"Peter Pig Bloody Barons rules" Topic

Peter Pig is re-doing the Bloody Barons, wars of the roses rules.
This second edition will be out at the end of 2019.
The first edition was published in 2015.

Bloody Barons is a set of rules that stands out from most new rule sets in that it is for battles and not another skirmishing game. Armies typically use 200 figures or more. BB cane be played using many figure sizes, including 25mm and 15mm.

The rules are 70% built. So that you can see what is happening, there is a short video to give some insight.

YouTube link

More to come.

martin

One of our very favorite rules sets. We will be interested in the new version when available.

Love this rules set…will it be consistent with the 1st Ed. or a major change?

I have left a comment on the YouTube thread suggesting major changes. The problem with Bloody Barons is that there are no cavalry rules to speak of and all the well-known regional troop types are missing – Welsh, Irish, Scots, Northern Border Horse, etc, do not appear.

There is also no 'line-of-battle' with benefits for flank and rear support. The BB games I watched had isolated units just wandering around – vulnerable to any cavalry yet the rules contained none!

Another problem is that longbow in Bloody Barons is on 'continuous fire' – like a machine-gun. In practice real archers only carried five minutes' worth of ammunition and would soon fatigue or lose strength. I view medieval longbow as a 'fire blow' like katyushas – a heavy first salvo, a couple of follow-up moves and then half-effect for the rest of the game. Careful timing of this first salvo is essential.
I have suggested ammunition rules on the YouTube thread.

My own rules, Bills, Bows and Bloodshed, are going to the printers this month after a delay. My rules cover all of these factors and work with all major module types (DBA 40mm or Peter Pig 30mm) and most popular figure scales. More on that when they return from the printers.

Barry

What are you planning to change in the new edition of the rules?

@Thresher01
Are you referring to Bloody Barons (with which I have no connection) or Bills Bows and Bloodshed 2?

B

Thank you for the replies. Warspite (Barry) good detail. I should clarify that the comments are all based upon the 2005 first edition (I assume).

BB (Bloody barons) 2 is due out in December (ish) 2019.

BB1 and BB2 only share 1 aspect and that is the use of figures on bases ie 3 or 4 figures per base. That is the end of the commonalities.

As with all PP rule sets it will be a complete set of rules.
BB will use about 160 figures per side shared into units of 4 bases, each base having 3 or so figures on it.

This means it includes rules for scenery set up, army build, victory conditions and scenario generator. Thus players will turn up with their box of soldiers and have an equal part in the game set up. None of that "you set up the scenery and scenario. Then I get to just move a few units about". In addition , PP rules always cover a very narrow period in order to emphasise the prime aspects of that limited period.

The main game consists of "wards" or "battles" ,which are larger formations that include a number of individual units.

These wards are the basic game manoeuvre piece. Wards fight, morale and move as single entities.
Each player gets roughly 4 turns (the battle clock can vary this).

One of he nice things about BB will be the number of new and interesting rule systems that keep the game flowing and logical.

Normal six sided dice to be used. No measuring, just move wards from zone to zone. The table "measures" 4 zones in width by 4 zones in depth. This gives a 4x3 foot table for 15mm games and a 6x 4 foot for 25mm+.

No need to mark the table, the scenery pieces delineate the areas (see video).

Victory is achieved through a whole list of criteria that include zone occupation, deaths, generals etc.

Record keeping is almost non-existent. Rules can be memorised after a first game by most gamers (?).

Game lasts about 2 and a bit hours.

What is not there= cards, special dice, lists of statistics for each unit type, record keeping and game altering secret powers.

Finally the game allows a whole bunch of figures to be pushed around the table top, without the need to measure and I think it looks historical too.

"People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like" AL

Some will enjoy BB and some will not. I will have to live with that.
Thanks for showing an interest. I will do more videos to show how the game works.