Another of the charming, often vague little booklets from England presenting a variety of rules for popular historical periods. This particular set is written by John Tunstill and covers the American Civil War. They are old rules, first seeing light in 1970. The rules use a ground scale of 1mm to 1 yard, one bound (the popular English equivalent of a round) to 2 1/2 minutes, one figure to 33 men, and one gun to 6. There is no recommendation on figure scale so I assume that any of the larger figure sizes would be used keeping in mind the rules make no mention of mounting on bases nor provide a base size for a single figure.
As with so many English rules, orders must be written down at the start of a turn. Units are moved simultaneously followed first by artillery fire, then infantry fire. Following this, charging units check for morale and melees are resolved. The turn ends with any necessary morale checks.
The rules seem vague on the tactical units involved though the figure scale suggests regiment sized units. It would seem, too, that the rules assume figures are not mounted on bases. Formations include line, column, and road column. Units may be in open order or extended order. They may as a result of combat or movement through difficult terrain become disordered or unformed which will impact their ability to survive melee and morale checks.
Terrain used is hills, steep hills, woods, individual buildings, and towns. These impact line of sight and can effect movement. Curiously, I could not find a reference to fording a river though there are quite a few references to bridges. Casualties play a role with one casualty left on the field for every 3 figures removed to indicate broken ground which prevents a charge. There are also prepared positions and linear obstacles like walls and hedges.
I have not yet tried these rules. The organization of the rules is a bit challenging since information is scattered through the brief booklet.
