A Battleward original

Drums
at Dawn

A Napoleonic miniature wargame about commanding formations under pressure—not managing a spreadsheet in a funny hat.

Scale: 1" = 100 yards
Command: Brigade & division
Resolution: 2D6 · TN7 · margin of success
Current game version: V11.2 Beta
Public documents: V11.1 Beta · previous edition
Updated 19 October 2026

Edition notice · 4 November 2026

Drums at Dawn is now at V11.2 Beta. The public rulebook and play aids on our Downloads page remain V11.1 Beta, the previous edition. Use them only for V11.1 games; do not mix them with the V11.2 integration in Battleward Table.

The V11.2 public rulebook and play aids are pending release approval. We will label the new download package clearly when verified files are available.

Design intent

The battlefield should feel difficult for the right reasons.

Drums at Dawn is designed around the problems a Napoleonic commander could actually influence: where to commit formations, when to press an attack, how to preserve momentum, and whether a battered brigade still has enough confidence to obey.

Command before calculation

Players activate brigades and groups through a command system that makes coordination valuable without turning the battle into an administrative exercise.

Morale across the system

Cohesion, discipline, confidence, fatigue, and battlefield pressure accumulate through Disorder and formation states rather than hiding inside one morale number.

National doctrine

Armies are differentiated by the ways they were organized and expected to fight. Basic doctrines keep the core game moving; the advanced supplement gives players meaningful choices.

Decisions at the right scale

One inch represents 100 yards, and players operate at brigade and division level. The rules ask a commander’s questions instead of a platoon leader’s.

The heart of the design

Morale is not a number you check after the interesting part.

A brigade may fight effectively at first and only gradually reveal the cost. Disorder markers and formation states—Fresh, Worn, Disordered, Broken, and Incohesive—carry the accumulated effects of combat through movement, activation, fire, close action, and retreat.

The aim is a force that deteriorates like an organization under pressure. Players can see the battlefield coming apart before the final collapse, which creates time for hard decisions and occasional acts of recovery.

In development

What the current beta is testing

Command flowBrigade activation, command range, army momentum, and the pace of a full turn.
Battlefield pressureHow Disorder accumulates and how formations cross from strain into failure.
Artillery enduranceAmmunition, support, grand batteries, and keeping guns powerful without making them inexhaustible.
National characterDoctrine strong enough to shape decisions without producing automatic victories.