The Sword and the Flame

Probalby one of the most popular rules sets of all time. It is fast, fun, and really captures the feeling of the colonial era. These rules have been adapted to be used with ACW, WW1, and even French and Indian War.

Battles For Empire

Fire and Sword on the Frontier

The Sword and the Flame rules are the most popular set of rules for wargaming colonial actions. The rules cover almost every period from the Zulu Wars to the late Sudan campaigns, plus numerous variants ranging from the American Civil War to World War One. Units are 20 figs for infantry and 12 for cavalry, so you don't need a lot of figures for a small game. The rules are easy to learn, play very fast, and the group has a great time whenever we play a scenario.

After doing the Sudan for almost 10 years we decided to go in a different direction, or across continents. Our collection was the old Ral Partha figs and the new ranges wouldn't fit in, so we went with the Northwest Frontier and decided to use the larger ranges from Old Glory and Redoubt. While we still don't have the same size of forces that we had for the Sudan, we are gradually building up our collections and terrain for the period.

The Northwest Frontier has endless scenario possibilities, from raids to punitive expeditions against villages and tribes. The British and their allies were involved in Afghanistan for almost 150 years and the era that we chose, namely 1879-1898 saw almost continual action. Besides large battles, sieges, and relief expeditions, there were thousands of smaller actions involving less than a hundred men on a side. We think that this is the perfect arena for these rules, so we are expanding our selection of forces.

There is at least one member of our group who wants to explore the American Civil War variant while several of us would like to do the Indian Mutiny or the Boxer Rebellion. We are also looking at the possibilities of doing some campaigns.

We also just started playing Battles for Empire and the first game was very successful. It's suitable for large scale colonial battles as each unit of four stands represents a company or native tribe.

25mm figures by Old Glory, Foundry, and Redoubt.

15mm figures by Old Glory, Essex, and Minifigs.

We currently have about 200 Pathans and close to 150 British and Indians. We hope to add another 150-200 Pathans in the future for some really big games.

In 15mm we have early Egyptian forces for 1883-1885 vs. Dervishes and Fuzzies.