Hey folks,

I've gathered together a decent amount of Indian Mutiny figures from Foundry Miniatures and I'm looking for advice on a ruleset to go with them. They're all 28mm and individually based.

Members at my local club have played a previous game or two with the Sharp Practice rules (Too Fat Lardies publication) but I know many of them don't like the card based turns and 'Tiffin Breaks'.

A general colonial wargame ruleset would be nice (although not essential) as I'm looking at collecting the Sudan/Gordon era next.

Any help would be great!

How about an old-school The Sword and the Flame?

Both the original rules and the Indian Mutiny variant are available here: http://www.sergeants3.com/18.html

It's still card activation based (red for British, black for the other guys). With that said, you have more control over which unit gets to activate on a given card. I find it rather enjoyable and adds a bit of tension and unpredictability to things.

Thanks Rob,

I've checked out the Sword and the Flame website, and read a few reviews. It sounds like they're an ideal set to pick up and well established with plenty of expansions etc. However, my main problem has been finding someone in the uk/europe who sells them (or who sells them over the web in PDF format via download).

Caliver books appear to have quite a few colonial skirmish rules. The ones that seem to stand out are:

COLONIAL ADVENTURES: Fortunes Won & Lost.
A GOOD DUSTING (Sudan)

If anyone has any take on these I'd be interested to hear.

A Good Dusting are by my mate David Bickley and are a good fun set of rules but I wouldn't class them as being a skirmish set. Figures are based on stands of 4 figs for Imperial troops with about 5 bases to a unit whereas the arabs are based 8 figs per base with 4-6 bases to a unit. He has just released a new set along the same lines for the Zulu wars 'Washing the spears' and has plans to produce an Indian Mutiny set later in the year.

For more skirmish style rules my other mates use a version of Chris Peers 'Heart of Africa' rules called 'Heart of India' and you can find a link to a playsheet here on Angus' site towards the bottom of the page. http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Colonial.htm

Hope this helps?
Cheers
Dave

Dave,

That's excellent. I've heard of In the Heart of Africa, and the fact your mate has done some tweaking to the rules making it applicable to IM is an absolute bonus!

Love the pics on the website too.

Many thanks

"In the Heart of Africa" is an excellent ruleset, very good for skirmish games. Other, free downloable, is "With McDuff to the Frontier". This one works with basic unit of about five-six models each, and is between the skirmish and the tactic level.

I am a fanatic of the Colonial Period, and my favourite rulebook at the moment is "Black Powder". This one is not skirmish but is really fun and fast.

Finally, in an old number of Wargames Illustrated there was an small ruleset about this war, "The Devil´s Wind", I think. Very good, also.

Cheers,
Juan

Ok guys. Just ordered 'In the Heart of Africa' rules from Northstar figures. Look forwards to giving it a try. I'll probably pick up TSATF later in the year.

All the Best,
M.

Frankly there's a gap in the market for good Indian Mutiny rules. I've tried most of them and settled last year on modifying the Warhammer Lgends of the Old West / Alamo rules. There's some information on them in my (almost dormant) website www.sharnydubs.com

Hope this helps

Well update it then!!!
What were those other card based set of rules we used before Peter? they gave a fun game and were perfect for I.M.
Cheers
Dave

Blood and Swash , written by Buck Surdu. Multi period small scale skirmish rules. Work well for street / town fighting. Great if you wanted to play out the Sharpe's Peril skirmish in India as well.

Dave, like many things , writing a set of Indian Mutiny rules is in that cupboard full of things to do !

Peter

Sharpe Practice from the TooFatLardies stable are a blast. Their 2008 Festive Special has a supplement for the Mutiny with rule amendments and scenario. A superb set of rules, great blend of character gaming and pukka tactical gaming. Games work with anything from a dozen to 150 figures a side.