"King of the Battlefield rules on ebay." Topic

Just saw a copy currently for sale on ebay:
auction

Still the best mass-battle rules for the SYW period, and now difficult to come by.

Agreed.

What makes these rules so great?

Simplicity, and a few interesting mechanisms (especially around cavalry melees). When I first read them I was unsure about them, but after playing them, they work. We've played many historical battles in a club evening.

Hi coopman,
I think that in order to justify my claim that these rules are "the best", I should give my answer in two parts. Firstly, a bit about my own wargaming history, and then follow with a review of the rules.
So here goes:
I am a fifty something who has been collecting model soldiers and gaming with them since I was in my early teens. My inspiration came from the collection of books that were in the local public library in east Hull where I grew up; titles including "Charge" by Grant, "Setting up a Wargames Campaign" by Bath, "Programmed Wargames Scenarios" by Grant, Funckens' Napoleonic uniforms, Lachouque's Waterloo, Arthur Bryant's 3 volume history of the Peninsular war and several Featherstone volumes. I read them all avidly.
My first collection was Airfix and Esci 20mm Napoleonics, followed by GW Warhammer, expanding into 6mm Microarmour and 15mm ancients through University. Apart from a 12-month period when I had a regular opponent, all my gaming was solo.
My qualifications eventually led to me becoming a secondary school Science & Mathematics teacher in the Hull area, and it was at this point that a colleague (and now very close friend) told me that he was also a wargamer and member of the local club, and asked if I'd like to go along for a game; period to be my choice. I jumped at the chance and opted for my first love – Napoleonics.
So, the following Saturday I sat down to my first multiplayer game of "In the Grand Manner" (using the original, hand-written rules by Peter Gilder). After playing for 4 hours, my troops had eventually made it into combat with the enemy, but we were nowhere near a decision, and I had a pounding headache from all the casualty calculations, modifiers and look-up tables I'd had to go through. However, maybe it was just my unfamiliarity with the rules that had caused the slow progress, so I agreed to try again the following week. And try I did, but after the fourth attempt (and accompanying headache), I gave up on the rules and told my friends why I didn't like them – they were just too much hard work – it was easier trying to teach algebra and Newton's Laws to 12-year olds.
We moved away from Napoleonics into other periods (mainly ACW and WW2) until the day my friend came back from a wargames show carrying a copy of King of the Battlefield. He'd taken part in a demo game at the show, had spoken to the rules' author Ian Godwin and thought we should give them a go. A couple of the club members were able to dig out their dusty SYW Prussians and French and we set about a game the following week.

Now, why I love these rules:
A couple of things stand out straight away.
Firstly, the rules are fast play – a battle involving 30 to 40 units per side can be played to a conclusion in 2 to 3 hours.
Secondly, they are relatively simple, the rules themselves (with all tables, modifiers, etc) fit on two a4 sheets – the rest of the book explains the rules in more detail and gives examples of play. There's no book-keeping, look-up tables, flowcharts or individual casualty removal.
Thirdly, they are a great multiplayer set – we normally play with three players per side, one controlling the centre, the others controlling a wing apiece, but I've also played in 1v1 and 2v1 games where I've commanded 30+ units quite easily on my own.
However, the best thing is that these rules are fun to play, and it's because there are only two dice rolls/tests that ever have to be made – 1. a control test using a d10, and 2. a morale test using a d6 and d8.
For the Control Test, taken when I want my units to charge, change formation, reinforce a melee, etc, I roll the d10, add or subtract a couple of easily remembered modifiers (e.g +1 for being an elite unit) and if I score 4 or more, it's a success and the unit carries out the order. Fail, and my unit does nothing. Nice and straight forward.
The Morale Test mechanic is the best bit of the game – when my unit fires at yours, or enters melee with yours, I don't roll the dice to determine the outcome – YOU do. You roll the d8 (which counts positive) and the d6 (negative), add and subtract another couple of easy modifiers and obtain a total. If you score zero or more, your unit morale is OK and my attack has no effect, however, if your total is negative, then your unit takes a waver marker. Two of those is enough to make an ordinary unit rout from the table.
So, I command my troops to obtain the best attacking position (and hence dice modifiers) on the field of battle, and your ability to negate that, combined with your dice throwing determines the outcome. It's this "tension" produced that makes the game so much fun; roll well and I'll respect the fighting qualities of your troops, roll badly and be prepared for the ribbing that's coming your way.
The rules encourage you to use historical linear tactics and you will need a second line for when one of your front-line units routs, leaving a gap that my troops are going to exploit. Cavalry melees are fought to a conclusion in a single turn, with further units being fed in as reinforcements if you have them available and are able to pass the control test necessary to charge, until either one side routs or both sides retire exhausted. I've seen flank attacks that have swept away an opposing army in just a few turns, and others that have come to a grinding halt because of a hastily re-arranged defensive position.
Finally, the rules are flexible enough to be used for other periods – I converted them to Napoleonics by adding simple rules for attack columns, and some types of troops that are not represented in the original version. My battalions of Russians are now regular visitors to the table again.

Wow, thanks for all that. I didn't mean for you to go to all that trouble.

Great summary of the rules! Where can I find a copy?

Published in 2002. Getting pretty rare now. Someone needs to reprint these or make them available as a pdf or whatever (hint, hint). I was able to buy a copy this morning from a bookseller in England. I wonder if the author is still alive?

There is a groups.io for the rules which was set up after yahoo-groups shut down, you may be able to contact the author there:
link

I received the rules today. First impressions are very good. They seem to have inspired the "Twilight of the Sun King" series of rules to some extent, which also use the 1, 2 or 3 morale markers and your unit is picked up philosophy. It would be nice if Ian could make these available as a pdf download purchase from Wargamevault,com or some similar online site.