Cold Steel & Canister

CS&C is a unique design of miniature gaming for land warfare during the Napoleonic Era. Unique, in that unit movement and fire/combat is regulated by the use of a grid square marked playing area. No tape measuring or movement rulers are used. Unit movement and other actions are limited to the cost of a unit’s available Actions Points during each turn phase, as determined during a turn order's sequence of play.

The basic command level is the brigade (consisting of several infantry battalions, cavalry squadrons and/or artillery batteries). At the end of a turn, one or more Brigade Morale roll(s) are made to determine that brigade's willingness to continue the fight (number of rolls is based on the number of units destroyed or currently in "bad order"). The roll(s) determine if that Commander retreats 1 or more squares. The command radius (in squares) is always determined from the respective brigade commander's position or unit objective square (if orders achieved). If a unit starts a turn within "Command Radius," it allows the unit to be issued an order cube, otherwise it must use all of its movement for the turn to try and get back in command. An experienced player can control a division or corps with little difficulty after only playing the game a couple of times.

Players provide their own miniatures and terrain, using any size scale and basing of miniatures (generally 6mm to 28mm range). The general rule figure scale is based upon a 60:1 scale for infantry/Cavalry. The gaming area can be marked by various methods to show grid square designated areas. An optional grided gaming mat can be used as the terrain base.

The initial release of the rules covers the campaign conflict between France and Austria in 1809 (but other nation units from different theaters of operation and time frames fought can easily be adapted for play). There's also a special section for set up of tournament style battles.