troops making march moves can go a pretty good distance so when you commit your troops to a course of action they don't take forever to reach their objective - it's once they bump into the enemy that they tend to slow down.

Movement Distances

Infantry / Foot Artillery

Cavalry / Horse Artillery

Line or Double Line

8”

16”

Column, Mass or Skirmish

12”

20”

Light and Medium Artillery

12”

16”

Heavy Artillery

8”

NA

Manhandle Light Artillery

4”

4”

Manhandle Medium Artillery

2”

2”

Manhandle Heavy Artillery

NA

NA

Retiring Due to Melee or Morale

2D6”

3D6”

Routing Due to Melee or Morale

12”

20”

Flee From Charge

2D6”

3D6”

Charge distances are the same as normal movement distances

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

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Marching & Charging March Moves So long as the unit starts and ends its move more than 12” away from any enemy, except commanders who do not count, it may use march movement and go up to double its usual speed. The unit may not change formation, interpenetrate other formed troops, wheel greater than its allowance if in line or charge but all other movement rules are the same. In addition no unit may fire after marching, no matter how far they moved or what period specific rules are being used. If in doubt then mark units that have marched with a counter to remind yourself of these restrictions.

Charge Movement Charging troops use their normal move distance according to the formation that they are in and all terrain penalties apply as normal. Terrain modifiers apply to charging troops as usual. If the terrain modifies the charge distance in such a way that the troops cannot reach their target then the charge is deemed

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not to have been declared, the unit will not move during the charge phase but may move as normal during its own side’s movement phase. Charging troops have their movement prorated, this is important as it will mean that two units charging towards each other will meet at some point between them. You may also have a situation where one unit is charging another but is itself being charged by a second enemy unit - pro-rating the movement will determine which units actually contact each other and where.

March Column So long as the unit is in a column no more than one stand wide and is moving entirely along road for its full move then it may move at three times its normal speed rather than double when it is marching. Normal march rules apply - it may not fire, change formation, interpenetrate nor may it start, end or come within 12” of any enemy (except generals) during its movement. A march column that is contacted and engaged in melee will fight disordered - this means that any stands will only hit on a D6 roll of '6' no matter what the other modifiers are.

Measure wheels from the outside edge of the formation

Formation Changes

Interpenetration

Wheeling

Skirmishers and deployed artillery stands may be interpenetrated at no movement penalty during movement, this includes march movement. Formed units and limbered artillery stands may not interpenetrate voluntarily, though a retiring or routing unit may be forced to interpenetrate another unit.

Wheels are measured from the outside edge of the unit no matter which formation it is in. You will find that very long lines of troops are particularly hard to manoeuvre about the battlefield. OPTIONAL RULE Wheeling while in line. The actual distance travelled is measured from the outside of the wheel but for some periods there are restrictions on the degree to which troops are allowed to wheel. Rigid formations did not allow for simple manoeuvring and you should consult the period specific rules to see the maximum amount that a line may wheel in any one turn.

Changing Facing This may be done at any point in the unit’s move and will take ¼ of their movement allowance - you may not change facing while carrying out a march move or a charge. Skirmishers stands may freely change facing at no cost. Cavalry must change facing to be able to move sideways or to the rear (except when retiring due to morale or melee).

OPTIONAL RULE Use the period specific rules to determine whether formed units may interpenetrate or not. If they may then the unit that is interpenetrating will be reduced to half speed - this is cumulative with terrain or obstacle modifiers so if the interpenetrating unit does not have the movement distance to completely clear the other unit then they may not be moved through. No matter what the period specific rules no formed units may be interpenetrated while marching and no formed unit may charge through any other. No matter what the unit type no unit may charge through another unit. Though a unit may still declare a charge so long as at least 50% of the unit has a valid line of sight to a target and the unit in front of them is also charging (see charge rules later). If for any reason the 'blocking' unit fails to charge then the units behind will also not charge.

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Side Step and Back Step

Formation Changes

Formed infantry units may move to the side and/or the rear at half speed - this is actually the same as changing face, moving a half move and then changing face again. Skirmishers may move freely in any direction and pay no penalty for it. Note that this is different to 'retire' which is a move forced on a unit by a failed morale test or loss in melee. Formed cavalry units must about face to move sideways or backwards.

Units will start the game as either formed units or deployed as skirmishers. In addition cavalry will be either mounted or dismounted you may not change the status of these units throughout the game.

Oblique Units may move obliquely, this means that as well as moving forwards or backwards they may 'slip' to the side at the same time. A unit may move at an angle of up to 45 degrees either side of straight while making an oblique move. OPTIONAL RULE See the period specific rules to see the maximum angle that a unit may move obliquely.

OPTIONAL RULE Use the period specific rules to determine which cavalry units may dismount and remount and which units may change from formed to skirmish order and vice-versa. Changing formation takes a half move for all troops and may not be carried out while charging, while you are the target of a charge or while marching. Formation changes should be made within the same general area that the unit already occupies - changing formation is not an easy way to swap units' positions or shuffle your troops about! If there is no space for the new formation you may not perform that change. Formation changes must be made either at the start or the end of your movement, they may not be done halfway through. OPTIONAL RULE Use the period specific rules to determine the amount of time various formation changes take, this will either be a half move or a full move.

OPTIONAL RULE Formed infantry that are charged from the front by cavalry may try to form square - this is done during the target unit’s movement phase and overrides the rule about targets of charges not being able to change formation. To see if the unit is able to form square roll 1D6 and compare to the unit’s basic morale. If the roll is greater than their starting morale they have been able to form square - if it is not they must receive the charge in their current formation.

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Terrain

Retire and Rout Movement

Bad terrain will affect the movement of different troop types in different ways. When moving through bad terrain skirmisher movement is not affected at all whereas all formed troops and artillery move at half speed.

This is only done as compulsory movement as a result of a failed morale test or losing a melee. Terrain modifiers do not affect troops that are forced to make a compulsory rout or retire move. However, if that terrain is impassable and may not be skirted around then the routing or retiring unit is destroyed entirely and removed from the table immediately.

There are various types of terrain that you can have on your battlefield but these have been split up into two simple categories. The cover that terrain gives is either heavy or light. If in light cover the unit will be shot at with a -1 modifier for small arms fire and no modifier from artillery fire. If in heavy cover the unit will be shot at with a -2 modifier from small arms fire and -1 from artillery. Light cover is scrub, woods, hedges, fences and so on. Heavy cover is any buildings, earthworks, entrenchments, stone walls and such.

A routing or retiring unit must move its full distance if possible, if it ends its move 'on top' of a friendly unit it should be moved past it rather than straddle the other unit. OPTIONAL RULE Sauve Qui Peut! A unit may voluntarily rout during the morale phase no matter what its current morale status is, it is treated exactly as any other unit that has routed in this phase.

Visibility is 2” into a wood from the outside and 4” if both are within the woods. OPTIONAL RULE You may designate some terrain as 'very bad going' and this will have an extra effect on mounted troops. Halve the speed of skirmish cavalry through very bad going and quarter the speed of formed cavalry and artillery through very bad going. An obstacle is a fence, wall, hedge, abatis, entrenchment - basically any linear obstacle that the unit has to cross. All troop types lose half of their move to cross these - this represents the time taken to physically cross the obstacle as well as reform after the disorder that this causes. OPTIONAL RULE You may designate some obstacles as impassable to artillery and/or cavalry - in this case that troop type may not cross that particular obstacle. This is usually done as part of a specific battle or scenario.

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Artillery Movement Artillery stands must be limbered to move at more than manhandling speed. They will count as cavalry for all terrain movement penalties. If an artillery stand is limbered when it is charged it may opt to flee as skirmishers would. If it is unlimbered when charged then the crew may abandon the guns and flee as though skirmishers. A crew that has fled may re-man its own guns later on in the game, they may fire during the turn that the guns are re-manned but will count as having moved. Limbering or unlimbering will take half of the move for the artillery no matter what its type. OPTIONAL RULE See the period specific rules as to whether certain artillery stands may limber, unlimber and if so how long it takes them to do so. A battery may freely change its facing by up to 45 degrees so long as it does nothing else during the movement phase and this will not affect its firing in any way. Any movement, limbering, unlimbering, changing facing more than 45 degrees or manhandling counts as movement for firing penalties and so will mean a -1 to hit modifier.

Proximity to the Enemy Unless it is charging, routing or retiring your units may not voluntarily come within 2” of enemy units. If you are charging or following up as part of a victorious melee this restriction is waived.

Skirmish Movement Skirmish units are far more flexible than normal formed units and they have the ability to move their full distance in any direction and end their movement facing in any direction they choose. They suffer far fewer movement penalties for bad going and obstacles - see the skirmishers rules in Chapter 9 for full details.

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Firing is carried out simultaneously by all players and troops so any stands that are lost as casualties during this fire phase will be allowed to fire back before being removed.

OPTIONAL RULE Period specific rules may reduce the firing arcs to 22.5 degrees either side of straight ahead - also, some weapons will fire with more than the usual 1D6 per firing stand.

Small Arms Fire Procedure You state which unit is firing and at which target, measure the range to the target and make sure that the firing stands are in range and arc - this is 45 degrees either side of straight ahead and applies to all periods and weapons. When you have determined how many stands will fire you roll 1D6 per stand firing and modify by factors such as range and cover. Any hit result will cause a casualty on the target unit. When the target has suffered three casualties a stand is removed.

Formed infantry may move and still shoot but they will fire at -1 modifier, this means any formation change will result in a -1 to hit modifier. If the unit marched any distance they may not fire. Skirmishers and artillery get -1 for moving and firing the same as other troops. OPTIONAL RULE Use the period specific rules to determine whether troops may move and fire or if they take the -1 modifier for having moved and fired.

Small Arms Fire Table Weapon

Close Range

Long Range

Optional Movement and Firing

Bow / Sling

4”

8”

No movement modifiers

Thrown Weapons

4”

-

No movement modifiers

Early / Poor Musket

4”

8”

Up to half -1, half and over - no firing

Smoothbore Musket

6”

12”

Any movement -1

Smoothbore Carbine

4”

8”

Any movement -1

Rifled Carbine

5”

10”

Up to half - no modifier, half and over - 1

Rifled Musket

8”

16”

Up to half - no modifier, half and over - 1

Chassepot

10”

20”

Up to half - no modifier, half and over - 1

Mitrailleuse / Gatling

10”

20”

As artillery - see period specific rules

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Artillery Fire Procedure Unlike formed and skirmish units an artillery stand is a single element and may not split its fire. Rather than rolling just 1D6 per stand and modifying that roll an artillery stand will roll a specific number of D6 depending on its type and the range to the target. Modifiers will still apply to these die rolls but they are slightly different to small arms fire - the modifiers are clearly listed on the appropriate table. When firing an artillery stand you should measure the range from the closest point of

the firer to the closest point of the target - then you check on the table to see how many D6 are rolled at that range. These D6 are then modified to see whether you gain a hit on the target or not - each successful hit causes a casualty. The base to hit number is 4+ as normal except for point blank fire which is anything up to 2” - that hits on a 3+ instead. Artillery have a 45 degree fire arc - the same as infantry. They must have a base width or greater gap to fire through. Period specific rules may restrict the firing arc to 22.5 degrees instead of 45.

Artillery Fire Table

Range (Number of D6 rolled)

Type

Close

Medium

Long

Early / Poor Light

4” (2D6)

8” (1D6)

16” (1D6)

Early / Poor Medium

6” (2D6)

12” (1D6)

24” (1D6)

Early / Poor Heavy

8” (3D6)

16” (2D6)

32” (1D6)

Light Smoothbore

6” (3D6)

12” (1D6)

24” (1D6)

Medium Smoothbore

8” (4D6)

16” (2D6)

32” (1D6)

Heavy Smoothbore

10” (4D6)

20” (2D6)

40” (1D6)

Light Rifled

10” (2D6)

20” (2D6)

40” (1D6)

Medium Rifled

12” (3D6)

24” (2D6)

48” (1D6)

Heavy Rifled

15” (3D6)

30” (2D6)

60” (1D6)

Point blank range is 2” in front of the gun for double canister - roll the same number of D6 as normal but the base to hit number is 3+ rather than 4+

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Small Arms and Artillery Fire Modifiers Firing unit is unsteady

-1

Firing unit has moved

-1

Or use optional rules

Artillery that have taken 1 or more hits

-1

Optional rule

Infantry charged by cavalry

-1

Or see period specific rules

Target is skirmishers or deployed artillery

-1

Target in light cover

-1

Does not apply to artillery

Target in heavy cover

-2

Only -1 for artillery

Target is at long range

-1

Does not apply to artillery

Target is more than 1 stand deep or limbered artillery or in square or firing down the flank

+1

Hindrance between target and firer

-1

Does not apply to artillery

Base to hit number is 4+ on a D6. A roll of 6 always hits (or use optional rules) OPTIONAL RULE Rather than having a roll of 6 always hit use the following method to determine if a hit has been caused or not: Need a 7 to hit - Roll D6, if first roll is a 6 then re-roll and a second roll of 4-6 is a hit. Need an 8 to hit - Roll D6, if first roll is a 6 then re-roll and a second roll of 5-6 is a hit. Need a 9 to hit - Roll D6, if first roll is a 6 then re-roll and a second roll of 6 is a hit.

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Splitting Fire

Firing in Woods

A unit may split its fire against up to 2 targets. This may be because the firer wishes to cause casualties on both or because some are in fire arc of only part of the unit. A single stand may never split its fire and a unit may never split its fire against more than 2 targets - even if it has more targets available, so some stands may not get to fire as a result of arc or range restrictions.

This is the same as visibility within woods, 2” into the edge of a wood, 4” if both units are inside the wood.

Fire Arc and Line of Sight This measured from the base corners and is 45 degrees either side of straight ahead. For a specific stand to be able to fire it must have at least a base width free from obstructions otherwise it does not have a valid line of sight.

The fire arc: 45° either side of straight ahead

Skirmish Fire Skirmish stands do not have front, rear or flank facings so may fire in any direction without having to change facing or move. However, the stands still have to have the target within range and an unobstructed line of sight with a base width 'lane' to fire through. Other skirmisher stands within their own unit do block LOS. Don't forget that a formed unit stand is simply spaced apart when representing the unit being in skirmish formation - this stand is actually supposed to be occupying double its usual frontage. Skirmish units may still only split their fire between two enemy units in the same way that formed troops can.

45° 45 °

Charges and Firing OPTIONAL RULE All firing arcs may be 22.5 degrees either side of straight ahead or use the period specific rules for firing arcs. OPTIONAL RULE Limit the amount of ammunition that a battery has available by only allowing a certain number of shots from an artillery piece before it needs to be re-supplied - the standard amount is 6 but this can be varied according to circumstances. You can use a small D6 on the base or a counter of some sort. Resupply can either be done from supply wagons, artillery general or by the battery limbering and retiring to its base line. This rule allows you to simulate low supplies during campaigns or for specific battles.

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When you are being charged it may be that some of your stands can fire at the chargers and others may not. As with the splitting fire rules above this simply means that you may fire part of the unit against the chargers and part against any other target that may be in range and arc.

Firing Down the Flank When a stand gets to fire down a target’s flank it will benefit from the +1 for firing at a target more than 1 stand deep modifier.

Firing at Squares When firing at a unit in square you get a +1 modifier to hit, this is not cumulative with the target more than one rank deep modifier - you either get one or the other - not both.

Overhead Fire This is only allowed by artillery and only if the obstacle is more than 8” away from both the firing unit and the target unit. In addition the artillery or target must be on a higher elevation than the obstacle. Overhead fire from units on the same level is not allowed. OPTIONAL RULE See the period specific rules for shell and shrapnel fire. In addition you may allow howitzers the ability to carry out overhead fire in this manner, even if they are on the same level as the obstacle.

which wants to fire through them. This is explained more fully in the skirmish section in Chapter 9.

Hits and Casualties Each 3 hits caused on a target will remove a stand from the unit. Skirmishers bases are effectively half a stand (see skirmish rules) so when you have received 3 hits on one of these units you would remove 2 'half' stands of figures, but for morale this counts as one stand of troops lost. Hits are cumulative and carry over from one turn to the next - you may not remove hit markers.

Leader Casualties Skirmishers Blocking Line of Sight Small arms fire must always be conducted against skirmishers if they are blocking the LOS to other formed units behind them. Artillery have the option to ignore the skirmishers and fire at targets 'through' them. This is only allowed if the skirmishers are outside the close range band of the artillery

Each time that a stand is removed from a unit or each time that a single stand unit takes a casualty the enemy player gets to roll a D6 to see if any attached leaders become casualties. Roll once per base or casualty inflicted, on a roll of 6 roll again on the leader casualty table. See the leader rules in Chapter 10 for full details.

Photo courtesy of Offensive Miniatures

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Removing Stands Stands should be removed so that the formation remains the same. If the unit is in a line and fired upon from one side then removing stands from the end that is shot at would make sense - otherwise the owning player gets to choose where the casualties are removed from.

OPTIONAL RULE Any time that a unit in a building takes one or more hits from artillery fire roll 1D6 - on a roll of 6 the building has caught fire and any units in that building must exit it next turn or be destroyed. If the firing artillery stand is howitzers then a roll of 5-6 will cause wooden buildings to be set alight, a roll of 6 will cause stone buildings to be set alight.

Hits should be kept track of with counters of some sort. Artillery pieces have 3 hits per stand. They will still fire and fight at full effectiveness until they lose all 3 hits but will still be forced to take morale tests when taking casualties. OPTIONAL RULE Artillery that have taken 1 or more hits suffer a penalty of -1 to hit in addition to all normal modifiers. OPTIONAL RULE You may allocate artillery pieces a different number of hits according to the amount of guns within the battery. For example a stand representing 6 guns could have 3 hits whereas one that represents 8 guns would have 4 hits.

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Any time that a unit takes hits from firing that force it to remove a stand it must take a morale test during the morale phase of the turn. Single stands (artillery and elephants) will take a morale test in any turn that they take one or more hits. Units will take negative morale modifiers as they lose stands throughout the battle. For each full stand that a unit has lost it will suffer a -1 morale penalty, this will make tests harder to pass as the unit loses more stands. Single figure stands do not have their morale modified by their losses so far, only units suffer this penalty.

Charge Phase Both sides declare any units that they would like to charge with and who they are charging against. Only troops that have a valid target may declare charges. Once made charge declarations may not be cancelled but it is OK for players to 'wait and see' before declaring their own charges so these do not have to be declared in any particular order. OPTIONAL RULE Players need to make a note of which units will charge and then all reveal at the same time - charged units that have not themselves declared a charge may always decide to counter charge if that is a valid option open to them. Once all charges have been declared charging troops are moved at the same time all units that would cross paths or meet at some mid-point should have their movement pro-rated. Routing units or skirmishers that choose to flee from a charge are also moved at this time. Chargers are moved to within 2” of their target.

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

“When the enemy advanced to our line, they received a welldirected and incessant fire. But their numbers being superior to ours, they gained our flanks, which obliged us to change our position. We retired in good order about fifty paces, formed, advanced on the enemy and gave them a fortunate volley, which threw them into disorder. Lieut. Col. Howard, observing this, gave orders for the line to charge bayonets, which was done with such address that they fled with the utmost precipitation, leaving their fieldpieces in our possession. We pushed our advantage so effectually that they never had an opportunity of rallying, had their intentions been ever so good.”

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Charging Charge arc is 45 degrees either side of straight ahead. You cannot declare a charge unless at least 50% of your unit has a valid, clear, line to the target - even if another unit in front of you may possibly move out of the way in the charge or movement phase. If you declare a charge and it is found that you cannot actually carry it out the charge does not happen and you may not declare another target instead. However the unit is free to move as normal during its movement phase. When a unit charges it is moved to within 2” of the enemy. The target of the charge may elect to flee if skirmishers, may flee if it is cavalry charged by infantry, may counter charge, may flee if limbered or unlimbered artillery (see artillery rules for full details) and must flee if it is a routing unit charged by any enemy. All troops except routers may opt to stand and receive the charge Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

If skirmishers elect to flee from a charge then they will not get to fire at the chargers as they flee but they can fire later in the turn as normal, though they will count as having moved and suffer any appropriate firing penalty. If they are contacted they will be forced to fight the melee as normal at the spot where they were contacted. The skirmishers must flee the entire distance rolled (2D6” for infantry and 3D6” for cavalry) and if they exit the board will count as lost. A routing unit that is charged must elect to flee as its reaction - this means it will lose another stand immediately as if it had been moved after failing to rally (see rally rules for full details). If it outdistances the chargers it will not be able to attempt to rally in the very next phase as it has been the target of a charge. If it is caught by the chargers (the routers did not flee far enough) then it gets no chance to rally and is simply wiped out. The charging unit may either continue the charge to its full distance or halt on that spot, if it continues its charge it may charge at other units.

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Note that with the two options above the charging unit must either halt or carry on its full charge distance attacking anything in its way - it may not overrun someone and then opt to carry on a bit more and then stop. Charging units may not fire at any point during their charge. Cavalry may not charge against troops in buildings and infantry may not charge frontally against formed cavalry in the open.

When To Do Charges Charging troops are moved before units that are making normal moves but the actual melee is only carried out after the rest of the units have done their moves and firing and any appropriate morale tests have been taken. Any stands that are being charged may fire in the fire phase as normal if they are eligible to do so. The player with the initiative will nominate which melee to work out first and this will be done completely - including removal of casualties, subsequent rounds of melee, routs and follow up moves - before the next melee is moved onto.

Defensive Fire and Attacker’s Charge Test Defenders may issue fire at 2” distance so long as they are facing the correct way and the targets are within their firing arc. If the attacker has lost a stand this turn as a result of any fire they take a morale test during the morale phase with the extra charging modifiers applied. If the charger is not shot at or is shot at but does not take enough hits to remove a stand then they do not have to take a charging morale test and will be moved into contact with the defender - so long as that defender passes any morale test they may have to take due to losses they have taken during the firing phase. If the attacker fails the charging morale test his morale will go down one level as usual. Unsteady troops will rout 12” for infantry and 20” for cavalry. Steady troops will become unsteady and halt at 2” from the target of their charge. This is the end of the charge for that unit. OPTIONAL RULE If the charge has been halted at 2” and the original target of the charge has passed any morale tests it needs to take it may now opt to try to counter charge if it's not already doing so and it has the space and charge arc to contact the enemy unit. To do this it needs to roll equal to or greater than its starting morale with no modifiers at all. If it succeeds it may be moved into contact with the enemy and a melee will take place as normal. This is not a morale test and there are no bad effects for failing this counter charge test. Note that the attacker has to take a morale test if it loses a stand during the charge, whether this is because of fire from the actual target of the charge or from other supporting units firing on them as they charge in. If 2 units are charging each other then both are halted at 2” as normal and are simply moved into contact when it comes time to resolve that melee, unless either of them has been fired on and lost a stand in which case it will have to take a morale test as normal and suffer the consequences of the failure.

Defenders Take Morale Tests If the defenders have lost a stand due to being fired at they will need to pass a test to see if they will stand, this is done before the charging unit is moved into contact. It may be possible to break or force an enemy to retire without the melee occurring. If this is the case then the charger is moved up to occupy the ground of the enemy - just as though they had actually won the melee. If the defenders retire or rout then the attacker may be moved forward to occupy the ground so long as this does not bring them into contact with any new enemy units. Note that a charge in itself does not make the defenders need to take a morale test - they would only do this if they had lost a stand this turn - exactly the same as every other unit. If they pass any test they need to take then they hold their ground and the attackers are moved into contact and melee ensues. If they fail then their morale gets worse as usual - they will become unsteady and retire 2D6”/3D6” or they will rout 12”/20” if already unsteady.

OPTIONAL RULE There are 3 cases where a unit may not have to retire if it gets an unsteady result: If the unit occupies a building or is behind hard cover it can choose to remain where it is. If the unit has a general attached it may opt to stay where it is. If the unit is an artillery stand it may opt to remain where it is. None of these options apply to a unit that has just lost a melee but they do still apply to a unit that is the target of a charge and has to take a morale test due to losses sustained in the fire phase.

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Melee Infantry and cavalry only fight with the front rank of stands. Combat is fought between the stands that are in contact and one stand overlap on each flank. It is against the spirit of these rules to try to 'clip' an enemy unit so that you gain some advantage in melee - the maximum number of stands possible should be brought into contact in a melee. Each stand in combat rolls 1D6 - except for skirmisher stands who roll 1D6 per 2 skirmish stands. If you are attacking the enemy in the flank or rear then calculate how many melee dice you would normally use and then double that number. To count as a flank or rear charge at least 50% of the front rank stands of the charging unit must be in the target’s flank or rear arc. In the following example (A) is a frontal charge, (B) and (D) are flank charges while (C) is a rear charge.

FRONT

FLANK

FLANK REAR

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When you have worked out how many stands are fighting and the number of D6 you will roll you need to calculate which attacks will cause casualties. The basic to hit number is 4 or more on a D6 for all troops.

Melee Table You are unsteady

-1

You are in deeper formation than the enemy

+1

Opponent is defending linear obstacle, in building or uphill of you

-1

Formed troops against unformed troops

+2

Green morale class

-1

Veteran morale class

+1

Cavalry receiving a charge at the halt

-1

Horse mounted fighting against camel mounted

-1

Shock troops charging against non-shock troops

+1

Foot vs. mounted

-1

Base to hit number is 4+ on a D6. A roll of 6 will always hit and 1 will always miss no matter what the actual modified hit number is.

A roll of 1 always misses, 6 always hits no matter what the modifiers, there is no optional rule about requiring numbers higher than 6 to hit as there is with firing - with melee a 6 will always hit and a 1 will always miss. If enough hits have been inflicted to remove stands then they are taken off each unit now - this may result in one or other unit being wiped out - if this is the case the other is automatically the winner!

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

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Leader Bonus in Melee A unit that is involved in a melee and which also has a leader attached may add +1 to the number of hits that it has caused for purposes of determining who has won or lost the melee. Note that this bonus does not actually inflict any casualties, it is simply added to give the unit with the attached leader a better chance to win the melee that has just been fought. No matter how many leaders or their quality you may only gain a +1 bonus to the melee resolution. You may apply it to each round of the melee if there is more than one but multiple commanders attached to a unit or multiple units with commanders attached will not increase this bonus to more than +1.

Example A 7 stand strong French infantry unit in column (A) is in melee with a 5 stand strong British infantry unit in line (B). The French have a +2 commander attached to their unit. In the first round of melee the French have 2 stands in contact while the British have 4. The French manage to get 2 hits while the British get 3 so 2 hits are marked on the British unit while a stand is removed from the French - there is an immediate leader casualty roll for the French commander but he survives. Normally this would mean that the British unit (B) has won the melee (3 hits to 2) and the French would be forced to retire unsteady but with the commander attached the French will add +1 to their total meaning that this round is a draw. A second round of melee is fought immediately - in this round all troops on both sides are involved so the French will be able to roll 6 dice while the British roll 5. This time both sides get 2 hits. They are marked against the French unit but are not enough to remove another stand while the British unit removes a stand and marks the remaining hit against it. Because of the French commander bonus unit A has now won this melee by 3 to 2 so the British are forced to retire unsteady 2D6”.

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To see who wins the melee simply compare the amount of hits each side has done to the other, add any leader bonus that may apply and the person who has the most has won the melee. If the winning unit had charged into the melee they may now move up to occupy the ground if they want, so long as this does not bring them into contact with any new enemy forces. OPTIONAL RULE Some cavalry and fanatic infantry may be forced to make a charge at the enemy after they have won a melee. Troops that are compelled to charge must make a charge declaration in their next turn so long as there is at least one enemy unit that is a valid target. This may be at the unit they have just defeated or at any enemy unit - they do not have to charge the closest enemy but it must be a valid target - within range, arc and unobstructed. The period specific rules will tell you which troops may be affected and what their chances of 'suffering' this rule. Of course if they are not forced to charge next turn they may still do so if they wish.

Special Disordered Cavalry Rule If mounted troops are fighting in melee against troops behind a linear obstacle such as a wall, against elephants, against troops in woods or against a square then they will only hit on a die roll of 6 - no matter what other modifiers they may have. This applies to the first and any subsequent rounds of melee.

Special March Column in Melee Rule If a unit is in march column and becomes engaged in melee then it will only hit on a D6 roll of 6 - no matter what other modifiers they may have. This applies to the first and any subsequent rounds of melee.

Drawn Melee If it is a draw after the first round of melee then move straight onto the second round and keep doing this till one side or the other has won. During the second round of melee all stands in every unit get to fight no matter which rank they are in or whether they are in contact. Some of the melee dice roll modifiers may no longer apply after the first round of combat. Those that do not apply are: target behind linear obstacle, in building or uphill cavalry receiving a charge at the halt shock troops charging and in addition if a unit charged its opponent in the flank or rear they will not get to roll double the number of melee dice in subsequent rounds of melee. The loser of the melee is forced to rout (12”/20”) if already unsteady or is forced to retire unsteady (2D6/3D6) if currently in good morale. There are no break tests or morale tests for winner or loser, the loser is simply forced away and its morale gets worse.

deployed when they opt to flee the crew will abandon their guns and flee 2D6” if foot artillery and 3D6” if horse. If the artillery piece is limbered the crew may opt to flee but will take their guns with them again they flee 2D6 or 3D6 depending on whether they are foot or horse artillery. Like skirmishers any artillery stand that flees will count that flee move as its entire movement for that turn - it may not now move and/or deploy or fire. Artillery will roll 1D6 per stand engaged and hit on a 4+ with all of the usual modifiers. The attackers will get to fight with any stands in contact and any that are overlaps - just as normal. Artillery stands will always count as unformed troops whether they are limbered or deployed.

Shock Cavalry Special Rule Shock cavalry will always rout any infantry or artillery unit that they beat in melee, even if that unit is in good morale at the start of the melee. They do not automatically rout other cavalry though.

Multiple Units in Melee You should work out which stands are attacking which enemy units and calculate the casualties as normal but the total casualties are applied to the melee result to see which side has won as one large melee. No matter how many leaders are involved only one leader per side has his bonus applied but you may choose the highest leader involved to add his bonus to your side’s result.

Capturing Guns If artillery stands are forced to retire as a result of losing a melee they will take their guns with them. If they are forced to rout then the guns are considered lost to the enemy.

Squares in Melee Artillery in Melee When artillery stands are charged they will have two options - they may either stand and fire or they may flee. If the artillery are already

A square that is beaten back will change formation to attack column - it may not move while in square.

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All units start the battle in good morale but as it goes on they will be forced to take morale tests as a result of losing casualties. When a unit loses a stand or a single figure stand takes a casualty during a turn it will have to take a morale test during the morale phase. If it fails then its morale will get worse - if it passes then its morale will remain the same. When a unit reaches 50% or more losses in stands it suffers far more badly from morale effects - this is described as 'The 50% Rule' which is gone into in more detail later on in this chapter. There are 3 levels of morale that a unit can be in: Good morale is the standard starting status of all units and stands and it cannot get better than good. The next level down is unsteady - this is a combination of disorder and failing morale. Unsteady troops will suffer penalties to firing and in combat and if they fail a morale test will go to the next level down which is Rout. Routing troops have lost all semblance of organisation and they are simply thinking of saving their own skins. Routing troops may be rallied so long as they have not suffered too much so far during the battle.

Morale Tests Towards the end of each turn just before the melee phase there is a morale phase where every unit that has lost a stand or is a single figure stand that takes a casualty will have to take a morale test. In large games or those where one player has a lot of units to control it may be worthwhile marking units that need to take a test to help you remember. Only one test will be taken per unit per turn, no matter how many things are affecting them or how many stands or casualties they have taken. Note that even though a charging morale test has slightly different modifiers to a normal morale test it is still the only morale test that the unit will have to take this turn. OPTIONAL RULE Sauve Qui Peut! A unit may voluntarily rout during the morale phase no matter what its current morale status is, it is treated exactly as any other unit that has routed in this phase. The starting morale for a unit depends on its morale class. Green start at 5, Regular at 4 and Veteran at 3. To pass a morale test the unit rolls a D6 and needs to get a result equal to or greater than their starting morale number. The modifiers on the morale table are applied to the D6 die roll. No matter the modifiers a roll of 6 will always pass and 1 will always fail. If the morale test is failed the unit morale will get one level worse. From good to unsteady and from unsteady to rout. This is a sliding scale up and down so a unit in good morale must go from good to unsteady morale before it goes to rout (though there are some melee results that can change that). Likewise if a unit that is currently routing passes its rally test it then goes up one level to unsteady rather than directly to good morale.

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Morale Test Die Roll Modifiers There are two parts to the morale test modifiers, some will apply at all times and others only when a unit is charging.

more chance the charge will be pushed home. Charging against enemy behind an obstacle or in a building has the opposite effect and makes a successful charge more difficult.

Supported Charge Those that apply all the time are the modifiers for when a commander is attached to the unit, the number of stands that a unit has lost so far in the battle and whether the unit is occupying buildings. Charging morale test modifiers are used in addition to the three given above. If the charge is going in against the flank or rear of a target or the target is unformed then there is

If the chargers have support then there is more chance that the charge will be pressed home. To count as supported a unit must have another unbroken, formed, friendly unit facing the same general direction to its rear or flank and within 6”. All cavalry, shock infantry and infantry in attack columns always count as supported for charging morale purposes.

Morale Table Green 5, Regular 4, Veteran 3 Morale die roll modifiers that apply to all morale and rally tests For each commander attached to the unit

+1 (or optional rules)

For each stand the unit has lost so far this battle

-1

Occupying Buildings

+1

Morale die roll modifiers that are only applied to a morale test during a charge Charging against enemy flank

+1

Charging against enemy rear or formed charging against unformed

+2

Charging against enemy defending linear obstacle or in building

-1

Charging while supported

+1

OPTIONAL RULE If you are using the variable commanders ability optional rule then a commander may add more or less than +1 to the morale of a unit and in exceptional cases may allow that unit to re-roll its morale die roll.

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Results of Morale Test

An unsteady unit that fails a morale test will rout - 12” for infantry and 20” for cavalry.

If a unit passes its test then it carries on as normal, if it fails then its morale becomes one level worse.

The 50% Rule

A good morale unit that fails a morale test will become unsteady immediately and retire 2D6” for infantry and 3D6” for cavalry. If a good morale unit fails a test while it is charging then instead of retiring it will halt at 2” away from the enemy and become unsteady. You'll find that this is generally a pretty crappy position to be in! OPTIONAL RULE There are 3 cases where a unit may not have to retire if it gets an unsteady result: If the unit occupies a building or is behind hard cover it can choose to remain where it is. If the unit has a general attached it may opt to stay where it is. If the unit is an artillery stand it may opt to remain where it is. None of these options apply to a unit that has just lost a melee - they must still retire.

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When a unit is reduced to half or less its starting number of stands it may no longer try to rally. This means that a routing unit will continue off the table and an unsteady unit will remain unsteady for the rest of the game or until routed. In addition to this the unit will automatically fail any morale test that it has to take. If the unit is already unsteady then it will obviously rout if forced to take a test that it will fail. If the unit is not yet unsteady it still fails the test automatically but only becomes unsteady as a result. You will find that as a result of the 50% rule some units will be able to remain on the table after they have taken heavy losses but if you insist on keeping them in the thick of the fighting it will only be a matter of time before they are broken and routed. If you are using the Army and Force Morale rules then it makes sense not to simply use a unit 'till it breaks.

OPTIONAL RULE There are 3 cases where a unit may not have to retire if it gets an unsteady result:

Single Stands and Morale Single stands take morale in a slightly different way - they take a test from fire casualties during the morale phase of each turn that they take a hit. Artillery are unsteady as a result of the first test they fail and will limber and retire 2D6” if foot or 3D6” if horse artillery. If they are already unsteady and they fail a second test then they rout - if they have the guns limbered they will rout with them, if the guns are unlimbered the crew will rout and abandon their guns. They may try to recover their unsteady status in exactly the same way as other infantry or cavalry units but if they rout they are simply removed from the table - they may not try to rally from rout.

If the unit occupies a building or is behind hard cover it can choose to remain where it is. If the unit has a general attached it may opt to stay where it is. If the unit is an artillery stand it may opt to remain where it is. None of these options apply to a unit that has just lost a melee - they must still retire. Single stands get modifiers to their morale test just like other units except that they do not get any -1 modifiers for casualties that they have already taken so far. Single stands do not suffer from the 50% rule. OPTIONAL RULE If artillery have routed they may try to rally and stay in the fight.

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Rally A unit may attempt to rally from routing or being unsteady. If it is currently routing and it fails its rally test then it immediately routs its rout movement distance and in addition loses another stand. If this stand loss puts the unit at 50% or more losses in stands then you should simply remove the unit as it will no longer be able to rally (as per the 50% rule). You will find that units disperse as they rout and if you do not rally them early on they will get to a point where it is impossible for them pass a rally test. A routing unit that passes its rally test will halt unsteady on the spot. It may rally in any formation and with any facing that it likes. During the movement phase of the turn it may act as would any other unit - though obviously will still be unsteady. OPTIONAL RULE You do not have to remove units that get to 50% losses in stands as they are still valid charge targets. If you use this optional rule routing units will continue routing until they either disperse or leave the table. An unsteady unit that passes a rally test is now immediately back to good order. It will keep its current facing and formation and may now act as normal during the movement phase.

Taking a Rally Test To take a rally test a unit simply takes a test exactly as for morale as above - it cannot get worse by taking this test so an unsteady unit that fails to rally will not rout instead. As usual a roll of 6 will always pass no matter the modifiers and a roll of 1 will always fail. The modifiers that apply to a rally test are the commander attachment bonus, unit in buildings bonus and losses so far modifiers exactly as per a normal morale test. The starting number of the rally test is also the same as for a morale test - Veteran 3, Regular 4 and Green 5. The player will roll a D6, modify the die roll and simply needs to get a number greater than or equal to the starting morale level of the troops that are trying to rally.

A routing unit may voluntarily continue to rout if that player wishes it to and if this is the case it will not make a rally test. This may well be because the unit would rally in a terrible position, if the player wanted the unit off table or simply out of the way of a fresh unit. Either way because the unit is routing and failed to rally it will still lose another stand.

OPTIONAL RULE Some things will allow a unit to re-roll its morale dice a certain number of times during a battle. If the unit has a commander attached and that commander has a re-roll or if the unit itself is Elite - either of these will give the unit a morale re-roll attempt.

A unit that is the target of a charge, is charging itself or has evaded may not attempt to rally, either from routing or from being unsteady.

Only one re-roll may be made for any single rally or morale test. If an Elite unit had an excellent commander with 2 re-rolls attached they could still only try to change a failed morale roll once. You may never re-roll rerolls!

Don't forget that a unit at 50% or less strength in stands will always fail any morale or rally test so could not rally from routing or recover from being unsteady.

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See optional rules for commanders and Elite class units.

Example A British Veteran infantry unit that started the battle at 7 stands has lost 2 stands so far today and is currently unsteady. During the rally phase it attempts to rally itself - as it is Veteran it requires a total of 3 or better on a D6. This roll is modified by -2 because of the 2 stands that the unit has lost so far. If the D6 rally roll is 1-4 the unit will remain unsteady, if the roll is 5-6 it will rally to good morale status. The actual roll is 3 so the unit remains unsteady. Next turn the unit takes another stand loss and during the morale phase it fails its morale test - it would have required a roll of 6 because of losing 3 stands so far this battle, there were no other modifiers. As a result the morale goes down one more level from unsteady to rout - the unit is immediately routed its full distance of 12”. The unit currently has 4 stands remaining from the 7 that it started with, not yet at 50% so there is a chance that it can rally.

During the end turn phase the British player attaches the Brigade commander to the unit, he is a +1 leader with a single reroll that has not been used yet this game. In the very next rally phase the player attempts to rally this unit. The modifiers to the die roll are -3 for the stands lost so far but +1 for the leader attachment. As the Veteran troops require a 3 or better to pass their test they will need to roll a 5 or 6 to rally. The player rolls and gets a 2 - the unit would immediately lose another stand and be moved its full rout distance. This would put the unit at more than 50% losses and the 50% rule would apply - there would be no chance that the unit could rally from now on and it would simply be removed from the table. However, as the leader attached has a re-roll (see optional leader rules) the player has one attempt to re-roll that failed rally test. He rolls and this time gets a 5 so the unit is rallied unsteady - on the spot in whatever facing or formation that owning player likes.

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

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There are various things in Rank & File that are not represented by units - these are single stands and are most often artillery stands but can also be wagons, elephants and machine guns.

Artillery Each artillery piece on the table can represent 1-2 guns to a whole battery depending on what scale of game you are playing. Players can either base their crew separately or as an integral part of the base along with the cannon - either is suitable. Artillery may be Light, Medium, Heavy or Siege and can be divided further into horse and foot. Different periods will have different types of guns available and you should simply choose the gun type that is firing from the artillery table.

Elephants Siege guns may not move at all during a battle and count as heavy artillery - the low rate of fire of these weapons cancels out any extra damage they may inflict. OPTIONAL RULE Artillery hit points. If you want to give the advantage to larger batteries of 8 guns rather than 6 for example then you can adjust the number of hits that each gun model can take. 2 models representing a 6 gun battery would have the usual 3 hits each, those same two models representing an 8 gun battery would have 4 hits each.

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Are always represented by single stands each stand may represent a variable number of actual elephants depending on the scale of battle that you are fighting. Elephants fighting against infantry do so as usual, those fighting against cavalry make the cavalry hit chance worse. Cavalry attacking elephants will only hit on a roll of 6, no matter what the situation or modifiers, see the special disordered cavalry in melee section of Chapter 6. OPTIONAL RULE Elephant Stampede Should an elephant stand fail a morale test it may stampede. Roll a further D6 and on a result of 1-2 it has stampeded. Note that this stampede test applies to any failed morale test - whether that test is to rout the elephant or just make it become unsteady, it does not apply to rally tests. Should the elephant stampede, turn it 180 degrees and roll 3D6, this is the number of inches it will stampede - any unit that is in its way will be forced to take a morale test this turn if it is not doing so already.

Photo courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

Wagons Any wagon, caisson, carts and so on will count as single figure stands. They may not appear on the battlefield very often but as part of a battle, campaign or scenario you may have wagons on table. They have no firing ability and very moderate melee ability and this reflects the drivers and guards defending the wagons. In melee a wagon will get to roll 1D6 and will only hit on a roll of 6 - no modifiers apply. Wagons are never unsteady - they are either in good morale or routed. If routed they may not be rallied. When routing the wagons may either be abandoned by their drivers or they may try to flee with the wagons. If routed as a

result of fire the wagons flee, if routed as a result of melee the drivers flee and the wagons are captured. If destroyed by any means the wagons should remain on the table where they were 'killed' - but only if this is important for the game, otherwise they have a tendency to get in the way.

Machine Guns Like artillery pieces these represent a number of weapons according to the scale of the game that you are playing. The crew may be integral to the base or separate but in most ways they will act as artillery stands. For the different fire effects of these weapons please see the 'Industrial Age' period specific rules.

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OPTIONAL RULE There are 3 cases where a unit may not have to retire if it gets an unsteady result: If the unit occupies or is behind hard cover it can choose to remain where it is. If the unit has a general attached it may opt to stay where it is. If the unit is an artillery stand it may opt to remain where it is. None of these options apply to a unit that has just lost a melee - they must still retire. OPTIONAL RULE If artillery have routed with their guns they may try to rally and stay in the fight. OPTIONAL RULE Battery morale. Rather than testing morale by stand you may test by battery. For example if you are playing a small scale game where each gun model only represents 1-2 guns then you will likely have them grouped together as a battery.

Single Stands and Morale Single stands take morale in a slightly different way to normal units. They take a test from fire casualties at the end of each turn that they take a hit rather than when they lose a stand. Single stands are unsteady as a result of the first test they fail and will retire 2D6” if foot artillery or 3D6” if horse artillery or elephants. If they are already unsteady and they fail a second test then they rout - if artillery have the guns limbered they will rout with them, if the guns are unlimbered the crew will rout and abandon their guns. They may try to recover their unsteady status in exactly the same way as other infantry or cavalry units but if any single stand routs they are simply removed from the table - they may not try to rally from rout.

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Single stands apply all the usual modifiers to their morale tests just like other units but they do not get any -1 modifiers for casualties that they have already taken so far. Single stands do not suffer from the 50% rule. For Army Break Point purposes each single stand counts as one Army Point.

These skirmish rules assume that there are three ways you can represent skirmishers either with half the number of figures per stand as normal but with twice the number of stands, by simply spacing out your formed stands to twice their normal frontage or by using single figures spaced out to the appropriate frontage. If you are using single figures you should try to go for 2 figures to a 'half stand' and the usual 4 figures representing a stand - this should give you a good idea of the frontage they should occupy and lets your opponent know how many stands your skirmishers are representing. When the rules state that it takes 2 skirmish stands to give 1D6 in fire or melee we are basing this on the fact that your skirmishers are based as 'half' stands. Obviously if you are simply spacing out your full stands then each of those stands would get to roll 1D6. It is important to make sure that you space your skirmishers out to their proper frontage - large units in skirmish formation can take up a lot of space and this cuts down on the number of stands that you will be able to fire or melee with. If units that are supposed to be in skirmish order are crammed into a space that is obviously too small for them then the opposing player is perfectly entitled to ignore the -1 to hit modifier for shooting at skirmishers. Skirmishers stands are effectively half a stand so when you have received 3 hits on one of these units you would remove 2 'half' stands of figures but for morale this counts as one

stand of troops lost. No stands or figures are removed until the unit has received 3 hits. Skirmishers that are firing or in melee will receive one D6 for each pair of skirmish stands, ignore half stands that are left over they do not add anything. OPTIONAL RULE Certain weapons allow more or less than 1D6 to be rolled per firing stand. This applies to skirmishers as well as formed units so simply work out how many stands (or 'half' stands) and use that to determine the number of D6 rolled. Skirmish units do not have to flee from a charge, they may elect to stand if they wish, no matter what terrain they may be occupying. Skirmishers in rough going move their full distance but when crossing linear obstacles they will use up half of their movement distance as would formed units. Skirmishers can move full in any direction or formation, they do not have facing so they do not have to change facing to fire or move. However, you should make sure that when you move a skirmish unit no single stand exceeds its allotted movement distance. Interpenetration with or through skirmishers is allowed by all troops but you may not charge through them no matter what the troop type or formation.

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Skirmishers Blocking Movement Skirmish troops in the open do not block the movement of enemy formed units - this means that a skirmish unit must give way before the movement of an enemy formed unit. The enemy are not forced to charge the skirmishers, they simply have to advance towards them and the opposing player must withdraw his skirmishers so that all stands remain 2” away from the enemy. What this means is that you may not advance a skirmish unit up close to the enemy and halt their movement. If skirmishers are forced to give way in this manner they will always count as though they have moved their full distance so will suffer appropriate to hit penalties, they will also count as having used all of their movement for this turn if they had not done so already - no matter how far they actually had to give way. This rule only applies while skirmish troops are in the open - should they be in bad going, buildings, behind obstacles and so on they do not have to give way and may stand and hold their ground. It is possible for a unit to push skirmishers back from open ground into cover and in this case the skirmish unit may then stop giving way. The 'pushing' unit will simply halt having forced the skirmishers back as far as they can without actively charging them. No matter what type of terrain they occupy skirmish units do not have to flee from a charge, they may elect to stand if they wish. Obviously a formed unit does not have to push skirmishers away, they can charge or fire at them as usual. A formed unit that pushes skirmishers back during its movement may still fire with appropriate movement penalties as normal.

Skirmish Units Evading Charges When a skirmish unit is declared as the target of a charge they may immediately state that they want to flee from the charge. The fleeing troops roll 2D6 for infantry and 3D6 for cavalry - this is how far in inches they will be able to flee. The charging unit may now either occupy the ground that the skirmishers have fled from or continue their charge to its full distance engaging any enemy units that the charge may now reach - including the skirmish unit that has just fled. The skirmish unit that has fled is still able to fire in the fire phase - either at the unit that has just charged it or at any other target that presents itself. They will suffer the firing penalties for movement though - no matter how far they have actually moved during their evade.

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Skirmishers Screening Friendly Troops Small arms fire must be conducted against skirmishers if they are blocking the line of sight to other formed units behind them, this means that skirmishers will always be able to screen friendly units from small arms fire. Artillery have the option to ignore the skirmishers and fire at targets which they are screening. This is only allowed if the skirmishers are outside the close range band of the artillery which are firing. This means that skirmishers can draw the fire of artillery if they are close enough but at longer ranges the guns have the option to fire at the skirmishers or ignore them and fire at other units they may be masking.

Example In the diagram below all of the infantry are armed with smoothbore muskets - range 12” while the artillery stand (1) is light smoothbore - close range 6”, medium range 12” and long range 24”. The skirmishing unit (A) would have to be the target for both of the infantry units (2) and (3) - they do not have the option to fire through the skirmishers at the formed troops behind. The artillery stand (1) does have the option to either fire at the skirmishers or the formed unit (B) behind them because the screening skirmishers are outside the close range band (6”) of the artillery. If the skirmishers move a few inches closer to the guns (within 6”) the artillery stand would have no choice but to fire at the skirmishers.

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OPTIONAL RULE Commander quality may vary with some being poor and others excellent. If you want to distinguish between good and bad commanders you may use the following system, either rolling randomly for commanders at the start of each battle or - if playing a campaign or a historical battle - use the stats that fit a particular commander.

Command figures can represent many levels of leaders, from Regiment to Brigade to Corps and even Army Commanders. The commanders that you represent on the tabletop will depend on the level of game that you are playing. Each commander will have a selection of units that are subordinate to him, if a unit is not subordinate to that commander then he may not attach to them. This means that a Division commander would be able to attach to and affect any of the units within his Division but his two Brigade commanders would only be able to attach to the units in their particular Brigade or to units that had been attached to their Brigade - such as an artillery battery.

Commander ratings may vary from +0 to +2 and they may also allow re-rolls in the same way that Elite troops use theirs. The commander bonus is pretty self explanatory - if the bonus is +0 then they are pretty useless (apart from 'holding' unsteady troops if you use that optional rule) if they have +2 then they affect morale by two points rather than just one.

Leader Bonuses

Re-rolls are used when a commander is attached to a friendly unit - a commander with a re-roll will allow that unit to re-roll its morale or rally die roll if its fails a test. This is only used with morale and rally tests and not with other rolls that just happen to use the troops' morale level as a basis for the test (such as forming squares). A commander is limited to 0-2 re-rolls per battle according to his quality. Only one reroll may be used for any one failed morale or rally test - no matter how many re-rolls that commander or unit may have available.

A commander will add plus 1 to all morale and rally tests for any unit he is attached to. A leader may move up to 30” and can both detach and attach to units during the move. Commander bonuses are cumulative - two commanders attached to a unit would change its morale by 2 points rather than just 1 point. Roll separately for both if a leader casualty is possible due to casualties inflicted on that unit.

Random Commander Quality Table

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D6 Die Rolls

1st Roll - Leader Bonus

2nd Roll - Re-rolls Available

1

+0

0

2

+1

0

3

+1

0

4

+1

0

5

+1

1

6

+2

2

Leader Attachment Leaders are attached and detached from units in this phase. A leader that detaches from a unit is simply placed near to but not touching the unit that it has just left and is now free to move as usual during the movement phase of the turn. A leader that wants to attach to a unit must be within its movement distance of some part of that unit and is simply moved and placed alongside so that it is touching some part of that unit. The attached leader must now remain with that unit until the next leader attachment phase - unless he is killed, wounded or the unit is dispersed or removed from the table. Should it happen that a leader attaches to a unit which is removed from the table during the rally phase that leader is still free to move during the upcoming movement phase as normal. Leaders may detach from one unit and attach to another in the same turn so long as they have the movement distance to do so. The end turn phase is the only time that you may attach a leader to a unit.

“. . . after a hurried march of 2 miles we reached the field of battle & went immediately into action, through a piece of woods [West Woods] facing a terrific fire of artillery and musketry, several of our men were killed & wounded in the woods & many hesitated and took shelter behind trees & could not be forced forward, when we passed the woods we crossed a fence & under a most galling fire of grape & canister from the artillery & musketry & many of our force could not be rallied beyond the fence, I drew my pistol and threatened to shoot & scolded but with very futile effect, I mounted the fence & moved forward exposed to a terrible fire which swept away every thing before it & saw our Regt. breaking & the whole gave way in confusion & retreat in disorder. I tried to rally them in the woods behind the brow of a hill, but was not aided by our Col. Commandant, who led the retreat nor listened to by the men.”

Leader Bonus in Melee A unit that is involved in a melee and which also has a leader attached may add +1 to the number of hits that it has caused for purposes of determining who has won or lost the melee. Note that this bonus does not actually inflict any casualties, it is simply added to give the unit with the attached leader a better chance to win the melee that has just been fought. No matter how many leaders or their quality you may only gain a +1 bonus to the melee resolution. You may apply it to each round of the melee if there is more than one but multiple commanders attached to units will not increase this bonus to more than +1, not even if there are multiple units on one side or the other.

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OPTIONAL RULE At the start of the battle one player will be designated CinC. He should issue orders to the other commanders, they can be as brief or as detailed as you like but the subordinate must follow them. The only way that these orders can be changed is by the commanders being in base to base contact with each other or for a messenger to be sent from the CinC figure to the subordinate figure. Once this messenger has reached his destination the player may receive and begin to act upon his new orders.

Leader Casualties Commanders that are attached to units will be at risk of becoming casualties if the unit that they are attached to takes losses from fire or melee. Each time that a unit loses a stand the opposing player will get to roll to see if they can affect the leaders that are attached to that unit. Roll once per leader per stand that has been lost. So, if two leaders are attached to a unit that has just lost 2 stands the opposing player would roll twice for each separate leader with any results of '6' allowing him to roll for effects on the leader casualty table. Commanders may attach to individual stands if they wish but rather than taking a commander casualty test when the unit loses a stand he will instead be at risk each time that stand loses a casualty.

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A messenger may move 30” each turn and is moved in the movement phase just like commanders. He may not come within 2” of any enemy unit or stand, except for enemy commanders and messengers who do not count. The commander receiving the message may act upon it as soon as it is received but they may in turn need to send messengers to their subordinate units. To represent the different abilities of commanders and the effectiveness of their staff system you can restrict the number of messengers a commander may send each turn, alter the distance that those messengers travel or introduce a chance that the message simply does not get through or is acted upon when it actually does arrive.

Leader Casualty Table D6 Roll

Result

1

Just a scratch - no further effect.

2-3

Wounded - the leader is immediately moved back to his own base line. During each turn end phase just before leader attachment roll 1D6 for each injured leader - on a roll of 1-3 they may return to the fight - on any other roll they are still receiving medical attention.

4-5

Severely wounded - the leader is out of the battle for the rest of the day and may well die at a later stage. If in melee roll 1D6 - on a roll of 1-3 the leader is captured - 4-6 he is recovered by his own side.

6

He’s dead Jim.

Each time a stand is removed by fire or melee and it has leaders attached then roll once per stand lost for each leader - on a D6 roll of 6 roll again on the leader casualty table.

Example A unit of 6 stands has 2 commanders attached - (A) & (B). During the fire phase the unit is unlucky enough to get hit by artillery fire and lose 2 stands. The firing player immediately rolls to see whether he can cause a leader casualty to either of the commanders attached to that unit. He picks a leader (A) and rolls a D6 for each stand lost needing a '6' - the actual rolls are 3 and 5 so nothing happens. Now 2 rolls are made for the second leader (B) and this time the player rolls 3 and 6. This means that they now get to see how badly wounded the leader is. The second roll on the leader casualty table is a '4' - severely wounded. (B) is now immediately removed from the table and will play no further part in the battle.

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Armies will not stand and fight until the last units on each side are chasing each other around the battlefield - at some point the army morale will start to crumble and a general retreat is ordered. In Rank & File this is represented by each side being given an Army Break Point.

The 50% rule still applies so any unit down to 50% or more losses in stands will still automatically fail its morale test and will still be unable to rally.

An army needs to work out its number of Army Points to be able to see when it reaches its Army Break Point. Each multi stand unit is worth 2 Army Points, each individual stand is worth 1 Army Point no matter what its type command stands have no effect on the Army Break Point (ABP).

To count as 'lost' for ABP a unit must either be totally destroyed or is routing with no chance of rally (at 50% or more losses in stands). If there is a chance that a unit could rally then it is not counted as lost yet and does not contribute to the points needed to reach the ABP.

Add the total Army Points available and then divide by 2 (round any fractions up). This gives you your Army Break Point (ABP). As you lose units compare the points lost with the ABP - if you get to the point where the number of Army Points lost is equal to or greater than the ABP then your army has reached its break point.

The ABP is only checked at the very end of each turn, not part way through.

The result of reaching your ABP is that no unit in that force may attempt to rally any more for the remainder of this battle - its morale can only get worse, never better. It is possible for both sides to be at ABP at the same time and perfectly possible for an army that has reached its ABP to win the battle. A unit may still take and pass morale tests as normal, it is simply that once they have started to lose morale by becoming unsteady or routing they may not attempt to rally during the rally phase. This allows fresh or good quality troops to keep on fighting but when they start to waver it

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is impossible to make them steady again once the ABP has been reached.

OPTIONAL RULE Force Break Point. For large battles you may break the army down into sub-divisions that will each have their own Force Break Point. When the force has reached its break point all of the units within that sub-division will suffer the break point penalties so they will not be able to attempt to rally. This allows you to break your army up and the damage that occurs to one Division may well break that Division but the remainder of the army does not suffer as a result. It is important to note that the Army Break Point still applies and that even if a sub formation has not reached its Force Break Point it will still suffer if the army has reached its break point.

Age of Reason 1740 - 1792

Special Rules

Artillery

Battalion Guns

Siege guns may not move at all - not even to change facing.

Some units will have battalion guns available, if this is the case then that unit will get one extra D6 to add to its normal firing dice. This extra D6 uses all of the same small arms modifiers as the rest of the firing unit even though it is actually an artillery piece. This is done for the sake of simplicity, the battalion gun’s range is also limited to that of the firing unit.

Heavy guns may not limber, move or prolong but may change facing as normal. Medium guns take an entire turn to limber but unlimber as normal. Light guns act as per the normal rules.

Shock Cavalry Cuirassier

Shock Foot Jacobites

Formations No interpenetration allowed for any formed troops no matter their type. Infantry formations allowed: line, march column, square, skirmish, mass. Cavalry formations allowed: line, march column, skirmish, mass, double line.

When the unit fires simply calculate the number of stands and the number of D6 that will be rolled as normal and then add another D6 for the battalion gun. All modifiers to all dice are then calculated as normal. If the firing unit is splitting its fire then the extra battalion gun D6 may only be allocated to one of the targets - it is up to the firing player which target they choose. A battalion gun is always considered to be in the right place at the right time. This means that even if only one stand on the end of a line can see and fire at a target you may assume that the battalion gun can also see and fire at that target so will fire with 2D6 rather than 1D6. When a unit with a battalion gun reaches 50% or more losses in stands it loses its bonus D6 and the battalion gun will have no further effect.

Line wheel maximum 45 degrees for infantry 90 degrees for cavalry. No oblique movement Skirmishers must be deployed as skirmish or formed at the start of the battle and may not change between the two after that. Cavalry start the battle either mounted or dismounted - they do not have the ability to mount and dismount throughout the battle.

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Horse & Musket 1792 - 1848 Artillery Siege guns may not move at all - not even to change facing. Heavy guns take an entire turn to limber or unlimber and may not fire when they do so. Medium and light guns follow the usual rules.

Shock Cavalry Cuirassier, Dragoons, Heavy Dragoons

Shock Infantry Any formed foot that have 'Elite' status (see optional rules page 6), fanatical 'native' infantry, revolutionary troops but only if in attack column.

Formations Formed units may interpenetrate. Infantry formations allowed: line, attack column, march column, square, mass, skirmish. Cavalry formations allowed: line, march column, mass, double line, skirmish. Line wheel maximum 90 degrees for infantry or cavalry, 22.5 degrees oblique movement. Skirmishers may freely change from formed to skirmish if the unit has this ability, the entire unit must be in one formation or the other. Cavalry start the battle either mounted or dismounted - they do not have the ability to mount and dismount throughout the battle.

Special Rules Uncontrolled Cavalry Shock cavalry that win a melee may sometime be forced to break through next turn and continue to charge at further enemy targets. When you have completed the melee and seen which side has won you should roll a D6 to see whether the winning shock cavalry are affected. On a D6 roll of 1-2 the cavalry must declare a charge next turn if there is a target available to them. If there are multiple targets that they can charge they may choose which to attack but it must be a valid target, with clear line of sight, within charge range and arc. With British heavy cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars the chance of being forced to charge next turn is 1-4 on a D6 rather than the usual 1-2. You may modify the chances as you see fit for the troop types and nationality based on how 'uncontrolled' the troops were historically. Cavalry that pass their 'uncontrolled' test may still declare a charge as usual if they wish.

Battalion Guns

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The battalion gun rules will apply to various armies throughout this period and you should use the rules from the 'Age of Reason' section.

The Industrial Age 1848 - 1900 Artillery Siege guns may not move at all - not even to change facing. All other artillery use the usual rules.

Shock Cavalry Cuirassier

Shock Infantry Garibaldini, Confederate infantry of Veteran or higher morale class, native infantry armed primarily with melee weapons.

Formations Formed units may interpenetrate. Any formation is allowed for infantry or cavalry.

When a unit armed with breech loading weapons fires you calculate the number of dice as usual but then multiply the amount by 1.5 - rounding any fractions down. For example a line of 7 stands of Prussian Fusiliers armed with Dreyse needleguns in 1870 would fire with 10D6 (7 multiplied by 1.5 is 10.5 rounded down to 10). All modifiers, firing restrictions and rules apply as usual except that you multiply the firing dice by 1.5. When splitting fire you split the fire of stands not dice so split fire by stands first and then work out the actual amount of D6 that will be rolled afterwards.

Mitrailleuse and Gatling These early machineguns fire as per small arms and have their own row on the small arms fire table. In all other ways they are treated as light artillery and use the artillery rules for movement, limbering and unlimbering, movement modifiers and distances.

Lines may refuse flanks. Line wheel - no limit for foot or mounted, 45 degrees oblique movement. Skirmishers may freely change from formed to skirmish if the unit has this ability. The entire unit must be in one formation or the other. Cavalry may mount or dismount throughout the battle as required if they have that ability.

Special Rules

Refused Flanks A unit does not have to maintain a single, straight line and may refuse one or both flanks to face threats or engage enemy units in fire fights. If a unit refuses a flank then the whole unit will have counted as having made a formation change for purposes of firing modifiers.

Infantry Charged by Cavalry Overhead Shell or Shrapnel Fire They do not suffer the -1 firing penalty during this period.

Breech Loading Weapons Breech loading rifles and carbines have a greater rate of fire than normal muskets. Various nations had different tactics and doctrines for using their new, improved small arms capability but these rules have simplified these into one single rule.

Usually artillery need to be on a higher elevation to fire over the heads of intervening obstacles and troops. When artillery use shell or shrapnel they may fire at targets that are blocked by an intervening obstacle. To do this both the target and the firer must be at least 8” away from the intervening obstacle. This fire will incur the -1 hindrance modifier even though this does not normally apply to artillery.

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The Turn Order Charge Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Rally Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Roll For Initiative

Highest side chooses to move first or second

First Side Movement Second Side Movement Firing Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Morale Phase

Both sides, simultaneous

Melee Phase

Both sides, side which won the initiative decides which order

End Turn Phase

Check for Army or Force Break Point, attach and detach leaders

Movement Distances

Infantry / Foot Artillery

Cavalry / Horse Artillery

Line or Double Line

8”

16”

Column, Mass or Skirmish

12”

20”

Light and Medium Artillery

12”

16”

Heavy Artillery

8”

NA

Manhandle Light Artillery

4”

4”

Manhandle Medium Artillery

2”

2”

Manhandle Heavy Artillery

NA

NA

Retiring Due to Melee or Morale

2D6”

3D6”

Routing Due to Melee or Morale

12”

20”

Flee From Charge

2D6”

3D6”

Charge distances are the same as normal movement distances

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Artillery Fire Table

Range (Number of D6 rolled)

Type

Close

Medium

Long

Early / Poor Light

4” (2D6)

8” (1D6)

16” (1D6)

Early / Poor Medium

6” (2D6)

12” (1D6)

24” (1D6)

Early / Poor Heavy

8” (3D6)

16” (2D6)

32” (1D6)

Light Smoothbore

6” (3D6)

12” (1D6)

24” (1D6)

Medium Smoothbore

8” (4D6)

16” (2D6)

32” (1D6)

Heavy Smoothbore

10” (4D6)

20” (2D6)

40” (1D6)

Light Rifled

10” (2D6)

20” (2D6)

40” (1D6)

Medium Rifled

12” (3D6)

24” (2D6)

48” (1D6)

Heavy Rifled

15” (3D6)

30” (2D6)

60” (1D6)

Point blank range is 2” in front of the gun for double canister - roll the same number of D6 as normal but the base to hit number is 3+ rather than 4+

Small Arms Fire Table Weapon

Close Range

Long Range

Optional Movement and Firing

Bow / Sling

4”

8”

No movement modifiers

Thrown Weapons

4”

-

No movement modifiers

Early / Poor Musket

4”

8”

Up to half -1, half and over - no firing

Smoothbore Musket

6”

12”

Any movement -1

Smoothbore Carbine

4”

8”

Any movement -1

Rifled Carbine

5”

10”

Up to half - no modifier, half and over - 1

Rifled Musket

8”

16”

Up to half - no modifier, half and over - 1

Chassepot

10”

20”

Up to half - no modifier, half and over - 1

Mitrailleuse / Gatling

10”

20”

As artillery - see period specific rules

Small Arms and Artillery Fire Modifiers Firing unit is unsteady

-1

Firing unit has moved

-1

Or use optional rules

Artillery that have taken 1 or more hits

-1

Optional rule

Infantry charged by cavalry

-1

Or see period specific rules

Target is skirmishers or deployed artillery

-1

Target in light cover

-1

Does not apply to artillery

Target in heavy cover

-2

Only -1 for artillery

Target is at long range

-1

Does not apply to artillery

Target is more than 1 stand deep or limbered artillery or in square or firing down the flank

+1

Hindrance between target and firer

-1

Does not apply to artillery

Base to hit number is 4+ on a D6. A roll of 6 always hits (or use optional rules)

Melee Table You are unsteady

-1

You are in deeper formation than the enemy

+1

Opponent is defending linear obstacle, in building or uphill of you

-1

Formed troops against unformed troops

+2

Green morale class

-1

Veteran morale class

+1

Cavalry receiving a charge at the halt

-1

Horse mounted fighting against camel mounted

-1

Shock troops charging against non-shock troops

+1

Foot vs. mounted

-1

Base to hit number is 4+ on a D6. A roll of 6 will always hit and 1 will always miss.

Morale Table Green 5, Regular 4, Veteran 3 Morale die roll modifiers that apply to all morale and rally tests For each commander attached to the unit

+1 (or optional rules)

For each stand the unit has lost so far this battle

-1

Occupying Buildings

+1

Morale die roll modifiers that are only applied to a morale test during a charge Charging against enemy flank

+1

Charging against enemy rear or formed charging against unformed

+2

Charging against enemy defending linear obstacle or in building

-1

Charging while supported

+1

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These few pages briefly outline the way that the Rank & File rules work, this is a very simple example to show how the basic mechanics fit together. For the sake of simplicity the example does not use any of the optional, advanced or period specific rules.

The forces used are Seven Years War Prussians (Blue) and Austrians (White). All troops are regular morale class armed with smoothbore muskets, the artillery are medium foot. The commanders have the basic +1 morale modifier and the Austrian units have 6 stands each while the Prussian have 5.

0

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Turn 1 We join the first turn just after the movement phase - all of the Austrian battalions have advanced their full movement distance. It is now time to go onto the firing phase - this is simultaneous so it doesn't matter who fires first but for the purposes of this example we will always roll for the Prussians before the Austrians. The Prussian artillery fires directly ahead at unit (C), it is at medium range (up to 16”) and so will use 2D6, requiring a 4 or better on each dice to cause a casualty. Rolling 5,6 the Austrians are marked with 2 hits. Unit (3) has no targets within its maximum 12” range so may not fire. Unit (2) fires straight ahead with one dice per stand at unit (C), because of the 1 modifier for firing at long range it needs to roll 5 or better. Rolling 2,2,4,5,5 it causes 2 more hits on the Austrian unit which must now remove a stand and have the extra hit

Inches

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marked. The 'lost' stand is placed behind the unit as a reminder that it may still fire and also that unit (C) will require a morale test. Finally for the Prussians unit (1) fires and causes a single casualty to unit (A). The Austrian small arms fire is modified by -2 (-1 for long range and a further -1 for having moved and fired) which means that they need a 6 to score a hit. Unit (A) manages to cause one hit on unit (1) with its 6 dice but the 6 dice from unit (C) all miss. This concludes the firing phase. The only unit that requires a test during the morale phase is Austrian unit (C) who have lost a stand this turn. As regular class troops their starting morale is a 4 but the die roll is modified by -1 per stand lost so far, this means that they need to roll 5 or better to pass their test. Rolling a 6 the unit passes and continues as normal. As there is no melee phase the turn ends. This is where leaders may be attached or detached from units. The Austrian leader decides to attach to unit (C).

Turn 2 Nobody is within range to declare a charge so there is no charge declaration phase. Likewise there are no troops that need to rally so this phase is also skipped. During the initiative phase the Prussians gain the initiative and so will move first, however they decide to hold their ground with all troops and so it is now the Austrian movement. Both units (A) and (B) advance forwards, (A) moving into close range of Prussian unit (1). Unit (C) wheels slightly and advances towards unit (2) while unit (D) attempts to come alongside it and oppose the Prussian artillery and unit (3). Firing - again working through the Prussian units first unit (1) fires straight ahead at unit (A) - at this range there are no modifiers so any roll of 4 or better will cause a hit. The 5 dice rolls come up 4,4,4,5,6 - 5 hits! Added to the hit that unit (A) suffered last turn this removes 2 full stands from the unit. Unit (2) now fires at unit (C), again it has no modifiers and requires 4 or better to hit - rolling all 5 dice only results in one hit which is marked onto unit (C). The artillery continues to fire at unit (C) and is now within close range so gets to

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0 roll 4D6 (canister range) requiring 4 or more to hit, with rolls of 3,3,4,6 it causes 2 more hits which is enough to remove a stand and the unit is marked with the extra hit carried over. As the unit has lost a stand and it has a leader attached the Prussian player gets to roll to see if he can cause a leader casualty but does not manage to do so. Finally for the Prussians unit (3) fires at unit (C), it only has 3 stands within firing arc and range so rolls 3 dice but cause another 2 hits which is enough to remove a further stand from unit (C)! Again the Prussian player rolls to see if there is a leader casualty but once again the Austrian commander survives. Unit (C) is now down to 3 stands from its starting strength of 6 so will start to suffer from the 50% rule. The Austrian fire is more effective this turn. Unit (A) fires with 6 dice requiring 5 or better to hit and manages to score 3 hits on Prussian unit (1) - with the hit this unit has already suffered this is more than enough to remove a stand. Unit (C) fires straight ahead with 5 dice (the 'dead' stands still get to fire this turn as firing is deemed to be simultaneous) and manages to cause 2 hits on unit (2). Unit (D) is still out of range and unit (B) has its line of Sight blocked by unit (A) so that ends the firing phase.

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Inches

24

During the morale phase there are 3 units that have suffered the loss of one or more stands this turn. Unit (1) on the Prussian side rolls for its morale requiring 5 or better - its roll of 3 means that the unit will now be forced to retire unsteady. It rolls 2D6 (actual roll 6) and this is the number of inches that it is forced back. A shaken marker is now placed next to the unit. Austrian unit (A) has lost 2 stands and so will have a -2 penalty to its die roll which means that it needs to roll 6 to pass - luckily it does so and may carry on as usual. Unit (C) has taken 50% or more losses in stands and so it suffers 'the 50% rule'. This basically means that the unit may never attempt to rally and will automatically fail any morale test that it is forced to take. As it has lost one or more stands this turn it has to take a test and automatically fails - no dice roll is needed. Unit (C) will now become unsteady and is forced to retire 2D6” (10” rolled). There are no melees to take place so we immediately move onto the end turn phase. The Austrian commander leaves unit (C) as his morale bonus would have no effect on them now that they are at half or less strength.

Turn 3 During the charge phase the Austrian player declares that he wants to charge unit (A) against unit (1). There are no other charges so unit (A) is immediately moved to within 2” of unit (1) before moving onto the rally phase. There are two unsteady units on the table but neither of them will get a chance to rally this turn. Austrian unit (C) is at 50% and may not rally while Prussian unit (1) is the target of a charge and may not rally! The Prussians once again win the initiative roll but their only movement is to advance unit (3) so that it is definitely within range of Austrian unit (D). During the Austrian movement all 3 units advance, this includes unit (C) which can still act even though it is unsteady.

The combined Prussian fire manages to do 4 hits to unit (D) and 3 more to unit (C) which removes a stand from each unit. Even though unit (1) is being charged it still fires during this phase. It would normally hit on 4 or more with a D6 but as it is unsteady it only hits on 5+, rolling 4 dice it manages 2 hits - not enough to remove a stand and force a morale test on unit (A). The Austrian fire from units (B), (C) and (D) is ineffective and does not manage to remove any further stands - unit (A) may not fire as it is charging. During the morale phase Austrian unit (C) will rout - this is because it is already unsteady and after losing a stand this turn it will take a morale test. As it is at 50% or less strength and suffering from the 50% rule it automatically fails any morale test it has to take. Unit (D) also tests and fails - retiring 7” and becoming unsteady.

Moving onto the melee - the Austrian unit (A) did not lose a stand this turn so does not have to take a morale test - as such the charge is successful and the unit is moved into contact with the Prussians. Both sides now work out how many dice they will roll and what the chance is for them to hit. The basic chance to hit is 4 or better on a D6 but the Prussians suffer -1 to their die roll for being unsteady and will require 5+ to hit. Both sides have 4 stands and they are all in contact with the enemy so both roll 4D6. The Austrians roll 2,2,3 and 4 for one hit while the Prussians manage 3,4,6,6 and cause 2 hits. This results in the Prussians winning the melee and the Austrians will be forced back 2D6” and become unsteady. Had the Prussians lost the melee they would have been routed as they were already unsteady and would have been reduced one more morale level - even though they did not lose any stands. At the end of Turn 3 the Austrian attack is in trouble. Unit (A) is at 50% strength and is unsteady with no chance to rally, unit (C) is routing with no chance to rally, unit (D) has lost a stand and is unsteady but may still rally only unit (B) is in good morale status and at full strength. On the Prussian side unit (1) is looking weak but the remainder of the force should be a match for the remaining Austrian troops.

Hopefully this short example gives you an idea of the basic rule mechanics and how the various phases of the turn work with each other. The full rules include extra morale classes, leadership bonuses, formation and movement restrictions, variable weapon effectiveness, march movement, formation and army morale, ammunition, as well as many more detailed optional combat and firing rules. The period specific rules expand on these even further but the basic game mechanics themselves are designed to be simple to learn while remaining effective and flexible.

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The following is a sample formation from the Confederate order of battle at Gettysburg. Following the actual OB are the various formations that you would have on the table depending on the scale of battle that you were fighting.

Johnson's Division (16 guns / 6,433 men) Steuart's Brigade (2,121)

Nicholls Brigade (1,104)

1st Maryland - (400) 1st North Carolina - (377) 3rd North Carolina - (548) 10th Virginia - (276) 23rd Virginia - (251) 37th Virginia - (264)

1st Louisiana - (172) 2nd Louisiana - (236) 10th Louisiana - (226) 14th Louisiana - (281) 15th Louisiana - (186)

Stonewall Brigade (1,323)

Jones' Brigade (1,520)

2nd Virginia - (333) 4th Virginia - (257) 5th Virginia - (345) 27th Virginia - (148) 33rd Virginia - (236)

21st Virginia - (236) 25th Virginia - (280) 42nd Virginia - (265) 44th Virginia - (227) 48th Virginia - (265) 50th Virginia - (240)

Artillery (16 guns / 356 men) 1st Maryland Battery - (4-12 pdr Napoleons, 90) Alleghany (Virginia) Artillery - (2-12 pdr Napoleons, 2-3" Rifles, 91) Chesapeake (Maryland) Battery - (4-10 pdr Parrotts, 76) Lynchburg "Lee" (Virginia) Battery - (1-3" Rifle, 1-10 pdr Parrott, 2-20 pdr Parrotts, 90)

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Taking the division from the order of battle above and converting it to a ratio of 1:50 (1 stand = 50 men) for infantry and cavalry and 1:2 for artillery pieces we get the formation detailed below. The Break Point for this formation is calculated by adding 2 points for each formed unit (44) and 1 point for each single artillery stand (8) giving a total of 52. When the formation gets to 26 points worth of troops lost it has reached its Break Point.

Johnson's Division (8 artillery stands, 125 infantry stands) BP 26/52 Steuart's Brigade (42)

Nicholls Brigade (24)

1st Maryland - (8) 1st North Carolina - (8) 3rd North Carolina - (10) 10th Virginia - (6) 23rd Virginia - (5) 37th Virginia - (5)

1st Louisiana - (4) 2nd Louisiana - (5) 10th Louisiana - (5) 14th Louisiana - (6) 15th Louisiana - (4)

Stonewall Brigade (28)

Jones' Brigade (31)

2nd Virginia - (7) 4th Virginia - (5) 5th Virginia - (7) 27th Virginia - (4) 33rd Virginia - (5)

21st Virginia - (5) 25th Virginia - (6) 42nd Virginia - (5) 44th Virginia - (5) 48th Virginia - (5) 50th Virginia - (5)

Divisional Artillery (8 artillery stands) 1st Maryland Battery - (2 stands heavy smoothbores) Alleghany (Virginia) Artillery - (1 stand heavy smoothbore, 1 stand medium rifled) Chesapeake (Maryland) Battery - (2 stands medium rifled) Lynchburg "Lee" (Virginia) Battery - (1 stand medium rifled, 1 stand heavy rifled)

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Alternatively if this division were part of a much larger battle and you were using a ratio of 1:200 for infantry and 1:8 for artillery you would end up with something like the formation below. Because of its small size this formation would be unlikely to have its own Break Point and would instead be part of a Corps.

JOHNSON'S DIVISION (2 artillery stands, 31 infantry stands) Steuart's Brigade (10) Stonewall Brigade (7) Nicholls Brigade (6) Jones' Brigade (8) Artillery 1st Maryland/ Alleghany Battery - 1 stand heavy smoothbore Chesapeake/ Lynchburg Battery - 1 stand medium rifled

Finally if you wanted to use 1:100 for infantry and 1:4 for artillery you would end up with a formation like this. This formation would have a Break Point of 10/20.

JOHNSON'S DIVISION (4 artillery stands / 59 infantry stands) Steuart's Brigade 1 (10) Steuart's Brigade 2 (10) Stonewall Brigade 1 (7) Stonewall Brigade 2 (6) Nicholls Brigade 1 (6) Nicholls Brigade 2 (5) Jones' Brigade 1 (8) Jones' Brigade 2 (7)

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Artillery (4 stands) 1st Maryland Battery - 1 stand heavy smoothbore Alleghany (Virginia) Artillery - 1 stand heavy smoothbore Chesapeake (Maryland) Battery - 1 stand medium rifled Lynchburg "Lee" (Virginia) Battery - 1 stand heavy rifled

“ We advanced by a hill, which gave us in all directions a magnificent viewpoint. We deployed in massed brigades and halted at the foot of a small rise which hid the enemy from us. “Then the cannonade started and was terrible from the beginning, because once we had appeared from behind the rise, the distance between the two armies became very small. We were in column of battalions when the order came to climb up to the position and capture at the point of the bayonet the English batteries and anything else that offered resistance. The mountain was peppered with their cannons and covered with their troops; it looked impregnable. Nonetheless, the order was given, the charge beaten, the cry of 'Vive l'Empereur' came from every mouth and we advanced with ordered ranks, aligned as on a parade ground. “ I can confirm: At this critical moment I did not see a single cowardly thought show on the faces of our soldiers. The same enthusiasm, the same joy shone there as before. Meanwhile bullets had already killed many and it was when we arrived at their guns that the carnage became terrible. “Death flew from all around; entire ranks disappeared under the hail, but nothing could stop our march. It carried on with the same order, the same precision. Dead men were replaced on the field by those who survived; the ranks although thinner, were no less formed. At last we arrived at the summit. We were about to receive the prize for such bravery. Already the English had started to bolt for it, already their guns were retiring at the gallop. A sunken road, lined with hedges, was now the only obstacle separating us from them. Our soldiers did not wait for the order to jump across; They charged, leaping over the hedges and leaving their ranks disordered to chase after their enemies. Fatal mistake! We had to enforce good order, We halted them to rally… Just as I was pushing one man into his rank, I saw him fall at my feet from a sabre blow. The English cavalry charged at us from all directions and cut us to pieces. I just had time to throw myself into the middle of the crowd to avoid the same fate. The noise, the smoke, the confusion, all happening together, we could hardly see that on our right several squadrons of English dragoons, having come down through a sort of ravine, had extended and formed behind us and charged us in the rear. “It is extremely difficult for the best cavalry to break soldiers who have formed square and defend it with bravery and coolness. But when the infantry is in disorder, it is nothing more than a massacre almost without danger to the horseman. Here too, it was soon a general massacre. The cavalry pushed in amongst us; we saw that our batteries were lost and expected to see them taken away; and they poured fire into the melee and killed many of us. We too, in the mayhem of a confused and agitated crowd, shot many of our own people with shots aimed at the enemy. All bravery was useless. After feats of valour, our eagle, taken and retaken, was kept in the hands of our enemies; in vain our soldiers rose to their feet and stretched their arms out to try to stab with bayonets at the cavalry mounted on the tall vigorous horses. Useless courage, their hands and muskets fell together to the ground and left them defenseless against a persistent enemy who sabred without pity even the children who served as drummers and fifers in the regiment, who asked in vain for mercy.”

Eyewitness account of Waterloo

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Duncan and Dan from Wargames Illustrated for allowing me to use some of their photographs. www.wargamesillustrated.net Offensive Miniatures www.offensiveminiatures.com LKM Direct www.quickreactionforce.co.uk North Star www.northstarfigures.com

Crusader Crusader USA for customers in the US and Canada, Crusader UK for everywhere in the world outside of the US. Crusader USA www.crusaderminiaturesusa.com Crusader UK www.crusaderminiatures.com

Warpath Games www.warpathgames.com

Design & layout - Martin Buck

Gun of August Painting Service www.gunofaugustpainting.co.uk

Front & back covers - 'La Barrière de Clichy' by Horace Vernet. Original © Musée du Louvre. Free Art License http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/

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Rank & 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. While the game itself is easy to pick up there are extensive optional and advanced rules as well as period specific rules that allow the game to cater for all tastes as well as being flexible enough to cope with lots of game sizes, scales, figure availability and numbers of players. While the basic D6 mechanics make Rank & File a 'fast play' system that doesn't mean that important areas of the rules are glossed over or omitted. Army and Force Break Points mean that battles do not end up with 2 units chasing each other about the field. Variable commander quality allows you to represent differing abilities of command and charisma. Troop quality ranging from Green to Elite. March movement allows troops to come into action speedily when committed rather than plodding across the battlefield. Unit cohesion means that troops’ fighting ability and morale decreases before they will finally break. Period specific formation, weapon and manoeuvre restrictions. Variable game scales allow units to represent anything from battalion to brigade strength. Figures are based in stands but the rules allow you to play with any basing convention so there is no re-basing necessary. Further optional rules that include elephants, camels, opportunity and counter charges, messengers, ammunition, shock troops, cavalry breakthrough and many others. Rank & File provides an easy to learn, flexible system for fighting battles throughout the Horse & Musket period. Use the basic rules for a fast play system or add in the optional and advanced rules for more depth and realism. For more details, downloads, play sheets and army lists visit www.crusaderpublishing.com