Horse and Musket Crossfire – Crossfire for the Horse and Musket Era

Rule - Horse and Musket - Crossfire - Banner

I wrote this about five years ago because a couple of my projects, i.e. Albuera in the Peninsular and Sipe Sipe in South America, had stalled because I didn’t like any of the available horse and musket rules. Inspired by Roland’s WW1 experiment I wondered if I could make a horse and musket variant for Crossfire. These rules have now remained raw and unplayed for some time. I stopped work on them because I decided I had bent the rules so far that it is no longer Crossfire. But rather than having it lurk on my hard drive any longer, and because Jamie asked about it, I thought I’d share. What do you think?

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Terrain Cards – Random terrain placement for pick up wargames

Terrain Cards - Banner

In our recent game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day Chris observed that, as the defender, he could exploit the terrain placement rules to his advantage. This is my proposal to address Chris’s concern. These rules allow randomised terrain for pick up battles in any period.

The terrain placement rules described here borrow heavily from Terrain Cards for a ECW Campaign.

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15/18mm 1st Carlist War Range from Capitan Games

Carlist War Figures - Banner

About 15-20 years ago a Spanish Wargaming company called Fantassin Minaturas produced a range of 15/18mm figures for the First Carlist War. The company subsequently became War Modelling and a couple of years ago kind of evaporated. Now the War Modelling figures are available from Capitan Games including the 15mm Carlist Wars range. I wanted one place where I could see a list of the entire range. Particularly as Capitan Games have a 10% discount to celebrate relaunching the range.

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Oriamendi Matrix: An Engle Matrix Game set in the First Carlist War

Oriamendi Matrix - Banner

A bloody civil war has waged in Spain for four years. King Ferdinand died and left the crown to his daughter, Isabella, and the power to his wife Cristina. The King’s brother, Don Carlos, has violently contested Isabella’s right to succeed. The main drama to date has unfolded in the north, in the Basque provinces of Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa, and Alava, plus the adjoining province of Navarra.

It is now early March 1837. In yet another bid to to crush the rebels, the three government generals in the Basque provinces – Esparetero, De Lacy Evans, Saarsfield – are preparing a simultaneous advance on the Carlist heartland. They believe victory is assured as Don Carlos doesn’t have enough men to face all three threats simultaneously. The three Carlist commanders – Don Carlos, Don Sebastián, Brigadier Iturriza – intend to show the Cristinos they are wrong.

This Engle Matrix Game for the First Carlist War has been germinating for a long time. The draft appeared on 2 July 2006. Nearly 10 years later I thought I’d better finish it. Partly because Roland Davis wanted me to run it for him, in PBEM mode.

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No-Mans Land Mini-Campaign

This is a skirmish level mini-campaign set in no-mans land on a fairly static front. It is applicable to any period (see the possible settings). Each player is a junior commander whose job is the patrol and control the area between the opposing forces. Over three game days and nights each player must plan and execute 6 missions from a predetermined list. The interest lies in the fact that each player is picking from a different list to that of his opponent. The key problem being addressed is “How does a commander react when faced with events not covered by his orders?”

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