"New edition of Twilight of the Sun King" coming" Topic

Hi,

A year ago I asked about a rumored second edition of the little gem of a set of rules "Twilight of the Sun King":
TMP link

Just a couple of weeks ago the following review of the upcoming second edition (and a scenario book!) was published here:
link

Looking forward to it!

Cheers,

Christopher

Thanks for the update! Nice review, hits the sweet spots of these rules. The levels of abstraction they use are perfect for my tastes. Looking forward to the release~!

Good news!

The immediate question is, how crucial is the basing to the rule mechanics? Some of the comments in the original thread seem to indicate not.

The review said that movement is in stand widths, so I don't think it matters.

@Hafen von S
Basing is not crucial. The original version used 40mmx20 mm bases, with two making up a unit. We play with 10mm figures on 60x30mm, sometimes using two bases for a brigade, but if we are playing really big battles and are short of bases, we simply use a single base to represent a unit. As movement, shooting etc are all in " base widths", it is extremely flexible.
I have done some of the play testing for the new version that Nick has produced; I can honestly say that the games we have played have been some of the most enjoyable I have played in nearly 50 years of gaming. The level of abstraction, especially ignoring shooting and melee calculations (it's all wrapped up in the morale test) enables games to be played quickly and with an emphasis on the tactical deployment of units. If you try to attack without supports, you are in for a hard time. Simple command and control rules bring in a nice level of uncertainty (in one game my Turkish Eastern Horse took 4 moves to shake out from march column to line, giving my Russian opponent the opportunity to cover a flank that the horse were threatening). Most players pick up the basic idea of the rules within two three moves. There is no record keeping, although you do need some sort of marker system to record morale failures (we use small beads, but casualty figures, small dice etc work equally well)
We have refought Aughrim, Fluerus, Neerwinden, Blenheim, Ramillies and a number of other actions, including Ottoman v Russian battles, using the period specific variations. Well worth buying (and no, I am not getting commission, Nick has done this revision to support the Pike and Shotte society).

I played the first edition using inch wide stands, 4 per brigade. Changed the measurements to match and never had a problem.

We use card counters for the morale "hits".

That sounds very encouraging! I'll need to look at these.

Steamingdave--funny, I have 10mm too. And I've tried beads also,though they have a tendency to roll away. I recently discovered that Pendraken produces generic tricorn casualty figures,and dead horses. Don't have any yet,but they'll certainly look better than boulders.

@Hafen von S- ours are square beads! The casualty figures from Pendraken sound good, I must have missed them, even though I have bought many hundreds of their WSS and LoA figures. 10 mm is perfect for this set of rules, enough detail in the individual figures to satisfy the painter in me and enough figures in a unit to look good.

I agree that 10mm (or 6) is the sweet spot for WSS since the battles really seem to be big during this period.

SD--Ha! In my inadequate defense, I was in a hurried search through the craft store just before a convention. I try to avoid brightly colored markers (though I did momentarily consider a pack of little silver skulls--ugh),and settled on natural wood beads. I soon discovered my mistake!

Pendraken have useful little items hidden through their catalog. They should consider multiple listing for some items. The casualty figures are in the AWI list:

link

And the horses are in the Napoleonics list:

link

A true button counter might object,but in 10mm, I'm not going to worry about it!

You probably know about the supply wagon and team(no pic,unfortunately):

pendraken.co.uk/SYW2-p3320

but for those unfamiliar with them, there are at least two variant loads,and one empty version. Each also comes with a tarp,which can be placed on in two ways. That makes for a lot of variation. No driver though,for some reason. There are some pitchfork guys in the civilians pack that could be used beside the horse.

After the wagon,I admit to some dissapointment with the carriage,which turned out to be a solid block of metal,with only some lightly scribed lines to indicate doors and windows. I haven't tried painting those yet.

EDIT: There's a wagon pic here:

link

Searching for a wagon pic lead me to a reference to their pack mules (in the FANTASY list!)

pendraken.co.uk/AC21-p5140

Again, no pic,unfortunately. Old Glory threatened to do a baggage train for WSS, but it never appeared,and with the concentration on Blue Moon 18mm production, I'm not sanguine about the prospects.

Thanks Hafen v. Would not have spotted those. Will make excellent additions to my armies. One of the our club members has a rather nice "General's Carriage", which I thought was Old Glory, but I can't find it in their current catalogue. Have you come across a similar item? Iit is possibly SYW 10 from the Pendraken range. It looks very good and fits in with his relaxed attitude to the game ( My generals tend to be on charging horses or making encouraging hand signals to the troops, who probably respond with their own hand signals, given their usual response to my attempts to implement " action moves" in Twilight games)

Here's the SW-10, I believe:

TMP link

That's what I have,at any rate. I hope my painting attempt does as well. Perhaps appropriately,my Auto-Dolt changed SW to "SWEAT-INDUCING"!

An older discussion of wagons and such:

TMP link

Some more recent discussions seem to indicate Musket Miniatures 10mm are in limbo. I'd be happy to be corrected.

BTW,the Pendraken Civilians pack has,in addition to (farmer?)walking with pitchfork,gentlemen and ladies,good for various hangers-on,and general's mistresses. These folk would certainly be traveling to the field in appropriately magnificent carriages. Not necessary, perhaps, but a nice vignette for the table.

Oh,and the Old Glory WSS Generals pack has good poses, I think. Some more "relaxed" leaders,anyway,if you want some variation. Even a couple of grazing horses. Note OG horses are generally larger than Pendraken. Cavalry have separate riders,and I can't squeeze as many in the same space as my Pendraken. I really like the fact that the OG horses have a mix of poses,though. Most of my 10mm are OG,in fact,as I prefer the strips over fiddling with all those single figures. Unfortunately, there are gaps in the WSS line But such is life,sigh.

The rules and 1st scenario book are now available at the society ( pikeandshotsociety.org ) and I guess elsewhere soon.

woohoo!!! ordering today. This is great news, not that I had any complaints with the first edition. Just looking forward to what new work you guys have done.