"Auerstadt 1806 with (Diceless) Ein Ritter Spiel" Topic

After reviewing Chris Engle's four sets of miniatures rules – Jabberywocky, Ritter, Fusilier, and Ein Ritter Spiel – I decided to record a test battle using Ein Ritter Spiel using 6mm Napoleonics miniatures and a homemade game board for Command & Colors: Napoleonics. It is the battle of Auerstadt 1806 using the setup and terrain from the information from the Command & Colors: Napoleonics scenario booklet.

I had a lot of fun with these rules – more so because I had a solid scenario – and they definitely provided a decisive game in less than an hour.

If you have not read the rules review I recommend you start there. It might provide more insight into the battle report.

Here is the game at the start:

Some years back I played a number of games using Ritter. It was so fast that it really cried out for use in a campaign, most games taking 15-20 minutes when using 10 units per side. It did have a great feel. I love the way the cavalry battles swirled back and forth.

It also had a very interesting feel. Most medieval/ancient rules give armies the advantage because of their weapons and/or troop types. There is some of this in Ritter – if you have nothing but trash troops and your enemy is all knights or something, you are in for a tough time. But the real heart of these rules is the move/attack/break numbers. The Mongols are tough not because they have mounted troops, but because they have superior movement and attack, along with being fairly resilient. It's an idea I have not figured out how to port to rules that use dice.

But I feel it represents some things other rules miss. Charles the Bold's army, for instance, is tough in many rules. It has longbows, pikes, knights, like a Swiss Army knife of the wargame table. Historically, it didn't have much internal cohesion and Ritter lets you represent that easily. Downgrade some or all of the 3 basiv factors and you've got a brittle army regardless of weapons/troop types.

I gather you think Ein Ritter Spiel is an improvement on Fusilier.

Ein Ritter Spiel puts the rules on a grid, rather than using free-form movement. It includes muskets, so it spans Ritter through Fusilier. But the army lists came from Fusilier, not Ein Ritter Spiel.

I like the distinction between light and heavy infantry and did not feel the inclusion of skirmisher was necessary for Fusilier. I also felt that ERS was clearer in its writing.

As far as I know, ERS is not published. Chris gave me the rules for free when I ordered Ritter and Jabberywocky off of his web site.

Good to hear that another person knows and has tried the rules. I agree that it would do well with a good campaign system. Maybe I should try it with To The Last Gaiter Button.