Rules

D3 French Indian War Rules

French Indian War Rules

D3 French Indian War Rules

Introduction
  • These rules began as a variant of One Hour Wargames Horse & Musket rules & for the most part reflect the straightforward nature of those rules. A movement activation mechanism has been added to reflect how difficult terrain impacted the linear nature of warfare at the time.
  • The rules have been converted for play using a 6" square grid to regulate movement & shooting ranges. In the rules the term "bound" is used for movement & shooting where one bound is a square (or 6” for free movement if that is your preference).
  • The facing of a unit in its square is free form & not dictated by the square. The direction a unit faces is important when it comes to combat.
  • The game uses D6 for activations & D3 dice for combat. I like using D3 dice as combat results are treated as either below average, average, or above average.
Units
  • The rules cater for the following unit types:
    • Regular/Line Infantry
    • Skirmisher/Irregulars/Light Infantry
    • Native Warbands
    • Militia
    • Artillery
    • Grenadiers
Sequence of Play
  • The game is played in a series of turns. During a player’s turn they complete the following steps:
  1. Movement
  2. Combat
  3. Unit Elimination
  4. Army Resolve
Movement
  • For units to move they must first be activated. To activate a unit roll 1D6 on a score of 2+ a unit can move.
  • When in difficult terrain or woods, regular infantry, militia & grenadiers, are activated on 3+.
  • If a unit fails activation, then the movement step of a player’s turn is over & no more units may be moved. The player then begins the combat step of their turn.
  • Regular infantry, militia, grenadiers & artillery move one bound.
  • Skirmishers, irregulars, warbands & light infantry move 2 bounds.
  • Artillery must cease movement after shooting, but can still change facing.
  • Units may turn facing as part of their movement.
  • Turning a unit to change it's facing still counts as movement.
  • Units may not move & shoot in the same activation.
  • Units may pass through other units.
Terrain
Woods
  • Artillery may never enter woods. 
  • Infantry, militia & grenadiers occupying woods subtract 1 when shooting.
  • Units occupying woods are treated as being in cover.
Towns
  • Artillery may never enter towns.
  • Units occupying a town have a 360 degree field of fire & are treated as being in cover.
Marshland & Lakes
  • No units may enter.
Rivers
  • Can only be crossed at bridges & fords.
Difficult Terrain/Streams
  • Artillery may never enter difficult terrain or cross streams. 
  • Infantry & grenadiers occupying difficult terrain/streams subtract 1 when shooting.
Entrenchments (eg Trenches/Gabions)
  • Units occupying fortifications are treated as being in cover.
Fortifications
  • Units occupying forts are treated as being in cover.
  • Units occupying forts add 1 when shooting.
Combat
  • Units may only shoot at units within 45 degrees of their frontal facing.
  • Warbands & units in towns & forts have a field of fire of 360 degrees.
  • Muskets have a range of two bounds.
  • Artillery units have a range of 4 bounds.
  • To determine casualties units roll a D3 & make the following adjustments:
    • Grenadiers roll D3+1
    • Regular/line infantry units roll D3
    • Skirmishers/warband/irregulars roll D3-1
    • Militia units roll D3-1
    • Artillery units roll D3-1
  • Subtract 1 from the score if a unit can claim cover.
  • Units occupying forts add 1 to their shooting score.
  • Infantry, militia & grenadiers occupying woods subtract 1 when shooting.
  • When infantry, grenadiers & warbands are attacking a unit in an adjacent square. If the unit is eliminated, they automatically charge forward & occupy the vacated square.
Elimination
  • Units are eliminated when they accumulated more hits than their resolve value.
  • All units have a base resolve value which varies depending upon unit type (shown in brackets):
    • Regular/Line Infantry (8)
    • Skirmisher/Irregulars/Light Infantry (6)
    • Warband/Natives (6)
    • Militia (6)
    • Artillery (6)
    • Grenadiers (10)
  • Note - the number of hits a unit can take can be increased by 2 depending upon a commander’s ability (see optional rule).
Commanders
  • Commanders can re-roll the move activation dice rolls for any adjacent unit.
Commander Ability (Optional)
  • At the beginning of a game decide upon the quality of a commander. All commenders have two quality factors, one for attack & one for defence. 
  • Only one factor can be used in a game depending if a commander is deemed as defending or attacking.
  • The quality factor (between 1 & 4) determines how many regiments of a commander’s force can increase by 2 the number of hits before they are eliminated.
  • If the game is not part of a campaign roll a D6-2 for each quality.
  • Note - depending upon the size of game being played, a regiment may be represented by 1 to 3 units on the tabletop. So increasing a regiment’s hits will increase all units representing it.
Trusted Officers
  • Each side can field one trusted officer. They are attached to a unit, normally one assigned to an important task.
  • If the unit is eliminated the officer is removed as well.
  • Units with trusted officers can re-roll shooting & move activation dice rolls, but must accept the re-rolled score.
Army Resolve
  • At the beginning of the game determine an army's resolve which is equal to the number of units being fielded.
  • When a unit is eliminated roll a D3 & accumulate these scores during the game. Once an army’s resolve is exceeded, the game ends & the army retires from the field of battle.
  • If a commander is lost with their attached unit, then roll a D3+2.

12 comments:

  1. These look very good. A couple of Qs - How far do Commanders move? How are they killed? Is there a limit to the number of units in a square? Is diagonal movement or shooting allowed (eg counts as 1.5)

    Cheers

    Simon

    Many thanks Simon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the questions. The commander information is rather light on in these matters.

      1) A Commander can move 2 squares and is able to move through units, and 2) Commanders are not removed, but must not end up adjacent to enemy units unless the square is occupied by a friendly unit.
      As an optional rule, should they end up on their own, roll a D3 and on a score of 1 they are killed.

      I do allow diagonal movement providing a a unit is not squeezing through two other units or impassible terrain.

      I hope this helps, and the rules will get updated with these clarifications later.

      Delete
  2. Thanks Peter - re the question on grid capacity - is just one unit allowed in a square?

    Kind regards

    Simon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Simon, Just one unit per square. In my games the square are 6 inches and the unit bases 3x4 inches. As for commanders and trusted officers they are allowed to joint units. Regards, Peter

      Delete
  3. I see that under Movement it says that artillery must stop movement after shooting. Doesn’t all movement stop before combat, or am I misreading? By the way, I am going to be using these with my 54mm F&I collection. Really looking forward to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When artillery fire they must remain stationary for the remainder of the game, but can turn. The idea behind the rule is once artillery are in position they generally were static on battlefield. The rule is not totally clear and I will update. Good luck gaming with your 54mm collection.

      Delete
  4. Ahhh, for the rest of the game. Have to use them strategically for sure. Thanks. Great looking rules btw.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Going to give these a go to host a remote game so thank you. Just one query - I take it the combat section intended to double up as shooting and melee? There is no mention of melee or any related factors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, your interpretation is correct, I must put in a sentence explaining this in the rules. Thanks and good luck with your remote game.

      Delete
  6. One last question from me before the game Peter. On commander ability can you clarify how the commander with 'attack' quality benefits - assuming the extra resolve value described is for the defending commander. Or am I mixed up and they both receive extra resolve for their units. I may have more questions after we play...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Mike,
    Personally I would ignore this rule for a one-off game. The rule comes from a campaign I was involved in where commanders had attack and defence values. Depending if they were the attacker or defender in the game one or other of the values was used and a number unit hits adjusted up.
    Regards, Peter

    ReplyDelete