Skirmishing the Second Boer War

[alanl]

Any suggestions for TFL rules suitable for the guerrilla aspect of the Boer War where the British are taking on small groups of Bitter-Enders, rather than the large set-piece battles?

[Darren]

Hi Alanl,

Through the mud and the blood are WW1 platoon size rules. I've used these rules of 1914 games with an infantry platoon on each side, supported by HMGs and cavalry.

I my opinion, these rules would work with few changes.
There are rules for cavalry which will work for the mounted infantry.
The HMG rules will work for maxim guns.
The artillery rules allow for single guns or batteries located off table to fire.

These rules use a card deck to randomly activate leaders, who then use their command initiatives to activate troops under their control. The troops then have a number of actions they can use to observe, move, fire or undertake close combat.

Regards
Darren

[alanl]

Hi Darren, thanks for that suggestion. So, how many figures per side can be comfortably used in an evening’s game?
Best regards, Alan

[Darren]

Hi Alan,

We've use around 40 infantry/cavalry figures per side; plus 3-4 leaders.

We've limited the number of HMGs to 1 per side as they put out a lot fire and will dominate the table; and in 1914 there were limited numbers available.

We play on a 6x6 table with 28mm figures. We use 6x6 as it encourages movement rather than protracted fire fights.

Regards
Darren

[Fred Worthingham]

Hi Alan

I've had a few ideas for these actions. The first is to use "Cocking up Through the Mud and the Blood" from one of the specials which uses COC as the base rules and adds parts of TTMATB in to better fit WW1. I believe the tactics would be well served by this although obviously weaponry was not as diverse and tactics not as well developed. Bombing blockhouses, raids and suchlike were the sort of actions I had in mind.

Another idea is to use a hybrid Sharp Practice/Chain of Command system with the activation and leadership from SP2 with the combat mechanics from COC. I played Simon Walker's excellent Trumpton game which used this and it worked very well, especially in terms of the narrative and characters.

Of course, Darren's suggestion of TTMAB above is the closest as written and will likely give a great game although I would add in the Force Morale system.

I think it also depends on potential players - option 1 or 2 may be an easier sell to guys who already play COC and/or SP2 although others may be drawn to try TTMATB as something different to their norm.

[Lowtardog]

I agree, COC ing up mud and the blood would be ideal

[Darren]

Relating to force moral, we use the sharps practice rules.

We haven't tried CoC'ing mud and blood yet as we play 1914 when there were no LMG or bombing teams in a platoon.
We haven't worked out what team would activate on a command dice roll of 1; it's a work in progress.

I think any of the rules suggested here will work.

Darren

[alanl]

Thanks for all the suggestions.