BLOODY BIG BATTLES: Rules for Wargaming the Late Nineteenth Century

1-206630

This new ruleset does exactly what its title says. It is intended for fighting the biggest, bloodiest battles of 1850-1900 in a manageable way. The specific design goals are to tackle the major battles such as Solferino, Gettysburg, Koniggratz, Sedan or Plevna, often spanning several days' combat; to fit them on a 6'x4' tabletop; and to fight them in their entirety, in a single 3-to-4-hour session, with typically 4 players.

BBB is not suitable for small actions of a few thousand men a side. There are plenty of rulesets that do that. But none do what BBB does, namely; Enabling players to command entire armies of 100,000+ men a side; Fitting battlefields of up to 20km across on the table; While still producing a fast, fun game and a result in an evening. Turn sequence: IGO-UGO.

Scale varies according to the battle but is typically: Figure scale 1,500 men or 36 cannon per 1-inch base (organized into multi-base units usually of 3-7 infantry, 2-3 cavalry or 1 artillery base); Ground scale 1 inch equals 200-250 yards; and Timescale of 1 hour per turn.

Command and Control: highly scenario-dependent. An army's command quality is reflected partly by how many generals get represented on table, partly by how units are rated.
Movement: Units roll 2D6 to move. Simple memorizable movement table incorporates elements such as difficult terrain, generalship and doctrine, troop quality and morale.
Fire Combat: calculated by adding fire points of all bases firing at a target unit. 2D6 fire table to determine casualties, recorded by base removal.
Assault: Opposed D6 roll incorporating a few relevant factors.