Wargames Rules
Every good wargames project needs a good set of rules.IF THE LORD SPARES US RULES
After experimenting with adapting other rules, I chose to use TooFatLardies’ If the Lord Spares Us, a rule-set designed specifically for wargaming the Great War in the Middle East. Primarily aimed at brigade-sized battles using 15mm figures, they only need a little adapting for 10mm gaming. Figure scale is approximately 1:20, a base of two figures usually representing a platoon. The smallest tactical unit is the company, comprising six, eight or ten figures. I was particularly pleased to see how irregulars are handled, a major troop type of desert warfare obviously not included in rule- sets based on gaming the Western Front.THE GREAT WAR RULES
Before I knew of the TooFatLardies’ rules I had armed myself with a copy of Warhammer Historical’s The Great War rules. These are designed primarily for battalion-sized battles (up to 120 models per side) with 28mm figures, figure scale being approximately 1:3 or 4. Great War recommends that each model is mounted individually on its own base, using round bases for foot figures. ▪ Unit coherency is maintained by placing models no more than either 1 or 2 inches from one another. Maintaining a unit coherency of 1 inch means that up to four ranks can fight in close-quarters combat; three ranks with a unit coherency of 2 inches. ▪ In the shooting phase, models can freely pivot on the spot to face a target. Shooting ranges are measured from a figure’s weapon rather than the figure’s base. ▪ When assaulting, models may not be moved through gaps narrower than their base width. The rules would have been just about right for the size of forces that fought in Persia during the First World War but irregular troops are not catered for. It would have been possible to add house-rules for tribesmen – it was even hinted that a Middle East supplement was on the cards. However as my interest in WW1 desert warfare developed, I became more and more interested in wargames forces that would also be suitable for the campaigns of Mesopotamia, Arabia, Palestine, the Sinai and Egypt.
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