News & Info on Updates

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="04bb9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="70" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="66"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="76" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="66" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="090a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>British 95th Rifles</B></div> <div> <B>Essex 15mm</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Old Trousers: Rules for Warfare in the Horse & Musket Era</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old Trousers: Rules for Warfare in the H"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Author"><U>The Author</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Design Details"><U>Design Details</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tactical Napoleonic Warfare"><U>Tactical Napoleonic Warfare</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kriegspeil Rules"><U>Kriegspeil Rules</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Operational Warfare"><U>Operational Warfare</U></A>   |   <B>News & Info on Updates</B>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Microarmor Stuff"><U>Microarmor Stuff</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Downloads"><U>Downloads</U></A></div> <div> News & Info on Updates</div> <bR> <div>                                                     <IMG SRC="0fccc3d0.png" border=0 width="460" height="61" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Old Trousers: Rules for Warfare in the Horse and Musket Era version 1.0 was published in MWAN #111 which came out in June 2001. Updates to the basic rules, army lists, & scenarios will be posted to this web site. New postings & changes in the rules are described below.</div> <bR> <div> Fenuary 4, 2006</div> <div> A new version of Fields of Honor uploaded. Minor changes.</div> <bR> <div> January 31, 2005</div> <div> A new version of Fields of Honor uploaded. Minor changes.</div> <bR> <div> January 16, 2006</div> <div> New version of Fields of Honor houserules uploaded. They are an excellent set that covers 19th Century warfare.</div> <bR> <div> November 8, 2005</div> <div> Old Trousers II is now posted in the download section. This is Version 1.0 The Mexican-American War Lists have also been posted.</div> <bR> <div> October 31, 2005</div> <div> Version 3.0 of the army lists is now posted. This corrects an error in the Russian lists & allows late Austrian & Prussian infantry battalions to have organic skirmishers. My houserules for Fields of Honor, a set of commercially available rules that cover 19th century warfare, have been uploaded.</div> <bR> <div> October 30, 2005</div> <div> See the announcement about Old Trousers II on the front page.</div> <bR> <div> September 27, 2005</div> <div> The second edition of Warcometh has been uploaded. The changes are minor & serve to simply a few things. Small Battle Modern Rules for Seven Year olds have been uploaded. Don't be fooled by the name. They are also a lot of fun for 50 year olds.</div> <bR> <div> August 10, 2005</div> <div> I have posted version 2.6 of Old Trousers. This will be the final version of Old trousers. Old trousers II is in the works. It will contain a new command system & simplified faster playing rules for cavalry charges. It should be posted before long.</div> <bR> <div> August 4, 2005</div> <div> Lost my hardrive, so there might be a few irrational changes on the web page.</div> <div> I have uploaded version 2.5 of Old Trousers & my latest houserules for Fistful of Tows 2.</div> <bR> <div> July 2, 2005</div> <div> FFT2 houserules have been updated. A number of things are more cleanly defined. They now include some role for HQ's though orders are still not needed. I still need to do the CAP ratings for aircraft.</div> <bR> <div> June 25 & 26</div> <div> New houserules for FFT2 uploaded. I really do like these! I still need to do the aircraft ratings.</div> <bR> <div> June 16, 2005</div> <div> A new set of houserules has been uploaded for Fistful-of-Tows2. I have also included a new download for Battlegroup. These are a redo of the old Challenger rules & look to be very promising. They are still under development. Consider joining the Yahoo group.</div> <bR> <div> May 15, 2005</div> <div> Updated listed of equipment for the Arab-Israeli Wars & new house rules for A Fistful of Tows2.</div> <bR> <div> February 26, 2005</div> <div> Version 3.0 of Sol Prime has been posted. A link has been added to the Yahoo group for Warrior Kings. Warrior Kings will be published sometime in 2005.</div> <bR> <div> February 22, 2004</div> <div> Warcometh, my medeival & fantasy rules just appeared in issue #127 of MWAN. They have been posted on the webpage & may be downloaded.</div> <bR> <div> December 29, 2003</div> <div> It has been sometime since I have posted an update. The biggest news, for which there will be an official press release in the spring, is that I have purchased the rights to Warrior Kings, formerly produced by Two Hour Wars. We will be coming out with a second edition which will be published in 2004. There may also be a published version of Old Trousers for sell around the same time. A further revision of the rules is underway, though the changes should be minor.</div> <div> I have uploaded my houserules for the 3W game "Imperator" by Bill Banks. They make it into a much more sophisticated game.</div> <div> My rules "War Cometh" will be published in MWAN #127, the next issue. They cover medieval & fantasy warfare & will be uploaded to this site when the magazine comes out.</div> <bR> <div> December 12, 2002</div> <div> Version 2.4 of the rules has been uploaded. The changes are primarily in the following: It is now a little easier to pass a Charge or Reaction Test, the procedure for multiple rounds of melee has been simplified, cavalry support has had some minor changes, & flank attacks have been better defined. The only other change was in the Russian army list.</div> <bR> <div> October 20, 2002</div> <div> I have added an ancients page & my new set of house rules for Warmaster.</div> <bR> <div> October 17, 2002</div> <div> Nothing new posted but I hope to have my army level Napoleonic rules in a playtest form soon. They will allow one to use troops based for Old Trousers or Napoleon's Battles by Avalon Hill. Each stand will represent 1 battalion of infantry with a scale of 1 inch = 150 yds. I will also have charts for 10mm troops based to Warmaster standards. I have been working on them for some time now & I have run into numerous dead ends resulting in several new starts. My recent venture into fantasy gaming (Warmaster) has managed to introduce me to some new design tricks. I am enthusiastic about what I have so far & I hope to get a playtest version posted in the next month. I will also have some very good house rules for Warmaster ready that should make it into an excellent historical game. I also hope to add a section on ancients sometime soon.</div> <bR> <div> September 15, 2002</div> <div> Pictures were added to the micro armor  page & a Warmaster page has been added.</div> <bR> <div> June 10, 2002</div> <div> A minor clarification was made in the charts. Version 2.3 of the charts is now posted.</div> <bR> <div> June 8, 2002</div> <div> A few changes added to the micro armor section.</div> <bR> <div> May 18, 2002</div> <div> I am expanding the web site to include information on the Arab-Israeli Wars & micro armor. Several new pages have been added, most of which are still under construction, but as I have completed the research they should be up before long. I have posted version 2.3 of the rules. The only change relates to a clarification on how to score hits against artillery.</div> <bR> <div> April 3, 2002</div> <div> I have posted version 2.0 of Sol Prime, my Sci-Fi micro armor. The sequence of play has been revised along with a few more changes to make them more "realistic", but not much slower.</div> <div> The major posting is of my Aide de Camp 2 game on a new Arab-Israeli war. I lot of time has gone into the rules & order of battle. It is only a playtest version, but it is essentially complete.</div> <bR> <div> January 6, 2002</div> <div> Happy New Year to all. I hope to be more active in expanding the web site over the next few months. I have been distracted by my interest in the Arab-Israeli Wars. Hopefully I will shortly have at least an Aid de Camp 2 module out on the topic. I need to post one bit of errata which I will mention here. When artillery suffers casualties then it should be taken from a member of the artillery crew if it was inflicted by musketry & it should be scored as a destroyed cannon if inflicted by artillery.</div> <bR> <div> December 5, 2001</div> <div> Well we are still extremely active, I just haven't generated a lot of web updates. I have gotten side tracked into board wargaming, but more updates will be forthcoming. I have redone Southern Discomfort & it is now posted as Modern American Civil War. I plan to eventually have a module out for modern wars at 4 km per hex & 12 hours per turn.</div> <bR> <div> September 28, 2001</div> <div> I have added a new page containing a set of Sci-Fi micro armor rules that I have been working on. They play fast & are pure fun. The page is linked to the Home page. The rules are called Sol Prime.</div> <bR> <div> September 15, 2001</div> <div> Not much new to report. I did add a picture of the plans for the new World Trade Center to "The Author" page.</div> <bR> <div> August 24, 2001</div> <div> A few thoughts regarding the philosophy of wargame design were added to "The Author" page. Version 2.2 has been posted. It contains a single change, hardly demanding its own version. Check the file on rules change for the details. I am steadily working on the article on musketry plus a review of one of Paddy Griffth's books.</div> <bR> <div> August 18, 2001</div> <div> Tom Barkalow's rule set Regimental on to Richmond, covering actions in the American Civil War in 15mm & 25mm, has been added. Tom, a most erudite fellow, has developed this set over many years. It was published in MWAN #109 in version 1.5 We have version 1.6 posted. Further supporting materials will be posted in the future.</div> <bR> <div> August 10, 2001</div> <div> A new page called Other Downloads has been added. It may be reached by a link from the Downloads page. At the moment it contains games for Aide De Camp 2 by HPS Simulations & for The Operational Art of War by Talonsoft.</div> <bR> <div> August 6, 2001</div> <div> Version 2.1 of the Leader lists has now been posted. Page numbers were added to the Army Lists.</div> <bR> <div> August 5, 2001</div> <div> An updated Army List has been posted. There are significant changes in the lists. The lists are now more extensive. There are now 3 different categories of Good troops, the details are explained in the lists.</div> <bR> <div> August 4, 2001</div> <div> Version 2.1 has been posted. Check the file called RulesMods9 for the changes. They include a table of contents, illustrations, new cavalry charge rules, & clarifications regarding skirmishers & combat in towns. The rules are now pretty much done. I may add a few more examples & illustrations. I have considered a few minor changes in the artillery fire but there are no plans for further serious changes at the present. Next I hope to revise the army & leader lists & add more content to the web page.</div> <bR> <div> July 29,2001</div> <div> The Kriegspeil page has been further expanded with a discussion of artillery fire in the 1872 rules. Version 2.08 will likely be posted next weekend. It will include a table of contents, illustrations, & the revised cavalry charge rules. The revised cavalry rules borrow heavily from the 1828 Kriegspeil Rules. I may choose to call it version 3.0 as I expect that it will truly be the final version.</div> <bR> <div> July 17, 2001</div> <div> The Kriegsspeil page continues to expand. The Cavalry melee rules discussion now includes cavalry vs infantry match ups. I think that the 1828 rules must've been written by a cavalry officer!</div> <bR> <div> July 14, 2001</div> <div> Version 2.07 has been posted. There is a file called RulesMods8 that explains the changes. None are major. Fire against columns & squares is now more effective, French & British skirmishers have been given a minor advantage, the Breakthrough procedure has been clarified, Austrians are now allowed to use attack column beginning in 1809, & a few more minor changes. There is an important new experimental rule. It proposes to change the cavalry melee rules to emulate the 1828 Kriegsspeil Rules. I like the changes, however, they need play testing & hence have not been adopted yet.</div> <bR> <div> July 13, 2001</div> <div> Cavalry vs cavalry, cavalry vs artillery, & cavalry vs skirmisher melees have been added to the 1828 Kriegspeil page. Next will come cavalry vs infantry, & infantry vs infantry melees.</div> <bR> <div> July 9,2001</div> <div> The artillery tables for the 1828 rules have now been added to the Kriegspeil page.</div> <bR> <div> July 8, 2001</div> <div> I have added a section on musketry to the 1828 Kriegspeil Rules section with some suggested rules modifications for interested parties. I have also added a discussion of the musketry tables contained in the 1872 Kriegsspeil Rules. Currently I am working on some army level rules (1"=150 yds, 12" = 1 mile, 1 stand = 1 battalion) based on the 1828 & 1872 Kriegspeil Rules. Hopefully these will cover the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic Wars, & the American Civil War. The rules should work well with 6mm, 15mm, & 25mm troops. There is no set figure ratio as a roster system is used so most any of the popular mounting systems (Empire, Napoleon's Battles, Age of Reason, Koenig Krieg, Fire & Fury) should work. The result is that I should be expanding the Kriegspeil section over the next several weeks. Hopefully I can post the artillery tables shortly & then followup with the melee tables. In other news I would recommend that Napoleonic players check out George W Jeffrey's rules development group at     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VLBRules</div> <bR> <div> June 21, 2001</div> <div> A typo has been corrected. There was one in the charts that only involved removing a blank line. The charts now print out a little better. The Reaction Table in the body of the rules did not match the Reaction table in the charts, with the one in the charts being the correct one.</div> <div> Skirmishers, as always remain a controversial part of all Napoleonic rules. At the present most non French & British units are not given organic skirmishers. Players who feel that all allied skirmishers, such as Austrian Grenzers, were generally much inferior to French & British skirmishers should give the French & British a -4 DRM when they are fired at. This will make them a little harder to hit than most allied skirmishers.</div> <bR> <div> June 16, 2001</div> <div> Perfection remains elusive. I found an error in the charts. On the Reaction Table the modifier for reacting to cavalry should be -3 instead of -4. It should be a +2 for reacting to infantry instead of a +1. The National Bonus of +1 should also be listed as a Reaction Test Modifier with no * present next to it as it will also apply to units attempting Point Blank Fire. I have made these minor changes. The new versions of the rules & the charts, labeled 2.06b can be downloaded or you can just pencil it in. Oh well, hopefully I am now done making changes. I have done the first draft of modifications for the Seven Years War. They will not be posted for some time as they need significant playtesting. I can send them to anyone that requests them.</div> <bR> <div> June 13, 2001</div> <div> I finally got smart & put the files in PDF format so they virtually anyone with a computer can use them. Some of the HTML files still have a problem with formatting of some of the charts.</div> <bR> <div> June 10, 2001</div> <div> Finally! Version 2.06 is now posted. Check the files named RulesMod7 for the changes. There are 22 changes, none of which change the overall structure of the rules. There are significant changes in the Charge Test & in squares. Cavalry skirmishers may now charge artillery. Artillery firing on the flank has been modified. Breakthrough movement has been modified. Changes have also been made to the army lists. A number of examples & clarifications in addition to other minor rules changes have been made.</div> <div> The section on Tactical Napoleonic Warfare has been expanded. Numerous photos have been added. More photos to follow! As the rules have now been substantially fine tuned I hope to be able to add some scenario information & expand some of the historical discussions.</div> <bR> <div> June 7 & 8, 2001</div> <div> A section on the Russian army was added to the web page. Version 2.06 is nearly done & should be added to the web page shortly. One last read through is needed. It will contain a long list tweaks that should bring the rules into their final form allowing me to begin work on the Seven Years War variant. The biggest change in 2.06 will relate to squares & the Charge Test. Pictures illustrating the rules have been posted. They may be reached from the Design Details page.</div> <bR> <div> June 2, 2001</div> <div> A new file which provides an example of how to structure a command & assign order points has been added to the Rules zip file. A brief discussion of command has been added to the Design Details page. A new file called RulesMod6 has been added to the zip files. It contains the latest rules changes & experimental rules.</div> <bR> <div> May28</div> <div> A new download file in HTML has been added to accommodate Mac users & those who do not have Microsoft Word.</div> <div> A new file named RulesMod5 has been added to the zipped files. This replaces RulesMod4 & contains the list of new rules modifications which will be added to version 2.06. Several of the experimental rules have now been adopted & several new experimental rules are under consideration. The latest rules version remains 2.04.</div> <bR> <div> May 23</div> <div> The rules changes listed below have been incorporated into the rules & charts. Both the rules & charts are now version 2.04 A summary of the changes is in the document RulesMods4. All are contained in the Rules zip file.</div> <bR> <div> May 19</div> <div> A new document has been added to the ZIP file that contains the rules. This is called RulesMods3. It has some proposed new rules changes regarding artillery fire & is the direct result of my recent review of artillery.</div> <bR> <div> May 18</div> <div> A discussion of visibility & artillery effectiveness was added to the Tactical Napoleonic Warfare page. More rules modifications are in the works.</div> <bR> <div> May 6, 2001</div> <div> The proposed new rules listed on April 22 are now adopted. In addition the following rules have been added:</div> <div> #1  If the initiative is won, but the winner does not move first, then he does not get the +1 momentum modifier. The side that moves first will always get the +1 momentum modifier.</div> <div> #2  British infantry in line that are charged, may perform premelee fire with a -1 DRM & then countercharge.</div> <div> #3  12 pdr or heavier limbered artillery has a movement of 4 inches & may prolong 1 inch.</div> <div> #4  An unlimbered artillery unit that flees from a melee must either join an infantry unit within 6 inches or rout.</div> <div> #5  Unlimbered artillery must be given a separate order even if not engaged.</div> <div> A new document has been added to the ZIP file that contains the rules that contains all of these changes plus a listing of other rules changes under consideration.</div> <bR> <div> April 30</div> <div> Leader lists finally added! They are included in the Army List download.</div> <bR> <div> April 22</div> <div> Proposed new rules:</div> <div> #1 I have not added this to the rules yet but we tried it out today & it worked out well. When there is a tied melee result & another round of melee is called for then all units involved in the melee must pass a morale test before they can continue on. Any unit that fails immediately routs. The attacker must test morale before the defender.</div> <div> #2 Any unit of Good Morale or better need not test morale for a routing unit of a lower morale class. No unit ever need test morale for routing skirmishers. We will play test this further but I expect that it will be added. It is present in numerous other rule sets & seems to work elsewhere.</div> <div> Suggestion: If given the opportunity then do not command a Turkish army. The author should be rotting in a Russian prison after the rout of his Jannissary (Janitorial would be more appropriate) corps today!</div> <div>  </div> <div> As of April 18,2001 the latest version of the rules is Version 2.02.</div> <div> Cavalry may now die roll for recall when charging an infantry unit that has successfully formed square.</div> <div> Cavalry charging a square receive a -3 die roll modifier in the charge test.</div> <div> When a melee goes multiple rounds certain meleeing units may attempt to break off from the melee.</div> <div> On April 18, 2001 a new rules file was posted. The change was a correction of a typo in the game charts. The modifier for artillery in melee was listed as -2 in the charts. The -4 listing in the body of the rules is correct.</div> <bR> <div> Changes in the Rules from Version 1.0 to Version 2.0</div> <div> The Order Activation procedure has been omitted. It slowed things down too much & we kept forgetting to do it anyway.</div> <div> The Melee table has been changed with more decisive results.</div> <div> Cavalry wave attacks have been added.</div> <div> Artillery receive a +1 fire points per gun when using flank fire.</div> <div> Units may not charge on the turn they remove a disorder.</div> <div> Artillery movement rates have been increased.</div> <div> Several optional rules have been added.</div> <div> Several typos fixed. A few points have been clarified further.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>