"Never Mind the Billhooks Deluxe Review" Topic

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Welcome to another Yarkshire Gamer Book Review. The top link goes to the Utubes video, below ro a blog post.

I hope this meets the sites rules, I know there have been some issues with reviews of new products in the past, so if it needs to be removed please do so. I have no affiliation to the author or publisher and I think I've done a balanced review.

In this episode I look at the new Deluxe version of the Wars of the Roses wargames rules which have been revised and expanded to cover different periods either side of that conflict including my favourite, the Italian Wars.

I have been sent this review copy by the lovely people at Wargames Illustrated but as you would expect with Yarkshire Gamer I haven't let that cloud my judgement and I go through both the positives and negatives (in my opinion) of the book.

Overall I'm impressed, great production values, lots of great examples to guide you through the rules, lots of scenarios and background.

I'm not a fan of the Italian Wars section, but thats probably because its my favourite period and I have my own views on it. Who wants to see their primary period of gaming relegated to 10 pages in a rule set for an earlier period 😆

A solid 8 out of 10

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Interesting and, I think, fair review, Ken. Agreed about having a "Basic Paint Job" section for new gamers. Painting the figures daunts a lot lot of newbies, and trying to match the paint job in the book would be difficult for a lot of people, not just newbies.

I've already ordered mine, and thanks for the preview on what I can expect.

Had a chance to go through my copy now (had played a game using the free set with a mate of mine on his phone all the time to Andy Callan – a mate of his). I've seen your review on Youtube Ken and pretty much agree with everything – even down to the considerable reservations about the Italian Wars section.
What I had hoped for was some treatment of the earlier campaigns in Italy. Battles like Anghiari 1440, Caravaggio 1448, Rovereto 1487. These are hardly covered in English at all, and the old myth about nobody dying in those battles is still trotted out. Massimo Predonzani's stuff is good if you can manage Italian.

Cheers Ocollens,

I think trying to shoehorn Italian Wars into a Wars of the Roses rule set just doesn't work, I'm not a Rivet Counter but it's so far off the mark, Italian Wars rules for Italian Wars games :-)

I'm off to game WW2 with my Napoleonics;-)

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer