Charge!: Or, How to play war games

by Peter Young

Table of PART 1.) The Origins -- 2.) The Elementary Game -- 2a.) Movement -- 2b.) Firing -- 2n.) Melees -- 3.) Playing the Elementary Game – The Battle of Blasthof Bridge ------- PART 4a.) An Introduction to the Advanced Game – Organization, Formations and Movement -- 4b.) Command and Staff -- 4c.) Grenadiers and Infantry of the Line -- -- 4d.) Formations -- 4e.) Light Infantry -- 4f.) Artillery -- 4g.) Movement -- 5.) Firing -- 6.) Charges and Melees (General and Cavalry), Rallying -- 7.) Artillery and Infantry in Melees, Special and Complex Melees -- 8.) Morale, Field Works and Game Mechanics -- 9.) Playing the Game -- 10.) Tail Piece ------- Appendix How to Create an Army Appendix Index to the Rules.

122 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Brigadier Peter Young, DSO, MC & 2 bars was a British soldier & WWII veteran. He served with the Commandos during that war, ultimately commanding a Brigade. After the war, he commanded a regiment on secondment to the Jordanian Arab Legion. After his retirement from the army, he became a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and eventually also a well-respected author of books on Military History, particularly with reference to the Second World War, the English Civil War & the Napoleonic Wars.

Reviews

[Robin Braysher · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I get older (or just 'old') I find myself returning to books from my younger days. I first found 'Charge!' in East Barnet Public Library in the early '70s and borrowed it many times. It's such a good fun book with a vein of irreverent humour and yet the authors clearly know their stuff about 18th and early 19th century warfare (the bibliography is impressive) and - something I didn't appreciate back then - had experienced battle themselves, having a DSO and two MCs between them. It's quite a thought, these two distinguished soldiers playing with their toy soldiers and having fun - and the emphasis is definitely on fun.

You would think that reading a set of rules for a game would be a dry business, but these are fun and interesting to read, even if you have no intention of playing the game. They explain the reasoning behind the rules and refer back to the history and give amusing examples of the rules in action. In one part they describe how they have simplified the reality but accept that keen practitioners may wish to come up with their own, more complicated rules and are "welcome to do so and need not send the results to us in writing"!

Back in the 1970s I was awestruck by the magnificent regiments of 30mm lead soldiers and the vast battlefields on show in the book. Sadly, I couldn't emulate such games myself, but still enjoyed the book. Fifty years later, my view hasn't changed, it is a true classic and a delightful read.