Prisoners once made cannot fight until they have returned to their back line.  It follows, therefore, that if after the adjudication of a melee a player moves up more men into touch with the survivors of this first melee, and so constitutes a second melee, any prisoners made in the first melee will not count as combatants in the second melee.  Thus if A moves up nineteen men into a melee with thirteen of B’s—­B having only five in support—­A makes six prisoners, kills seven men, and has seven of his own killed.  If, now, B can move up fourteen men into melee with A’s victorious survivors, which he may be able to do by bringing the five into contact, and getting nine others within six inches of them, no count is made of the six of B’s men who are prisoners in the hands of A. They are disarmed.  B, therefore, has fourteen men in the second melee and A twelve, B makes two prisoners, kills ten of A’s men, and has ten of his own killed.  But now the six prisoners originally made by A are left without an escort, and are therefore recaptured by B. But they must go to B’s back line and return before they can fight again.  So, as the outcome of these two melees, there are six of B’s men going as released prisoners to his back line whence they may return into the battle, two of A’s men prisoners in the hands of B, one of B’s staying with them as escort, and three of B’s men still actively free for action.  A, at a cost of nineteen men, has disposed of seventeen of B’s men for good, and of six or seven, according to whether B keeps his prisoners in his fighting line or not, temporarily.

(4) Any isolated body may hoist the white flag and surrender at any time.

(5) A gun is captured when there is no man whatever of its original side within six inches of it, and when at least four men of the antagonist side have moved up to it and have passed its wheel axis going in the direction of their attack.  This latter point is important.  An antagonist’s gun may be out of action, and you may have a score of men coming up to it and within six inches of it, but it is not yet captured; and you may have brought up a dozen men all round the hostile gun, but if there is still one enemy just out of their reach and within six inches of the end of the trail of the gun, that gun is not captured:  it is still in dispute and out of action, and you may not fire it or move it at the next move.  But once a gun is fully captured, it follows all the rules of your own guns.

VARIETIES OF THE BATTLE-GAME

You may play various types of game.

(1) One is the Fight to the Finish.  You move in from any points you like on the back line and try to kill, capture, or drive over his back line the whole of the enemy’s force.  You play the game for points; you score 100 for the victory, and 10 for every gun you hold or are in a position to take, 1-1/2 for every cavalry-man, 1 for every infantry-man still alive and uncaptured, 1/2 for every man of yours prisoner in the hands of the enemy, and 1/2 for every prisoner you have taken.  If the battle is still undecided when both forces are reduced below fifteen men, the battle is drawn and the 100 points for victory are divided.