6mm AWI: Ruse De Guerre solo test

Last weekend, I did a quick run of the new rules from Baccus, "Ruse De Guerre."  The scenario was once again a variation of Cowpens.  this will not be a detailed review of the rules, I will leave that for the more qualified, but just soem fo my observations and how I got on with them.

I broke several rules when playing a set of rules for the first time. Normally, I try to play rules as written out of the box a few times, but I made one exception in this case.  I ran each side as a single force, and used the force morale rules to determine when a side broke.

For solo play, I rolled for tempo points as the rules state, and then rolled a d6 for each side to randomize their tempo bids.


Here is the order of battle I used:

Danial Morgan, Decisive, TP = 2 , AC = 6

MD, DE, VA Continentals	Trained
MD, DE, VA Continentals	Trained
Militia	Trained
Militia	Poorly Trained
Rifles	Well Trained, Skirmish
Rifles	Well Trained, Skirmish
Militia	Poorly Trained
Militia	Poorly Trained
Light Dragoons	Trained

Tarleton, Decisive, TP = 2, AC = 6

7th Foot	Trained
Legion Infantry	Trained
Light Infantry	Well Trained, Skirmish
3lb. Guns	Trained
71st Foot	Well Trained
Legion Dragoons	Trained
Legion Dragoons	Trained

My troops are based on 10 cm frontages so I used 10 cm as the base width for my table, here you can see the troops drawn up. (click to enlarge) British on the right and Morgan drawn up on the hill to the left.

My measuring stick is 3 BW long with 1/2 BW marked on the section nearest the British.  My bases are 10 cm x 2 cm, so I needed to be able to measure 1/2 BW. 

Here are Morgan's forces drawn up.

And a closeup of Tarleton's forces.

The British advanced on the American position, being picked off by riflemen as they advanced.  A few shaken results were obtained, which slowed down the British advance and forced Tarleton to spend tempo to rally his troops.  Later in the game, it would cause the British to hit the American line piecemeal.

Here you can see that result, the 71st Highlanders are valiantly trying to carry the hill, but the British right is bogged down, and they have lost the 7th Foot on the left to Patriot musketry and enfilading fire from riflemen.

Tarleton tries to recover the situation by launching the British Legion Dragoons up the hill in a charge that disperses some of the American Militia.  But, it is t0o little, too late, as the 71st Highlanders also break due to weight fo American fire.

All in all a fairly historical result and in line with the several replays of this scenario I have done with One Hour Wargames.

Here are some of my thoughts:

• I really like the Tempo system, it kind of reminds me of a more sophisticated PIP system from DBx, but I think there are subtleties I am still discovering. Such as...
• Initial placement is everything and redeploying troops is difficult.  Pick your point of decision on the battlefield and arrange your troops accordingly.  This is entirely in line with everything i have read from the period.
• There are only 3 states a unit can be in, fully operational, shaken, or broken and fleeing.  I rather like that, as there is reduced effectiveness for shaken troops and you have to decide if you are going to spend your precious tempo trying to rally them or using them to launch attacks.  A little less fiddly than tracking hits as in OHW and you can rally troops.

I feel the rules worked well with my basing scheme, something I was doubtful of at first.  With the way my troops are organized, my games will be on the smallish side for the rules, but that does not seem to be a problem and so far seems to give a good game.

I highly recommend these, you can order them from Baccus or like I did as PDF from Wargames Vault. They are fast play without sacrificing period feel.  I suggest you get a copy if you are at all interested in the FIW, AWI, or 1812 in North America.  There are several scenarios included, including Cowpens, although I basically rewrote it from scratch to fit my collection.

I hope to get some more tests in soon and work my way up to Guilford Courthouse, until then, good gaming!