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Author Topic: Colonial, using Principles of War rules  (Read 2566 times)

Offline Phil Portway

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1059
Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« on: October 10, 2018, 08:23:52 PM »
PoW are a set of rules I started playing in the late nineties, since then there has been a rewrite (2003), and although there are quite a few changes, they changes seem to be for better. Monday saw Dave break out his Colonial armies, Zulus vs British.


Although the British were on hidden movement as the the Zulus, in Colonial games the European Armies are assumed to be out scouted  and only the native army get the hidden movement and dummy bases (dependent on quality of commander).

The armies and set up:

Zulu- 4 Brigades, all with good commanders



The British - 4 Brigades, 2 poor and 2 Average Commanders



Turn 2 Hidden Movement
British


Zulu - one base is out of shot to the right.


Spotting was dire, but one British unit got spotted


Turn 4 -British vanguard staring to deploy.




Turn 5 - Another British Base was spotted and deploys


Turn 6 - Zulu Brigade is spotted.


 The British Right Column was spotted and deploys


One of the Zulu "horns" is about to make their move!


Turn 7 - The British Right column starts to deploy.


The Zulu Left horn starts to charge in!


British right, Artillery fires and misses


The melee was a draw. One Zulu unit Retires shaken, on becomes shaken and Brits stand firm.


The Zulu right horn begins it's charges towards the mounted infantry.


End of turn 8


We were just starting to run out of time, but the rules cause a lot of tension due to the hidden movement. Dave had not played the rules for about 12 years and it was only my second game in  as many years.

But still a good set of Colonial rules when played properly, from game/ scenery set up to deployment and objectives which force opponents towards their goal and not just Laager up and blow the natives away.

If it isn't enjoyable, it isn't gaming!

Offline john Hollyoak

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 339
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2018, 09:43:00 PM »
Great stuff. Thank you for keeping the PoW flag flying. Movement based do add a nice bit of fog. Most of the time you can guess what is on the base and which are dummies, but every so often you get a curve ball.
John

Offline Phil Portway

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1059
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2018, 10:48:21 PM »
Great stuff. Thank you for keeping the PoW flag flying. Movement based do add a nice bit of fog. Most of the time you can guess what is on the base and which are dummies, but every so often you get a curve ball.
John

We will be finishing this one off next month, will post an update!
We have used them three times over the past month, Franco/ Prussian 10mm, ACW 15mm and this one. Will be getting out my 6mm Sudan in the near future too!

Offline Desert Rat

  • Assistant
  • Posts: 47
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2018, 06:59:33 AM »
Thanks for the post. Brings back load of good memories. I used to play it loads "back in the day", mostly colonial, WWI and renaissance.
Unfortunately I sold off almost all my PoW armies. Only a handfull of armies left, mostly WIP.
Looks like a good game was had anyway. The regular player doesn't get movement bases against a native army, right ?

Offline john Hollyoak

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 339
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2018, 10:25:10 PM »
Desert Rat - you are correct, regular armies do not use movement bases when facing irregular armies.
John

Offline Timmo

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 62
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2018, 07:44:53 PM »
Do you think these rules would work with 28mm figures or would a huge playing area be needed?

Offline Sparrow

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1302
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2018, 09:23:08 PM »
From my experience you probably need an 8 foot x 6 foot table.
Put your trust in God and keep your powder dry!

Offline Siaba

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 305
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2018, 05:56:38 PM »
Do you think these rules would work with 28mm figures or would a huge playing area be needed?

These rules work very well with 28mm figures, actually I've never played them with another scale. I played FPW, ACW and colonial (Boxer rebellion) games. We played on huge tables for FPW and ACW but we tried to game on an ordinary table (1,20 m x 1,80 m) and it worked quite well.
"The enemy? His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem. You wonder what his name is, where he came from. And if he was really evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home. If he would not rather have stayed there ... in peace. War will make corpses of us all."

Offline Timmo

  • Bookworm
  • Posts: 62
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2018, 05:39:04 PM »
Thank you.

Offline john Hollyoak

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 339
Re: Colonial, using Principles of War rules
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2018, 08:10:52 PM »
The rules and lists as printed were designed for 15mm on a 6 x 4 table for about 3 hours play. You can go down to 6mm or smaller and halve all distanced to get a really big battle. By the same token you go to 28mm and double distances but you really need a big table. 28mm still works at the standard rules, it just looks like a skirmish because of the fewer figures. For 28mms i would definitely recommend the smaller lists.
John