HOME BEFORE THE LEAVES FALL BLACK POWDER RULES AMENDMENTS FOR EARLY WORLD WAR I. BY THE FRIENDS OF GENERAL HAIG What follows are the minor rule amendments we made to play out the Mons campaign in 10mm using Black Powder rules. As always with Black Powder, if you don t like them, or don t agree with a particular interpretation, please fell free to change them. We found that reducing the move distances but keeping the ranges of weapons the same, for example, really reflected how it must have been for troops used to Napoleonic style deployments to suddenly come up against modern weapons. Where possible, the rationale for the rule amendments is provided. COMMAND Command for both sides should continue to be 8, which translates as Average. Some of the Germans will be Reliable which reflects their excellent command and control. You will need to remember to apply the -1 for every 12 away (6 for 10mm) from the command base the troops are, and a further -1 when within proximity of the enemy. This will make it hard to co-ordinate withdrawals and lead to some units not getting orders to retire which is historically correct. Follow me and Rally orders remain unchanged. You may have to fool around with what actually constitutes a Brigade in your set up depending on scale and size of your battle. In our refight, one Battalion was broken into four companies, therefore the battalion became the basic Brigade with a Battalion commander issuing orders to the four companies, rather than the usual set up in Black Powder with a Brigade commander issuing orders to four Battalions. MOVEMENT Movement rates: There should be no adjustment to the standard move distances. A man ran and marched as far in Napoleonic times as he did in World War I. What has changed is the effectiveness and range of the weapons deployed against him. For this reason, move distances remain unchanged. For 10mm, we halved the move rates given in the rulebook for 28mm figures. This was done for no more scientific a reason than that it was easy. Formations: It is acknowledged that the best way to move men quickly and to prevent stragglers was to form up after combat back into columns and march to the next encounter, when the unit would deploy back into skirmish order to go into action. In our game, British units begin in hiding. The British player should record the position of his forces on a map and they will only be placed on board if they are spotted by aerial reconnaissance or come within 12 of the enemy. They will also be placed on board if they fire. Obviously, this assumes that they are prone or attempting to hide from the Germans. They will immediately be placed on the tabletop if they can be clearly seen, such as cavalry in line in a field! German troops must move onto the board in Column of March. They may only break into Skirmish / Open Order when they are fired on or the enemy are spotted. Don t forget that troops in column always move at least once and gain a bonus to their command role. This makes it the ideal formation for the Germans, who are in a hurry! After this, all infantry will fight in skirmish or open order. There is no Line formation for infantry, although cavalry may still be deployed in Line or in Skirmish order once they move out of Column of March. FIRING Ranges: For 10mm scale, we kept the ranges the same as for 28mm. This more accurately reflects the greater distances at which the enemy could be engaged, especially with artillery. This also forces attacking troops to undergo a hail of withering fire before closing with the enemy, which will give the correct historical effect, rather than being in melee after one move! Line of Sight: Although indirect fire was occasionally used and it became a mainstay of the later war, in these early days there was little practical way for the artillery to correct their fire once in the field. As a result, firing troops must be able to see the target in order to fire at it. British Troops count as Sharp Shooters, allowing a re-roll of one miss per turn. There is no extra dice to reflect the ten rounds rapid or similar mass firings. Although the British felt their fire was devastating to the attacking Germans, the German casualty returns do not bear this out. What the Germans do comment upon, is the accuracy and effectiveness of the British fire, which they compare favourably with the terrible French shooting. By re-rolling one miss per turn, this will keep the British firing above averagely accurate but will not result in excessive casualties in a single turn. Don t forget that British cavalry have rifles, not carbines, and can engage the enemy in the same way as infantry. Machine guns: each base will fire just as if it were a machine gun model using the rules on page 82 of the Black Powder rulebook. However, in 10mm we chose to allow the machine guns to keep pace with the infantry. Under normal circumstances, they count as manhandled artillery and so could only ever move once, but we found this too cumbersome. Instead, the MGs may move the same distance as the infantry they are attached to but cannot fire in any turn in which they have moved. This is the same as taking a turn to set up the machine guns. Machine guns attached to cavalry are treated as horse artillery and follow the rules for Horse artillery in the Black Powder rulebook. This makes them more effective than the foot MGs but not excessively so.
Finally, we did away with the jamming rules for MGs. In a Divisional level game with numerous bases of MGs, this is too hard to keep track of, so we ignored it. SPECIAL RULES I have included rules such as The Angels of Mons and Belgian Schoolgirls into the finished game to reflect the occasional oddity of the Mons campaign, rather than try to adjust the main rule set to cope. These will be placed on cards that the players will either draw before a one off game or use as they see fit across the three games of the campaign. CARRYING OVER CASUALTIES After each battle, any unit that had lost more than one stamina in hits had to roll a dice and compare it to the chart below. This was a fairly simple method of carrying over casualties that decided the fate of the units there and then and did not require too much in the way of bookkeeping. DICE ROLL RESULT 1 Destroyed! The unit ceases to be an effective fighting force and its few remaining men are divided amongst the remaining battalions. 2 Small Unit: Only enough effectives remain to fight on as a small unit. 3 Unsure: The unit returns to full effectiveness but loses one upgrade eg: if Stubborn or Reliable, lose this ability due to influx of new recruits.. 4 Fighting Effective: The Unit returns to full effectiveness for the next battle. 5 Fighting Effective: The Unit returns to full effectiveness for the next battle. 6 Veterans! Choose one upgrade from the possible upgrades for this unit eg: becomes Steady FACTORS +1 if you Won the battle. +1 if you took less than half your total stamina in damage during the game. -1 if the Unit was destroyed by firing or was SHAKEN at the end of the game. -2 if the Unit was destroyed in MELEE during the wargame -3 if the Unit was surrounded at the end of the battle, or surrounded and destroyed during the game eg: had little or no chance of escape and must be either killed or captured ( players to agree this, but it should be obvious) STATS Each company will follow the standard stat line for troops in Black Powder (3 stamina, 3 dice firing, etc). I suggest all British Troops are Sharp Shooters and Stubborn. A very generous man might also make some of them Steady. I suggest that at least 50% of the German troops be made Reliable to reflect their effective command and control. CONCLUSION So there you have it. A few minor nips and tucks and the Black Powder Rules are fit to fight battles in Early World War One. Hopefully, it will all be over by Christmas. World War I 1914-1918 ORDERS OF BATTLE FOR THE ELOUGES GAME The British Army 5th Division Major-General Sir C. Fergusson 15th Infantry Brigade part (Brigadier-General A. E. W. Count Gleichen) 1st The Norfolk Regiment 1x HQ 1x MG section (tiny unit) 4x companies of 24 figs (standard unit) 1st The Cheshire Regiment 119th Battery, RFA - 3 models, 18pdr artillery From the 2nd Cavalry brigade 18th (Queen Mary s Own) Hussars 1x HQ 1x MG (1 base = tiny unit) 3x Squadrons (24 figs standard size unit) L Battery, RHA 3 models, 13pdr horse artillery Riding to the rescue: 2nd Cavalry Brigade (-) under Brigadier-General H. de Lisle 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards 9th (Queen s Royal) Lancers Organised as above - except lance armed German IV Army Korps - part 9th Aviation Battalion - 1 spotter plane 7th Infantry Division - part 26th Infantry Regiment from 13th Infantry Brigade Comprising: 1x RHQ 1x MG company of 3 MG bases (standard or small unit) 3x battalions each of: 1x BHQ, 4x companies of 4 bases (24 figs = standard unit) 8th Infantry Division - part 93rd Infantry Regiment from 15th Infantry brigade 72nd Infantry Regiment from 16th Infantry brigade
SPECIAL EVENT CARDS To add an extra element of fun to the campaign, I devised a number of special rules that were based on events, some true, some apocryphal, that took place during the Battle of Mons. These rules also had the effect of adding a little uncertainty to the proceedings and also gave the British forces an added edge, just to make sure they were not decimated in every encounter! I printed the rules and stuck them onto playing cards, so that the players had a hand of cards, which they could physically play and which diminished as the campaign wore on. If that does not suit, you can simply keep track of the rules as they are used. Except for the VC rule, all special rules may only be played once each during the campaign. GERMAN EVENT CARDS Prince Eitel Fritz Seizes the Drum! The German army was full of members of the German aristocracy, and not a battle passes without mention of a Prince or Count of some sort. At one battle, for example, Prince Eitel Fritz, the Kaiser s second son, won an Iron Cross as he: seized the drum of a fallen soldier and led his troops, beating the charge. Using this special rule, the German player may choose to re-roll any failed break test/ morale roll or recover one stamina or hit to any unit, as the nobility show them how its done! The Orders Can t Get through We held the Germans all day, killing hundreds, when about 5 p.m. the order to retire was given. It never reached us, and we were left all alone On at least one occasion during the Mons retreat, swift manoeuvring by the Germans either cut off British units completely or cut them off from their parent unit. The presence of the German forces prevented orders getting through to the isolated units who held fast instead of retreating, such as the Cheshire s at Elouges. The German player may use this card to prevent any one order reaching a unit, or prevent one unit from activating or moving that turn. Wire Fences A British cavalry charge at Elouges was foiled just as it was about to close with German infantry and limbered artillery by the presence of wire fences, which the horses could not cross and which forced the cavalry to a halt. The German player may play this card when charged by British Cavalry. It will force them to stop short at the nearest boundary line (any boundary of a field, road or even an imaginary line within short range of the Germans ) as though it were lined with fences. If the cavalry has enough movement, it may cross the fences as though they were obstacles, causing them to lose half their remaining move. The Belgian Schoolgirls At Mariette, Major Yateman commanded a large force from the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers. The area had remained fairly quiet, but at 3:00 pm Captain B T St John commanding C Company saw movement along the main road approaching the far bank of the canal As the first shots were fired he had to order them to stop firing as a group of terrified schoolgirls ran across the road. As the firing stopped they ran back again, only to repeat this exercise a number of times for about three or four minutes. The German infantry took advantage of this situation to advance to the canal bank cutting the defensive wire that the Northumberland Fusiliers had laid. Using this special rule, the Germans may force one British unit to hold their fire for one turn. BRITISH EVENT CARDS The Angels of Mons This special event is based upon the urban myth of Angels or ghostly bowmen coming to the aid of British troops. Once in the campaign, the British player may call on St George whilst playing his Angels of Mons marker. Once played he may either regain 2 stamina on one unit, or double their firing dice, representing the boost to morale of the plucky British troops or the deadly ghostly arrows! Good Old British Spunk! I was talking to an officer of my own regiment in town yesterday. He was also wounded, and he told me about a fight in which one of his men lying just in front of him under a heavy shell fire turned to him and said, Sir, may I retire? Why? asked the officer. Sir, replied the man, I have been hit three times. The British player may ignore one detrimental morale or break test result received by any one unit during the campaign. The Victoria Cross There are four Victoria Cross cards, which the British player can use during the course of the campaign. These represent particular acts of valour that help the British units survive or turn the tide in their favour. The player may use them to re-roll any dice he chooses at any time in the game. A VC can also be used to automatically pass any British units break test. In addition, special rules exist within each scenario where a VC can be used. The British player is limited to how many he can have and therefore he will have to be canny as to how he plays them. However, they are necessary, as the overwhelming odds make it tricky for the British player to survive otherwise!
MONS CAMPAIGN - SPECIAL RULES CARDS WIre fences The German player may play this card when charged by British Cavalry. It will force them to stop short at the nearest boundary line (any boundary of a field, road or even an imaginary line within short range of the Germans) as though it were lined with fences. If the cavalry has enough movement, it may cross the fences as though they were obstacles, causing them to lose half their remaning move. GOOD OLD BRITIsH SPUNK! The British player may ignore one detrimental morale or break test result received by any one unit during the campaign. the belgian schoolgirls Using this special rule, the Germans may force one British unit to hold their fire for one turn. Victoria cross The player may use them to re-roll any dice he chooses at any time in the game. A VC can also be used to automatically pass any British units break test. the orders can t get through The German player may use this card to prevent any one order reaching a unit, or prevent one unit from activating or moving that turn. Victoria cross The player may use them to re-roll any dice he chooses at any time in the game. A VC can also be used to automatically pass any British units break test. angels of mons One British unit may either regain 2 stamina on one unit, or double their firing dice, representing the boost to morale of the plucky British troops or the deadly ghostly arrows. prince eitel fritz seizes the drum The German player may choose to re-roll any failed break test/morale roll or recover one stamina or hit to any unit, as the nobility show them how its done!
MONS CAMPAIGN - SPECIAL RULES CARD BACKS