Free Downloadable Wargame Rules

I have been a wargamer for many years, and during that time I have written many different sets of wargames rules. The following are a selection of what I consider to be my better designs. Please feel free to download and use them.

BUNDOCK AND BAYONET were a simple set of colonial rules written over ten years ago. They were designed to be used with 15mm and 20mm-scale individually based figures. The rules come in two parts:

‘ERES TO YOU FUZZY WUZZY were designed specifically to fight battles during the Sudanese campaigns to relieve Gordon at Khartoum and then to re-conquer the Sudan. They were intended to be used with 15mm-scale figures mounted on two-figure stands.

HORDES OF DERVISHES were based on the DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis) and HOTT (Hordes of the Things) rules written by Phil Barker, Richard Bodley Scott, and Sue Laflin Barker. They were written so that small colonial battles in the Sudan could be fought as ‘one offs’ or as part of a campaign.

REDCOATS AND DERVISHES owed much to the work done by Ian Drury and Richard Brooks, and was a precursor of several other sets of wargames rules that I have written.

RESTLESS NATIVES were a more generic set of colonial wargames rules, although they did contain some Sudan-specific scenarios that players could use. They were designed so that two or more players could fight an interesting battle to a conclusion in under two hours on a 4 foot x 3 foot (120cm x 90cm) tabletop battlefield using approximately two hundred 15mm-scale figures mounted on multi-figure stands.

HEROES OF VICTORIA’S EMPIRE (HoVE) was a set of Colonial wargames rules specifically written to reflect the importance of heroic individuals (and villains!) during the expansion of the British Empire. The rules were written with the objective that they should be fun, and should enable a battle to be fought to a conclusion in no more than two hours using approximately 60 – 100 15mm-scale individually-based figures on a small tabletop (3¼ foot x 2½ foot/100 cm x 75 cm). It was also important that they should enable the story of the battle to unfold in front of the players.

The rules also required a set of Heroic Leadership cards.

The PORTABLE NAVAL WARGAME rules were an off-shoot of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules and are designed to be used on a hexagonal gridded tabletop.

MIMI AND TOUTOU GO FORTH were a very simple set of rules for re-fighting the naval battles that took place on Lake Tanganyika during the First World War.

The rules require movement cards.

The numerous revolutionary wars fought in South and Central America have always been of interest to me and my RESTLESS REVOLUTIONARIES rules were the result. They were developed from RESTLESS NATIVES (see above) and use many of the same game mechanisms. A simple linear campaign system forms part of the rules.

The CHACO WAR of the mid-1930s has long held a fascination for me, and some years ago I wrote a specific set of rules for re-fighting battles from the war. The rules were also based on the DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis) and HOTT (Hordes of the Things) rules written by Phil Barker, Richard Bodley Scott, and Sue Laflin Barker, and because I did not have the requisite figures I created some simple playing pieces to accompany the rules.

HEXBLITZ was an early attempt (in 2007) to combine some of the mechanisms used in Tim Gow’s MEGABLITZ wargames rule system with ideas gleaned from the British Army’s 1956 Tactical War Game Rules so that they could be used on a hexagonally gridded tabletop.

RED FLAGS AND IRON CROSSES – TARRED AND FEATHERSTONED were a set of World War II rules that combined the ‘old school’ rules mechanisms used by Donald Featherstone and Lionel Tarr with a hexagonal gridded tabletop.

These rules were preceded by an earlier set of rules that were also entitled RED FLAGS & IRON CROSSES but which did not included any of Donald Featherstone’s or Lionel Tarr’s ‘old school’ mechanisms.

OPERATIONAL ART were a set of World War II operational-level wargames rules that were designed to use a hexagonal gridded tabletop and individual bases that represented regimental/battalion-sized units. They allowed larger battles to be fought in a relatively small space.

The PORTABLE WARGAME rules have been developed since 2011, and currently include rules for Ancient, late nineteenth, and mid-twentieth century combat as well as the naval rules shown above. They use a gridded tabletop and individually based figures.

GERARD DE GRE and CHARLIE SWEET were early wargamers whose rules are well worth re-visiting … especially as they were pioneers in the use of gridded tabletops for fighting wargames. I therefore have great pleasure in making Charlie (and David) Sweet’s modifications of Gerard De Gre’s original Ancient and Napoleonic rules available in a downloadable format.

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Legal NoticePlease note that none of the above downlaods may be copied, reproduced, disseminated, modified, or published except for personal use without express permission from Robert George Cordery (also known as Bob Cordery) in the form of a letter, fax, or e-mail.

 Robert George Cordery (also known as Bob Cordery) retains the intellectual rights to everything contained herein in perpetuity, and asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work except where duly noted and accredited to others.