Little WarsA game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty

Wells's rules of 1913, kept as he wrote them. Distances are in inches: an infantry-man moves a foot, a cavalry-man two, and a gun wants four men within six inches of it or it will neither move nor fire.

The battle

You command Red Blue Your opponent A cadet — slow, and shoots at whatever looks impressive A veteran — sound, and gets most of his move done A general — shoots the man he can hit, and keeps his guns served

Put down the men Take up where I left off

Checking saved battle...

Little Wars is in the public domain. The rules are Wells's; where he leaves a thing to the eye — what a shot knocks over — the shot is simulated rather than diced for.

The end of it

Wells scores a fought-out battle at 100 for the victory, 10 for every gun you hold or are in a position to take, 1½ for a cavalry-man, 1 for an infantry-man, and a half for every prisoner — whether you hold him or he is yours and held.

Look at the field

How it is played

• Guns first. Move or fire every gun you mean to use before you touch a man. To this rule there is to be no exception.
• A gun fires up to four shots in a move, or is moved, never both. It needs four men of its own side within six inches to do either. After firing, two of them stand at the end of the trail.
• Guns may not fire before the second move of the first player.
• A shot kills whatever it knocks over. Click the ground to lay the gun; the bolt is then fired and flies, bounces and rolls as it will.
• A melee is fought at the end of the move by everyone in contact and everyone within six inches of them. Equal numbers kill each other to a man. If the smaller body is supported, each of its men kills one of yours and dies. If it is isolated, the surplus takes prisoners.
• A gun is captured when no man of its own side is within six inches and four of yours have passed its wheel axis.

At the hand

• M with a gun chosen — move it instead of firing
• F — return the selected gun to fire mode
• G / N — next ready gun / unmoved man, automatically brought into view
• C — center the field on your selected piece
• The command panel shows crew and shots remaining. Disabled actions explain the rule preventing them. Selecting a piece does not move it.
• Space — end your move
• A — let the machine take your move for you
• Esc — choose nobody
• + − — step in and back; 0 shows the whole country
• Arrow keys, or drag the floor, to walk round the table. The wheel zooms where the pointer is; two fingers pinch. Click the overview map to recenter the field.

Keeping your battle

Successful human orders and completed turns are autosaved in this browser. Check the save status below the controls. Export save downloads a portable JSON file; Import save checks it before replacing the battle. Camera movement alone does not trigger a save.

New saves preserve turn progress and the random sequence. Version 1 saves still load, but their missing random state cannot be recovered; gun orders stay closed if any men had moved in an older save.

Back to the field