A fast paced game played across four boards

14 October 2020

The Battle of the Little Bighorn was the first set of rules written by Peter Riley using the Building Rules for Gaming Battles guidelines. It is available now in our bookstore

We took the game itself to Salute 2019 and were given the official award for the best participation game at the show after attracting wargamers of all ages to our table. 

The game is played across four boards and covers the whole battle along the Little Bighorn Valley.

Each individual board has its own battle with its own turn sequence that ultimately interconnect across all four boards by movement.

This means that many people can play the game simultaneously and everyone is constantly involved in the action.

Reno’s Battle takes place on the valley floor and follows the river to the Indian camp. Meanwhile Benteen is in the hills overlooking the valley and will eventually meet up with Reno as he emerges from the initial attack on the Indian Camp to fight Reno’s Hill Battle together.

Custer’s Hill Battle is taking place a few miles away in hills overlooking the northernmost part of the Indian Camp. If he and his troops can fight their way to the camp, with or without the support of Reno and Benteen, then a final battle can be fought with Sitting Bull’s warriors.

The printed book and downloadable pdf can be purchased in our bookstore and also includes the Battle of Rosebud Creek extension. 

This battle happened a week before Custer’s Last Stand, but directly affected the circumstances that befell Custer’s troops at the hands of the Allied Indian Tribes.

General Crook engaged the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors at Rosebud Creek. Although the battle was inconclusive with low casualties on both sides, Crook’s troops used up a lot ammunition and were down to 10 rounds each. 

He therefore decided to withdraw to his base. If he had continued with his march he may well have linked up with Custer and the results of the Battle of Little Bighorn could have been very different indeed.