Interesting points, @khusrau .    I don’t know much about Sharp Practice.

If one has to use a Napoleonic system for appoximate the American Revolution, I would agree that something designed for the Peninsula Campaign is a good place to start.  The average size of the battles were much smaller.  British forces were strictly limited given the demands of the wider conflict (as British forces were badly limited in America) and working with unreliable allies (as they were in America).  Spain and Portugal in those days were in general not as highly developed infrastructure-wise as other parts of Europe (like America was certainly) and of course we have a lot of irregular militias, guerrillas, etc… adding another approximate parallel.

I do start to grow wary when it comes to “variable scale” when it comes to units – I feel its a widespread blight infecting most of today’s gaming releases.  I understand companies want to make their games inclusive, etc. etc.   But it also slews the the real-life interrelationships between the size of the unit, movement, weapons ranges, density of firepower, etc., and thus the tactics and counter-tactics that rely on these factors.

Making one man now equal 10 men … do we reduce the range accordingly?  I’m not saying that making 1 man = 10 men means we should you reduce the musket ranges by a factor of ten, but maybe by a factor of two or three (based on lines would fire in two or three ranks, depending on the regimental model being employed).

How about marching speeds?  Movement might also be reduced a little because ten men, of course, do not move at the same speed one man does.  Not when a sergeant has to take orders from a lieutenant, then relay those orders, form the men, march the distance, redeploy in line, and then presumably deliver fire.  When it’s one man, he just starts hoofing it without all these associated procedures.

This make sound like nitpicking, but I feel it comes into play when, say … unit “A” has to cross “X” distance to deliver a bayonet charge against Unit “B,” while taking “Y” fire over “R” range for “Z” time …  Whether that unit has to endure one or two volleys of counterfire makes a huge difference, and the root of that solution is going to lie in those relationships between time and distance and scale.

All that said, I’m sure the proposed solution would work well enough.  The American Revolution was a delightfully disorganized conflict, and I feel an approximate skirmish system would work well enough, so long as you’re not doing larger battles like Long Island, Monmouth, or First/Second Freeman’s Farm.

And damn, the recommendations keep piling up for British Grenadier.  I am definitely looking out for this one now.  Like I’ve said earlier in the chat, I’ve been looking for a solid system for a while now.  Seems to have a few small issues based on what people are saying, but these might lie in list / scenario design rather than the system itself.