Mad Dog’s And Englishmen- A Review

I came across Jon Sutherland’s 2018 Mad Dogs and Englishmen ( MDAE ) almost by accident. One thing, Crimean War, led to another, India. The rules are named after the title of a Noel Coward song from 1931.  All distinctively Colonial as befits Mr Sutherland’s rules. He aims to cover many conflicts.

MDAE popped up again during Roger of Go Pa’s Sikh Wars Rules Quest. Roger liked some of the mechanisms. However he lacked the cards. 

Then I listened to a 30 minute You tube review by Ralph Astley. Mr A was disappointed by Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Too many gaps and contradictions in his view made it unplayable. Specifically he detests the lack of a good editorial hand. I hope he never buys Furioso! 

All the same Mr A detected there was possibly a good game in there albeit with  work. Since then one of my correspondents has pronounced them unplayable as they stand. Recall both these fellows paid their money but couldn't take their turn.

I was hoping a cheap second hand copy. Alas that was not to be. I paid full price.  Of course Mad Dogs and Englishmen was originally intended for the Mutiny. Currently I am doing the Mutiny. Also MDAE is partially Card Driven. Units can fight defensively for anything else it's a card. I like cards in games.

Let us take a gentle dander through the core rules. Specifically, the bits I like.  I like variable movement and MDAE has it in spades. No lack of uncertainty there.

Also, we see the Sepoys move and manoeuvre with the same efficiency as the British and Loyal sepoys.  This is correct and often overlooked. If that changed later on I see it a sensible response to facing the Enfield Rifle. Close order and outranged by Enfield's? No future in that.

The Enfield advantage is detailed along with other guns and missilery. Except the Brunswick Rifle is missing.  Mentioned in the rules but missing from the tables. Pleasingly MDAE makes the point that not all British Regiments had Enfield rifles.  Of course they eventually did get them.

There are a load of cards required for MDAE. Some of them seem of very similar effect. The better your commander the more cards they get. The cards enable aggressive actions or hinder the foe. 

Once you play them they are gone. If you win an engagement you get one back, destroy an enemy unit and you get 2 back. But which one? Can you pick? Or, is it an entirely random new one?

You have to make the cards. You can see some of mine on the page. They are either Leader or Action cards. I’m presuming that you choose which cards your Leader gets? Or maybe its random? Whatever, you could tailor the cards to the sort of action you wish to fight. You could make new additional cards. The author doesn’t say.

Then there are Hits. Some Hits are Kills and some cause Terror. There is a chart to tell you which. It all works. Too much Terror and your lads run away. As they would.

Leaders can rally off terror using their Command Rating/Points. So far as I can tell a Leader wanting to do this throws a dice and the result reduces that amount of Terror on a given unit.

Sir Colin Campbell (above right) is a sixer in command points. When his card is turned he can do 6 things. Six things in the entire game? That was my best guess. But Campbell and the other Leaders have 2 cards each. So for Campbell it is 12 things in a game

There’s nothing for it but to Play Test Mad Dog’s And Englishmen. 

My two MDF "Indian" Buildings shown above might be finished in time. Red Vector Afghan/African buildings from Pendraken. 

Also above British and Indian guns and crews. Irregular, Dixon and Irregular if you feel your wallet twitching.

Will it work? I couldn’t tell you. There is some intriguing thinking all the same.

Finally, you might like these Civilians from Fighting 15s. There was a grand outfit. Anyhow, could it be the Collector, the Magistrate and a member of the Fishing Fleet? No? A daughter then or perhaps an affianced Lady. Surely not to the Magistrate?

Next week we are back in the Crimea.