Commercially Available Rules Sets for Miniatures Games


The Sword and the Flame
by Larry Brom

This is by far my favourite set of rules for the colonial period. Really it is designed for skirmish to mid size games but it is fast and fun. It uses random dice for movement and an innovative card system that is good at randomizing movement and firing. If you want to play a Hollywood blockbuster film version of a historical game then this is the set for you. It is set in the 19th Century, but there are lots of supporting variants available for other eras or theatres - some are produced online by fans of the rules sets and others commercially from the publisher.

Eight Hundred Fighting Englishmen
by Larry Brom

This is another set from Larry Brom but at a battalion level game so it is for larger battles than the TSATF mentioned above. It still uses cards and a 20 sided dice but in a different way from TSATF.

Death in the Dark Continent
by Chris Peers

A new set from Ruga Ruga publishing. They are rules for Sub-Saharan combat from 1870 to 1899. They are essentially for skirmish games but on the larger end of the scale for skirmish games. The website has a number of army lists to be downloaded.

Reckless Daring
by Manny Granillo

Brigade level miniatures rules between 1870 to 1910. It is also known as Remember Gordon and it was originally published by Hoplite Games. They cover the Sudan, Zulu Wars, Ashanti Wars, Northwest Frontier, and the Boer War.

The Gatling's Jammed
by Stephen Danes

Designed for huge battles this set is based on the General de Brigade Napoleonic system. Firing is done by using a 1d6 for each stand in the unit that can fire, modifiers are applied and the number of successful die rolls is the number of hits inflicted.

There are your Guns
by Dennis Williams

It has the subtitle: Warfare in the Age of Steam 1816 - 1897. It is another set based on the General de Brigade system but at a smaller unit size than the Gatling's Jammed set above.

19th Century Principles of War
by T.M. Penn

This is actually for European or Colonial wars and uses the same mechanisms for both. You would have to buy a separate rules set for the colonial armies, but the rules are all encased in this book. It represents medium to large size battles between 1820 and 1914.

Soldiers of the Queen
by D. Elks and J. G. Stanyon

This is a fairly straightforward set of rules - not a huge investment in figures required but still feels complex enough.

Science versus Pluck
by Howard Whitehouse

(or too much for the Mahdi). This set of rules brings a role playing feel to the heroic aspects of colonial warfare.

Battles for Empire
by Chris Leach

Players command units of British regulars and trained colonial recruits, or fight against these invaders with Dervishes, Zulus, Pathans, or Boers. It has variable basing and easy to learn rules. In incorporates an integrated movement and morale system which makes ambitious plans difficult to coordinate in the flow of battle.

Piquet: Din of Battle
by Bob Jones

This is a master set of wargames rules that has the Din of Battle supplement for 19th Century Colonial games and Cartouche for 18th Century ones. It centers around a Sequence Deck and the use of Impulse Pips to try to recreate the flow of a complicated battle.

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.
by Christopher Palmer and John Surdu

These rules have the flavour of Victorian Science fiction writers such as, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and H. Ryder Haggard in mind with a touch of 'B' movie thrown in. They are designed to incorporate Victorian science fiction elements such as steam conveyences, fantastic weapons and strange creatures. But they can be used for basic, purely historical Colonial wargames, too.


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by Stephen Luscombe