Version 2 of Battles for Empire was recently released by Chris Leach. This is the club's preferred set of Colonial rules covering the period 1870 to 1914. The rules use a similar movement and morale mechanism to Fire & Fury but with a D6 instead of D10 although the similarity ended there.
We have used the rules for the Sudan, the Zulu Wars and the North West Frontier
Therefore I thought it was worth trying it out with my 15mm Freikorps Maximilian Adventure forces.
The scenario had a French wagon train attempting to cross the table, 6x4, from short edge to short edge with the Republicans having to stop them
The French
Kiwi Dave, Chris, Alan
| Unit | Number | Abilities |
| Foreign Legion | 6 Companies | Elite, 1st Rate MLR, Regulars |
| Zouaves | 1 Company | Elite, 1st Rate MLR, Regulars |
| Imperial Line Infantry | 3 Companies | Brittle, 2nd Rate MLR, Colonial Recruits |
| Chasseurs D'afrique | 1 Squadron | 2nd Rate MLR, Regulars, can dismount |
| Contras | 1 Squadron | 2nd Rate MLR, Colonial Recruits, can dismount |
| Artillery | 2 guns | 1st rate SB |
| Wagons | 2 | move 9" |
| The Vivandière | Special | medic moves 9" can heal 1D6 of hits per turn |
| The Lost Patrol | Special | marksman moves 9" 1D6 to shoot at enemy unit or roll on Critical hit vs enemy officer |
The Republicans
Shaun, Graham, Paul
| Unit | Number | Abilities |
| Line Infantry | 4 Companies | 1st Rate MLR, Regulars |
| State Militia | 6 Companies | 2nd Rate MLR, Colonial Recruits |
| Villagers | 3 Companies | Brittle, 2nd Rate SBM, Armed Berbers |
| Bandits | 4 Squadrons | Poorly Armed Berbers, can NOT dismount |
| Padre Ted | Special | medic moves 9" can heal 1D6 of hits per turn |
| Sister Sarah | Special | moves 9" if adjacent to enemy officer cancels their leadership rating for the turn |
There are no specific types in the rules for Villagers and Bandits. As I was using the French in North Africa manouevre sheet I decided to class them as Berbers. Poorly armed Berbers indicates that they have close-combat weapons only.
There were a couple of changes to the rules
- No rapid fire allowed - they all have muskets
- Bandits do not destroy infantry if they recoil from melee
The Republicans deployed across the short edge upto 4 feet in
The French deployed from the opposite short edge from the single road
The Game
On the right flank Paul's Bandit cavalry were immediately on top of Dave's Legionaries and dismounted Contras and a game long melee ensued,mainly due to the "Bandits do not destroy infantry if they recoil from melee" rule
Dave's remaining Legionaries skillfully put themselves between my artillery and any suitable targets for a move. They then moved into a fire fight with Paul and Shaun's infantry causing both sides to lose a unit
An interesting point - a Legionary company was attacked in column and became shaken after losing the melee - on their manoeuvre roll they rolled enough to change formation and deployed into line in the melee rather than remain in column
On the left flank Chris' Legionaries got into a fire fight with Graham and Shaun's Militia whilst Graham's Bandits took on the Chasseurs and, after destroying a squadron of bandits came off the worst against a fanatic unit of villagers.
I'm still trying to work out how the Brittle villagers managed to go fanatic even though they rolled a 6 - leader +1 but Brittle -1 = 6 which isn't fanatic but hey
My Imperial troops boldly advanced up the road only to get the front unit shaken and then remain shaken - thereby blocking the wagons on the road. My artillery performed badly causing only minor damage which was healed by Padre Ted. The only decent shot they had was in fact invalid as they had moved and unlimbered on the previous turn
The Mexicans definitely won the day killing at least 3 units of Legionaries, the Contras and the Chasseurs
The French barely got 2 foot on to the table and killed all 4 bandit units plus 1 Militia unit
The only French unit covering itself in glory was the Lost Patrol which did sterling work wounding Mexican officers
So extra tacos for the Republicans and a long stint on Devil's Island penal colony for the French
The Special units - The Lost Patrol, The Vivandière, Sister Sarah & Padre Ted
Points from the game
- the special units worked well
- make sure I know the rules
- give the French more room to deploy
- maybe use BFE V1 Casualty chart for European style armies
Nice looking game!
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