komradebob!
Excellent questions! Let me take my shot at them.
1) Standard D6 are used for many play mechanics, including Smallarms/MG fire (though another method is optional). And--an AFFIRMATIVE!--spring loaded cannon are considered the norm. However, instead of "sniping" with guns HG-style, different types of guns ("Light, Medium, Heavy") now have differing burst radii and casualties are determined by dice with simple modifications.
2) A "Brigade" might consist of two or three 20-man Battalions, and a 12-man Cavalry Regiment, perhaps supported by a Section of 2-Guns, though "training" game would work perfectly well with fewer units.
3) Yes, indeed! As Divisions of two or more Brigades are fielded, the C-in-C must have a Staff represented in miniature, with each ideally assigned to an active player. While one Player can lead a Division, it's better if there is one per Brigade. Given the potential details (all optional) for the different Staff posts, it is quite possible to accommodate quite large numbers per side.
I can't say anyone has yet--to my knowledge--suggested a three or more-way battle, but Coalitions are entirely possible.
4) The first game I ever played was over in about half an hour as my small command was first decapitated, then shelled into paste. Don't hold spring fired "toy cannon" in contempt!
It's a pretty bloody affair, but not out of keeping with late 19th/early 20th Century weaponry mixed with some old world use of formations (think the French in 1914!).
5) The mini's are in some ways the best part! I have only a few collectible old Britain's which was able to get a bargain prices--for the most part--off E-Bay, otherwise the bulk of my current collection is "Army Dark Green" consisting of a goodly number of the AIP WW I Russian Infantry.
The game is four-square for 54mm/1:32 scale figures of the Late Victorian early WW I period, but NOT alone for those with huge collections of metal. On the contrary, the book is full of resources for where to find different troop types and model accessories in a wide variety of mediums, amazingly inexpensively on line.
There are player who choose 1:42 scale, and some who even use Paper Figures. There is no real snobbery in FLW--the Games's the Thing!
6) Because FLW is very much in the spirit of Wells and his age, there is always an element of "what if?" about it. Just as Wells chose to name his contesting powers Armies Red and Blue, Padre Wright has expanded the concept to go through a plethora of color combinations to give "aliases" to a very wide range of European and some Asian Armies.
To that, he has added the Armies of Ruritania and The Grand Duchy of Gerolstein, and being a great fan of "Tin-Tin," the Armies of Borduria and Syldavia are in full development by a number of players.
Each Army has a full page describing a sample Division, and those moral/technical features that help make it distinct (all of which have real consequences on the field!)
In "practical terms", Army Horizon Blue is always highly agressive, and is backed by deadly Quick Firing guns. Army Black--it's old nemesis--is better armed with MG's, superior Staff Work (thus communications), and a certain ruthlessness that make them the Army to beat.
All the Armies are distinct, individual, and their differences are far more than merely cosmetic!
Regarding other eras, Padre Paul has been playtesting the 18th Century/Napoleonic variants, and is planning the ACW book to follow these.
"Little Campaigns" is now in the edit and layout stage and will provide multiple systems for running map games at any level of complexity, though favoring the most direct and likely to be finished! Maps, counters, and more will come with it and these systems can always be adapted to other rules.
7) Optional Rules? Well, here's a partial list of headings:
Orders and Dispatches (Runners and Gallopers), Hidden Movement, Unknown Terrain Effects, Morale (kept to a minimum in the Basic Rules), Saving The Colors, Quartermasters and Supply (one of those Staff posts), Rapid Fire!, Aerial Observation (Balloon's, Aeroplanes of the very earliest types!), Anti-Aircraft Fire, Pioneers/Sappers (Demolitions/Petards), Pontoon Trains, Field Works, Signalling (Pigeons, Semaphore, Heliograph, and a Staff Post), Spies, Saboteurs, Assassins, Field Hospitals (Necessary Supplies, Tentage, Stretcher Bearers, Surgeons, Nurses, Orderlies, Ambulances, etc--another Staff post), Patient Recovery, and Umpires.
Use any, use all, or none at all: It's up to the players to find their own comfort level.
If this was a lot of answers, you asked a lot of questions!
If you wish to go to TVAG and look at the FLW Page (on the left hand navigation bar), you can see some of the accessories already available for FLW, or most any 54mm games.
Finally, and I should have mentioned this in the first reply, there is the Official Yahoo! Group at this address:
link
Padre Paul himself officiates, and is always able to answer questions or add to the flood of suggestions that come in response to anyone's concerns about finding, making, or modifying anything they need for a project.
If you go there, you can root around and pick up impressions there. If you do, I would particularly call your attention to the Files and Photos sections, both of which are full of remarkable game reports, general info, and more. The Photos, though, you might want to skip. If you could ever be won over by amazing photos of so many collections--on the bench and on the lawn--you'd be hooked immediately. Remember, you were warned!
Class dismissed.
TVAG
