Playing Tricorn and Bonnet - some tips

Like all of my rule sets I have aimed at a couple of things whilst writing "Tricorn and Bonnet". These are:

1. To be period specific, rewarding historical tactics, and
2. To provide mechanisms that (I hope) are unique.

This combination can sometimes lead to an issue or two, for example where people don't agree on what the historical tactics actually were and where what's going on during the game isn't immediately familiar. With there points in mind, here are my tips and advice for playing the game.

Prepare for surprises

The game is designed with a number of surprises built in. The main one is the unexpected quality of the troops involved, which is unknown to both sides beyond an outline expectation. The rules also have a morale roll cascade affect in certain situations where you have to test again if you fail a test and keep on testing until you pass or run away. Things can happen very quickly, so it is a good idea to have cover for when something goes wrong. If you can avoid having your troop quality revealed try to do so, especially if you have a plan based upon firing (easier said than done). There are also things you can do to stop weakened units getting into the morale cascade, by replacing them in the line or rallying off Disorder with a commander - which can be done regardless of whether a units has moved or fought.

Jacobite Tactics

The Jacobite army's cutting edge is the Highland charge. That's not to say they can't fight with firearms, it's just that charging straight at the enemy is what they did and it can pay handsome dividends. Lowland troops and foreign units don't tend to do that. The Highlanders should crack open the Government line and if they don't win the battle outright in that way, the lowlanders can be used to exploit success, or provide a base on which to rally if things don't go well.

A quick note on multiple hand to hand contacts. Whilst unit actions are resolved unit by unit, outcome results are only applied after all units fighting in a square have done so. Bear this in mind when deciding where to attack and how many units to attack with. Multiple units will swing a hand to hand combat your way and give you a quick breakthrough, but remember every unit suffers a level of attrition from fighting hand to hand, and fresh units with a charging volley still to give are really handy to have about.

Government Tactics

Government armies rely on firepower and discipline. Ideally you want to be delivering your first volley when you most need it, not frittering it away on long range shooting. A second line of troops to provide support may well be enough to ensure your men don't run at first contact - as long as they aren't swept away as well.

Being pushed back isn't the end of the world if you can hang on and not break. Unlike most rule sets you are permitted to fire into both the flanks and rear of a melee.

Commanders

Where your command figures are and what you do with them can be the difference between success and failure. Most players use them to add dice or a modifier to hand to hand combat which is not a bad starting point. However a read through of the other options on page 13 from time to time won't hurt. You don't have to commit them to memory but it should be clear from a quick read what sort of things you can do. Mostly this can be summed up as intervening at moments of crisis, so put a book mark in there and if you think you have a crisis take a quick peak to see if there's anything that may help. Note also that you have a couple of opportunities to move command figures during the turn so that you can get them where you want to lead an attack or scurry off to rally troops that have had issues during the turn. Also, one of the things you can do is move yourself during your opponent's turn, which is handy if you've got a couple of command chips and you want to intervene in a melee that you hadn't anticipated.