"Best Ruleset for the Seven Years War?" Topic

Which ruleset would you recommend, thinking in particular of the fighting in Europe?

The Final Argument of Kings, by Dean West

Age of Eagles or Warfare in the Age of Reason.

Volley and Bayonet.

Warfare in the Age of Reason

Admirals if played with the author (Jeff Knudsen), otherwise Form Line of Battle.

- Ix

Final Argument of Kings by Dean West.

Konig krieg 2nd edition

I see 5 different land war rules and wonder, "How are they different/better than the other 4?"

I am planning for King of the Battlefield, but Maurice would also work for me. I'm assuming Bill means big battles, if we're looking smaller, than Sharp Practice.

Edit – Might and Reason also looked pretty good for big battles.

Field of battle 2 are a great set

Volley & Bayonet…

Lobositz and Kolin are great using it…
Frank also has two great scenario books published for this period.

Joe Collins

For "big battalion" games, I choose "La Batailles de l'Ancien Regime" (BAR) by Bill Protz. For large games using a lot of units, I choose "Quick Tricorne" by the Jackson Gamers.

Jim

Might and Reason

Warfare in the Age of Reason which will have a 3rd edition out here soon with even better army lists.

Mute Bystander, I hear you. I really, really wish someone would do a break down and compare the top 5 rule sets and really dissect the assumptions, mechanisms and details of the different rules. What are considered important by the author, what is abstracted. I would love to read a high level overview of the challenges of gaming this period. Most discussions usually just center on one set of rules at a time and usually devolve into "fanboys" vs "the haters". Surely in this group there is someone capable of this task.

Big multiplayer games, Might and Reason, followed by Volley and Bayonet.
One on One games, Maurice.

2 or 3 brigades per side, Honours of War, the Osprey rules. Fast with period flavor.

You want someone to compare the top 5 rule sets, you need to find someone who has played all 5.

Tricorne and Warfare in the Age of Reason are both great.

Last argument of Kings, the 18c Black Powder supplement…Honours of War also very good… and have plaved and liked Warfare in the Age of Rreason and Die Kriegkunst

Volley and Bayonet for battles and Maurice for smaller colorful actions. I have some refights on my blog:

torgauproject.blogspot.it

"La Batailles de l'Ancien Regime" (BAR) by Bill Protz is great. Ive played it many many times. You can do big battalion games but it also scales down to smaller unit sizes.

The author also has a variant for doing colonial games.

"Koenig Krieg" or the new Osprey set.

Does anyone else remember "Three Roads to Paris?" Old Courier article in which someone--Otto?--actually played three sets and reported back. Not enough of that is done.

Even easier, and still not done. The first things I want to know about a new rules set are basing, figure scale and ground scale--that is, can I play it with my existing figures? and what sort of game can I fit on my tables? That's usually impossible to find out without breaking the shrink-wrap, and all too seldom spelled out in the reviews.

(Yes, there are other things which are deal-breakers for me--rosters and simultaneous move--but basing and ground scale are deal-breakers for almost everyone.)

Of what I know that's been mentioned:
If your castings are individually based, BAR and Sharp Practice.
If your infantry are based 2x2 Koenig Krieg.
If your infantry are based 3x1, WAOR.
If you have the famous 3" frontage stands, V&B and I think Maurice and Might and Reason.
The others I don't know.
Some, obviously, suit particular games or particular players better than others, but I'd write a fresh set before I rebased.

BAR can be played with any organization. My 28mm figures are based two per 2" x 1" stand. I use casualty rings.

BAR is very flexible. You can see reports of games on Der Alte Fritz's blog altefritz.blogspot.com , Bill Protz's Campaigns in Germania blog link , or on my blog link .

Jim

Cartouche from Piquet is my favorite

Another vote for BAR.

BAR (Batailles dans l'Ancien Regime) by Bill Protz are my favorite rules.

I also like my own Der Alte Fritz Rules for SYW Wargames,
which are free for download from our Fife & Drum website here:

link

Maurice is my favorite system for SYW, but FoB2 also plays very well for the period.

Christopher

Tricorne by Ken Bunger. and it's India variant Currycorne

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

Warfare in the Age of Reason and Black Powder are my favourite but Volley and Bayonet are great and I must try out Fritz' ruleset

Warfare in the Age of Reason.

My house rules. Inspired by Fire & Fury & Black Powder & Die Kreigkunst. Otherwise Die Kriegkunst or Final Aurgument of Kings

JPJ

King of the Battlefield for larger games.

A Glorious War: best darned SYW out there.

wow ochoin, a set of rules that doesn't even show up on a google search!!

For smaller games Konig Krieg, for large battles, Age of Eagles in its Age of Honor extension.

WSS used to regularly feature the sort of multi-rule set, comparative play and review articles you describe, Robert… although I don't recall having seen any for some time.

Is "Quick Tricorne" different then Tricorne?

I found the latter in my "Old Rules" collection.

@ daler240D

Not surprised. I wrote them. My little joke.

well, please share then!!!

Maurice …

"I see 5 different land war rules and wonder, "How are they different/better than the other 4?""

Indeed lots of conclusions, not much in the way of description. So what do you base on; fun to play, realistic, quick. Who knows.

But I am game. So Best Allies, designed for big battles. Units are battalions of infantry, regiments of cavalry (or bases of artillery/skirmishers). Group those into brigades and divisions. Different ratings of commanders, and that restricts the number of moves a commander can order in an activation. Game play is Igo Ugo, with alternating brigade activation. 3 bases (standard) to a unit, varying amounts of hits needed to kill a base. Like in Warmaster partial hits removed at the end of an activation. 4 different troop qualities (poor, average, veteran, guard). A morale system, so that troops can run away or retreat if they lose fight. Then special rules for different characteristics; shock troops, platoon firing, howitzer fire.
No, first volley bonus (decided it was not worth the effort)
, or colour pictures.
Hope that helps

I like the description of Best Allies & I will pick them up (I buy everything anyway.)
My preference, however, is for 5 to 8 stands per battalion as I think that they look better at that size, & when doing the 45 or AWI, with small units, what do you do? Have 1 stand battalions?
The alternating brigade thing is OK, but not as good for >2 players & definitely too slow for conventions unless it is a small game. I just played in a great chess like alternating fantasy game at Historicon (WarGods???) but we each only had 3 units.
The best unit for cavalry in this era is a squadron. A squadron had about the same frontage as a battalion & cavalry tended to operate as squadrons.
I don't mind a few casualty caps on the table so I prefer to carry hits over from 1 turn to the next, though the visual is better if you don't.
Out of the hundred plus rules I have played over the last 30 years I think that the maximum complexity that makes for a really good game would be something like the complexity in the General de Brigade system (Die Kreigskunst is the set for SYW.) The ideal complexity is more like Fire & Fury or Black Powder. There is nothing worse than spending all day to do 3 turns! Like most folks, I think, I just wrote my own rules that cover all of the points that I care about.

JPK

well, please share then!!!

Send me an email address & you can have a copy.

They are of F&F type complexity, so a biggish game is fought to conclusion in 3-4 hours.

We play a heavily modified version of Rank and File. We like that it is battalion level, but plays faster than other (e.g. F&F heritage) systems (e.g. one simultaneous fire phase per turn).

Full battles: might and reason
Smaller battles: don't know yet.

Anyone know where to pick up a set of Tricorne?