"New Peter Pig 'Viking' rules" Topic

I have the privilege to be part of the play test team for the new Peter Pig Viking rules (Longships – Wrath of the Vikings), written primarily for the New Peter Pig 15mm Viking range.
As such we took to playing the game with 25/28mm figures without any variation to the rules other than substituting one 25/28mm for one base of 15mm figures.

the normal force consists of 5 units of 8 bases (about 150 figures) per side. We played with 5 units of 8 25/28mm figures each.

The rules consists of two games in the one book plus army lists for Viking, Saxons, Carolingians, Scots, Irish and Welsh

The ‘Raid' game – attacker has 4 units at the start against 1 defenders unit although his other units can come on quite quickly.
Attacker has to plunder the villages to find captives,gold, supplies etc.

The ‘Battle' game – attacker has all five units on against defenders 4 units.
defender holds the centre of the table, the attacker has to dislodge him.


We tried both games, each game lasted about 2 hours.
Both games played out fine with no changes needed to ranges or movement, they both felt more of a skirmish game than a battle, mainly i think, because of the bigger figures.
The ranges didn't seem to need changing because the main weapons are handheld with a few bows.

These rules are due to released later this year, having played other ‘Viking' type games, it will be worth buying this set if only to use your figures in a different game.

Is it a square bashing style game?

Doug

I'd be surprised if it were of the 'Square Bashing' family: probably more like 'AK47 Republic'.

I hadn't considered using 28's… of which I have pleanty. Maybe I'll have to buy a set after all.

[edit] I shouldn't make assumptions. Found this on the RFCM Yahoo Group:

5 units aside, 8 bases or so per unit. 5'x3' table split into 6" squares

So gridded, but not, I imagine, very like 'Square Bashing'
[/edit]

Hmm … that's too bad. PP always has interesting rules, but I just can't get used to a grid on the table.

I'll be interested to see how this is implemented. Grids can be very unobtrusive, but I'm not sure how it will work with such a low density of units.

I also suspect that it would be possible to make a version without the grid – it's just that grids can make movement and unit interaction clearer, so avoiding the need for either a lot of rules or for reasonable gamers – and a professional set of rules can't assume the latter.

"…written primarily for the New Peter Pig 15mm Viking range…"

What does that mean – can they not be used for other Viking ranges, or is the PP range unique in some game specific way?

I'm guessing 'primarily' because they wouldn't have bothered with a rule set if they hadn't have had the figure range coming out.
Unless you are certain fantasy manufacturers (inc WWII games ) I don't see you can try and stop people using other figs with your rules.

I expect that like their "Pieces of Eight" Pirate rules, they say you can use any figures, but Peter Pig ones are specially trained for this rule set :-)

Hello
Good to see some interest. It will be grid based, as this allows the unit to be placed in an aesthetic and plausible position within the square, without paying heed to detail about distances and facing. The unit in a square cannot be flanked, as such, because it can turn free of charge at any time, as the men would, without being ordered to do so.
The grid system makes a turn really easy as no rulers are needed.
An ideal turn for a Viking unit would be move, move, change formation, shieldwall, assault. That is 5 successful actions.
Had a great game tonight with Rob. Hi-lights were his falling back unit got wiped out by the assault. Unlucky, but amusing. In the challenge my unit leader killed the enemy unit leader and then lead a successful assault into the enemy. The game lasted an hour and a half despite me extending play by two turns and paying for it..

The Viking range already has 70 unique sculpts in it. Many of the packs are designed specifically to cover requirements of the rules. These packs can serve other purposes but do make the game play easier. An example would be the "looters pack" which populate the "looted bases". Another would be the marker pack to indicate units in shieldwall etc.
We believe that "longships " is a great game, but that is very subjective I am sure. Tactical, historical, amusing, decision heavy and elegant.

thanks

martin

Fairly obviously PP are going to link a rule set to a new figure range.

But when has this been prescriptive on the gamer?

Idea though to play it with single 28mm rather than a 15mm stand. Could certainly sell the rules to people with figures set up for Saga, me included.

The range of Buildings to support the game look good to

The building are indeed very nice – I ordered the whole set (plus gravestones for the church) for my Dux Brit project and am very happy with them. I also ordered one of each of their casualty packs for use as markers, and if the "a bit dead" standing figures are anything to go by it looks like they are on the small side of 15mm, and will fit nicely with Splintered Light.

About the rules and the grid – is there any way to play without using the grid?

Cheers,

Christopher

Glad you like the buildings!
I had not thought of non-grid, but you could just do multiples of 6 inch to replace each square of movement. The grid markers could be unobtrusive by just putting them at 1 foot intervals and "know" where the 6" would be. That would just be 8 markers.

The figure size thing can often be an issue when mixing figures. The PP size will fit with Minifigs, Essex and anyone else intentionally making 15mm figures. To digress; I would personally prefer to give a positive title to figures that are trying to conform to the great idea of 15mm size (stared by Peter Laing 1973??)and a more critical one to makers who are trying to veer/fragment players to a new "only buy from us" size. Maybe "proper" 15mm and "outlier" 15mm?

Martin

That's a good idea about only using a terrain marker for every 12" instead of 6" – might have to try that!

I know what you mean about 15mm figures, and much the same also applies to 10mm figures unfortunately. The real difference comes down to basing – if figures of a certain scale become so large that you have to use fewer figures per base, I tend not to see the point.

To borrow from other addictive products, how about "Classic" and "Super-sized"? ;)

Yes , I like that!
classic and super sized does convey what is happening!

Martin

Any news on the release date for the rules. I now have some of the figures, I really like the priest and the monk figures (useful for a lot of periods). Any longship models planned?Any figures other then Vikings planned?

Bede

Just wondering, since I have never played a game with a grid before. Could the grid size be increased without affecting the game mechanics? I have many, many figures based on 40mm wide bases. Four these across will just not quite fit into a 6" grid. Would the game work with an 8" grid?

'True 15mm' would get my vote!!!

Geoffr
I haven't played Longships.
I was waiting to see if someone who had, answered your question).
My experience with other Peter Pig 'Gridded' rules is that the size of the grid squares isn't that important. It's what's in a square and other adjacent squares that matters.
They need to be big enough to accommodate the maximum number of bases/units allowed in a square but not so big that they look empty when they are full with the maximum amount or make the total playing area required impractical.
I'm pretty sure the game will work fine with 8" squares.
Cheers
Aubrey

Geoffr

The game would work fine with 8 inch squares. You move, fight etc by square, furthermore as casualties are removed by whole base should you be using Martin's 3 x 3 or FOG/DBM bases does not matter. Obviously you will need a bigger cloth!

Works as a good alternative/distraction for those WRG/DBMM/FOG armies.

Bede

Bede