"Revised Twilight of the Sun King and scenarios now available" Topic

An extensively revised version of the innovative Twilight of the Sun King rules and a scenario book are now available.

The Twilight of the Sun King: Birth of the Age of Reason rules focus on the period 1680-1720. The rules are aimed at re-fighting large battles with moderate resources and in a relatively short time. Units are ‘brigades' of about 2000 infantry or 1000 cavalry. Basing, figure size or unit size are not important. All measurements, movements, ranges, etc, are in ‘base widths' and the players decide what this will be.

The rules are simple to pick up but reflect the warfare of the period. For example, combat and morale are combined into a single dice roll. Play testers commented that you feel like an army commander and that the rules have a great period feel.

The first scenario book, Louis XIV at War, features 10 battles as various sizes and types from Western Europe.

Four from the War of the Grand Alliance (1688-1697) – Fleurus, Boyne, Landen/Neerwinden and Marsaglia.

Six from the War of Spanish Succession (1701-14) – Luzzara, Speyerbach, Blenheim, Ramillies, Almansa and Almenar.

A second scenario book will appear shortly with 10 battles from the Great Northern War (1700-1721) and the Ottoman wars of the era.

The rules and scenarios are published by the Pike and Shot Society and can be obtained from them, pikeandshotsociety.org/, and other retail outlets.

Yahoo group: link

Contact the author via wyreforestgamers@yahoo.co.uk

this sounds cool

already ordered mine!!

Already ordered mine too.

Konstantinos, I like these rule, run the Yahoo group for the rules. We haven't played in a while, busy with our Franco-Prussian games, but we like them. We also were using them for Seven Years War and the War of the Austrian Succession. They do fine.

I am still waiting for the book I ordered six weeks ago to show up, so Inot keen to order anything else until I see that.

Vincent thanks, the big thing for me is that they have scenarios.

can someone pint me to the order page? When I click on the initial link I get error

The original link has an extra comma at the end. Here you go:

pikeandshotsociety.org

The free Grodno 1706 scenario at the Yahoo group is excellent, so I'm looking forward to the scenario books as well. From the looks of the Grodno scenario, a bit of troop quality/training differentiation has been introduced.

Cheers,

Christopher

AussieAndy: I don't know about your order or how long it normally takes to get to Australia. But I suggest you contact Dave at home.burton@googlemail.com if the rules don't arrive soon.

Sorry for messing up the link and thanks to CATenWolde for fixing it. Also for the comments on the scenario.

Yes we have changed the troop quality/tactical differences to better reflect this era. If you look at Grodno you need something like this to allow the Swedes to attack an entrenched enemy that greatly outnumbers them.

Still waiting for a copy here in NI as well.

How many pages are the rule book and scenario book? Also, is the stock in the U.K. Or US (for US customers)? Thanks!

The rules are 33 pages and the scenarios 44 pages – in both cases A4 pages.

I am not sure on the stock. On Military Matters (and maybe other outlets I don't know about) stock other Pike and Shot material and so it is possible they will also stock these. Whether they actually have any yet I don't know.

33 pages! That's a 550% increase from the previous edition … ;)

I did say 'extensively revised' :)

The actual rules are circa 23 pages and the rest is a scenario (Fraustadt, 1706) and other stuff.

nice, can't wait for it to arrive!

Ready to see mine too.

Thanks! Just ordered them from the website!

I am still waiting for the book I ordered six weeks ago to show up, so I am not keen to order anything else until I see that.

Apparently, surface mail (the way they ship) from the UK to the US takes an average of 8 weeks. To Oz, I suspect it takes a good deal longer.

LT

Yeah.. Wish it was available as a PDf. Seems silly in this day and age for it not to be.

Just got my copy in the mail last week. Very nice. Reading through it now. Initial impressions: The front and back cover are very poorly done. It is almost impossible to read the lettering over the graphics because of color choices. Do not let this dissuade you though, because INSIDE the content is VERY well laid out. Very good table of contents, the order of presentation is logical. The layout of the pages is clean and uncluttered, key points/terms are in bold faced type. A few diagrams to illustrate issues about facing are clear. The rules are well written and the language is clear.
The rules are usable with units as Brigades or as Regiments. It is scale agnostic without having to convert anything. It uses "basewidths" as the unit of measure (but allows for smaller and larger sized units if so desired). It recommends a unit be 2 bases. No figure removal.
If you liked the original, it is still definitely worth getting this edition. There is more period flavor (eastern european cavalry, Turks, jaegers, swedish Ga Pa tactics) good designer notes, more attention to artillery, flexibility with unit usage of pikes and platoon firing. The starter scenario (Great Northern War- I forget which battle) is a great intro with interesting historical notes. I'll be hopefully getting that gamed this weekend. Overall, I'm very pleased and recommend it to anyone that is gaming WSS or GNW with more generic 18C rules that only give lip service to this earlier period.

I just received my copy, and I'll second everything that daler240D said. My worry with the new set was that there would be a temptation to add too much to a uniquely light system, but the additions fall in two main camps: first, a much wider variety of unit types, and second, a matching expansion of possible modifiers to morale tests. This means that much of the added detail is "up front", i.e. before the game starts in terms of designating troop types, and also that many of the added modifiers might only be used in certain campaigns or theatres. I don't anticipate any slowdown in play, and the added depth is very welcome. The addition of the "Bombardment" phase (really just placing markers to indicate long range fire) seems like an elegant way to portray the disruptive effect of long range artillery fire on maneuver, which is always something that I thought should be depicted over pure casualty counts. The depth of the included scenario (Fraustadt 1706 GNW), along with the free example scenario on the yahoo group, really showcase the new system, and give great confidence in the scenario books.

All in all, a real success for practical, old school wargaming with a new school design emphasis, and at a very friendly price point. The authors and the P&SS should be congratulated. The rules could and should really encourage interest in gaming this period. And, of course, I couldn't help but start thinking of Napoleonic and even ACW variants! ;)

Cheers,

Christopher