Blue Bonnets & Tricornes

I have not posted anything for a few weeks because I have been working on my new project of writing a set of wargame rules suitable for the Jacobite Rebellion.

They are still a “work in progress” but when they are finished, and playtested, I intend making PDF copies available to purchase through this website. There will also be free downloads to supplement the rules.

By way of a taster, the Preface and Index is below.

Blue Bonnets & Tricornes

Preface

I wanted some wargame rules to use with my Jacobite Rebellion set-up, but could not find any which I liked.  I therefore decided to write my own.  These are based on my experience of over 60 years of wargaming.

I have called them “Blue Bonnets & Tricornes” since this reflects the mid-18^th Century period they are intended to cover, the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745-46  and the War of Austrian Succession from 1740-1748.   I have extended my original concept with a section to include the Seven Years War in North America (or French and Indian War as it is known by to our American cousins), which took place from 1754 to 1763.

They are “old school” rules, with single rank figures and figure removal.  The rules were written for 1:72 (23mm) figures, at a 1:30 figure ratio, but could be adapted to other scales and figure ratios.

The rules use dice to determine results of firing, combat and morale tests, but there are no rules to grade commanders, nor random events, since I prefer games to be decided by player’s tactical ability, rather than reduced to a game of chance.

I have undoubtedly been influenced by many other sets of rules over the years, and have incorporated elements which I like from various rules into these.  It is only fair to say that the primary influence has been Die Kriegskunst (The Art of War), the Seven Year’s War Rules which are themselves based on the excellent General de Brigade Napoleonic rules system.  The author of Die Kriegskunst, Angus Konstam, has very generously given me permission to use as much as I wanted to of his rules.  I have tried to make Blue Bonnets & Tricornes as historically accurate as possible, without making them too complex. There is an article about the development of tactics during this period on my website at:

The Evolution of Tactics in the 18th Century – Rod’s Wargaming (wordpress.com)

There are a number of free downloads available through my website such as Order of Battle templates, Deployment Cards, Orders Cards plus the various Markers mentioned in the rules.

Rod MacArthur

2023