ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to the members of the Stamford Adventurers Society for playtesting these rules, albeit in a slightly different guise. Thanks to Mike Owen and Lon Weiss for putting the idea in our heads and producing some fine miniatures to play this game, and to Nick Eyre for bringing them into the UK. Finally, thanks as ever to Carol, Gina and Karen for not batting an eyelid when listening to anecdotes of Hell-Cat Maggie and Bill the Butcher over dinner and putting up with us CONTENTS Introduction 3 Scale and basing 3 Gangs 3 Spunk 3 Terrain and cover 4 Taking cover 4 Turn sequence 5 Missile combat 5 Shooting results 6 Movement 7 Tactical movement 7 Engage movement 7 Spunk roll modifications 8 Melee 9 Combat modifiers 10 Combat results 10 Gang morale 10 Scenarios 11 New York 1834 11 Chicago 1897 11 New York 1857 12 San Francisco 1875 13 London 1887 14 Bristol 1831 15 Glasgow 1924 16 Designers Notes 17 Bibliography 17 Miniatures 18 Gang record sheet 19 2
INTRODUCTION The major industrialised cities of the nineteenth century where extremely violent places. Crime was rife and unrest commonplace. Throughout the period, organised gangs of thugs and criminals would fight pitched battles against the authorities and between themselves. In New York the infamous Bowery Boys and Dead Rabbits fought through New York s Five Points district. In Chicago the Loop and South gambling syndicates declared war on Johnny Rogers West Side ring. Whilst across the Atlantic in 1880 s London, the Dover Road Fighting Gang took on the Green Gate Gang. Gangland is a set miniatures gaming rules designed to allow you to recreate these battles with 28mm scale miniatures, as well as games based on the various riots and civil commotions that occurred in this period such as the New York Draft Riots and London s Bloody Sunday in Trafalgar Square. SCALE AND BASING These rules assume the use of 28mm miniatures however players wishing to use other scale may do so, but you will have to adjust all measurements accordingly. The nominal ground scale used in the rules is 1:60. The base-size is not critical, as long as all miniatures are based consistently. Mounted miniatures should be placed on a base that is roughly two times as long as a foot miniature. For example, if you are base your miniatures on 25mm square bases mounted miniatures would be based on 25 by 50mm rectangular bases. GANGS The function of the Gang is to provide each miniature with a recognisable group of compatriots, with a clear leader, from whom he can derive benefit if fighting with combat, or whose loss may cause him to flee. All miniatures form part of a Gang. Gangs can contain any number of miniatures. Each Gang must have one miniature specified as the Leader of that Gang. Two or more Gangs may be on the same side in a game. All Gang have a Break Level. This represents the level at which the Gang has taken so many casualties, in terms or dead, wounded, and shaken miniatures, that it decides to withdraw from combat. The Break Level for any Gang is equal to half the number of miniatures in that Gang (round fractions up). SPUNK All miniatures are rated for Spunk. The Spunk score is a sum of a miniatures physical strength, constitution, and skill, and morale and courage. Spunk scores vary between values 0 (the lowest) and 8 (the highest). This value will vary - downwards - during the game, so an accurate record of each miniature s Spunk must be kept through out the game. Guiding values for starting values are given below: 3
Type Spunk Shopkeepers, Bystanders 1-2 Bats, Eriffs, Gips and other criminal lowlifes 3-4 Gang members, Police, Militia 5-6 Regular Soldiers 7-8 Should a miniature every reach a negative value for Spunk, then he is considered to be dead (or to grievously injured to fight) and his miniature is removed from play. TERRAIN AND COVER All areas of the table must be classified for terrain type and cover before the game begins. Terrain type will affect movement, while cover type affects missile combat. There are three terrain and cover classifications, and any area on the table will have one of each. For example, a barricade could be Difficult / Partial, and a river could be Impassable / Open. The classifications are: Terrain Type Clear Difficult Impassable Cover Type Open Partial Full Cover Examples Relatively flat terrain with out major obstructions. Includes open streets, vacant lots, and lightly wooded parks. Any ground with significant obstacles, such as thick brush, rubble piles or barricades. Building interiors are also considered Difficult terrain. Any terrain that cannot be negotiated by normal means, such as high walls, large rivers, or lakes. Examples No significant obstruction to visibility or shooting. For example, an empty street. The target is partially obscured. For example, the target can be seen through a window or over a low wall. Light wooded terrain is between the shooter and his target. The target is almost totally obscured. For example concealed behind a loop-holed building or heavy wooded terrain is between the shooter and his target. Taking Cover: Miniatures may gain an additional level of Cover if they only move half their allotted distance and on their turn. This assumes that the miniature is attempting to avoid attack by using any available cover that may not be represented on the table. In this case treat Open cover as Partial, Partial as Full and Full cover as Total, meaning that no enemy can attack him with a missile weapon. The effects of the different classifications are explained below in the relevant section. 4
TURN SEQUENCE The game is played in a series of turns. Each turn comprises of a series of phases. This sequence must be followed during the game, and all players must take any relevant action during to appropriate phase before the next phase begins. The phase sequence is: Missile combat Movement Melee Gang Morale Each phase is explained below. At the beginning of each turn, turn initiative is determined for each Gang. Turn initiative is determined for each Gang by rolling 1 D6 for each Gang and adding that Gangs Leader s Spunk score, or half (rounded down) Spunk if the Leader was engaged in melee combat last turn. Gangs without a leader just roll D6. If Gangs tie on the same score both should roll again against each other to determine the sequence order between them. Normally the Gang with the lowest score would perform its actions in each phase before the other Gangs, followed in turn by the Gang with the next lowest score and so on. However, at any time before a Gang has made any actions in that phase a Gang with a higher initiative may interrupt the sequence and take its actions for that phase early. This Gang may itself be interrupted by a Gang with a higher initiative than it. The original interrupted unit takes its actions for that phase immediately after the last Gang to interrupt the sequence. For example: There are 4 Gangs, each with a different initiative score: Gang A - 6 Gang B - 7 Gang C - 8 Gang D - 9 A could interrupt nobody; B could interrupt A; C could interrupt B or A; D could interrupt C, B, or A. Gang A would normally go first followed by B, C, and D in that order. However C decides to interrupt B, D then decides to interrupt C. The sequence of action for this phase would then be A, D, C, and then B. Sequences are determined for each phase separately. Thus Gangs could act in a different sequence in one phase than they do in either of the other phases. MISSILE COMBAT Miniatures armed with missile weapons may fire at other visible miniatures during this phase. 5
Each miniature may only fire once during this phase. All targets must be declared by the shooting miniatures in a Gang before any shooting is resolved by that Gang. Shooters may fire into melee but have an equal chance of hitting any of the participants. The target must be within range of the shooter: Weapon Range (cm) Effect Rock, Brick 8-1 Bowie Knife, Butcher s Knife 8 +0 Throwing Knife 10-1 Derringer 18-1 Pepper-box Pistol 15-1 Colt Patterson Revolver 22 +0 Dragoon Pistol 25 +1 Smoothbore Musket 30 +0 Rifled Musket 50 +1 Shotgun 35 +1 To hit a target the shooting player rolls D6, adds his current Spunk score, and applies any modifiers (below). If the final score equals or exceeds 8, the target has been hit and wounded. Wounds and their severity are described below in the section called Shooting Results. Modifiers are: Type Effect Target did not move or fight in melee last turn + 1 Target in partial cover - 1 Target in full cover - 2 Unfavourable weather conditions -1 or - 2 This is not a definitive list and players should use their common sense to apply other modifiers (in the range of + 2 to - 2) as the circumstances of their scenario dictates. Note however that reductions in Spunk due to wounds already imposes a negative modifier on a injured shooter, so additional modifiers to account for the wounds are not necessary. Shooting Results When a miniature is wounded in missile combat, a D6 is rolled and the table below consulted. 6
Score Result 0 No effect 1-3 Target loses 1 point Spunk 4-5 Target loses 2 points Spunk 6 Target Killed All Spunk losses are permanent. If a miniature is reduced to negative points of Spunk he is killed. A miniature may still fight and move as normal even on 0 Spunk. Miniatures who shoot in the missile phase may not move in the movement phase of that turn. MOVEMENT All miniatures who have not fired in the Missile phase may move in the movement phase. There are three different types of movement a miniature may perform: Tactical Engage Disengage Tactical movement is for miniatures not already in base to base contact with an enemy, and who will not be placed in base to base contact with a enemy miniature during movement. Miniatures using tactical movement may move in any direction and end their turn facing in any direction, so long as no part of the miniature bases moves further than: 8 cm for foot or 16 cm for mounted miniatures All movement in Difficult terrain for armoured foot and all mounted costs twice as much movement distance as is actually undertaken (that is, every 1 cm of actually movement reduces the total amount of movement remaining for the turn by 2 cm). Engage movement is for miniatures attempting to move into base to base contact with an enemy miniature. Moving into melee combat with an enemy requires a test of Spunk, both by the attacker and by the miniature being attacked. The attacker must declare his intention to attack a specific enemy miniature. This miniature can be within 12 cm if the attacker is on foot, or 24 cm if the attacker is mounted. The attacker then rolls D6, and applies any relevant modifiers listed below. If the final score is less than or equal to the miniatures current Spunk score then he has passed the test, and the defender will be required to make a Spunk check to stand and face the attacker. If the attacker rolls more than his current Spunk score, he rolls 2 D6 if on foot or 4 D6 if mounted and moves that distance in cm directly towards the enemy miniature. If this movement still takes the attacker into contact with the target miniature, then the attacker is 7