"Pike and Shotte review" Topic

Morning all, latest rules review is up on KeepYourPowderDry link

A nice review, KYPD 👍.

They're probably my fav set at the moment, but I know not everyone's cup of grog. I like having my pike and shot blocks separate and when we've tried combined units the rules don't seem as slick.

Nice review. Great book and supplement but I just really don't care too much for the system too much. Just my imo.

They do seem to be a love them/loathe them set of rules, rarely anything in the middle

Thanks for the review. We have been playing them (and tweaking) at my club, but we haven't quite got them to the point where we are happy with them. The biggest issue is the combat control system, which never fails to frustrate players with random inaction. Additionally, the ability to move up and blast an enemy unit in the same turn without taking any fire in response seems unrealistic. But – as you say: house rules. The more I play, the more I like the way Hedgehogs work, so I am not sure I agree that pike & shot units can't work together realistically.

My biggest complaints are the sometimes-bizarre entries in the army lists (stradiots in the TYW?) and some of the historical inaccuracies ("Bad War" is just wrong – it's Reislaufer-on-Landsknecht!). But as a basic design for a fast-playing game I like it – it just needs some tweaking.

Hi AGregory, we had the same issue with attackers moving three times and firing before the defenders (in Pike & Shotte and in Black Powder). We have used two different club rules to address this. The first was that that you can only fire if you have moved once. This worked ok. Subsequently we have reversed the firing and moving phases, so you shoot and then move. We were hesitant to do this as it seemed fundamental and we were worried that we'd break something unintentionally. However it seems to work well for us and so i would encourage you to try it.

In the new BP variant, Valour and Fortitude, by The Perries and Jervis Johnson they have a fire then move system. I asked Jervis about this and he confirmed it was to give the defender the edge, rather than the attacker.

We have also played around with the turn sequence, although not quite the way you describe.

Sounds like it might work – we will have to try it out. Thanks!