New Colonial wargames rules available to download

I have uploaded the Colonial version of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules (in PDF format) to THE PORTABLE WARGAME website so that any interested blog reader can download them and possibly use them.

This draft uses the same basic game mechanisms as the earlier 'Musket' version of the rules, but I have added some extra weapon types (e.g. Magazine Rifles, Machine Guns) as well as including an option for Native Infantry and Cavalry Units to make double-length moves if their Commander achieves the right score on a D6 die.

The rules are still very much a 'work in progress', and may be subject to change as and when they are play-tested ... which will hopefully be quite soon.

Colonial Wargaming website: Updated ... at long last!

After over a year of inactivity I have finally managed to update my Colonial Wargaming website.

Most of the updates are to the Books pages of the Inspiration section of the website, but over the coming months I hope expand various sections and to extend the scope of the website to include some of the non-colonial conflicts that took place between 1850 and 1920.

Colonial Wargaming website update

I have added details of my most recent acquisition – WARSHIP 2010 – to the Books pages of the Inspiration section of my Colonial Wargaming website.

Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' wargames rules

I realised this morning that the version of Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' wargames rules that I had made available as a download in PDF format from the Colonial Wargame Rules section of my Colonial Wargaming website contain several errors.

I have now corrected them and the new version of the rules can now be downloaded.

Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' wargames rules

Further to my last two blog entries, I have now re-written Joseph Morschauser's 'Frontier' wargames rules in the hope that modern wargamers will find them clearer and easier to understand.

They can now be downloaded in PDF format from the Colonial Wargame Rules section of my Colonial Wargaming website. Like all the other rules available in that section, they are not password protected.

Its quiet out there ... too quiet ... or is it?

The following images of what I think are the 'Frontier' rules in use on the tabletop are from Joseph Morschauser's HOW TO PLAY WAR GAMES IN MINIATURE and Donald Featherstone's ADVANCED WAR GAMES.

Its very quiet out there ... too quiet ...

Despite several people asking if I have given up on Colonial wargaming, the truth is that for the last few months my attention has been elsewhere. I have continue to develop my version of Joseph Morschauser's wargame rules, and have helped set up a blog that deals with the interwar era (from 1919 to 1939, give or take a few years).

The result is that I have had little time to do any actual Colonial wargaming but ...

One byproduct of my work on Morschauser's rules is that I now have a copy of his 'Frontier' rules. These are the ones that I think he used in the games that are featured in the famous photographs in Donald Featherstone's ADVANCED WAR GAMES. I intend to demonstrate these rules at the next COW (Conference of Wargamers) in July, and this will entail doing some work on the layout of the rules as their current format is a little dated.

A second byproduct is that I have begun to realise that there were a considerable number of Colonial conflicts during the interwar era, and that this is a fertile area for my Colonial wargaming in the future.

So things have bee quite out there for a few weeks ... but not too quiet!

Colonial Wargaming website update

I have added details of my recent acquisitions to the Books and Videos and DVDs pages of the Inspiration section of my Colonial Wargaming website.

Recent additions

Since my last blog entry I have acquired a couple of items that might be of interest to the colonial wargamer.

The first is a DVD entitled OMAR MUKHTAR: LION OF THE DESERT.

This film is set in the late 1920s, and tells the story of the Italian attempts to crush the remnants of Libyan resistance to Italian colonial rule. This resistance was led by Omar Mukhtar who proved to be a very able leader of irregular forces. The films stars Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar, Oliver Reed as General Rodolfo Graziani, and Rod Steiger as Mussolini, and features a large number of recreated and restored vehicles, including some Fiat tanks.

I managed to see this film when it first came out in 1981, but only recently discovered that it had been released as a DVD. When I saw a copy on sale at a recent wargames show, I had to buy it!

My other recent purchase is a copy of the Osprey book about the OTTOMAN INFANTRYMAN 1914-18.

The book's author is David Nicolle, who is well known writer on medieval and Islamic warfare, and the illustrator is Christa Hook.

The book is the latest volume in the WARRIOR series (No.145 [ISBN 978 1 84603 506 7]) and includes chapters on:

• Enlistment
• Training
• Daily Life
• Appearance and Weaponry
• Belief and Belonging
• Life on Campaign
• The Soldier in battle
• Museums, Re-enactment and Collecting

The book as a short Introduction, a Chronology of the main events affecting the Ottoman Empire from 1914 to 1918, a Bibliography, and a very useful Glossary of Turkish military terms.

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Military Uniforms of the 19th Century

I recently acquired a copy of AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE 19TH CENTURY via Amazon. The book was published in 2010 by Lorenz Press (an imprint of Anness Publishing Ltd: ISBN 978 0 7548 1901 1) and was written by Kevin F Kiley and Digby Smith, with Jeremy Black MBE acting as a consultant.

The latter part of the book deals exclusively with colonial conflicts and contains some excellent illustrations. These include pictures of the following:

Indian Mutiny: British

• Officer, Punjab Cavalry, 1857
• Private, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1857
• Trooper, 9th Lancers, 1857
• Gunner, Bombay Horse Artillery, 1857
• Rissaldar, Hodson's Horse, 1857
• Trooper, 14th Light Dragoons, 1857
• Sowar, 2nd Punjab Cavalry, 1857
• Brigadier John Nicholson, 1857
• Major General Henry Havelock, 1857
• Lieutenant General Sir Colin Campbell, 1857
• Officer, 2nd Punjab Cavalry, 1857
• Sepoy, 4th Punjab Infantry, 1857
• Private, 95th Foot, 1857
• Private, Rifle Brigade, 1857
• Private, 92nd (Gordon) Highlanders, 1857

Indian Mutiny: Rebel Sepoys

• Rebel Sowar, 1857
• Sowar, 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, 1857
• Rebel Sepoy, 1857

French in Mexico

• Trooper, Chasseurs D'Afrique, Mexico, 1863
• Legionnaire, French Foreign Legion, Mexico, 1864
• Officer, Contra-Guerillas, Mexico, 1865

The Boer Wars: British

• Officer, 27th Foot, 1845
• Gunner, Royal Artillery, 1845
• Private, Rifle Brigade, 1845
• Private, 27th Foot, 1845
• General Officer, 1845
• Officer, Cape Mounted Rifles, 1845
• Trooper, 7th Dragoon Guards, 1845
• Private, 3rd Battalion, 60th Rifles, 1881
• Officer, 21st Foot, 1881
• Private, 94th Foot, 1881
• Civilian Colonial Volunteer, 1881
• Seaman, Naval Brigade, 1881
• Officer, Lancashire Fusiliers, 1898
• NCO, Infantry, 1898
• Private, King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), 1898
• Officer, Highland Light Infantry, 1898
• Private, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 1898
• Private, Guards Regiments, 1898
• Officer, 92nd Highlanders, 1898
• Officer, Infantry, 1899
• Officer, Infantry, 1899
• Trooper, Natal Carabiniers, 1899
• Private, Royal Canadian Regiment, 1899
• Private, Mounted Infantry, 1900
• Trooper, 12th Lancers, 1900
• Staff Officer, 1900
• Officer, City Imperial Volunteers, 1900
• Native Scout, 1900
• Trooper, 5th Lancers, 1900
• Trooper, 17th Lancers, 1900
• Trumpeter, Cavalry, 1900
• Trooper, Rimington Scouts, 1900

The Boer Wars: Boers

• Boer Voortrekker, 1840
• Boer, 1870-80
• Boer Free State Commando, 1860
• Boer Commandant, 1881
• Corporal, Transvaal Staatsartillerie, 1898
• Boer Commando, 1899
• African Auxiliary (Agyterryer), 1900
• Gunner, Transvaal Staatsartillerie, 1900

North American Indian Wars

• Guidon Bearer, 7th United States Cavalry, 1876
• Cheyenne Warrior, 1876
• Apache Warrior, 1880
• NCO, 10th United States Cavalry Regiment, 1890

Zulu War: British

• Colour Sergeant Bourne, 24th Foot, 1879
• Gonville Bromhead, 24th Foot, 1879
• Private, 99th Foot, 1879
• Private, 91st Foot, 1879
• Sergeant, 3rd Battalion, 60th Rifles, 1879
• Officer, 3rd Battalion, 60th Rifles, 1879
• Bandsman, 24th Foot, 1879
• Officer, 17th Lancers, 1879
• Trooper, 1st King's Dragoon Guards, 1879
• Trooper, 17th Lancers, 1879
• Sapper, Royal Engineers, 1879
• Officer, Royal Artillery, 1879
• Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI), 1879
• Officer, Royal Navy, 1879
• Trooper, Frontier Light Horse, 1879
• Trooper, Natal Carabiniers, 1879
• Private, Mounted Infantry, 1879
• Trooper, Durban Mounted Rifles, 1879

Zulu War: Zulus

• Zulu, 1879 (Four different illustrations)

Zulu War: Boers

• Boer, 1879 (Four different illustrations)

Egypt and the Sudan: British

• General Garnet Wolsely, 1873
• Private, 5th Gurkhas, 1878
• Officer, Queen's Own Corps of Guides, 1879
• Private, 42nd Foot (Black Watch), 1882
• General Stewart, 1884
• General Kitchener, 1898
• Trooper, 21st Lancers, 1898

Egypt and the Sudan: Mahdists

• Mahdist, 1898 (Two different illustrations)
• Mahdist Emir, 1898

Spanish-American War

• Bandmaster, United States Navy, 1897
• Private, 10th Pennsylvania Infantry, 1898
• Officer, United States Marine Corps, 1898
• Gunner, 4th Mounted Artillery Regiment, 1898

Boxer Rebellion: Allies

• Trooper, 16th Bengal Lancers, 1900
• Officer, Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1900
• Artillery Officer, United States Army, 1900
• Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry, 1900
• Private, United States Marine Corps, 1900
• Private, French Naval Infantry, 1900
• Private, German East Asian Brigade, 1900

Boxer Rebellion: Chinese

• Boxer, 1900 (Two different illustrations)
• Chinese Irregular Cavalryman, 1900

Colonial Troops

• Trooper, New South Wales Lancers, 1886
• Officer, 1st Skinner's Horse (Duke of York's Own Lancers), 1886
• Sowar, 19th Bengal Cavalry, 1888
• Sepoy, 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, 1888
• Officer, 27th Light Cavalry, 1888
• Spahi, French North Africa, 1900
• NCO, Philippine Constabulary, 1901

That is quite a lot of illustrations for the cost of the book ... and there are also other sections that cover:

• The Crimean War
• The Wars of German and Italian Unification
• The American Civil War