Scratch built stone walls for the Jacobite Rebellion

I am not adverse to spending money on this hobby. I have been fortunate to be able to more than finance my projects with commission work and selling off unused collections. However, I do not like to spend unnecessiarily. With my Jacobite project, I needed stone walls. I found some solid options online, but the shipping from the UK was almost more than the walls themselves. I found a couple of videos on YouTube on how to make walls out of polystyrene. I went to my local craft store and picked up an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet for $1.50 and set to work. This sheet was not nearly as maliable as the insulation you get at a hardware store, but that would have cost many times more. I cut the sheet into various lengths, each 3/4 of an inch high. The sections are 9", 4" and 2". I also made a corner section. It was fairly tedious trying to score in the stones into the polystyrene, but after awhile I was able to do it fairly quickly using and an exacto knife. I glued the sections onto cardboard and then spray painted them black. Once they werre dry I drybrushed with dark gray, light gray and tan. I flocked the cardboard bases and I had about five feet of wall sections. Clearly, they aren't as good as commercially made walls, but I am happy with them, especially the fact that they only cost me $1.50!

I also continued tinkering with my rule set. After three adjustments, I believe I have a good formula for resolving charges. Much will depend on who gets the initiative first, and how many activations they receive. I am allowing the defender to fire at the charge if the unit hasn't fired already. If it does so, however, it will receive the charge unloaded and suffer a -1 penalty on die rolls. In the picture below, four highland clans are attempting to come to grips with two government battalions. On the activation rolls, one clan was able to close with one regiment with another clan in support. To their left, another clan closed with the other government battalion which fired defensively, so it is unloaded, noted by the smoke. This charge was unsopported. The mele on the right resulted in a draw. The one on the right saw the redcoats beaten by a difference of four. This resulted in them having to withdraw 6" disordered. I felt it was a pretty realistic outcome.

Rising of the Clans First Playtest

The collection is growing at a nice rate. The most recent additions include artillery and cavalry for both sides. I got them all out on the table and put my homemade rules to the test. I learned A LOT! I am trying to keep things simple, so trying to avoid saving rolls. I just want a hit to be a hit. In the first playtest, the opening volleys were much more severe than I would have liked. The adjustment I made was to lower the unmodified chance for a hit from 4, 5, 6 to a 5 or 6. It was a tremendous improvement. I like using cards to determine who goes when. The Black Powder rule of commanders rolling for each unit also worked pretty well. The uncertainty of how many activations a unit will get in a turn is also a plus in my opinion. I am thinking of adding disorder to outcomes. It would take one activation to remove the disorder of a unit. Units would become disordered moving through friendly units, crossing certain terrain features or as a result of hand to hand combat. I also will allow division commanders to move at any point in the turn that they wish. Here are some shots of today's playtest.

These are examples of the commander cards I am using.

In my first playtest, the first fire of these government highlander units combined with a blast of cannister from the supporting gun reduced the battalion of the Atholl brigade by 50%. That was just too high. Lowering the chance of hitting from 4, 5, or 6 to 5 or 6 was much more realistic I think.

The same was true here when a government battalion was fired upon by two units of lowlanders and a gun. The change mentioned above gave a much more realistic outcome. Something a commander has to consider is the possibility of being charged while unloaded. This reduces his ability to inflict casualties in mele by one.

My first unit of government cavalry.

Bagot's Hussars are also now on the field.

The guns now have limbers so they can be depicted as limbered and ready to move.

A Jacobite gun fires at long range with three dice hitting on a 4, 5, or 6 because it gets a plus one midifier for its first fire. One casualty is inflicted on the government highlander regiment.

Four clans of highlanders poised to charge. A very intimidating sight.

Barrel's regiment braving the fire from the Jacobite lowlanders. My latest battalion is in support.

An overview of the entire action.

The Royal Scots Regiment. Next up on the painting table are two more regiments of government dragoons.

Rising of the Clans Progress

I am continuing to tinker with my rules for the Jacobite Rebellion. I am modifying the Black Powder/Hail Caesar command mechanic. Instead of rolling for moves, the roll will be for actions. A good roll will allow up to three actions in the turn. Of course, a bad roll will not allow any and end the activity for that particular commander. Here is what I have come up with.

As always, input is welcome. Thanks.

The Rising of the Clans Home Brewed Rules for the Jacobite Rebellion

My Jacobite Rebellion project is coming along nicely. I have over 400 figures painted up to, in my humble opionion, a pretty high standard. It has been a joy putting a brush to these Old Glory 28mm figures. While painting them up, I have also been trying to find some rules that suited me. I really tried to make Valour and Fortitude work for me. I made some adjustments to the stats for my units. In the end, though, it just didn't feel right. The goal of those rules is to move a large game along quickly and it does a great job of that. For me, however, it moved a bit too quickly. Most brigades would only last one turn and then be gone. Last night I sat down at my keyboard and tried to incorporate aspects of my favorite rules systems into a suitable hybrid. From Fire and Fury, I like how units go down in effectiveness as they lose figures. The rapidity of this loss is determined by the morale level of the unit. For my game, I will have three morale grades: veteran, line and conscript. Infantry units will be made up of four stands of four, five or six figures. Cavalry will be two to five stands of two figures, artillery 1 stand with five figures. Here is the table I produced to show the progression from steady to wavering to broken.

Next was to work out how the units would be activated and what they could do once they were. For this, I turned to the mechanics of Sharp Practice. I like the randomness of a card driven game. I have simplified the mechanic considerably. Each brigade commander has a card for the deck. When his card is drawn he may activate his units one at a time. A unit may do two actions: move, fire, reload, change formation or rally. To rally off loses, the brigadier must attach himself to the desired unit for the entire turn and that unit can do nothing else. Conscripts can't move and change formation in the same turn. Firing is based on the number of figures in the unit and its morale level. Veterans may roll 1 die for every four men, line 1 for every 5 and conscripts 1 for every six. I hit is scored on a roll of 4,5 or 6. This number can be modified by several factors. There are no saving rolls. 1s are always misses and 6s are always hits. Highlanders use the stats for one morale grade lower than what they are.

I believe that commanders should be at risk, so if one is within 3" of a unit that suffers losses in any way during the turn, the officer must roll two dice. On a roll of 12 he is killed, 11 he is wounded and removed from the game, on a 10 he is wounded but can carry on. Mele is also pretty simple and similar to firing. Here is the chart for that.

This is obviously a work in progress, but my first small play test felt like I am on the right path. For me, simplicity and playability are the primary objectives. I like following individual units, so each is labeled and a historic unit. I just received some reinforcements in the mail today from Old Glory. In the next couple of weeks I will be adding cavalry and artillery to the mix plus more infantry units. Here is what I came up with for movement.

More Jacobite Rebellion

The collection continues to grow. Newly added are two battalions of the Atthol Brigade on the Jacobite side, and the Glascow militia on the government side, plus Bonnie Prince Charlie.

On previous projects I would paint a lot of figures at a time. On this one, I am just doing one or two units at a time. I like the pace and the results. I have completed 252 figures so far in 14 units. At the same time, I am still fiddling with adapting Valour and Fortitude to the Jacobite Rebellion. One tweak I have made so far is to raise the tenacity rating on most of the units. In my first test, I found that just about all the units would be spent after just one turn. I think my battles are smaller than what the rules are designed for. I will see how this works out.

Valour and Fortitude Army Sheets for the Jacobite Rebellion

I need some rules to use with my budding collection of 28mm figures for the Jacobite Rebellion. I am using a 1:20 figure ratio, so the units vary in size- 16, 20 or 24 per unit. I only have a brigade done for each side, so my ability to test the rules is limited, but it's a start. Here is what I have so far. Any input would be appreciated.

Jacobites in Action