"Crusader Publishing & March Attack Rules" Topic

A question guys, Crusader Publishing, are they still in business? Tried to buy a download copy of their March Attack Rules and got a heap of errors. Used 3 different browsers and 2 different operating systems and still got the same errors.

Clicked on their Forum to see if it was working and noticed that the last posted message was dated November 2015. Hmmmm?

Are they out of business, anyone know? (Sad, but it happens!)

More to the point anyone know another source for a PDF copy of March Attack?

Thanks, Nick

Try wargames vault: link

Perfect, thanks Shelldrake, done, ordered, downloaded, printing.

I was just looking at some of the Crusader rules on Wargames Vault, could someone explain what the differences in scope are between the various horse & musket period rules they have published?

Rank & File is technically a sliding scale game, where a unit could be a regiment or brigade depending on the troop scale. It is a streamlined and very playable set, relying on simple, more traditional rules such as 1d per base combat, morale checks after losing X bases, etc. Despite the sliding scale, in my opinion it works better as a battalion scale game. It works well for the ACW (and has a great ACW supplement), and also for a "march up and shoot" 18th century game, but I've never used it for Napoleonics so can't directly comment on that.

March Attack is the crown jewel in my opinion, using battalions as units but with a streamlined movement and combat/morale approach that allows multi-corps games to be played quickly, with the focus on formation maneuver.

I've never played Balance of Power, but it uses MA mechanics abstracted up one level, so that units represent formations of about 1000 men. This is something that I actually tried with MA, and it works well and is very quick to play.

Cheers,

Christopher

Hi Nick…..glad you were able to download the rules…..another thing that I like about the rules is that they are open to modifying certain things without harming the overall flow…..I detail a few house rules that I added on the blog……and I know Christopher has added several things in past threads that he used to modify the rules.

madmacsattic.blogspot.com

The first time I tried March Attack, it was too small a scenario, and I put them aside….they really are intended for large battles, and then the streamlined process really makes sense with the grand-tactical scale. For divisional or small corps-sized actions, I still prefer more detailed rules, like GdB……but GdB, in turn, is not intended for the scale of MA.

My next project with MA……Waterloo……may take a while to get ready for that one though.

Thanks madmac, love your blog. Reading through MA now and am quite impressed.

Do you know if Crusader released any Scenario Books or anything further for MA?

We've only played MA and R&F. We found that MA is best used for an attack/defence game involving about a corps a side, and for that it is excellent.

We tried R&F for 7YW, Napoleonics, Sikh Wars and ACW using battalions as the manoeuvre units. It's a simple and enjoyable system, very easy to pick up. The least satisfactory was Napoleonics because the handling of skirmishers is poor. We also found that the lack of a command system led to units whizzing about the battlefield like supercharged woodlice, with no benefits for formation cohesion, so introduced a system that is now on the Crusader forum.

Hi Nick…..no I don't think there are any scenario books out for MA…..I do know that CATenwolde put out a very detailed scenario for Pordennone 1809…..definitely worth it to google it……great description to the game and how it flows.

Hi,

Thanks for the compliment! My Pordenone AAR and scenario can be found at the bottom of the Crusader Games web page for MA:

link

1809 Italy was my default period for playtests for many (many) years, and working this scenario out convinced me of the merits of MA. Although it is a fairly simple system, there are a number of ways you can tweak various factors for scenario-specific situations. The obvious thing is the combat factor for troops, but looking at the VeD tests, morale break and rally percentages, and when command roll modifiers might be appropriate can really affect the game as well – and don't underestimate how much skirmish factor tweaks can come into play.

As mentioned above, the one thing I did change right off the bat was using 1/2 CV for columns at range (and actually I ended up using 0 CV and it worked fine as well). Otherwise, you get the "column phalanx" effect where two side-by-side columns can overwhelm a line by firepower. This is something the author has said he considered, so it's not too far off the campus.

Cheers,

Christopher

March attack and Rank & file are two excellent rulesets.