Bloody Big Battles!

Rules for wargaming the Late Nineteenth Century with historical miniatures. Bloody Big Battles! (BBB) does exactly what its title says. It is intended for fighting the biggest, bloodiest battles of 1850-1900 in a manageable way. Specific design goals included:

to tackle the major battles such as Solferino, Gettysburg, Königgrätz, Sedan or Plevna, often spanning several days’ combat;

to fit them on a 6’x4’ tabletop;

and to fight them in their entirety, in a single 3-to-4-hour session, with 2-6 players (typically 4).

BBB is not intended for small actions of a few thousand men a side. There are plenty of rulesets that do that. But BBB is distinctive in:

Enabling players to command entire armies of 100,000+ men;

Fitting battlefields of up to 20km across on the table;

While still producing a fast, fun, flavorful game and a result in an evening.

Scale varies according to the battle but is typically:

Figure scale 1,500 men or 36 cannon per 1” base (organized into multi-base division or brigade-sized units, usually of 3-7 infantry bases, 2-3 cavalry bases or 1 artillery base);

Ground scale 1” per 200-250 yards;