"Advice Sought on C18 Rulesets." Topic

Hello All, I had a brief flirtation with wargaming the Seven Years War back in the late 1990's using Warfare in the Age of Reason but was distracted away to Ancients & WW2.
Recently I have played a few AWI games with my regular gaming opponent using a variant of Regimental Fire & Fury which I have enjoyed very much & it has encouraged me to break out the old SYW armies again.
However I am a little out of touch with the available rulesets, so I'm posting here with the hope of some ideas in this regard.
Suggestions with reasons please Gentlemen!
Thanks in anticipation HGA.

For large battles you might consider Volley and Bayonet. The basic unit is a brigade. You can create some good looking bases in the smaller scales and the game plays well and relatively quickly. For smaller actions I recommend Shako. The basic unit in Shako is the battalion. There is more "chrome" to Shako than V&B and games can take longer but the rules require you to act in a manor consistent with the period. You ignore that at great peril.

Do consider "Washington's Army" for AWI by Peter Pig. The rules just require the two players to turn up with a points based army.No pre game organsiation. From there the rules will create a scenario. No additional books needed, all in one volume.
Because the rules only focus on one war they imnclude a lot of items specific to that war. Campaign , flankers, militia, Indians and lack of off table higher level formations. Little, if any record keeping. All mechanisms D6. Table size just 5 x 3 feet. Nice and reachable. 9 historical scenarios too.
Typical army =7 infantry units, a unit of cavalry and a couple of guns. 10 different armies all detailed. Not much use for other horse and musket periods but specific and appropriate for AWI/revolution.

Good luck with sorting through all the suggestions!

Martin

There Is But One True Set of Rules! WRG 1685-1845! 1979 ed. All Else Is Heresy!

Here are some links to Batailles de l'Ancien Régime 1740-1763; BAR.
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Roughly 250 miniatures per side:
link
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Unique explanation of the rules:
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Let's Talk About BAR #1
link
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Let's Talk About BAR #2
link
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Let's Talk About BAR #3
link
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Website:
oldregimerules.com
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Good Luck handgrenadealien
Bill
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We're clearing the decks for a new game release, so MAURICE is currently on sale at 30% off: you can get both the full-color book and the boxed 108 card set for only $39 USD plus shipping:

link

There is a free "Lite" version you can get, if you want to try the basic game before you take the plunge:

link

A fun video review available here:

YouTube link

Black Powder works fine for 18th century.

Black Powder is the most popular, according to the survey in Miniature wargames magazine. They have a supplement that covers the SYW. It is a good set, but a little simple. I have switched to Die Kreigskunst for SYW. British Grenadier is the version for AWI & General de Brigade is the Napoleonic version. I think that is the best set. Neither too simple nor too complex with a historical feel.

John kelly

I like Maurice and Black Powder. The sale that they are having on Maurice is very good.

What I like about Maurice is the way the cards work for activation and such. I use Black powder for ACW.

Both rules are enjoyable.

Matthew

A friend told me he had a great time with "Black Powder" at the SYW Con last weekend. I like Beneath the Lily Banners for the WSS period but not sure it would work for the later eras.

Minden Rose – It's available free. Period specific to the SYW. Will work with many other basing systems. A good, solid game which is fun.

Rank & File – Inexpensive as a pdf. Has special rules for the SYW included. Simple, fun and robust rules that you can learn in a short time. Basing can be used for many other games too.

Die Kreigskunst – Very good period specific rules.

Have fun working through the suggestions.

I will second Klumpenproletariat's endorsement of his Maurice rules. Haven't played most of the others, but Maurice, and it's antecedent, Might and Reason, are both very good games which have the flavor of the 18th century. Both sets of rules are well-written by a professional historian of the period, play well and are well-supported.

I have played Volley and Bayonet, which is indeed very simple to understand and play, but to me it really lacks period flavor. Kind of like the Top Ramen of the gaming world. "We keep you alive to serve this army; roll sixes, and live"

Cheers, and have fun choosing!

Maurice is a great game but workks best for 1:1 play.

I've used King of the Battlefield (by Ian Godwine) for many years. It gives a good quick game and is ideal for larger and multi-player games. We have found it particularly effective for historical refights.

Most popular does not equate to good!

I recommend Maurice. A set of rules designed specifically for 18th century war gaming. As a posed to rulesets that attempt to cover all periods & add period flavour by selling supplements.

Most popular does not equate to good!

I find Maurice is a bit like bridge. Card hoarding and opportunites for experts to exploit hogh scoring cards.
Musket and Tomahawk is just for fun and silliness, since the card you need is inevitably at the bottom of the deck.
Age of Reason is full of holes and is heavily biased in favour of the British and Prussians.

Thank you Everyone, plenty of food for thought there.
Regards HGA.

Depends what you are after, my selection

Army Might and reason
multi Divisional Maurice (European)
Brigade to Divisional British grenadier (AWI)
Regimental to brigade BAR I use for FIW
Skirmish Brother against Brother
cheers
Matt

I read that BAR uses single-figure casualty removal, but I imagine it has a workaround for this (for all those who do not wish to divide up their 4-8 figure bases)…?

Cheers

Single casualties can easily be tracked by using numbered counters, dice or dials. At worst they can be marked off on a piece of paper.

Snowcat,
Yes BAR has a work around.
See: link
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Shown are multiple figure bases in a recent 1:20 game. Use a roster or casualty rings to mark casualties. Easy.
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Respectfully,
Bill

Thanks. :)

You can always try Koenig Krieg. It has very well supported army lists and there are campaign and Fortress rules being released later this year as well. All the rules and supplements are now in a well priced PDF format. They are all full colour as well.

Here is the link:

link

You can also ask questions about Koenig Krieg at the forum as well forum.siegeworksstudios.com.au

Cheers
Drew

Dear Handgrenadealien

My own private set is "OGABAS" for "Oh God! Anything But a six! I'll send it to you free, if you send me your postal address to sigurd@eclipse.net. It's only 12 pages long with no charts, tables, complicated rules and all illustrations are in it as well. It's very easy to learn and easy to use. The advantage is that it's not only useable with ANY basing system, you can also use it across radically different basing systems. It's in a full color booklet. It requires a special deck of cards to play for the combat results system, and if you like what you see, let me know and I'll send you a deck, though you can make them up all on your own from blank business cards.

If you liked Fire & Fury, there is a SYW variation
Age of Honor with it's own book, based on Age of Eagles

link