REDCOATS Author: Mike Williams Redcoats is an all graphic wargame, for either 1 or 2 players, set during the American war of independance. The programme allows for full use of cavalry, infantry and artillery forces, and contains 5 different battle scenarios as well as the facility to modify or create your own scenarios. It is important to follow the loading instructions on the cassette shell, together with any messages displayed on the screen during loading. This is especially important when loading in the battle scenarios. Between 1775 and 1783 the British and Americans fought for possession of the American colonies. This game reproduces some of the battles that took place in this period. Units There are four types of unit:- Cavalry, Artillery, Riflemen and Musketeers. Cavalry: Cavalry units may move a distance of 20. They carry only sabres and therefore cannot fire. Artillery: Artillery units may move a distance of 10. They require one turn to limber and another to unlimber before and after moving. They require one turn to reload after firing. Artillery fire has an effective range of 350 yards. Riflemen: Riflemen may move a distance of 10. They require one turn to reload after firing. They are more accurate than muskets and have an effective range of 200 yards. Riflemen are only half as effective as musketeers at hand-to-hand (melee) fighting since bayonettes cannot be used with these rifles. Muskets: The bulk of both armies is made up of musketeers. The musket has a shorter range than the rifle (100 yards effective range), but can be reloaded more rapidly, and can be used with a bayonet for close fighting. Status Codes During the game the status of each unit will be reported by a status code. eg. S100 M60 C R L The "S100" denotes the strength. The "M60" denotes the morale. The "C" indicates that the unit is in cover. A unit in cover takes half casualties. The "R" denotes that the unit is reloaded. The "L" denotes that the guns are limbered (Artillery only). Actions The possible actions are:- 'M' MOVE - The direction is indicated by a number from 0 to 12 (as on a clock face). Decimals are permitted eg. 3.5 'F' FIRE - The unit will choose its own target. 'C' CHARGE 'R' RELOAD 'L' LIMBER - Artillery only 'U' UNLIMBER - Artillery only 'N' NOTHING - Do nothing '?' HELP - Lists action codes Firing is 50% effective (ie. one casualty inflicted for each two soldiers firing) at these ranges: Artillery 400 yards Rifles 200 yards Muskets 100 yards Beyond this range the effectiveness decreases, until at twice the effective range, there is no effect. When a unit CHARGES it runs wildly at the nearest enemy unit. If a charging unit engages the enemy then the enemy loses morale. If, however, it fails to reach the enemy, it becomes exhausted and loses morale itself. A charging unit travels 40% further than one moving normally. A unit in cover takes half casualties. Defined Battles The tape contains five battles from the American Revolution, Freeman's Farm, Camden, Guilford Courthouse and Eutaw Springs. These may be loaded by selecting the "Load battle from tape" option (L) then selecting the "Play" option (P). Freeman's Farm General Burgoyne was leading the British main column through the woods towards Bemis Heights where he thought the Americans were. General Frazer's column was to his right, and the German allies, under General von Riedsel were to his left. Suddenly, as he entered a clearing around Freeman's Farm, shots rang out. He had found the Americans. Camden General Gates was leading his exhausted American troops towards the British position in Camden. Surprisingly, he decided to march through the night intending to attack the British at daybreak. Spies reported Gates' intentions to the British General, Cornwallis. Cornwallis decided to surprise the Americans and set off towards them along the same road. At 2.30a.m. the two armies found themselves face to face at Parker's Old Field. Cowpens The British had been persuing Morgan's American force for several weeks. Eventually Morgan decided to make a stand, and chose an unusual battlefield on which to do so. Instead of lining up his forces out in the open, he concealed them in some woods. The British were forced to make a frontal assault across an open area. Guilford Courthouse The British under Cornwallis, had been persuing the American force for some time. Finally Green commanded the American force to make its stand in some fields outside the small town of Guilford Courthouse. The American force was much larger than the British, but many of the troops were "Militiamen" who had little training and poor morale. In the actual battle, over 1000 of the American militiamen fled in the first British advance. Eutaw Springs Greene managed to surprise Stewart's British force while it was encamped. The British had little time to organize themselves before the Americans reached them. A dense blackthorn thicket and a brick building provided the only available cover. Defining Your Own Battles When you run the program, you will be offered the following options:- L - Load battle from tape T - Change Title M - Change Map U - Change Units D - Change Deployment S - Save Battle to tape P - Play Load Battle from tape Press "L". A battle will then be read from the tape, this may be either a pre-defined battle, or a battle you have defined yourself, and saved to tape. Change Title Press "T". The current title is displayed, and you may now type in your new title. The cursor keys and copy key have their normal function, and so may be used to copy parts of the old title. Change Map Press "M". The current map (if any) is displayed. You may now move the cursor by using the cursor keys, and enter features by using the numeric keys, as follows:- 0 - Clear space 1 - Tree 2 - South West corner 3 - North West corner 4 - North East corner 5 - South East corner 6 - South Wall 7 - North Wall 8 - East Wall 9 - West Wall Type "E" to exit from editing the map. During the editing of the map, the area of cover provided by each terrain feature is displayed in blue. Changing the Units Press "U". You will then be able to define up to 8 units for each army. The following information is required for each unit:- The NAME of the unit, up to 17 characters. The STRENGTH - ie. number of soldiers. The MORALE VALUE - up to 100% The MORALE THRESHOLD - when a unit's morale value becomes lower than this threshold, then that unit is routed. The TYPE of the unit - Cavalry, Artillery, Rifles or Muskets. Changing the Deployment Press "D" The map will be drawn, and each unit in turn may be moved around the screen with the cursor keys, to its correct position. Pressing "E" will fix the position of the unit. Press "R" instead of "E" if you wish the unit to be a "reinforcement", the Program will then ask you on which move number the reinforcement should arrive. NOTE the reinforcements arrive at the beginning of the move, therefore if you specify move 1, the unit will arrive before the first move. If an army loses all the units currently in play, then it has lost the battle, reinforcements which have not yet arrived do not count. Saving the battle to tape Press "S". The battle will then be saved to tape. This is only permitted if all parts of the battle (Title, Map, Units and Deployment) have been defined, either by loading a battle or by defining your own. Playing a battle Once a battle has been defined or loaded, Press "P". You may now play the battle, either as a one-player game, against the computer, playing either British or American, or as a two-player game. The battle information is preserved while the battle is played, so it is possible to replay a battle without re-loading it. Hint A muzzle-loading weapon is difficult to reload correctly during a battle. The first shot of each unit has been correctly loaded before the battle before bayonets were fixed. The first shot is 40% more efective than the others. Don't waste it. One of the famous Lothlorien WARMASTER range. For details of other titles please write for free catalogue. M.C. LOTHLORIEN, 56A, Park Lane, Poynton, Stockport, Cheshire SK12 1RE (C) Copyright 1984. M.C. Lothlorien WARNING: This cassette is sold subject to the following conditions; all unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, exchanging, public performace and broadcasting is strictly prohibited. It is also sold subject to our standard terms and conditions of trading, copies of which are available on request.