Golgotha's Wild West - American Indian Wars - Pony Wars - 10mm

Herewith, the start of another new project namely 10mm Indian Wars, often referred to in wargaming as Pony Wars. Those conflicts taking place in the Great Plains - most of which would be spanning period roughly 1850 to 1890. The hope is to game in particular the Great Sioux War of 1876-77 and of course the Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly remembered as Custer's Last Stand. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars#Great_Plains and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn

Manufacturers I will be using will include:

Pendraken - https://pendraken.co.uk/19th-century/americas/plains-war/

Irregular Miniatures - https://irregularminiatures.co.uk/ - as yet I am unsure what these are likely but I do have Irregular Miniatures 10mm English Civil War miniatures and they are fine next to Pendraken.

Lancashire Games -  http://lancashiregames.com/lg/pony-wars.html

 

Rules wise there are a few options see for instance;

The Battle of Little Big Horn, Salute 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkOc7D8aCM8&ab_channel=WargamesIllustrated

The full rules being available here https://shop.collectioncalculator.com/product/the-battle-of-the-little-bighorn/

These rules a from a company which provides insurance for wargame collections, see: https://collectioncalculator.com/

Warhammer Historical Legends of the Old West provides the usual eye candy but useful too for reference and scenario ideas.

Yellow Ribbon RAFM wargame rules, see: http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=483182 and http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RAF&Product_Code=RAF00020&Category_Code=RHG

Also Ian Beck's cult classic Pony Wars - have the original rules as a pdf but would like the reproduction see: https://ponywars.uk/

Very useful info here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=135351.15

 From Boots & Saddles at the Little Bighorn by James S. Hutchins:

"A" Company--coal black horses

"E" Company--gray horses

"B," "D," "F," "I," and "L" Companies--bays

"H" Company--blood bays

"G" and "K" Companies--sorrels

"C" Company--light sorrels

"M" Company got the left overs, so they were a mix

Trumpeters rode grays; officers usually rode the same color horses as their company

Custer rode a horse called "Vic," a sorrel with four white feet and a blaze on the face.

Captain Miles Keogh rode "Commanche," described as a light bay or buckskin. Keogh commanded Company "I" a bay company.

Golgotha's English Civil War Rules - Victory Without Quarter by Clarence Harrison and Quindia Studios

Herewith, a suggested set of quick play rules for English Civil War, ECW, which I think are good for people thinking about getting into the period.

I have had a number of good games using these rules and enjoy the possibility of events as well as the card driven initiative system. Indeed, these had been the first ECW rules I had played and my first games were without miniatures simply using cardboard counters. Since then I now play with 10mm ECW miniatures and this works with some simple adjustment to ranges and movement. 

 I think the author Clarence Harrison achieved what he set out to do with these rules. The forward reads as follows:

"Forward Having been through nearly every set of commercial rules for the period I could find, I decided to take a stab at writing my own. It's not that I found anything wrong with the rules available, but they didn't fit exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a card based system with simple mechanics that would allow me to play battles with eight to twelve units per side in an evening. I also wanted to be able to field my units on multi-figure stands and have a way to keep track of battlefield losses without resorting to rosters or figure removal. 

What follows are the results of my efforts. There is nothing revolutionary about these rules - they have been inspired by many contemporary rule sets on the market, as well as traditional authors like Featherstone and Grant. These rules are not designed for competition play and not every situation that could arise is covered. If questions come up use common sense to work them out or, failing that, choose two likely results (usually your interpretation and that of your opponent) and roll a die to decide the outcome. 

These rules have not benefitted from exhaustive play testing, but the games I've run so far have worked well and seem to capture the feel of the period. Feedback would be welcome! Nothing is set in stone at this point. The rules are designed for 28mm figures although they should be easy enough to adapt to 15mm by halving the base sizes and replacing all references to "inches" with "centimeters". The title for the rules was the field word for William Waller's army at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge."

What I particularly liked was the layout and images and that the rules are only 13 pages long as I find many rules sets are far too long with too much fluff. 

These rules are free to download and available here:  

https://gcooksonblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/victory-without-quarter-rules.pdf

and 

http://quindiastudios.blogspot.com/search?q=victory+without+quarter

Berkshire Yeomanry - 860 Troop Signals - Sea King

Herewith, pictures of my time in the Territorial Army. 

 See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_(Royal_Buckinghamshire_Hussars)_Signal_Squadron

Ravenfeast - New Free Dark Age Wargame Rules

Herewith, Ravenfeast - New Free Dark Age Wargame Rules, endorsed and published by Little Wars TV. 

See: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIoGbrTVED8&ab_channel=LittleWarsTV

and 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUXCMtpJBXs&ab_channel=LittleWarsTV

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=macRgkAACBQ&ab_channel=LittleWarsTV they are promising to release more Ravenfeast videos to support these rules. 

The rules themselves are available here for free: 

http://www.ravenfeast.com/free-downloads.html

Lovely to see rules of this quality of rule set being made freely available especially admirable is the intention to get more people wargaming in particular historical periods. 

From the introduction of said rules:

Have you ever wanted to set sail with the great Viking heroes of the sagas or hear the crash of sword on shield and the cries of the ravens? Now you can create your own epic tales of heroic deeds, the likes of which will forever be told around the fires of the great mead hall on dark nights when the cold winds howl.

Ravenfeast is your gateway to the exciting world of historical miniature wargaming! This book includes a free set of skirmish rules for wargaming in the Viking Age. Whether you’re new to the hobby or a veteran tabletop player, this game gets you swinging an axe with just a few pages of simple rules. Beyond the game, this free book also includes all the resources new players need to get started in the hobby.

Golgotha's French Indian War Rules - I Need More Trees by Terry Catton

Herewith, a set of rules I recently purchased from the Wargames Vault called I Need More Trees by Terry Catton see: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/333307/I-Need-More-Trees-French-and-Indian-Wars

 

The description for which reads as follows:

A set of rules for fighting the French and Indian Wars ideally using 28mm figures but other scales will work as long as the figures are individually based.

Designed to represent the smaller encounters that took place in the forest using maybe 80-120 figures/side though larger multi-player games would also work.

Easy to learn and play these rules should keep you on your toes especially when there are Indians hiding in the forest and you don't know where or how many. 

I do think, given the shooting and saving throw system, that less miniatures provide a better game.

The rules are 12 pages long the first page being a cover with then 4 pages worth of special abilities and army lists. These are therefore very quick and easy rules to get into and can provide a good game and certainly good value for money. The activation and hidden troop abilities as well as the morale rules make these rules well worth trying. A good excuse to get some Indians on the table. 

The rules are meant for French Indian War but would work equally well for American War of Independence or similar. 

The author has a number of rules sets available covering a number of periods including Sci Fi and Fantasy, see: https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/14932/Terry-Catton

I am curious to try some of his Back and Beyond Russian Civil War Rules. 

Golgotha's Napoleonic - Link to the quintessential Napoleonic website and organisation

 For all your Napoleonic needs one can not go wrong visiting the following website, see:

http://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonistyka.atspace.com/

Useful visual organisation French Army https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR0sODDUT8U&ab_channel=Invicta

Golgotha's Games - Dwarf versus Orc - Dragon Rampant

 Herewith some pictures of a large Dragon Rampant game with my youngest son. The battle for Bear Mountain. He was playing the dwarves and he completely annihilated my attacking orcish force. Many of my orcs having been lost to the dwarven crossbowmen. The flanking attack of my trolls going through the woods also having failed.