Battle Cry is an excellent wargame on its own, but for those of you who feel it is too simplistic and that there is too much luck of the draw involved, here are variant rules meant to iron out those kinks. MULLIGAN HAND You may discard any number of Command Cards from your hand and draw an equal number of new Command Cards. You may not play any cards the turn you do this. You may "Mulligan out" once per game for each General you begin with. OFFICER INITIATIVE One general with a unit attached to him may ignore the Left/Center/Right designation of a Command Card played. Any other unit adjacent to the General or within the line of sight of the General may also ignore Left/Center/Right designation. You can never move more units than listed on the card this way. Only 1 General per turn can be moved this way. Example: You play a Center Attack, and have a General with an infantry unit attached on the right flank. One of the 3 units you move may be his. If another right flank unit is within LOS of the General, they can also be moved. TURN THE GUNS! Artillery has a forward firing arc of 90 degrees and must face a specific hexside at all times. To turn the guns in place counts as a move. Artillery given a Bombard command can turn and fire once, or not turn and fire twice. STRENGTH LOSS For each figure lost from a unit, it attacks with 1 less die. Artillery that loses one gun drops to 2D. Range is NOT affected; a 1-figure Infantry unit can still attack 4 hexes away, a 1-figure Artillery unit can still attack 5 hexes away. Only the attack "strength" is reduced. RETREATS A retreating unit without an attached General turns around (away from the enemy, towards their "safe" side of the board). The unit may not battle until it rallies. The unit can be moved, but only towards the battefield's "safe" edge. Rallying can be done by playing the Rally card on the unit, giving the unit an order with a Command Card, or by attaching a General to the unit. When rallied, the unit turns back towards the battle. A unit cannot move or battle in the same turn that it is rallied. A unit with an attached General retreats without turning around (i.e., it can move and battle normally and does not need to be rallied). A General that retreats turns towards the "safe" edge of the board and must be given an order to rally. When there is more than 1 possible retreat path, randomly determine the path taken (each should have an equal chance) unless the unit has a General attached; in this case, the defender chooses which direction to retreat the unit. CAPTURING THE GUNS Artillery cannot retreat. Artillery ignores all retreat results inflicted on them from ranged fire. When a retreat result is rolled by an adjacent unit, each retreat symbol is counted as a hit. FACING A unit can only move through the hexside it faces. It can battle in a 90 degree arc through the hexside it faces. A unit can turn one hexside after moving. A unit with an attached General can turn one hexside before moving and can turn one hexside again after moving. A unit given an order can turn more than one hexside; the unit cannot move and it rolls 2 fewer battle dice if it attacks. Changing facing counts as a move, so artillery cannot change facing and attack in the same turn. For the purposes of changing facing, the Force March card counts as 2 orders (so an Infantry unit can turn completely around [1 move] and move 1 hex [2nd move]). An attacker rolls 1 extra battle die when attacking a unit through its flank hexes; when attacking from the rear, add 2 battle dice. Cavalry units ignore all facing rules (can move in any direction and never suffer combat penalties). Cavalry add an extra battle dice when attacking an enemy from the flank or rear (so they get +2 dice for flank attacks and +3 for rear attacks!). Hope this helps make the game a little more even (especially the Mulligan rule). Sean Stevenson velchon@webtv.net