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American Revolution Skirmishes

using the Great Rail Wars rules

This article presents troops cards and special rules that allow skirmishes set during the American Revolution to be played using a set of wargame rules from Pinnacle Entertainment Group called "The Great Rail Wars."

Most of the unit types that were typically involved in small skirmishes during the Revolution are represented here. In addition, a pair of proposed "unit decks" made up of these cards are presented. These decks will allow you to quickly construct semi-historical skirmish scenarios in a few minutes.


Unit Decks

A unit deck is simply a deck of unit cards. Quick "meeting engagement" scenario can be created by laying out a table full of terrain, drawing an equal number of cards for each side (from the appropriate British or Colonial unit decks, of course) and having at it. I recommend 6-8 cards per side for a good evening's game.

At the bottom of the page you'll find links to some more specific and characterful scenarios, but I hope these decks will provide you with some interesting games. The scenarios generated won't always be balanced, but just consider that part of the challenge for the evening.

Special Considerations

Each side should start with a single "Officer, average" card.

No force should ever have more Hero cards than other cards. If a Hero card is drawn that will take the total Heroes over half the alloted cards for the scenario, simply discard the new Hero card and draw again.

If a player draws a Light Artillery card, their opponent may draw an extra card for free.

All average officers must roll once on the chart below to see if they have any additional Edges/Hindrances. All excellent officers must roll twice, re-rolling any Edge/Hindrance they already have.

Roll (d6) Edge/Hindrance
1 None
2 Big Britches
3 Sand
4 Level Headed
5 Brawny
6 The Voice

All poor officers must roll once on the following chart to see if they have any additional Hindrances.

Roll (d6) Hindrance
1-2 None
3 Bad Eyes
4 Geezer
5 Squeamish
6 Yeller

British Unit Deck

The British Unit Deck is made up twenty cards, as follows:

Colonial Unit Deck

The Colonial Unit Deck is made up of thirty cards, as follows:


Unit Cards

These table below gives you the game statistics for each unit card mentioned in the unit decks. Some theatrical license has been taken to make these units characterful and perhaps more representative of the fables surrounding certain units than of historical fact. Feel free, of course, to adjust these characteristics and special rules to fit your own conception of these units.

To make it a bit easier to see what makes a unit special, any statistics that are different than "d6" are in bold.

British Unit Cards

Card Type Speed Strength Smarts Vigor Shooting Fighting Guts Weapons Special Rules
Officer, excellent Hero 2 d6 d8 d8 d8 d8 d10 Pistol, Sword Rank
Officer, average Hero 2 d6 d8 d6 d8 d8 d8 Pistol, Sword Rank
Officer, poor Hero 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d8 d6 Pistol, Sword Rank
Drummer Hero 1 d6 d8 d6 d6 d6 d8 none Musician, Sand
Colour Party Posse 1 d8 d6 d8 d6 d8 d8 Musket Colour Party, Brave, Brawny
Lt. Infantry, Veteran Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d8 d6 d8 Musket Sneaky, Brave
Lt. Infantry Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d8 d6 d8 Musket Sneaky
Lt. Infantry, Green Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d8 d6 d8 Musket Sneaky, Scrawny
Hessian Riflemen Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d8 d6 d6 Rifle Sneaky
Line Infantry, Veteran Posse 1 d6 d6 d8 d6 d8 d8 Musket Nerves of Steel
Line Infantry Posse 1 d6 d6 d8 d6 d8 d8 Musket
Line Infantry, Green Posse 1 d6 d6 d8 d6 d8 d8 Musket Cautious
Loyalist Militia Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 d4 Musket
Loyalist Line Infantry Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 Musket
Lt. Cavalry Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d8 d8 Sword, Pistol Mounted
Lt. Artillery 1 gun, 3 crew 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 6lb Gun, Pistols Artillery d8

Colonial Unit Cards

Card Type Speed Strength Smarts Vigor Shooting Fighting Guts Weapons Special Rules
Officer, excellent Hero 2 d6 d8 d8 d8 d8 d10 Pistol, Sword Rank
Officer, average Hero 2 d6 d8 d6 d8 d6 d8 Pistol, Sword Rank
Officer, poor Hero 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 Pistol, Sword Rank
Fifer Hero 1 d6 d8 d6 d6 d6 d8 none Musician, Fleet-Footed
Colour Party Posse 1 d8 d6 d8 d6 d8 d8 Musket Colour Party, Brave
Minutemen Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 Musket Sneaky, Bushwhack
Lt. Infantry, Veteran Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d6 d6 d6 Musket Sneaky, Crack Shot
Lt. Infantry Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d6 d6 d6 Musket Sneaky
Lt. Infantry, Green Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d6 d6 d6 Musket Sneaky, Scrawny
Line Infantry, Veteran Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d8 d6 Musket Tough As Nails
Line Infantry Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d8 d6 Musket
Line Infantry, Green Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d8 d6 Musket Yeller
Militia Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 d4 Musket
Riflemen Posse 1 d6 d8 d6 d10 d6 d6 Rifle Sneaky
Lt. Cavalry Posse 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d8 d8 Sword, Pistol Mounted
Lt. Artillery 1 gun, 3 crew 1 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 d6 6lb Gun, Pistols Artillerist d8


Special Rules

Any special rules that are defined in Pinnacle's Great Rail Wars (or Cry Havoc, or Derailed) are left undefined on this web page. I have no wish to infringe upon Pinnacle's copyright by repeating these definitions, or in any other way. New special rules are presented in a following section.

Weapons

Pistol: 12" range, 2d6 damage, may not move more than 1/2 Pace and fire.
Musket: See Cry Havoc
Rifle: 48" range, 2d8 damage, must spend 1 Action standing and without moving to reload, may not fire when Mounted.

Other Rules

Musician: If the musician is within coherancy range of an officer, that officer may use his Rank edge with a range of 18" instead of 12". Also, all units within 18" of the officer that still have an Action remaining may use one of the officer's cards instead (giving up their own). They may only do so if ALL participating units do one of the following:
  1. Shoot
  2. Move toward the nearest enemy unit (must all Run if any Run)
  3. Move away from the nearest enemy unit.

Colour Party: One figure in the colour party bears the colours. If that figure is Put Down or Eatin Dirt, another members of the unit may take up the colours with their action. A figure bearing the colours cannot Shoot. All friendly units within 12" of the colours, born by a figure that is neither Eatin Dirt nor Put Down, take all Guts checks with a +2 modifier unless the unit is already Brave.


Scenarios

The following links will take you to scenarios that use these rules.

Name Description
Midnight Debacle Loyalist infiltrators run afowl of Continental sentries.
A Little Victuals Continental soldiers let their stomachs lead them into trouble


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Page last updated: January 13, 2003
Copyright ©2003,
William Scarvie


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