Rebels and Patriots: Wargaming Rules for North America: Colonies to Civil War (Osprey Wargames)

Easy to follow and very creative set of rules for skirmishes in the AWI era. Allows for role playing by letting you follow your individual commander through a campaign. He can develop in a number of ways hero or zero.

I just received my copy that I have been waiting months for. First let me say that they are a strong 8 out of 10. Next let me say that I have yet to play them. I have read it through, twice. I own and have played both "Men Who Would Be Kings" and "Chosen Men" and can see the influence of both sets of rules. They have taken the best from those games and applied them here. Let's just say that I will continue to play "MWWBK" because of the different time period and locations. "Rebels and Patriots" may replace "Chosen Men". "Rebels and Patriots" campaigns are all North American based., which lends itself to light infantry tactics. Let's start with the few negatives. These are small issues. I don't like the officer character rules. The officer is now more like a D &D character. I can see where it can be fun, at times, and I can see ways around it. The book is poorly edited. There are a number of locations where the addition of a word or two may resolve some confusion, also the word "of" is used in a number of locations, where I believe that "off" was intended. The term used to describe the army force you build is "company". Brigade or Legion may have been a better choice. That said, on to the positives. Where "Chosen Men" has a limited list of troops and limited campaigns, "Rebels and Patriots" has a long list of campaigns to draw on. "R and P" has a limited list of troop types, such as 'Skirmishers', 'Shock Infantry', and 'Light Cavalry', but these can all be modified, both up and down. Your "company" could have a unit of green militia skirmishers and a unit of Morgan's Rifles, skirmishers with sharpshooter skills. You pay a little more for them to get them to that level. The "company" is based on 24 points. You purchase your troops to fit within that points range. Whatever North American troop types you have, there is a way to make them fit into the troop types of the game. Although the game is designed for North American campaigns, I can see using the rules to fight European campaigns. Most European troops can be easily adapted to these rules. I can also see that by doubling the available points to 48, a more European feel battle could be fought.

Have not had a chance to play yet but looks fun.

Another well done product from osprey games.If you are into detailed simulation with lots of charts, this game is not for you.The rules are easy to learn and teach.This game work great for our club of of 6-8 players. Everyone can get a number of units to run and not be bored.Game also worked well for a 2 person game.I am enjoying playing the number of different scenarios in the Rulebook also.A well done skirmish style game.

Not only do you get a book that you can use to play Revolutionary War game, but you can recreate the War of 1812, and the Civil War, too. Clear and concise instructions with pictures.

I've played many miniature games and enjoy playing historical war games. The rules are simple and provides great game play. It incorporates most of the tactics and strategies associated with linear warfare. Check on Amazon for miniature sales. I've saved a lot of money watching the Amazon market for Perry Miniatures and Black Powder miniatures.

I'm a longtime wargamer. These rules cover all the bases of a skirmish set: moving, shooting, morale. But they are horribly generic. And likely cover too long a period. For example, for a period dominated by muzzle loaders, the actions a soldier can take do not include loading. This becomes an issue once one gets into the American Civil War, with its revolvers, breach loading and repeating weapons. There is not much in the rules to account for their higher rate of fire. Also, "skirmish fire", which would include riflemen, has shorter range than standard, formed shooting.'last but not least, different troop type traits are up to the gamer. Thus, British Grenadiers in one game may be different in skills, etc., than in another, as its up to the gamers playing.This set will not have me abandoning Muskets & Tomahawks for the AWI, and will keep me looking for a good, flavorful ACW skirmish set.

Of all the oldest rules i found this the best. There is enough chrome to make a delightful hour plus battle. I can recommend this book. Complexity is about the same as song of fire and ice miniatures, but a little more than memoir 44.

I am a fan of the Lions Rampant Series - I play both Lion Rampant (Crusades) and Pikemans Lament (ECW). My main painting efforts over recent years have been towards the French Indian Wars, for which I use the excellent Muskets and Tomahawks (sadly out of print). But given how I liked the other LR rules I looked forward to this.Much of the book is familiar fayre to players of the other rules. The troop types are adequately distinguished and options allow for more customisation, though there are a few oversights (a big enough unit of rangers would be allowed to fight like Line Infantry regulars (very silly) the only way to avoid this is to make the ranger units small).I like most of the stuff in the rules but I have one big problem with them, which is why I won't be using them. The other rules counteracted the worn out boredom of IGOUGO mechanisms by having an unpredictable turn length: you had to carefully choose your unit/ activations, as it was unlikely that all units would get to act. This has a charm all of its own.These rules dispense with that however. You can activate all of your units, and then the opponent does the same. IGOUGO. This is why I won't be using them: it is simply a tired and clunky mechanism.I can't understand why the existing activation option was discarded - it provided a viable alternative to card driven/ chit mechanisms. Instead the rules have gone retro, and not in a good way.So, I'll be sticking with Muskets and Tomahawks I think; hopefully a second edition is on the way.

I bought this set to game with my existing French Indain war figures.Had four games in quick succession, each of which lasted about an hour. The rules were quick to learn and fun to use, however!My game had the british fighting a french indian force and in all four games the british were torn apart. The native indians were particularly deadly, once in combat they roll 12 dice needing a 3+ to hit and every second hit removes a figure. If the british who need to hit on a 6 survive the first assault the indians get a follow up attack needing 4+.Even if the british get to shoot at them they need 5+ to hit and every three hits removes a figure. The natives then need to roll less than 7 on two dice to suffer a negative reaction.So I have had to change the stats for the natives from those printed in the book to make them less deadly in combat and less likely to activate. So either I have got it wrong or the rules have not been fully play tested.There are some nice features, such as the double one blunder chart and the double six bonus chart. But some players might not enjoy the blunder result that results in you shooting at your own troops.I also introduced the fail an activation and you end your turn rule. Just about everyone activates on the same score which feels wrong, so there does not seem to be any need to plan your moves in the written set.Would I use these rules again ? Yes. For a quick knock about game on my own or with someone with a passing interest in the period, but I would have to make rule changes.If I wanted to have a French indian wars game with real period flavour I would use Studio Tomahawk's Muskets and Tomahawks rules.

I have to say up front that I haven't had a chance to use the rules yet but, having read the book from cover to cover (which was most enjoyable in itself) I can tell you that they are a nicely presented set of rules with some interesting mechanisms that should work well with the chosen period (War of Independence to the American Civil War). I especially like that fact that they are rules for companies and smaller actions, and that the book includes really good pictures and diagrams throughout.

An interesting book, I never have played table top war-games before, it seems a natural progression after painting figures.The rules appear to be clear, plenty of YT videos to watch. I would have liked a spiral spine as then the book can be laid flat for referencing without almost having to bend the book in half, I use pegs or paper clips to keep it open. Apart for that a good and "cheap" way to start TT war-gaming with a diverse range of historical scenarios

NOT a ruleset for pedantics thank goodness! Loose, enjoyable and yet surprisingly realistic outcomes. Got my AWI figures on the table for the first time in a decade!!