Colonial Adventures Alternative Rules – Test 1

Introduction

Fortunes Won & Lost is one of my favorite games from Two Hour Wargames. You can still purchase Fortunes Won & Lost from Rebel Minis Press through their website or on Wargame Vault. However, I’d like to spice it up a bit by adding a few tweaks here and there. The biggest problem with adding house rules is that they tend to slow the game down. Therefore, I have to weigh the trade off between added detail and ease of play,

Unit Size

Games from Two Hour Wargames often encourage the player to think of their games as toolboxes to build the scenarios or games you want to play. The first thing I want to test is changing the unit size. Once you’ve played several games of Fortunes Won & Lost, encountering opposing units which differ in size to your own unit by only one or two figures becomes less and less of a challenge. Changing the unit sizes will probably be a little unsettling to players who insist on “balanced” games where both sides are equal in capabilities if not size. In Colonial Adventures, also by Two Hour Wargames, it is suggested that native forces have three times the number of units as European or American forces to give the spear armed natives a chance against the rifle armed Europeans.

For this game, I’m going to borrow a mechanic from Warrior Heroes Warbands and Captains & Kings (also from Two Hour Wargames). The size of European Adventurer and European Military units will be 10 + 1D6 figures giving a variable unit size of 11 to 16 figures. The size of Tribal Native units will be 20 + 1D6 giving unit sizes between 21 and 26 figures. .

Patrol Forces

King’s Zuri Rifles

Since this is my first patrol, I will only have one group for this encounter. My Star is Lieutenant Carolyn Matthews, formerly of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy. The experiment of allowing women in the military has been cancelled, however Lt. Matthews has captured the attention of the British Foreign Office in the Kingdom of Nobelongga where there has been some success of assigning British officers to advise and command in the Nobelonggese army. The Nobelonggese have a tradition of women warrior regiments among many of its tribes and clans. Lt. Matthews has been assigned to command the first all-female company, the King’s Zuri Rifles with the rank of Captain (which isn’t a promotion, an army Captain is the same as a naval Lieutenant). It is an understrength company, not quite the size of a platoon.

I’ve also given each figure a name to make writing a story from a battle report more interesting.

#	Name	REP	Class	Weapon
1	Capt. Carolyn Mattews	5	Star	Pistol
2	Sgt. Busara	5	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
3	Cpl. Zuwena	5	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
4	Hasanati	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
5	Jahaira	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
6	Bahati	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
7	Zaida	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
8	Lindana	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
9	Kamara	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
10	Malkia	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – Eurpean
11	Sanura	4	Soldier/Missile	Rifle – European
12	Oyana	4	Guide/Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
13	Imani	4	Guide/Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon

Nobelonggese Rebels

There is a great deal of unrest in Nobelongga many clans and villages are in rebellion. There are many that would like to see foreigners confined to Mission St. Mary or banished completely from Nobelongga. The great powers, particularly Great Britain, have provided arms and advisors (officers) to the King to help him quell the rebellion. As this is the first Patrol encounter, the Rebels have four PEFs, one for each point of Major Morale (see page 19 of Fortunes Won & Lost for the Patrol encounter). Not all of the PEFs will resolve into units, but to save time I will create four units in advance for use if needed.

Red PEF

#	Name	REP	Class	Weapon
1	Prince Taji	5	Leader	One-hand Melee Weapon
2	Witch Doctor	4	Melee	Unarmed
3-8	Native	5	Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
9-19	Native	4	Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
20-24	Native	3	Missile	Rifle – Native

White PEF

#	Name	REP	Class	Weapon
1	Kiira	5	Leader	One-hand Melee Weapon
2-5	Native	5	Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
6-18	Native	4	Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
19-23	Native	3	Missile	Bow

Blue PEF

#	Name	REP	Class	Weapon
1	Kobe	5	Leader	One-hand Melee Weapon
2-3	Native	5	Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
4-16	Native	4	Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
17-21	Native	3	Missile	Rifle – Native

Yellow PEF

#	Name	REP	Class	Weapon
1	Hamidi	5	Leader	One-hand Melee Weapon
2-4	Native	5	Mellee	One-hand Melee Weapon
5-20	Native	4	Melee	One-hand Melee Weapon
21-23	Native	3	Missile	Rifle – Native

Patrol Terrain

Unlike other games from Two Hour Wargames, Fortunes Won & Lost doesn’t have a true terrain generator. According to the rules, I was to set up terrain in six sections of the board. Upon completion, the table looked much too sparse to represent a jungle forest, so I added some additional trees.

Patrol Deployment

• Red PEF in Section Two
• White PEF in Section Six
• Blue PEF in Section Four
• Yellow PEF in Section Six
• Patrol enters Section Seven

Playing the Encounter

Adding a different method of determining unit size is the only change I wish to make for this test, so let’s play a Patrol Encounter. From this point on, the encounter will be played as written in Fortunes Won & Lost.

Turn 1

• Rebels win Activation 6-2
• PEFs can’t move
• Patrol moves to center of Section 7

Turn 2

• Patrol wins Activation 3-1
• Section 7 scouted; Patrol moves to Section 8
• Red PEF moves to Section 5; White PEF moves to Section 6; Blue PEF doesn’t move; Yellow PEF moves to Section 2

Turn 3

• Rebels win Activation 5-2
• PEFs fail to activate
• Section 8 Scouted; Patrol moves to edge of Section 9

Turn 4

• Rebels win Activation 4-3
• Red PEF moves into Section 8; White PEF moves to Section 3; Blue PEF moves to Section 5; Yellow PEF moves to Section 5
• Patrol moves to center of Section 9

Turn 5

• Patrol wins Activation 6-3
• Patrol fails to activate
• Red PEF moves into Section 9; resolves into “Something’s Out There”; PEF removed from table
• White PEF doesn’t move; Blue PEF moves to Section 2; Yellow PEF moves to Section 6

Turn 6

• Patrol wins Activation 5-1
• Section 9 scouted; Patrol moves to edge of Section 6
• White PEF moves to Section 6; Blue PEF moves to Section 5
• Yellow PEF moves In Sight of Patrol & resolves Hamidi’s Unit of Rebels
• Rebels win Advantage for Action Table
• Rebels act first
• Rebels charge Patrol; Patrol fires at chargers; 1 Rebel OD, 6 Rebels OOF, 3 Rebels Duck Back; Rebels enter Melee; 2 Rebels OD, 4 Rebels OOF, 2 Patrol OD, 3 Patrol OOF; Rebel shooters advance; 1 Patrol loses Will to Fight
• Patrol Action: Patrol fires at Rebels; 4 Rebels OOF, 1 Rebel Duck Back; 2 Patrol charge into Melee; 1 Rebel OOF, 1 Patrol OOF; Patrol loses Will to Fight, Patrol leaves the table

Aftermath

A short and sweet disaster for Captain Matthews first patrol. Too be honest even if the Patrol hadn’t lost the Will to Fight Test, with 50% casualties, I would have withdrawn the Patrol during their next activation. What bugs me is that with 75% casualties, the Tribal natives continued to stand fast, which seems to contradict historical records.

So now I’m left to wonder if my unit size idea is off, or if the Will to Fight Table is flawed.

I think I’ll take another look at Colonial Adventures & Nuts to do another attempt at unit size and look at WHAT & Chain Reaction 2023 at how they handle the Will to Fight.

Let’s do another test next week. In the meantime, your ideas and comments are greatly appreciated in solving the group size issue.