Flintlocks & percussion caps
By Chris Swann
(Caliver Books, 2021) £16.50
D10, alternate card activation
This ruleset is designed for small-scale encounters set in Texas between 1800 and 1860, diving straight into the rules with only a single paragraph for the historical setting. This is a shame as the history of the region makes for interesting reading, covering Texas’ declaration of its independence from Mexico, the annexation into the USA (triggering the Mexican-American War), and Texas joining the Confederacy in 1861.
The rules focus on the minor raids, ambushes, and skirmishes between a handful of men, with players only requiring six to seven figures on each side. The rules are deliberately agnostic when it comes to choosing models, scale, and basing requirements, enabling players to use existing collections. Movement speeds and weapon ranges are always given in ‘paces’ with the suggestion that players use 1 cm to represent a pace in smaller scales and 1” per pace for larger figures.
Our figures represent four types: heroes, main characters, supporting characters, and minor characters, with such terminology giving the impression of recreating a movie scene as much as playing a traditional wargame. Activation is card based using a standard set of playing cards, and individual models may perform an action when one of their cards is drawn from the deck (jokers give unexpected events). Heroes start the game with four cards each;
