I use these rules as a 'default setting' when I don't have detailed information about the actual movement rates, supply requirements etc of the campaign I am fighting. Don't let these rules stop you fighting your wars the way you want to! If you know that the Suakin to Berber railway can support two divisions, or if you only want two divisions in you campaign, then two divisions is what the railway can support.
These rules are designed for gamers who like to get stuck into their battles but enjoy the campaign elements that colonial wars offer so easily. As Shakespeare didn't say "the battle's the thing", so whilst not completely ignoring problems of supply and sanitation don't spend too long on map moves but march on, join bravely and let to it pell-mell.
ORGANISATION
Regular infantry are generally organised into Companies of 100 men. Several Companies form a Battalion that averages 600 men. The Battalion will have transport consisting of 50 mules, 2 wagons or equivalent, that carries extra ammunition and entrenching tools.
Regular cavalry are usually organised into Regiments of 400 men.
Irregulars will generally form bodies equivalent in size to a Battalion.
RAISING AN ARMY
Regulars: It takes 1 to 3 days for troops in barracks or disembarking from troopships to mobilise.
Irregulars: Up to a month to mobilise 10% of a tribe for war.
SEA TRANSORT
Transport ships cover 150 miles a day and warships 250 miles.
Despatch vessels carry messages at 400 miles a day.
2000 men require 3000 tons of shipping
1,000 cavalry require 8,000 tons
An artillery battery requires 1000 tons
Transport ships average 2000 to 4000 tons
NAVAL BRIGADES
For every 1000 tons of her displacement a warship can disembark:
50 sailors
10 marines
A 9pdr gun, machine gun or pair of rocket tubes.
SUPPLY
Regular units carry two days rations on them, irregulars four days.
British Indian Armies have as many camp followers as combatants, who also need to be fed.
Irregular armies will draw supplies from the local area.
Roll d6 per day and total score. 20 means that local food supplies have been exhausted move, disperse or starve!
Regular armies use units of Supply, (which weigh 40 tons) and are carried by units of Transport.
A unit of Transport is:
Animals and humans may be overloaded by up to 50% but suffer increased sickness.
| A unit of Supply lasts: | 10 weeks for | 1 Battalion of regular infantry |
| 1000 irregulars or camp followers | ||
| 5 weeks for | 1 unit of animal Transport | |
| 4 weeks for | 1 Regiment of cavalry |
A 6-gun artillery battery counts as 1/4 battalion of infantry and 1/4 unit of animal Transport.
If no fresh water is available this too must be carried by Transport.
| A unit of Water lasts: | 2 weeks for | 1 Battalion of regular infantry |
| 1000 irregulars or camp followers | ||
| 1 week for | 1 regiment of cavalry |
Unless a Flying Column the force will have supply convoys operating between it and base.
The convoys shuttle backwards and forwards between the troops and their base at normal movement rates. In hostile territory they may need to be guarded.
The efficiency of animal transport is reduced as the supply lines lengthen, due to the animals eating the supplies before they arrive.
Every day that the convoy is travelling, except the first and the last, the animals eat 3% of the supplies.
MOVEMENT
| Move per day (miles) | |
| Trains | 300 |
| Ox, Elephant and Bullock drawn vehicles | 2dice |
| River Steamers | 12dice +/- 10 for current
Half speed towing two boats |
| Cavalry and Pack Horses | 4dice |
| Mules, Camels & Horse drawn vehicles | 4dice |
| Zulus | 4dice |
| All other | 3dice |
The dice use should be average dice, but as I don't have enough I use d6s and roll again for silly results.
Transport and wheeled artillery must keep to marked tracks except in desert, veldt or steppes.
Units will be columns two figures wide unless in open terrain.
Foot, Mules and Horses can forced march and double move.
Halve movement in jungle and mountains
Wheeled transport moves 20 miles a day on roads; other units add an extra dice
Advancing through mountain passes by 'crowning the heights' limits movement to 5 miles a day
MARCHING AND CAMPING
| Length of road in column of march | Camping area needed | |
|---|---|---|
| Infantry Battalion | 250 yds | 15,000 sq yds |
| Cavalry Regiment | 750 yds | 40,000 sq yds |
| 1000 animals | 1000 yds | 40,000 sq yds |
| 5 ox wagons | 300 yds | 3,000 sq yds |
| Artillery battery | 400 yds | 20,000 sq yds |
Transport will usually march four animals or vehicles abreast.
Regulars will throw out 10% of their numbers as piquets when halted or as flank guards on the march
COMMUNICATION
Mounted messengers and runners move at forced march speed.
Telegraph lines provide instant communication, but are easily cut by the enemy.
A heliograph on high ground in good weather can signal 40 miles in line-of-sight.
THE SICK LIST
Once a month roll d6 for every tenth figure. A 6 or more means they are sick.
If the first dice roll for any camp is 9 or more you get disease.
If you already have disease it clears on a 5 or less.
| Modify dice roll by: | + 4 | Weather is hot and humid |
|---|---|---|
| + 2 | Weather is hot and dry or snow | |
| + 1 | Troops changed climate in last 3 months | |
| Overcrowded camp | ||
| No shelter | ||
| Under siege | ||
| On half rations | ||
| - 1 Natives | Troops in camp and not doing anything | |
| Roll twice if troops: | Are forced marching unless they rested previous day |
Roll for every second figure if out of food
Troops that fall sick spend the month inactive.
If you have disease then half of all sick cases die or are invalided home
If out of water morale collapses after three days and all sick die.
If out of food roll d6 per day and total scores. For every 20 points morale drops by one. Troops surrender when morale reaches zero.
Also roll for every tenth animal. A 6 or more means it dies.
| Modify dice roll by: | + 2 | If weather is hot and humid |
|---|---|---|
| + 1 | If weather is hot and dry or snow | |
| Animals are underfed or overworked | ||
| Changed climate in the last 3 months | ||
| - 1 | Inactive | |
| - 1 | For mules |
RECONNAISSANCE
It takes 2 hours for cavalry to search a 25 square mile area, infantry take 10 hours.
Balloons can see troops in the open 5 miles away, but can be seen themselves from 10 miles away.
ENGINEERING
Work is carried out either by engineers (specially skilled troops) pioneers (units raised primarily as labourers) or other troops.
The following take 50 men all day.
Men may do half a day's work after a day's march (unless forced marching).
Pioneers carry their own tools. Other troops have theirs in Battalion transport.
| Work requiring engineers: | Dig 5 yds of mine or counter mine |
| Lay 2 miles of telegraph line | |
| Prepare bridge for demolition | |
| Work that can be done by anyone: | Repair a breech to weak wall standard (if materials available) |
| Erect 150 yds of palisade, zariba, sangar (if materials available) | |
| Dig 100 yds of trench or sap | |
| Make gabions to emplace one artillery battery | |
| Construct 10 yds of a pontoon or raft | |
| Load or unload 30 tons of stores | |
| Lay 1/40th of a mile of narrow gauge railway line | |
| Lay 1/80th of a mile of broad gauge railway |
Except for mining, the tasks may be carried out by as many men as can be brought to contact.
Other tasks:
| Loophole a building | 3 turns for a figure with arme blanche |
| Chop down a tree | 1 turn for two pioneers |
| Blow open a door | 1 turn for 2 engineers to lay charges |
| 1 turn for a figure to light fuse |
SIEGES
There are three ways to conduct a siege.
Blockade and see who succumbs first to starvation, thirst or disease
Reduce the defences by mining and bombardment
Directly assault the position with ladders and explosives by fighting a tabletop battle
Blockade
Forts will have food to feed their garrison for 6 months on full rations.
Towns have food for the full population for 1 3 months. Scouring the surrounding area for food and kicking out unwanted citizens - a process that takes a month, can double this.
Forts and towns will have their own water supply, and if in the desert this may be the only water source around.
Mining
This is not possible if a mote or deep ditch surrounds defences.
The mine must be started at least 100 yds away from the defences.
If the defenders have engineers they can dig a counter-mine, if the two meet a hand-to-hand combat ensues with the victors collapsing the other mine.
Once finished the mine can be filled with explosives with a 1 in 6 chance they don't go off.
One ton of gunpowder blows a 25-yd hole in the wall.
Bombardment
Bombardment of the interior of a fort by howitzer or mortar takes place at 1/6th of the normal rate of fire. Use normal rules except that the point of impact of the shell is determined randomly.
To breach or destroy the defences fire as at a normal close order target.
| Doors are destroyed by: | 1 hit by shot or shell over 12 pdr |
| Wooden buildings are destroyed by: | 1 hit by shot or shell 16 pdr |
| Gates or weak walls are breached by: | 1 hit by shot or shell over 49 pdr |
| 2 hits by shot over 33 pdr | |
| 5 hits by shot over 16 pdr |
Breaching a strong stone wall requires between 5000 and 20,000 shots at less than 300 yds by a gun over 16 pdr.
TABLETOP BATTLES
However you fight your campaigns a battle should be the end result.
Use your own rules, but here are a few more points to consider if fighting a campaign.
In my rules all troops have a 'tactical rating' (TR) which varies from 2 for the dullest Russian conscript through to 4 for a wily Pathan, with 3 being the average.
NIGHT MARCHES AND FLANK ATTACKS
Separate columns of troops advancing to battle out of sight must roll to see if they arrive as planned.
On the turn the troops are due to arrive on table roll d6 and compare with TR
| Modify the dice roll by | - 1 | If less than 2 miles from friends |
| + 1 | If more than 4 miles from friends | |
| No officer with the unit |
For every point above modified TR they arrive d6 turns late.
If the modified dice roll is 6 or more they are hopelessly lost and on a completely different battlefield!
When the troops arrive roll again to see if they are in the right place.
For every point above modified TR they deviate 2d6" to the left or right
AMMUNITION
Troops usually have 50 rounds on them for their weapons.
In my rules a turn last 10 minutes and most weapons fire 10 rounds per turn.
THE END OF THE BATTLE
The battle is over when one side has no troops left on the table that aren't broken, wounded or prisoners.
PURSUIT
Victors with higher movement rates than enemy units may pursue, unless irregular in which case they loot.
In hostile territory civilians may also turn out to attack the defeated troops.
Each arme blanche armed cavalry figure kills two enemy figures.
Other cavalry and all infantry kill one figure.
CASUALTIES
One third of casualties are dead, half lightly wounded and the rest seriously wounded.
Defeated troops who are seriously wounded die on the battlefield, lightly wounded may be taken prisoner (if the enemy are so inclined).
Routed irregulars who survive go home.
Routed regulars will re-group back at base but their morale is reduced by one level.
Wounded rejoin the ranks after three months. Maimed are invalided home.
ENDING THE WAR
Colonial wars are rarely decisive. A victory by the Imperial forces may be the prelude to years of guerrilla warfare, whilst a native victory is usually only temporary as the Imperial forces eventually return in greater strength.
Possible campaign objectives for the Imperial forces in order of importance are:
Failure to achieve all three will mean the enemy will rise again.
For the natives the objective is to hold out as long as possible, and to a least maintain honour by an Adowa or Isandhlwana style victory, however pyhrric it may turn out to be.
APPENDIX
BATTLES AFTER 1914
| Motor vehicles | Move 60 miles a day on roads |
| Convoys require 25 yds between vehicles (doubled on hills) | |
| Aircraft | Use for scouting only |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The two books I used most in compiling these rules are:
'Battle in Africa' by Howard Whitehouse (Fieldbooks, Mansfield, 1987)
'The World War One Source Book' by Philip J. Haythornthwaite (Arms and Armour Press, London, 1992)
