"For Parliament, King or Glory Rules - Anyone play these?" Topic

Anyone played these rules? If you have, what do you think of them?

DMarks,

I fully intend to play them when I introduce my gaming group to ECW later this summer. I like the activation procedure and the "no figure removal" aspect. The heavy emphasis on Morale intrigues me. I am also a fan of games that use variable movement, as this seems especially realisitc for units of the 17th century.

Looking forward to getting my regiments on the table.

Cheers,
gregoryk

My group has moved to PKG after years of playing WECW and Forlorn Hope. No stands are takin off, its a morale game. 3 stands per unit and the variable movement system. Makes for a fun ruleset.

Hi gregorky, glad you like the rules and I would be very interested in hearing about how your future battle goes, while using the rules.

RHammond, thank you and your group for your support. I am flattered in deed that you feel that PKG creates they type of game that you and your group likes, as opposed to other sets.

Many thanks to you all and happy gaming

Dave

I've also been looking at these rules and they look very well done (especially with the most recent version which seems to have squashed most if not all of the inconsistencies/typos in the prior version).

One question though.

The "Initial Contact Penalties" seem to me counter intuitive.

These factors reduce the effectiveness of the target of a charge based on the characteristics of the charging unit. So, for example, Gallopers charging infantry reduce the MP (effectiveness) of the infantry unit.

Wouldn't it be more intuitive to increase the MP of the charger (for combat purpose only, not morale)?

Also, it just seems "wrong" that charging Gallopers reduce the fighting effectiveness of a unit of foote. Shouldn't it be the other way around (i.e. the pikes reduce the combat effectiveness-- ability to cause casualties-- of the charging Gallopers).

It might work out the same way in the end, but I think it would be easier to "get it" if it were reversed.

Regarding initial contact penalties, this is a system to address the various
impact that different units have on one another when they charge into contact.
However, I am still not 100% happy with the system as it stands and am still
playing around with a few alternative ideas.

But in the mean time without the initial contact penalty system all the units
will be fighting on virtually even basis which would be incorrect.

I certailly feel that the various pike to shot ratios should be taken into
account and once I have finalised the alternative system I am tinkering with I
will post it on the site and people can give it a goe and see what they think.
In the mean time If anyone has any suggestions I am more than happy to take them
onboard.

Regarding initial contact penalties, this is a system to address the various impact that different units have on one another when they charge into contact.However, I am still not 100% happy with the system as it stands and am still
playing around with a few alternative ideas.

I think that giving a bonus to a charging unit makes sense. What I was questioning was why does that bonus take the form of penalizing the charge target's ability to inflict casualties?

Wouldn't the charge bonus make the charger more effective at causing casualties?

For example, a unit of charging cavalry would be more likely to inflict casualties on a unit of foor armed with only muskets as opposed to a unit of pikes.

But what does the fact that the unit of foot (musket only or pike and musket) have to do with the foot unit's ability to cause casualties to the charger?

Hi Bede

You have picked up on weak points in the rules that I am aware of and are currently trying to resolve.

The reason that the initial contact penalties inflicted by the charging unit effectivley penalizes the the defending unit is because it does not work if you give the charging unit more points as you will get to a position where it will be impossible to fail the melee test as we have a
ceiling of 20 on our 1D20.

All I will say is that I am not happy with the initial contact penalty rule as it stands and will also be amending it. One idea is that rather than automatically inflicting a reduction in the defending unit's moral rating on contact these penalties are only applied in the first round of melee if the charging unit is able to inflict damage on the defending unit.

Another area I am looking into is CAV vs PIKE charge
test, which at the moment does not work correctly and gives the cav too much oportunity to charge formed pikes, when we know this would not be the case.

It just take time thinking up all these rules and just when you think you have it sorted, you find the new rule messes something else up. But that's the fun of rule writing. So bare with me and I am sure we will get these hic-ups resolved.

Are these rules still available to download ? Have these issues been resolved in the latest version (assuming there is one!!)