Sharp Practice is a Skirmish game set in the horse & musket period roughly 1700 to 1880 the main rules cover the Napoleonic wars with sections on all the main combatants in those wars Supplements are available that cover the American civil war,
Terrible Sharp Sword, at the end of the period the also available are Supplements for the American war of independence/ American Revolt & the Mexican American war which proceeded the ACW,
So far from God.
Like all Lardie rules it is card driven & so uses the oft talked about but seldom achieved, especially not well as here, Variable length Bound as turn order and length of turn are determined by the turn of a card form a custom card deck. Its focus is on leadership the use of formations and where possible period tactics. As written it assumes a figure scale of one man = one figure with the leaders, Bigmen, being sergeants & company officers. It will however work if you assume higher man to figure ratios but the Bigmen increase in rank & decrease in status as this happens. For example for a simple game a sergeant would be status I a lieutenant status II & a Capitan Status III or the average. Here the force on each side would be a half company or company depending on the army 50-150 men. Use a figure to man ratio of 1:20 & you are dealing with 2-3 battalions per side, 1000- 3000 men, & your big men would be the senior captains Status I Majors Status II & a Colonel Status III. This latter is the level of Napoleonic battle I cut my wargaming teeth on when a lot younger.
The troops are split into equal sizes groups of 6-12 the exact number varying by army & the size of the force you are trying to represent but there are no hard and fast rules for this. To these groups are added the Bigmen the more and higher status the Bigmen the easier the force is to command and the better it will deal with combat & manoeuvre. For an average force ten groups of troops & five levels of Bigman Status is ideal.
Ginger
