"Rules for Imagi-Nations 18th century" Topic

Hi all. As my Imagi armies get close to the table, the vexed question of rules has reared its head again.

I have dismissed the true classics as I am looking for a set of simple, fast playing rules that my group of friends, who are not all period knowledgeable, will be able to enjoy. The classics are flavourful, but my fear is too slow for a Friday night.

I have also (tentatively) ruled out Black Powder, as we already use a variant of this for our Napoleonics games, and I am afraid everything will blur – I really want my Imagi's to be different from my Naps.

I bought Maurice, and think they provide an excellent game, but not quite what I am looking for from this period, and especially my Imagi's.

So I throw myself to the mercy of the court and ask – has anybody found a good, almost OSW set of quick and flavourful rules. My armies are (very) approximately 1720-1740, so I am looking at linear warfare, some cavalry types, grenadiers etc. There are normally four of us, potentially six.

Thanks all

Honours of War by Keith Flint, Osprey Publishing. link

Think you are selling yourself short ruling out Charge!. Very simple rules that give a quick game. The most time spent wo Ulf be on moving the figures.

Check out Charles Grant's "The Wargame." If you like the rules, there is also "The Wargame Companion" by his son, Charles S. Grant, as well as numerous scenario books featuring Grant's own ImagiNation armies.

Take a look at the free set at All The King's Men Toy Soldiers. They have an old school feel but I think they move at a quicker pace.

I have a set that I can send you if you PM me. It will cover the time of interest & includes both campaign & tactical rules. Can't argue with the price!

JPK

I recommend King of the Battlefield by Ian Godwin. We play these regularly at the local club, commanding 15 to 20 units each, in 4 or 6 player games, and never fail to finish a game in 2-3 hours. Simple mechanics, but tactically challenging, they give a great game.
I also play them solo for my own Imagi-nation games – units that excel can be promoted to elite, officers promoted/demoted or even KIA, etc.

Noggin

Check out the rules on this group. Still some tweaks to be done but playable. Works well for 18th century.
link

A couple of battle reports
saltflats1929again.blogspot.se

JPK – I am a non-TMP member so cannot PM. I can offer you an email if that is of any use

marc.flack@sayervincent.co.uk

Thanks

Marc

I will try and find what Kin of the Battlefield are. My friend has already dismissed the Osprey set, and whilst I have Charge and the Wargame, I still feel not for us (I will use those when it is just my brother and I perhaps)

Thanks all

One hour wargames by Neil Thomas might be worth a look if you want something quick and easy

Batailles de l'Ancien Régime. Might be what you're looking for.
link

One Hour Wargames, Charge! or Twilight of the Sun King.

Check out some of Ross Macfarlane's rules on gameofmonth.blogspot.co.uk/. You may need to adapt them slightly to suit the period.

One Hour Wargames lives up to it's name, or try the Portable Wargames Rules for musket era, free online, I've used them with easy tweaks for the hex grid system.

Another vote for Bataille de l'Ancien Regimes by Bill Protz. Our "go to" for old school big battalion games. I will always have a soft spot for The Wargame though since it started me down this path of gaming.

Thanks to all – some interesting suggestions, and Noggin/JPK have been very helpful off line as well. This period is definitely friendly and more civilised than my normal Naps boards, so thank you all again.

Marc

Although maybe not as simple as some, I would look at Maurice. The action cards themselves are a good your buds will really enjoy.

I have Maurice – what puts me off is (even though I bought two packs of cards) the game is not really designed for multi-players, and the style of game may be a step too far for some of my Friday night friends. I like it, but I feel it is a game for two players to really enjoy.

Too bad you're ruled out Honors of War. Wee have had,some,really fine games with the set. I,also,enjoyed Maurice,but you are correct it is,for two players I will,throw Age of Reason in as my suggestion.

I started with the classic rules of Grant and Young then fiddled about till i got what i wanted. Perhaps start with the simple set in Charge. You don,t mention unit or figure size.

Well, my forces are classic Grant 48 infantry plus 5 officers and 24 cavalry with three officers. But they are singly based, on sabot movement trays. So plenty of scope for variety

Charge or the Wargame. They are very quick to play.
In my view the absolute key attribute of imagi-nations old school gaming is the prime emphasis on the individual figure- units being just collections of those individuals. So anything not based on that isn't really old school imagi-nations gaming- its just a modern horse and musket game with made-up uniforms.

Given the unit size I'd start with Charge. The length of moves is greater and the "company" structure is more flexible. I started with the same size units but found the 48 too big and the 16 company too small, so ended up in 24s. This lets me play the wargame scenarios on a 6 by 4 at home.

Quoth Noggin2nog:

I recommend King of the Battlefield by Ian Godwin.

I've heard good things about these rules but so far I haven't found anyone on the net selling them; On Military Matters has the title in his catalog but none in stock and none of the other usual suspects even have them listed. Can somebody point me in the right direction?

LT

Might and Reason's army builder system is specifically designed for imagi-nations..

It allows for a large range of national characteristics as well as fighting qualities to be varied and pointed

The full list builder is available from Sam Mustafa's Honour website and this system should work easily with Maurice as well

Bataille de l'Ancien Regimes by Bill Protz

What would be the minimum number of figures needed to have a fun game? I see very large battalions in battle reports, that is something that can be build up to, but not easy to start with.

Thanks

" key attribute of imagi-nations old school gaming is the prime emphasis on the individual figure- units being just collections of those individuals. So anything not based on that isn't really old school imagi-nations gaming- its just a modern horse and musket game with made-up uniforms."
Orrrrr… new school imagi-nations…

Hexblade,
You can start with smaller sizes and even never grow larger.
24-30ish castings per unit work fine. We've done it.
Respectfully,
Bill P.

Another vote for Might & Reason, which is the next best thing to Maurice in my opinion, and has a similar feel albeit without the action cards (to be expected coming from the same author). You're right, Maurice is best between 2 players, though we've had successful 4 player games without much difficulty. We're using our Imagi Nations armies in the Succession Wars campaign at the back of the Maurice book, which has grown into a bit of a club tradition and is dead simple to run.