Monday, 24 November 2014

To the Strongest! D-4

Thapsus 46BC at Partizan in 2013 using To the Strongest!  Photo by Henry Hyde
To the Strongest! is the set of rules for tabletop wargaming that I'll be launching this Friday. I have developed the rules for gaming both for use here in the BigRedBatCave, and for running huge wargames at shows. They are designed to be simple enough for novices to the ancient and medieval periods to easily pick up, whilst, at the same time, providing seasoned gamers with a challenging battle that can be comfortably concluded in an evening (with a glass of beer or wine to hand).

The rules were originally written to address my passion for re-fighting the battles of Greece and Rome. However, following requests from play testers, I have extended them to cover everything between the Biblical and the Later Medieval eras. They have been tested for both small games with two players and 15mm miniatures on a 4' by 3' table, to large games with ten players and 3000 28mm miniatures on an 18' by 5' table.     

To ensure that games would run as fast as I wanted them to, I decided that I would need to cut out both measurement and dice rolling.

To eliminate measurement, I decided to use a square grid. From my Zama game back in 2010, I had learned to appreciate the speed that the hex grid in Command and Colors Ancients brings to a game. A square grid, however, is quick to mark out and has the benefits of making it abundantly clear where a unit's flanks and rear lie. The grid itself is very subtle; I just mark the corners of the squares with a tiny black dot. The use of a grid also enables figures which have been based for use with a variety of different rule systems, to be used together on the same battlefield.

To eliminate dice rolling, I decided to use playing cards. Once the face cards are discarded from a deck of playing cards, it effectively becomes a sort of large, squashed D10. It turns to be faster to play a card than to pick up and roll a dice, and a card never "cocks" like a D10 does. The cards are used to determine which units can move, to resolve shooting, and, well, for everything. Card play also turns out to be quite exciting, too!

Tomorrow I'll write about the activation system, which is the innovative "engine" of the rules.

Play-testing To the Strongest! on a 4' by 3' table with improvised English and French 100 Years War armies

Saturday, 22 November 2014

They don't like it up 'em!

...before I get back to plugging my new ancients rules, have a look at these!


This week I received a copy of "Sands of the Sudan", a set of Colonial rules written by Carl Pagano, but based on the old Peter Gilder Sudan rules, for gaming the conflict against the Mahdi and his successors.

What I really like about these rules is that they retain all of the flavour of Peter Gilder's originals, including the look of them; they incorporate same big battalions of Imperial troops, in many cases from the same ranges of miniatures as Peter's were recruited.  This is very nostalgic for those of us that can remember the pictures of his stunning Sudan Games from the Wargames Holiday magazine.

There is nothing old-fashioned about the rulebook, however.  It is very modern, with striking photographs of Carlo's collection and excellent production standards including a cracking deck of random event cards. The rules are clearly written and appear simple to learn and use.

I am now very sorely tempted to start another period... I must try to resist...  Rather than reading me blathering on about them, I commend you to follow this linky to Carlo's Blog where they are more fully described and from whence you can go forth and purchase them!

Friday, 21 November 2014

To the Strongest! D-7


This blog has been uncharacteristically quiet of late, because I have been working overtime putting the finishing touches to my "To the Strongest" Ancient and Medieval wargames rules. 

These are the rules I have developed both for my own use here at home, and for putting on huge battles with friends at shows. They are fast moving, relatively simple and, most unusually, do not use any dice at all!

These will be published one week today, as a 68-page highly-illustrated PDF, priced at a modest £9.99.  I'll write more about them (including where to purchase them from) over the course of this week!

Thursday, 6 November 2014

Poulet Marengo a la Legatus


Last night I cooked Legatus' recipe in Wargames Bloggers Quarterly Issue 2, skipping the crayfish and croutons, but adding brandy and anchovies.  The traditional eggs worked surprisingly well.  I must say it was absolutely delicious, especially as it was washed down with half a bottle of Gavi di Gavi (currently 25% off at Waitrose, fill your cellar!).

I've not posted any ancients recently because I've been working hard on my rules, daytime, and painting Napoleonics at night, of which more anon.

Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Wargames Bloggers Quarterly Issue 2 available for download!


I'm very pleased to announce that the second edition of Wargames Bloggers Quarterly is now ready for download, from this link here

For those who didn't see Issue 1, the Wargame Bloggers Quarterly (WBQ) is a FREE community driven electronic magazine (PDF e-Zine) composed of the best wargames and miniature painting content from the collective blogosphere.

I've not had time to contribute to this edition, on account of the fact I am in the final stages of editing my rules, but I have been able to quickly look through it and it is quite spiffing!  I currently have a bottle of Gavi di Gavi chilling in the fridge ready for Legatus' Poulet Marengo recipe...

Thursday, 30 October 2014

A medieval bash with To the Strongest!

Last night I mate Ian and I had another play-test of the eponymous rules with medieval armies. Lacking any suitable minis, we used "Battlelore" plastic figures tacked to cardboard bases and the game was no less enjoyable, for this, although it does invite comparison with this rather more aesthetically pleasing play-test run by Scrivs and Mog.


In the above deployment one can see that the terrain is relatively sparse- the English (top, red) have managed to position a couple of small woods on either flank, and a low hill behind them, but the French (bottom, blue), deploying second, have placed most of their cavalry on their wings with the intention of passing around the outside of these.  The English have deployed in depth so as to be ready to counter any outflanking move.


The French move first (above) and charge forward with their knights (unfortunately the right flank stubbornly refuses to move, after playing an Ace which their general replaces with another Ace). In the centre, though, the Dauphin rashly charges into contact with the English archers and on the extreme left the knights flank the English line.  The French bows and crossbows advance, cautiously.


The English line fragmented as they attempted to respond to the flanking threats.  The required movement prevented several of their longbow units from shooting.  Above is the situation at the end of the French second turn. The round blue markers indicate disorder, and the larger wooden discs indicate planted stakes. The smaller round discs are ammo markers.


Above, the French left-hand flanking force almost cut its way through to the English camp, before retreating in the face of superior English numbers. The English left is hard-pressed by a mass of French chivalry.


Above, the English left is crumbling under the pressure of the French knights, but the yeomen still have some arrows left and, below, destroy two units of French noble knights and seriously wound the Dauphin, who is carried from the field. The French wish they had some cavalry who could exploit the wide gap in the centre of the English line. At this point the game is very close, with the French having but three victory medals left, and the English, two.


Finally the low-status French archers in the left foreground below (New fangled longbows? Pah! Zee old ways are zee best), firing off the last of their arrows, are able to kill the disordered English bowmen opposite them, and the English surrender.


The game lasted around 90 minutes, and was very different to last week's test.  The swiftness of the French charge forced the English to redeploy and consequently their archers weren't able to deliver the clouds of arrows that cost the French the last battle.  The lack of terrain was a real issue for the English as the French were able to utilise the greater mobility of their mounted knights and attack on both flanks, in a double envelopment.  The French Heroic Generals passed very many saves!  It was an enjoyable game, as was the Brunello di Montalcino we drank whilst playing it.

I'm now less that three weeks from releasing "To the Strongest" into the wild, initially as a pdf, of which more, anon.

Saturday, 18 October 2014

Laager III


This is a continuation of my wagon laager project.  The bases are now painted and the base coats are on the wagons. These are coming on fast, now, and I hope to finish them in around a week, after which I'll have to look at basing the crew.

I'm planning to have the crews removable, so that the wagons can be used with different armies.

Some farm animals seem to have jumped the painting queue!