Imperius Maximus.

DBA-Based Colonial Wargames Rules by Neil Laird Introduction These rules were designed for troops of 1/300th scale (6mm) and all elements have a base frontage of 30mm. Base depth for an infantry stand is 10mm, Cavalry 15mm and Artillery is 30mm.Gatling guns often represent sections so I leave them smaller. Visibility The initiative is important here as troops remaining stationary will be able to spot troops moving before moving troops can spot stationary troops. During daytime and the visibility is good then most of the table is within view. Deadground will exist but this is covered in the section on Terrain. Events that prevent clear visibility in the daytime are Duststorms and Heavy Rainstorms. Both prevent effective movement and fighting. Nightime visibility is restricted to 400 paces. On clear moonlit nights the distance is increased to 1200 paces but only for spotting large bodies of troops. The same circumstances exist for the sighting of vessels moving on rivers at night. All vessels of more than one deck or with masts will be able to see over the river bank into the surrounding countryside. This will not be the case if alongside cliffs, or hills, both at sea or inland waterways.. Visibility within differing terrain features also exists. Please see the next section. Terrain Few battlefields were a "bowling green" and there is always a "trade off" between physical reality and the representation of features on the playing table. Hills, Rivers and Settlements pose little trouble but Ravines, Broken Ground and Scrub are not always so easy. All have an impact on the game. Deadground will exist behind hills both high and low and will much depend on the frontage of the opponents unit and a clear line of sight. Some situations will require agreement, if in doubt dice for it. Rivers come in all shapes and sizes. If large then they should form a clear table edge or a substantial part of a table edge. the river can provide cover for a unit providing it is not deeper than one element of any length. Providing it does not move or shoot it will remain hidden until other troops reach the top of the bank. Movement on large rivers can only be by boat and troops will need time to disembark. If the point of disembarkation is by gang plank then longer time is needed to form up ready for a fight. This is not true if mooring alongside a harbour quay or another vessel. Other rivers are not only watercourses but represent a jumble of rocks, pools, and material thus always form an obstacle and as such attract penalties for movement and fighting. Unless a river flows through a ravine it cannot conceal troops more than one base depth. To locate a ford the following table is used. After rolling a dice.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Troops can cross Troops can cross Each element rethrows. No crossing, unit recoils No crossing, unit recoils No crossing, unit recoils.

(The recoiling unit blocks the ford until moved out of the way.) Settlements come in large and small sizes. Unless surrounded by a palisade no element can hide in a village settlement. In a town or larger settlement it is possible to keep troops hidden until the commander wishes them to move or shoot. Issues of deadground come into play here. Equally if remaining hidden by a city wall then only penalties for wheeling need to be considered. But if a force is moving out a city gateway then penalties need to be made. Broken ground is not so easy to show clearly on the table. It is Bad Going for all regular troops and native cavalry and camelry. It is impassable to all wagons and Artillery. Unless a trackway is cleared or marked. It can be an area of tall impenetrable grass, Marshy or Boggy ground, Rocks and Boulders, Scree slopes or a combination of some or all of these. Any horses or camels must be led to cross it and at half speed. Ravines, Dense Scrub, Woods and Larger towns are a barrier to troops. They count as bad going to all troops attracting penalties for any moving and fighting that takes place. Visibility within features is limited to 300 paces. In the event of other field defences being used a player needs to specify whether his troops manning them are remaining concealed or not. Troops on the edge of a feature can see out and be seen. An element counts as being "in" terrain features once the front edge of the element crosses into that feature. Equally it is "out" once the rear edge of that element is clear of the feature. So if a column crosses Broken ground the lead element leaves the far side and is thus out of the Broken ground. The remainder of the column is still crossing the broken ground. It is clear once the rear edge of the last element is clear of the feature. Transport. Baggage usually includes the mode of transport for the supplies. However players may wish to include other types of transport. Railways were rare at this time but in one or two notable situations had a notable impact. They are probably more important in a campaign rather than a "one off" encounter. In the Sudan campaign one was built to support the army advance.

Boats are a different issue. In the African and Chinese wars extensive use was made of the waterways as arteries of supply for both men and materials. In the siege of Khartoum Gordon had a fleet of 9 paddle steamers (one was actually built during the siege) as well as 5 other steamers. At Omdurman a flotilla of gunboats gave supporting fire to the main battle. A river steamer was used ahead of the relief force to see if Khartoum had fallen or not. It is my experience that models in 1/600th scale are best if used. each armed vessel counts as a battery. If canon are mounted in Native craft they count as a battery irrespective of the number involved. If troops are being ferried from one bank to the other some level of agreement will be needed to monitor that movement. One steamer can carry one battalion. One Gunboat can carry half a battalion. If a Gunboat is towing a pair of barges then the whole battalion goes but it will be at half speed. These are guidelines and a host of other issues arise so be flexible. For the Sudan campaign 50 Ocean going merchant ships were used in all to move 13,00 troops and their material. Rowing boats and Sailing vessels move 100 paces a turn if crossing or against the current. If travelling with the current that can be doubled to 200 paces per turn. A complete turn is needed to slow down and moor. this must be done before any troops disembark.

Definitions Separated into Field and Heavy Field Artillery are limbered guns, Gatling Guns and Mountain Batteries Heavy artillery are guns emplaced in forts, on capital naval vessels dismounted Naval guns and Arab siege guns. All the material needed by that army to continue its operation in the field. It is to be protected as it includes food, ammunition, medical services, water, tents and the generals bath. Pack animals to carry all this, Baggage is an obstacle to troops crossing it, or fighting in it. Units mounted on camels, sometimes dismounting to fight on foot.They are faster over longer distances than horses. Regular mounted troops trained to fight and manoeuvre as a unit. Better armed mounted locals, not trained to fight as a unit. Rifle armed troops who dismount to fire at their opponents. e.g. Boers.

Artillery

Baggage

Camelry

Cavalry

Irregular Cavalry Light Horse

Native Rifles

Natives armed with rifles but little or no training and drill. e.g. Abyssinians, Maoris and Zulus.

Warbands

Natives armed with close quarters weapons, spear, club, sword, whose main aim was to rush and overwhelm their enemy. e.g .Boxers, Maoris, Fuzzy Wuzzies and Zulus.

Regulars

Troops armed with rifles and bayonets who are trained to fight and fire in formations. e.g. Americans, Europeans, Chinese, E.V.A. Egyptian, Japanese, Indian Infantry.

Mounted Infantry move as Cavalry but upon dismounting then count as Regulars. Both Mounted Infantry and Cavalry upon dismounting need to show the location of their mounts if they intend to remount later in the game. Gatling Guns are listed under Field Artillery but their shooting and combat factors are different and so listed separately. Transports such as boats and trains are not listed but count as obstacles and if troops are driven off them in combat they are captured. Impetuous Troops Because of the nature of the cause some troops were fighting for we need to recognise that some troops were highly motivated and push attacks home with almost no regard to casualties or loss of order. These Fanatical troops may become impetuous. To test for this happening fanatical troops (see Appendix) roll a D6 once within rifle range on a roll of 6 that unit has become Impetuous. 1 PIP point is needed to hold Impetuous troops back. All Impetuous troops are moved before a player moves the rest of his element.

Movement. The movement distance for the different troop types is given below. The ground scale is 100 paces to an inch. This gives an approximate ground scale of 15 inches to a mile. 500 paces Light Horse, Camelry

400 paces

Cavalry.

300 paces

Warband, Native Rifles, Engine Powered vessels.

200 paces

Regulars and Artillery in good going, Horse Drawn wagons

100 paces

Sailing and Rowing boats Ox Drawn wagons. Unit recoil distance.

March Movement. In the early stages of a game it is permissible for troops in the same formation to move the speed of the slowest troop type multiplied by the number of PIP points that the general rolled in that turn, until in Artillery range. When each command dices and moves independently. Reductions to movement. All troops crossing at a ford, or crossing the edge of a ravine do so at half speed. Troops disembarking from transports, Trains or Boats, take one move to "sort them selves out" before moving off in the preferred formation. Mounted infantry and Cavalry take one move to dismount. Firing next move. It takes half a move to mount up. Troops using a gateway reduce speed to half movement. Two important points to remember are that when a formation moves it does so in such a way that no individual element exceeds their normal move distance. Secondly No element or unit may cross the front of an opponents troops if he is closer than 200 paces. Troop Formations Elements were combined into commands of various sizes. In Native armies those commands were larger and less flexible, in European armies the structure of Divisions, Brigades, regiments and Battalions should be reflected. Once troops are allocated to their parent unit those elements must remain within command radii. For a battalion no element can move more than 300 paces from its Commanding Officer. For a Brigade no element can move more than 600 paces from its Brigade H.Q. For a Division no element can move more than 1200 paces from the Divisional H.Q. If troops are separated from its parent unit an extra PIP point will be needed to initiate movement. In addition it will move towards its parent unit unless ordered otherwise.

Method of Play. Each player dices for initiative. (a D6 is always used) One die is rolled for each General present on the opposing sides. In a multi-player game the total for all the Generals on each side is added together to provide the score for each side. Retain those die scores as they are your PIP points for your troops for that move. The winning player then Moves, Shoots and Fights any combats. Player two then Moves, Shoots and Fights his combats. This assumes that both players are moving troops. If a player does not move his troops in his move then he may fire at the end of the other players movement phase in addition to his own firing phase. Thus if a command remains stationary he will fire twice in that game turn. Shooting Ranges. Heavy Artillery Field Artillery Gatling Guns Rifle Fire 2000 paces 1200 paces. 600 paces. 600 paces (-100 paces if African, Egyptian, Chinese.)

Each element has a shooting arc of 45 degrees to their front. To resolve shooting and combats use the Factors given below and add these to a die roll made for each element engaged, then use the Combat Outcome chart. Shooting and Combat factors. Regulars Warband Native Rifles. Cavalry Lancers Light Horse Artillery Gatling Guns +5 (Egyptian and Chinese +4 ) +3 +2 (Boers +5 when firing) +3 (+2 African/Egyptian/Chinese) +4 in first turn, +2 thereafter +2 +3 (+2 if African Chinese) +7 (on a roll of 1 the gun Jams.)

Gunboats count as Artillery. Additional Combat factors. Regulars in combat in bad going. -1

In prepared positions +2 Each Flank engaged -1 per flank. Troop Grading Not only did the troops in any one army show differences in their fighting abilities but comparing differing armies involves some generalisations. Some of these are covered in Appendix 1. The following factors are to be added/subtracted after all other factors have been included. The modified result then compared to the Combat Outcomes underneath. Troop Type Inferior Troops Superior Troops Impetuous Troops Rating Value. -1 +1 +2

Combat Outcomes. If an elements total is less than that of the enemy but more than half;Regulars destroyed by Warband or Regular Cavalry, if not recoil. Warband destroyed by Cavalry in good going, if not recoil. Native Rifles destroyed by any mounted in contact, if not recoil. Cavalry destroyed by any mounted in contact or in bad going, if not recoil. Light Horse As cavalry. Camelry As cavalry. Artillery destroyed by any in contact, if not recoil. If an elements total is less than half that of the enemy;Light Horse destroyed by any mounted in contact or if in bad going, If not flee 600 paces. All others destroyed. Notes Warband and cavalry whose enemy recoil or are destroyed pursue for 100 paces. Warbands whose enemy to the front is destroyed or is recoiled follow up only if not engaged to the flank or rear themselves. Remember that Warband cannot recoil through another Warband unit Native Rifles may recoil through Native Rifles.

European Trained troops only need 1 PIP point to form square. The unit recoil distance for all troops is 100 paces. Impetuous elements remain so until destroyed or 1/3rd of their unit is destroyed. Winning and Losing The Victory conditions for the Europeans are when 33% of an irregular army is destroyed. All European type Regular bases must be destroyed for a Victory for the Native troops. If players are using allies of differing troops then each command should be treated as separate wings of the same army and the above victory/losing conditions remain. It is also possible to give separate commands tasks to be completed. Thus one wing of an army may secure and hold an objective whilst the rest of the army is driven off. Appendix 1 Listed below are a few other changes that add character to a game and allow a greater variety of armies to be developed for the period. Fanatical/Superior troops. Zulus Hadendowah Tribesmen. Inferior Troops. Green or un-acclimatised troops. Garrison Militia. Mounted Infantry are Inferior Cavalry. Artillery are always reliable being neither Inferior/superior. Improvised Defences. Troops defending score a +1 only if in base contact. (includes thorn Zaribas, hedges etc.) Only in hand to hand fighting. Scenarios Examples of various forces are listed for some battles in Africa involving British or Empire Troops. Tamai 1884 British Regulars Cavalry 24 bases. 6 bases. Mahdist/Hadendowah troops. Warbands Native Rifles. 60 bases 40 bases

Artillery (1 Gatling)

2 bases.

Tofrek 1884 British Regulars Indian Troops Cavalry Artillery (1 Gatling) 12 bases. 18 bases 2 bases. 2 bases. Mahdist/Hadendowah troops.

Warbands Native Rifles.

30 bases 20 bases

Toski 1887 Egyptian Army Regulars* Indian Troops Cavalry Camelry Artillery 18 bases. 18 bases 4 bases. 6 bases 3 bases. Mahdist/troops.

Warbands Native Rifles.

50 bases 25 bases

*Regulars are Egyptian and Sudanese

Acknowledgements. My grateful thanks to many members of The Trowbridge Irregulars who either wittingly or unwittingly gave their help in the designing and play testing of these rules. N.F.L. Jan. 98.

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