As a direct descendant of a Hessian that fought in the American War of Independence the period has always held a certain fascination for me. With that background you would think that I would be an avid gamer of the period but alas no. In fact the little knowledge I had was limited to the campaigns in the north. Then I found a couple books in the local library that got me interested in the Carolina campaigns; “Devil of a Whipping; The Battle of Cowpens” and “The Road to Guilford Courthouse.” After reading those books I knew I had to start a new period for wargaming. It seemed a wargamers dream as there were the large battles such as Guilford Court House and small skirmishes between small groups of soldiers/militia/etc. It also had a variety of uniforms but didn’t seem to need the number of figures that you would need for Napoleonic games. I know I liked the small and medium skirmishes but the problem was the rules. I had a copy of British Grenadier that someone had given to me but its scale seemed to focus on the big battles such as Guilford Court House. I am also a fan of Sharp Practice which works well for the small skirmishes so I was set there. The problem was the battles between a few companies or a battalion (or even two). As this was a large number of the fights in the south, I knew I needed a set of rules. This is where Light Bobs fits in nicely.
The rules are designed for battles between a battalion on each side. The rules say they can be used with 28mm and 40mm but I am using strictly 28mm. They also suggest individually basing your figures which is perfect for me so I can use the same figures with both Light Bobs and Sharp Practice. I also use sabots for when they are in formations. Each player commands several companies (3 or more). It’s perfect for those in between battles that were prevalent in the southern campaigns. As the game is designed the companies are small (4 to 12 figures) based upon their skill: Militia, Average, Veteran and Elite.
Companies include British and American regulars, Tory and Colonial militias, Indians, dragoons, and artillery. There are lists in the back of the rules that cover companies and not whole armies. The rules also refer to the Battalion as the next up formation and are used to describe all of the Companies in a force, even if they are not actually from the same battalion. Similar to many Too Fat Lardies the c game is between two leaders referred to as Leaders of Worth (LOW). The companies under the command of each Leader of Worth are of mixed arms and varying moral types. (The rules also contain a system that enables you to track your Leader of Worth’s progress across multiple games in sort of a paperless campaign) The commander of a force is always referred to as a Leader of Worth (LoW). This term indicates that the commander is the player. My little test fights were fought on a small 4 by 4 table but I can see playing on a bigger surface as well. The author says that the “Action is fast and sharp” which in my test fights I found to be very true.
Command and Control is based upon the Leader of Worth’s Military Rank with the higher the rank the more actions he can command or conduct. The game also uses playing card to through in some variables to the command and control. I’m not going to go into a step by step explanation of how the game is actually played since I have yet to play against an opponent. All my testing has been setting up a turn on the board and then playing it out to see how the rules feel. I am going to provide you with my Pros and Cons as they stand so far as well as my verdict. I want to note that my Pros and Cons are my thoughts alone, and are not as detailed as some may be looking for.
PROs:
· Smooth command system: The way the LoW uses their command value combined with the variables added in with the random playing cards nicely simulates the commander having to decide what is important that needs their attention. Moral also flows smoothly which enables a commander to effectively balance his forces ensuring that he can stabilize shaky troops before they fall apart, unless of course he’s had to devote his attention elsewhere.
· Good feel to the game: This is a highly subjective area to rate as each gamer has their own definition as to what is a good “feel” for a game. For me, I look at does it feel right for the period, scale and give a fun game. In feeling right for the period and giving a good fun game the answer is a solid yes. How the scale felt is slightly different. If you are referring to the scale of battle, meaning the player commanding a battalion, then these worked great. I will admit that I had trouble accepting the unit sizes so I “tweaked” a couple of the rules a little to please my sense of esthetics (which I’ll explain later). Once I did that, I was very pleased with the rules
· Easy to learn once you walk through the game mechanics: I had to walk through the mechanics on the table top and once I did that I found the rules elegant and simple. I explained the rules to my son, who is an experienced gamer, and he picked them up straight away so kudos for that.
· Battle Scale: I listed this as a pro because this is really a good size for so many of the battles that took place in the AWI. These rules seem to fit a good niche.
· Good advanced rules: There are a number of advanced rules at the end of shooting and melee that you can add to the game. In many sets of rules the advanced rules can be either too difficult to understand or slow down the play of the game or are guilty of both. In Light Bobs the rules make sense, add to the game and do not slow the game down. In fact, I was able to use all the advanced rules from the very first play test.
CONs:
· Layout (order) of rule book: This is an area that lets the rules down. In layout I am referring to the order of sections and explanations of the rules. To me the order seemed to me to be haphazard or random, as though as the author thought of them, he added them to the rule book. This is particularly evident in the first chapter “The Basics.” To me Disorder and Spent status should be discussed after Game & Turn Sequence and with the effects of combat. This may be just me, but it doesn’t feel intuitive.
· Editing: There are some minor spelling and formatting errors that don’t detract from the game. This is an issue in that they know he rules and don’t question the explanations, samples or even the flow of the rules.
· Certain explanations: I think the editors let the author down in that I get the impression that the editors may have been play testers as well. If I didn’t put figures out on the table and actually walk through the rules, I wouldn’t have understood them. Once I did that they were elegantly simple. This is where stronger editing would help as they could recommend better explanations geared towards people who never played the game before.
· Unit Sizes based upon the unit’s skill level: This is purely my opinion and it’s based upon the esthetics I like to see on the table. In the rules the skill of the unit dictates the number of figures in a unit. An Elite unit has two to four figures and 2 combat dice per figure or 8 for a full unit, a Veteran unit has 3 to 6 figures with 1 combat dice per figure and so on. This worked well in playing the game but didn’t look right on the table to me. So here I tweaked the rules. I made 12 figures the normal unit size and then created a table showing how many combat dice a unit gets based upon the number of figures in the unit. Simple mathematics ensured that the full size units retained the same combat dice. I read somewhere that author felt poorer quality troops couldn’t form as tightly. To account for this I am thinking to have Militia troops unable to adopt a close order formation but I want to play a few more games first. Let me know and I’ll share my tables with anyone interested.
Conclusion:
So what did I think of the rules as a whole and are they worth $20 USD investment? I really like these rules and are easily worth the money I spent to buy them. They play well, they are easy to take up and they cover a battle scale that is missing in the AWI period. To me they hit the sweet spot in this period in providing a good playable game. They are a great way to get into the AWI for wargamers looking to get into the period. In closing, I would highly recommend these rules as a good set of rules for the AWI.
Telford Wargames club 