Horse & Musket Skirmish Rules (first draft)

If a firing card is drawn while the Reload card is face up and the character is stationary, the firing card goes to that character's player; otherwise it is discarded. A character may only use the Fire action if his player holds his firing card. The drawer need not reveal whose firing card it was, so opponents often cannot tell which weapons are loaded.

If it is a character's firing card, then if the reload card is face up on the table and that character is stationary, the firing card is passed to the appropriate character's player.

Each loose wood/scrub between firer and target counts 1, each dense one 2; the firer must roll a die higher than the total or he stands instead. Hits in woods are stopped by a tree on 4-6. Behind solid cover, hits on protected body parts only force a duck back; behind a wooden wall or fence a shot penetrates on 1-2 (damage die -1).

The firer must throw a dice and score more than the total density to be permitted to fire. If he fails the throw he stands instead.

Location (head, chest, right arm, left arm, belly, legs) crossed with an effect die gives graze, flesh wound, serious wound, knocked down, knocked out or dead. As an alternative, a 36-card pack or cut-out chits can be drawn by the victim.

HEAD CHEST RIGHT ARMI LEFT ARMI BELLY 6 LEGS ... USING CARDS TO DETERMINE HIT LOCATION & EFFECT below and draw one out of a box for each hit. SHOOTING CHITS

The range chart gives four bands per weapon (e.g. pistol close 6", musket close 9", rifle close 12"; longer bands are partly illegible in the OCR). Close range adds to the shot and long/extreme ranges subtract, alongside class, aiming, hasty shot, wounds and target modifiers.

Close range Veteran +1 Long range Hero +2 Firing pistol after moving - I Extreme range ... CLOSE MIIEIIJlHQJMI !LONG IEXlI'lRlEMlIE PISTOL 6"

Modifiers for class (Raw -1, Veteran +1, Hero +2), aiming (+3), hasty shot, range, wounds, pistol use and target state set the required score. If the requirement exceeds 6 the firer throws three dice and hits only on two or three 6s.

Raw - I Each Serious wound - 2 Close range Veteran +1 Long range Hero +2 ... two or three 6's to hit.

Raw and Skilled characters may only start a charge if a hero, officer or NCO is already charging within 9". A charger can attempt to halt with a fortitude roll; failing sends him back to cover or, on two or more 1s, makes him flee. Charging gives +2 combat points.

Charging characters move the full distance rolled on three dice towards an enemy each time that their character card is drawn, and also each time that the Joker is drawn

The character picks a direction, rolls 3d6 and moves up to that many inches in a straight line, ending facing the way he moved; Skilled and better must move at least 3", Raw must move the exact roll. Triple 1s (double 1s for Raw) mean the character falls over. Move & Fire (pistols only) uses two dice and must fire at the end.

Move: throw three dice, this is the maximum distance in inches that he can move, he may set off in any direction at the beginning of his move, but must move in a straight line

Woods are loose or dense terrain pieces. A character entering one halts once fully inside; on later turns he rolls two fewer dice in dense terrain and one fewer in loose terrain. In the open movement is straight-line, but a character may follow the edge of a terrain piece ('skirting') and leave it tangentially.

on subsequent turns they have their movement reduced; by two dice if they start their turn in dense terrain, one dice for loose terrain.

Fire is limited to 45 degrees either side of straight ahead, checked with a folded-paper template. Moving characters end facing their direction of movement; other actions allow free facing at the end of the turn.

Characters can fire within an arc of 90 degrees; 45 degrees each side of straight ahead.

Cards bear a photo of the model, its name and nickname, and a record of kills and skills gained; drawing from the collection deck can pick the forces for a game. Dead characters' cards are relabelled for a new character.

As characters have battles and adventures, and gain skills, they tend to develop their own personalities, and nicknames that reflect this can be entered on their card

Raw characters may not aim, must move the full rolled distance and roll for combat points rather than allocating them. Skilled/Veteran/Hero get 6/8/10 combat points, and fortitude dice of 3 (Raw) to 6 (Hero). Class also gates which action cards a character may claim.

There are four classes of character: Raw: ordinary or worse regular soldiers who have no experience of skirmish warfare

A character behind cover who is grazed, wounded, or whose cover stops a shot immediately ducks fully behind it and must use a Recover action before anything else. Shots at a character known to be lurking behind cover all hit the cover but still force a duck back, providing covering fire for friends crossing open ground.

you can use the duck back rule to pin and neutralise your opponents and provide realistic covering fire for your friends.

Dice: Raw 3, Experienced 4, Veteran 5, Hero 6; officers +2, NCOs +1; -1 per flesh wound, -2 per serious wound, -2 if his officer/NCO has failed; +1 if his side is ahead on casualties and a respected leader is within 6". Failure means retreating to cover away from the enemy, or hiding, running or surrendering.

He must throw at least one 6, otherwise his courage has failed, and starting on his next turn, must move towards cover further away from all enemy

Players take turns drawing; a character card gives that character a turn. An action card is laid face up and the next player who draws a character of at least that class may take it into hand (to give a free turn later) or use it at once for a hasty shot. The Joker reshuffles all discards, the reload card and held action cards back into the deck.

The Fate Deck is used to determine which character takes a turn, and which characters load their weapons. The players take it in turn to draw a card

A held action card can give a free turn to a character of at least the card's class at any moment; when several are played together the superior card goes first. A character who Aims names a target; if he gets another turn before the target moves he makes an aimed shot, and if the target moves or ducks he may immediately make a hasty shot.

give a free turn to any of his characters of a class at least as high as that on the card at any time; even part way through someone else's turn.

For large groups a 'god-like' gamesmaster rules on disputes, controls locals who form part of the scenario backdrop, judges which body parts cover protects, and can trigger fortitude tests or adjust dice.

you might like to use a gamesmaster; a god-like figure whose word is law.

Wounded characters must spend a turn recovering; knocked-down characters must get up; knocked-out characters need a 6 each turn to come round. Each serious wound and each leg flesh wound removes a movement die, serious leg/belly wounds stop movement, arm wounds prevent firing or reloading. Melee blows use a weapon-by-die effect table, with serious wounds possibly severing limbs.

Movement is reduced by one dice for each serious wound and each flesh wound on a leg. No movement is permitted with a serious leg or belly wound.

Movement (3d6), clear-shot, to-hit, hit location/effect, combat point allocation and fortitude pools all use ordinary six-sided dice.

You will need something to note your characters' wounds down on and plenty of ordinary six sided dice!

Skilled/Veteran/Hero have 6/8/10 combat points (modified by wounds, charging, flank/rear, outnumbered), split 1-6 per round on three coloured dice hidden under the hand; Raw roll instead. Weapon modifiers apply per round (long weapons favour the assault round, knives the grappling round). Exactly double the opponent in a round disarms, more than double strikes a blow and knocks down, and winning any two rounds strikes a blow.

Each player divides his character's combat points between the three rounds, allocating between one and six points to each round