Reply To: Is the AWI best served with our current crop of rules?

[phaidknott 7023xp 2]

@oriskany Well here’s a review of the rules (although he only played one game), that give you the general gist of things…

The Road to Yorktown: British Grenadier – A First Impression of the rulebook

I’ve no problem with “old skool” rules (usually meaning casualty removal, figure frontage, formations and troops being deployed at a figure ratio rather than a generic “lump” as is the trend with historical rules of late). These I’ve personally found to be the “best of the rest” when it comes to rules for the conflict (but still not giving me what I want for refights, perhaps house rules is the only way to go). It’s a much ignored period when it comes to historical gaming, and I think in part this is due to previous rules for the periods inability to reflect the conflict very well (most AWI rules are hybrid with the 7YW conflict which tactically was a different kettle of fish)

@khusrau Yep, the problem is when we try to do a refight and loyalist militia are on the field. Our two British generals have loads of British and Hesse Troops, but only ONE loyalist Militia painted up (and that’s only because the Colonel for the unit has the same surname as the gamer in question). And perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but they BOTH do have WW2 German Armies 😀 (1 SS and 1 Paratroop for BA). Personally I’ve got Early War Russians in 15mm (perhaps I’m drawn to crap Armies along with the Continental Side in AWI). Thankfully British Grenadier DOES have a figure ratio, and you can field unit sub strength (as Oriskany pointed out), but it’s getting harder and harder to find OOBs these days online with unit strengths (as most modern rulesets ignore this).

@zoidpinhead Yep, looks like “house ruling” British Grenadier is going to be the way to go. It’s a pity there isn’t a ruleset out there that simply does a GOOD job for reflecting the AWI (I’ve personally found Johnny Reb II to be the BEST ACW ruleset out there (if you can live with the little green counters everywhere), and wouldn’t change for another set. The Terrain for AWI is an important aspect, as the US troops were happy to fight within wooded areas/rough terrain, whereas the British commanders were trained (and expected to fight) across an open field. This meant they usually did their best to stay well clear of such obstacles as they had a detrimental effect to command and control (yet hardly any rules reflect this, even with Napoleonic games we see “firebases” of troops in Villages (when historically they tended to keep clear other than a few exceptions like Hougomont at Waterloo)) .

Thanks for taking the time to reply Gents, I guess the search goes on……