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When I decided to use Big Wars to play my Stuart Asquith memorial game I had been curious/apprehensive about how I would like them. I did play them at least once in the 90's (link to old report)  but only remembered that they'd been quick and rather bloody.

The pictures from the Big Wars game are in the previous post. The pictures here are of my Reprise of the scenario using my latest Toy Soldier rules (link) which have finally come together, largely duty to the Big Wars game having helped me decide just what I was looking for.  So, once again I owe Stuart Asquith one for his inspiration. Thank you Stuart, gone but not soon forgotten

The Grey General surveys the battlefield around the 1/2 way mark.

I really enjoyed the first few turns of the Big Wars game, It was rather refreshing to not have to worry about command control or variable moves, just the enemy and his attempts to foil your plan. The drastic combat results caught me a little off guard though. When rolling 1 die per figure to hit with rifle fire,  and figure vs figure dice offs in melee with a difference of 1 pip being fatal and there being no saving throws in either case, combat quickly becomes very deadly.

The armies are all on table and heavily engaged all along the line.

Artillery fire on the other hand is pretty much harmless which was a huge surprise. (I hadn't used any artillery in my Colonial Big Wars game 20 years ago.) On the surface it is similar to Charge! but the effect rolls are halved again from what charge does with any fractions been rounded down rather than rounding off as in Charge! so that beyond musket range the effect die is quartered meaning 4,5,6 is 1 hit while 1,2,3 misses. This means the maximum you can do is inflict a single casualty and the odds of that are low (1 in 36 at 30"-36", going up in 6" increments to 1 in 4 at 18"-24". If the enemy is in hard cover and puts his head down then he can't be harmed at all! I understand that there was a revised version included in a magazine and I wonder if this modified the artillery rules as printed at all.

The Rifles have suffered heavily under rifle and shell fire and Gen. Douglas has pulled them back into reserve. The Hochelaga Fusiliers are put in the line and despite also taking heavy casualties manage to drive off the Rebel infantry.

At any rate, the rules were quick and fun if a little too quick and bloody for my tastes, apart from the artillery which wasn't dangerous enough for my tastes, and it got me in the mood for more of something similar. I have been trying to develop such a game for my 54's over the last few years but never quite getting there before  veering away to something quite different. This game with Big Wars gave me just the impetus, (and a few ideas) that I needed to have another go at a set of simple toy soldier rules for the 1860's and 70's. The new rules don't contain any new ideas, just a new mix of old ones.

(The Quick Reference Sheet is available here (link), the full 4 page version hasn't been written yet,)

Beyond the town, the remaining Rebel gunners belatedly return the fire of the Montreal battery. On the near side a gallant charge by the Highlanders has been momentarily repulsed. In the town the close range fighting is deadly and so far indecisive. Its beginning to look like "May the last reserve win"!

The play sequence  isn't my usual. It is a rehash of one I experimented with a few years ago and liked but the other pieces  didn't quite fit together with it then.  Essentially, the turn begins with a shared fire phase followed by determining initiative and one side moving then the other, then a joint charge resolution followed finally by rally rolls to see if figures lost that turn rejoin the ranks or are permanent losses.

With the enemy artillery silenced, the Dominion gunners shell the sharpshooters out of the stone house.  The Grenadiers are slowly winning their extended firefight with the dismounted Black Horse. The Rifles have moved back into the firing line while the Volunteers fall back to rest and regroup. There are no fresh reserves left and both armies are stretched to near the break point.

The resulting game went 14 out a possible 15 turns with bloody street fighting leaving both armies tottering on the verge of army morale failure due to high casualties but with the Dominion (Red) forces having a slight advantage due to the Rebels (Blue & Grey) having had their battery knocked out. The game could easily have ended in both sides losing or in a stalemate but the Dominion troops caused enough hits that the Rebels failed to rally to drop their army below its breakpoint (6/11 units lost) thus caused them to withdraw leaving  the Dominion (4/9 units lost)  in sole possession of the town and able to garrison it and send some units on down the road as ordered.

The Grey General approaches General Douglas under a flag of truce to inform him that its suppertime so she is withdrawing her remaining troops but that regardless of what the stupid rules say, she is not admitting to defeat just because over half of her units are lost. She's just hungry.

It was an excellent and enjoyable game and now it's time to get back to converting and painting figures for a while. There are some 40mm French Rev figures in the works and I need to add another Commander and a limber to the 54mm rebel army, flush out a couple of understrength Dominion infantry units, add dismounted cavalry and ........