Fife and Drum Rules for the American Revolution

The charger tests morale to see if it will charge; if it passes, the defender tests. A shaken infantry defender immediately falls back a full move; a cavalry defender that goes shaken melees at the halt; rout means an immediate rout move. A good-order infantry defender adds a d10 to its melee dice in lieu of firing. Cavalry targets must pass morale to countercharge.

Charging unit(s) must test morale to determine if they will charge.

Only unformed units (artillery crew, light infantry, light cavalry) may evade, and not if the charger can contact in half a move. The cavalry melee winner rolls d6: 1-2 pursue 14-20"+12", 3-4 return to own lines with back to enemy, 5 hold shaken, 6 rally in good order.

Cavalry melee winner (only) must take a Cavalry Pursuit test at the conclusion of the cavalry melee.

The unit table gives rates for march column, skirmish, line and column plus a charge bonus (e.g. European regulars 16" march, 10" line, +2" charge). Units in column/line move backwards or sideways at half rate; Prussians move obliquely at full rate less 2".

Units in column/ line move at 1/2 rate backwards, sideways.

March column is 1 stand wide, attack column 2, line 3+, skirmish separates stands 2-4". Changing formation or facing costs half a move and both cannot be done in one turn. Skirmishers, artillery crew and routers count as unformed.

Change formation/facing at half effect, but may not do both on same turn.

Rough terrain is half rate, very rough quarter rate, linear obstacles half rate.

Rough: half movement rate Very Rough: quarter movement rate Linear obstacle: half movement rate

The loser falls back shaken even if it passes its morale test; the winner also becomes shaken post-melee. Units going shaken in melee retire a full column move to the rear facing the enemy. In cavalry melee with no winner both sides retreat 24". Infantry do not pursue.

Melee loser will still fall back Shaken even if it passes the morale test with two Good dice results. Winner will also become Shaken post-melee.

Roll 1d10 per 4 figures in melee from two ranks deep; the side with most casualties loses and the loser tests morale. Infantry vs infantry/cavalry melees last one round, cavalry melees two rounds. Ties leave the defender shaken in place and the attacker retiring shaken.

Cavalry Melee Procedure - all melees last tworound sonly

Secure flanks mean another unit within 3" of each flank or a natural barrier; lacking them is a disadvantage vs cavalry. Flank/rear attacks double dice and the target offers no resistance: it tests morale and if it passes the charger rolls for casualties without reply.

The Target of the charge does not get to fight back if charged in the flank or rear.

Major advantage (Chart A): square vs cavalry, cavalry vs unformed infantry, formed vs unformed, infantry in cover vs cavalry. Major disadvantage (Chart E): cavalry vs square, unformed vs formed, cavalry vs infantry in cover. Minor cases (B/D) include uphill, cover and cavalry caught at the halt.

Major Disadvantage: cavalry vs square, any unformed vs formed, cavalry vs infantry in cover

Two d10 are rolled against the troop type's morale number on the chart set by cumulative hits. Extra dice (cover, secured flanks, attached leader) may be added, but only the two lowest rolls count. Failing on one die makes the unit shaken; failing on both makes it rout.

Fail on 1 Die: shaken ... Fail on 2 Dice: rout ... When rolling more than 2 dice, always use 2 lowest rolls.

On a 10 on the officer casualty roll, if the officer is the army commander, all units within 12" take a morale check.

If it is army commander, all units within 12" of the officer take a morale check.

Rout movement is cavalry 24", infantry 12", artillery 10". Rallying uses 2d10 on the morale chart (attempting to rally uses Chart C); a unit failing its one rally attempt from rout is removed. An attached leader may rally any shaken unit.

Rout Movement: Cavalry: 24"; Infantry: 12"; Artillery: 10"

Shaken units fire and melee on Chart D, move at half rate, cannot countercharge, and must not move for one turn to restore normal morale state.

Shaken Status Effects: Fire on Chart D ... Melee on Chart D ... Move at half rate. Can not counter-charge.

The unit table lists firing, melee and morale numbers for Charts A to E per troop type (e.g. Grenadiers melee 9/7/6/5/3). Melee uses Chart C for equal situations, B/A for minor/major advantage (e.g. cavalry vs unformed infantry, flank attacks) and D/E for disadvantages. Firing chart depends on target formation (square/flank A, column B, line C, skirmishers/shaken D, hard cover E). When two charts apply, start at C and shift by the net difference.

if two charts apply to the same unit, start at Chart C and then move up/down by the net difference

Fire, melee, morale, initiative and officer casualty rolls use d10; the post-melee cavalry pursuit test uses a d6.

Infantry: Roll 1 D10 per 4 figures firing from 2 ranks deep.

Infantry roll 1d10 per 4 figures firing from two ranks deep, using a 45-degree arc from each front corner; no split fire. Artillery rolls 2d10 per gunner at short range and 1d10 per gunner at long range, scoring against the chart value for the target.

Artillery (short range): Roll 2 D10 for each gunner (1st number shown in above table)

Heavy guns 12"/48", medium 10"/36", light 8"/24", amusettes 6"/20"; each chart shows short/long values such as 7/5. Artillery may perform two functions per turn, one of which may be firing.

Artillery Functions & Firing:artillery may do 2 functions per turn, one of which may be firing.

Each army commander rolls 1d10, high roll wins and chooses move-first or fire-first. Exceptional army commanders add +1. The choice matters because movement runs A then B while firing runs B then A.

rolls 1 D10 to determine which side moves or fires first. High roll wins choice of move first or fire first.

1. Initiative; 2. Rally (A then B); 3. Movement (A then B); 4. Firing (B then A); 5. Melee (A then B); 6. Leader & Reserve Moves (B then A). Units hit in the first fire phase must check morale before returning fire.

4. Firing Side B, then Side A 5. Melee Side A, then Side B 6. Leader & Reserve Moves Side B, then Side A

A d10 officer's fate table: 1-2 grazed, 3-4 missed, 5-6 light wound (half speed), 7-8 severe wound (no movement 2 turns), 9 killed, 10 killed by round shot. Attached leaders add a morale die and may rally shaken units; leaders move in their own phase.

9 Taps! - Officer killed. Next man up.

Morale chart by cumulative hits: A for 1-4, B 5-8, C 9-10 (or attempting to rally), D 11-12, E 13+ (or in melee vs a unit on Chart A). Units over 40 figures add 3 to cumulative hits thresholds. Units are removed if they fail to rally from rout, rout while shaken, or are reduced to 1 infantry or 2 cavalry stands.

Large units > 40 figures add 3 to cumulative hits in charts below

Types: Grenadiers/Guards/British light companies, European regulars, Continentals & Loyalists, Jagers/Riflemen, Militia, Indians (unformed), Cavalry, Dismounted Cavalry, and heavy/medium/light artillery and amusettes, each with its own chart values reflecting quality.

Grenadiers/Guards/British Light Co.s