Minor Obstacles: These are generally less than waist height or less than a yard wide, such as low walls, narrow drainage ditches, hedges etc. Crossing a minor obstacle takes foot troops two Actions, with troops rolling their normal movement dice and discarding the lower, or lowest, dice rolled. If the obstacle is not reached, the Unit will move its full move towards it.
Militia in formation and all Cavalry crossing Minor Obstacles will suffer one point of Shock per Group to reflect disorder caused by such movement. Cavalry must be moving at the Canter or faster. Wheeled vehicles and artillery cannot cross Minor Obstacles. Infantry Groups may cross Minor Obstacles at the run.
Example
A Loyalist Militia Formation of two Groups is advancing against dastardly rebellious folk just outside Ninety‐Six. Their foe is retreating and they decide to give chase.Using both Actions to move, they roll 3 and 6 with their two movement dice, a total of 9”. However, they need to cross the Picket fence around a small farmhouse. They remove the lower dice and move 6” across the fence. Both Groups suffer one point of Shock.
Had the fence been 7” away, they would have moved up to the fence but not crossed it. Next time they move they will remove the lower dice rolled and they will be over the fence.
Major Obstacles: These are over waist height and up to chest high, and include hedges, farm fences, buildings or small streams up to two yards wide. Groups cannot run when crossing Major Obstacles.
Major Obstacles break the Formation of any troops moving across them. Roll the Group’s normal movement dice and discard the higher, or highest, dice. If the obstacle is not reached, the Unit will move its full move towards it.
Conscripts & Volunteers suffer one point of Shock per Group, Militia and any Cavalry suffer two points per Group to reflect disorder. Cavalry can only cross a Major Obstacle by jumping it at the Canter or Gallop with a risk that some men pull up at the obstacle. Test for Cavalry Pulling Up, see below. Wheeled vehicles and artillery cannot cross Major Obstacles.
High or Wide Obstacles: These are usually man‐made structures such as high walls over chest height and up to 7’ high or streams up to 4’ deep and 9’ across. Infantry cross these by beginning their Turn adjacent to the obstacle and spending the whole Turn crossing it, ending the Turn adjacent to it on the opposite side. Any Formation is broken by this movement. Cavalry can never cross High obstacles. Cavalry cross wide obstacles such as streams in the same way, but if moving faster than the Walk they must test for men pulling up. Artillery and vehicles cannot cross High or Wide obstacles.
Impassable Obstacles: These are over 7’ high or waterways deeper than 4’. To cross these, troops require a ladder, bridge or a breaching charge. Cavalry and wheeled vehicles or artillery can never cross Impassable Obstacles unless a bridge is present.
Movement in Varying Terrain
Troops that are moving in more than one terrain type move at the slowest rate for the whole of the Turn.
Moving Through Troops
In open terrain, where troops do not find their passage blocked (see below), Individual Groups can voluntarily pass through each other, or through Skirmish Troops, with no penalty.
Where Groups which are part of a Formation move through other troops, or are themselves moved through, those Groups will be will be broken off from the Formation. At the end of the movement move those Groups slightly apart, creating a gap of up to 1”, to indicate the breaking of the Formation.
Formations can move through Skirmish Troops without penalty; the Skirmish Troops are moved out of the way and placed behind the moving Formation. However, if the Skirmish Group or Formation has more points of Shock than men, they are unable to move out of the way and any Groups moving through them will break Formation. At the end of their movement, move those Groups slightly apart, creating a gap of up to 1”, to indicate the breaking of the Formation.
Skirmish Troops attempting to move through a Formation may do so without any reduction in movement. Skirmish Troops may move through Regular or Elite Formations without any effect. They will break the Formation of Conscripts & Volunteers and Militia who they move through. Blocked Passages Where troops are in a defile or ground where movement is channelled through a narrow space, such as an alley or mountain path, interpenetration of Units becomes harder to achieve. A Group in single file occupies one inch of passage width.
Where the space to be moved through is limited, Groups occupying that ground block the passage of any other unit, unless the positioning of the figures makes it clear that a route is clear and the player states that at the point when he moves his figures to that position. This may, for example, be figures placed clearly to one side of a narrow passage. If the player has not declared this, the passage is blocked.
Moving in Buildings
Any infantry Groups may move into and out of buildings during the course of the game. Unless a building is of epic proportions, such as a fort or castle, no Formations may be formed or operate in buildings. Cavalry, artillery and wheeled vehicles may never move inside a building, but may enter ancillary areas, such as courtyards, if there is an entrance high and wide enough.
Groups entering or leaving buildings must do so via a doorway, treating it as a Minor Obstacle and with the lower dice rolled for movement being discarded if the door is reached. If the door is not reached, the Unit will move its full move distance towards the door.
For some large buildings with large openings such as barns this rule can be ignored and normal movement rates for Open Ground applied.
Groups moving inside buildings move as normal so long as they are operating on one floor. Groups moving from one floor to another in a building will take a full move to do so with no other actions possible. In addition to changing floors, up or down, they may reposition up to 6” within the building.
Ladders
Ladders can be used to enter buildings and cross obstacles. A Group assaulting a wall with a ladder must end its movement within 2” of the wall. They will automatically place the ladder against the wall; it does not require an Action to do this.
To climb the ladder takes one whole Turn during which the men on it may not fire. Up to four men plus one Leader may climb the ladder in a Turn.
Descending ladders is done at a rate of one storey per action dice. A maximum of four men and one Leader may descend a ladder in one Turn.
Ladders may be used to form an impromptu bridge between buildings or terrain features where they are close enough together. Up to four men plus one Leader may cross a ladder bridge in one Turn. If they do so carefully, this counts as a Wide Obstacle, taking one full turn to cross. If they elect to do so at full movement rate they move as normal but each figures dices to see if he falls. Roll a D6 for each man in sequence. On a 1 the figure falls. If two men in a row fall the ladder bridge is broken and no more men may cross it.
Example
At the siege of Sag Alloo’s Palace, the Madras Fusiliers rush forward with ladders to take on the mutinous Sepoys. One Group of Fusiliers climbs onto the walls unopposed, with four men getting to the top on the first Turn, the second four men joining them in the next Turn.
The two smaller Groups immediately join together automatically with no Command Initiatives required.
4.4
T
REASURE!
Enemy wagons or attached civilians are captured if any Group makes contact with them. When next activated the Group must take a Looting Test to see if they obey orders or are too busy looting their prize to respond.
Troops in buildings who have no enemy target to fire at or who are not engaged in Fisticuffs (or about to be so) will take a Looting Test when activated. If they fail, they will spend that activation looting the property.
T
ABLES
EVENL
OOTINGT
ESTTroop Type
Follow
Orders
Loot
Elite, Artillery, LightInfantry 2‐6 1 Regulars, Clan, Dragoons, Skirmishers 3‐6 1‐2 Conscripts & Volunteers, Tribe 4‐6 1‐3 Militia, Irregular Skirmishers, Wallahs 5‐6 1‐4
Add +1 if an officer is with them unless the officer is a Rotter. Subtract ‐1 if the Unit has a propensity to loot.
4.5
C
AVALRYM
OVEMENT.
Cavalry can move at the Walk, Canter or Gallop. When they deploy onto the table they are assumed to be deploying at the Canter unless the player states otherwise. Cavalry can increase or decrease speed by one level in any Turn.
Cavalry moving at the Walk move in any direction using one or two Actions for movement. They can use an Action to change their facing at the end of their movement if desired.
Cavalry moving at the Canter must move in a forward direction and may only deviate by up to 45 degree to the left or right. They may not change their facing and must end the turn facing in the direction in which they moved.
Cavalry moving at the Gallop must move directly ahead with no deviation. Being pragmatic, the odd jink in their movement is acceptable, as long as this isn’t more than an inch off the straight line. They may not change their facing and must end the turn facing in the direction in which they moved.
Example
Advancing North down the Shenandoah, a Group of Confederate cavalry is moving at the Canter. Up ahead they spot a Formation of Union infantry. When next activated, they decrease their speed to the Walk which allows them to immediately turn around and move with two Actions in the opposite direction.
Had they been moving at the Gallop when they spotted the Yankee Formation, they could only have slowed to the Canter which would have meant moving forward closer to the Union troops.