"Battles for Empire 1870-1902" Topic

Can anyone give me their thoughts and reflections on this set of rules, especially in the context of TSATF?

Thanks.
M.

Fortunately, I get to game with the writer of this rule set. Here are some of my observations.

BFE, has more of a unit feel to it. Western troops are companies, 4 stands and Eastern Zulus, Boxers, Afghans etc. are in 2 stand units, except for one with muskets/rifles,
which are 4 as well.
Markers are used for numbers of hits on each unit.
Each unit can be disordered, which disrupts movement and melee by 1 on the die.
Each unit can be staggered, which disrupts movement and melee considerably.

Units can get backed up trying to get at their opponent in melee. In other words one Zulu unit in front fighting a British company has to finish the melee over a number of turns until the next unit can get in and fight. The British slowly wear down. Unless you have space to get two Zulu units in side by side, then the British fight two units.

I find that the first spear armed units usually don't get into melee, they get mowed down by fire. It's the second or even third unit which gets stuck in.

Leaders add to movement and morale.

It really has a completely different feel to it than TSATF, which I have not played in a long time.
I recall it is a single figure based game and usually the Western troops win. They shoot and melee better than the eastern troops/tribes.

There is no real morale rules in TSATF, whereas in BFE it is included in the movement die roll.
In BFE both sides roll and the highest can move first or have their opponent move first.
Because morale in included in the movement, if a unit is staggered, has casualties and or is disordered, it may just break and be removed from the table. Leaders also effect this as well. Thus if your opponent has a number of units which may break when they roll for movement or they are staggered, it is to your advantage to make them move first.

A roll of six gives eastern troops a fanatic charge, which is a bonus in melee.
Western troops, machine guns and artillery have levels of ability.
British are usually regulars
Egyptians are usually second rate, so are natal native contingents.
Second rate don't fire or melee as well.

Overall, when I played TSATF I found it a simple beer and pretzels game. Fast, fun and not all that historically accurate. A buckets of dice game.

BFE gives you fun and flavor, you have to think more. It's a true gamers game.

Maybe I'm biased, but I prefer a good thinking game.

I had a look at your photos, beautiful paintwork on your Austrians!! Much better then me.

I use both, TSATF for skirmish, BfE for larger battles. BfE succeeds in making you feel like you're maneuvering large bodies of men. I've gamed Isandlwana, Inyezane and Maiwand very successfully.

I have played both and enjoyed them equally. I find BFE's systems to run quicker than TSATF and I really love the idea of the movement charts that cover morale, command and movement in one easy system. I find TSATF ideal when I want a bit of cinematic gaming with my mates.

I'd say get both.

There was a wargames site with a regular PDF magazine that included quite a few BFE battle reports, but for the life of me I can't recall what its called.

V

Thanks wrgmr1 – quite a few of those weren't painted by me I must admit.

I'm currently finishing up a smallish set for the NWF.

Wrt BFE. How many units would be required for a decent game?

I think BfE provides more of a "battle" feeling than a "patrol" feeling. The rules are different and are not designed to play the same games. IMO the biggest problem with TSATF players is that they push the game mechanics beyond what they were intended for, so big battles end up being very slow moving affairs in which you get to move your troops once every 45min to an hour.

There is a new version of BFE that has essentially been finished for quite some time. The issues have been with layout and finalizing the product. The combat system has been modified with most units now getting eight hits and a few other revisions to various systems. There will also be scenarios and the game can now be carried all the way up to WW1. I was one of the play testers and it definitely improves an already great game.

As mentioned above, this is a big battle system with each group of four stands representing a company of infantry or clan. The thing I like most about it is that the native infantry have an almost "lava like" advance, surging on the wings, then in the center, then you don't know if they will charge in piecemeal or all at the same time.

BFE doesn't require a lot of units for a decent game. Four to six western units, we use 12 figures and ten to sixteen units for the eastern/native units again 12 figures per unit.

Here's some Boxers, Austrians and Royal Marines I painted for our groups boxer rebellion games.
We all bought some Old Glory figures and painted them up. It was easy to get a lot of units for the games this way.

Also aegiscg47 is correct, the new rules are getting some diagrams made up, then, if my conversations with Chris are correct, will be released for PDF sale.

Here are some WW1 photos play testing that section of the new rules. I had a gas attack.

I do see now it is gas but at first blush I thought it was Dr Who and the Green Death.

What is the ETA of the new version? I'm excited to get these.

Me too, as a proud owner of the current version of BFE.

BFE is more aimed at battles, it is essentially a colonial version fo Fire & Fury. Good set of rules and worth a look.

It has a clever solution to the 'hordes of natives' vs small numbers of Imperials problem.

I e-mailed the Author of these rules and he said "Hopefully" they will be out in the spring.

As our play testing went on we discovered how much fun and easy these rules really are.

Yep a very good set of rules! The Pony Wars variant is also pretty interesting. The set isn't figure intensive so you can get up and running really quickly.

Wargame1 those Tigermen shields are really first rate! Excellent job.

Thanks John.
Drawn with a fine pencil first then painted. Fortunately there wasn't a lot of them to paint.

I'm looking forward to the 2nd Edition -I've heard good things about these rules.