More on the Battle of the Little Big Horn

Just the one this time - note the green trousers of the US Cavalry….

For a game that is fifty years old, the mechanics of this Waddington’s classic are actually rather good! In fact I reckon that it would not be too much of a difficulty to adapt them for use in other settings as a simple set of skirmish style rules.

You can guess where this may well be going….

I had a good look at the figures and whilst they are pretty basic I reckon that it would not take too much work to restore them to their former glory. I would probably base them, simply because it would be easier to move them around. At this stage I am not looking at upscaling the gaming mat to a 6ft by 4ft or using 54mm Deetail figures but I can certainly see the attraction of doing so as at least two gamers have done so to my knowledge!

The Rules

Movement

Each player rolls a D6 with the high score moving first each turn.

Each player may move one or all their troops per turn. Foot figures move one space and mounted three. Foot can move anywhere on the map except for the river (they can use the fords) and mounted may not enter areas with trees or boulders. Each area may be occupied by three foot figures, two mounted or one foot and one mounted and figures from either side may not occupy the same area. The flag can be moved by any US player by placing a figure in the same area.

Combat

Firing weapons have a range of three areas. Mounted tribesman armed with a Tomahawk have to be in an area adjacent to an opponent for combat. With ranged combat (two or three areas) the defender can fire back if not eliminated but in hand to hand combat (if the figures are in an adjacent area) they must fight back. The attacking player rolls a D6 followed by the defender. If each player rolls a 1, 2 or 3 then it is no effect. If one player rolls a 4 or 5 and the other rolls lower then the low scoring figure must retreat one area if able to do so - if they cannot (due to impassable terrain or enemy figures) they are eliminated and removed from the board. If both players roll a 4 or a 5 then this is no effect. If either player rolls a 6 then the opponent is eliminated.

There are some modifiers to the above - all are plus 1 to the player’s D6 roll. These are Mounted troops fighting a figure in an adjacent area, foot figures among trees or among improvised barricades. Note that the plus 1 feeds into the dice score effects so if a figure was in a plus 1 situation and rolled a 5 this would count as a 6 and therefore eliminate the opponent.

Note that adjacent had-to-hand combats are adjudicated before ranged combats - the winner of a hand-to-hand combat may then occupy the vacated area. Also, each figure may only take part in one round of combat per game turn so if a figure is engaged by several enemies it may only ‘defend’ itself against a single attack - hand-to-hand attacks taking priority.

Winning the Game

The battle is won by the tribesmen if Custer and his men are eliminated or if one of them is able to enter the area occupied by the flag as long as no US figure is there as well. Custer wins if the three Chieftains (the mounted tribesmen wearing a feathered headdress) are eliminated or if the flag can be moved to one of the blue arrow areas on the map board. 

Further Thoughts

I genuinely believe that there is a lot of potential with these rules for a simple, almost ‘Portable Wargame-ish’ style skirmish game. It is certainly something I shall explore further as and when time permits but for now the main priority will be getting the figures repainted.

Meanwhile, back to the ships….