"Recommendations for Seven Years' War rules" Topic

I would like recommendations for Seven Years' War rules for 28mm figures where an infantry battalion is represented by around 24 figures (some may be smaller or some larger). Also, it would be helpful if you could explain why you like the set of rules that you recommend. Thanks in advance.

Kevin

Good morning. I'm a fan of Honours of War.

The author uses five stands of four figures to represent a battalion, but you can have slightly larger units, my Spanish Walloon Guards are 24 figures (six bases) and I have two Hungarian units that have seven bases.

I find they provide enough balance between detail and game play to meet my concepts of the SYW.

They do use a DAvg, but you can find a conversion for straight D6 instead.

Sadly, Keith let his forum go, but I think he moved some of it to The Book of Faces.

Hope that helps.

Eric

King of the Battlefield allows large battles to be refought in an evening. Probably looking at a minimum of 16 battalions of foot and 8 regiments of cavalry per side.

Thank you for your recommendations. I will certainly check out both options.

Kevin

King of the Battlefield !!!

The author goes for three stands per regiment, but your choice will work if the width of the unit in line equals its depth when in column.

Huzzah!

We use Black Powder now but did use Age of Reason rules as well – we find Black Powder works better as the majority of the group are not SYW gamers – have also toyed with the Age of Eagles SYW variants

I would suggest "Batailles de l'Ancien Regime" (AKA BAR) by Bill Protz.

link

I've been using these rules since 2008 and have enjoyed them. Bill's developed a realistic approximation of the linear tactics practiced during the SYW.

Jim

Maurice is another good choice, as is Might and Reason for larger battles

I think it would depend upon how much complexity you like in your games and how much having that "period feel" matters to you. Krieg Kunst is the 7YW version of General de Brigade and is a fine set designed for 28mm figures. Like it's Nappy forebear it gives a good game, but for my group it was a tad fiddly -- you need to change formations, for example, in very particular ways, which gives a fine period feel to the game but also takes a while to get down pat. I play in 15mm, for which Koenigs Krieg works well, but for club games I just usually play Black Powder. It's simple and most folks have at least a passing famiiiarity with the rules and it works w/just about any scale. If you give BP a go, do use the seventeenth century rules mod (which, among other things, changes the fire phase to precede movement) to avoid units being unrealistically fast and maneuverable.

My group uses Rank & File – admittedly significantly modified. For example, RAW R&F doesn't have any C2, and leaders "helicopter" around the table, as they can move 30" and detach/attach in the same turn, to assist in morale checks. What drew me to the rules was the fairly simple firing mechanics: e.g. for infantry roll 1 D6/stand, with not that many mods. For battalion guns, it couldn't be simpler: if your battalion is > 50% strength, you roll an extra D6. As I was not interested in modeling battalion guns on the table for every battalion, this was perfect.

Interestingly, we tried it for AWI, and it didn't work as well, as our experience is that R&F didn't handle small units – e.g. of skirmishers – as well as it might. It seems to work better if units are roughly the same size. In our SYW armies, units are typically 4-6 stands.

We have been using "Twilight of the Soldier Kings", and enjoy it very much. It gives balanced, attritional results, which are not "slaughters", however, a unit, if pressed enough, can also break and run without being totally ground down. The defender rolls for combat, and all factors are incorporated into that roll. Troops stay engaged in combat unless one side is pushed back, broken, or if possible, voluntarily withdraws. Gives a good feel to the linear tactics of the period and the importance of keeping formations together, as it does affect combat. Also, the interaction between Inf, artillery and Cavalry is well balanced, and national characteristics, such as the Prussian and British rapid firing capability are incorporated without overwhelming the other side and completely dominating the game.
We were using "Maurice" and that is also very enjoyable. Maurice is what got us into SYW gaiming. However, the nationalities with rapid fire would eventually just hammer the other side and shoot them to pieces, unless you used the "Lazarus Effect" and brought near dead units completely back to life. We made our own "House Rules" addendum to play a modified version of Maurince.

HOUSE RULE MODIFICATIONS

ARTILLERY
Artillery can Bombard in their own volley phase by activating them with a card (without the need to choose Bombard action). Standard activation rules apply – the card must have an activation value higher than the distance between the CIC and the gun battery. The guns fire cannister as currently in the volley phase.
[Purpose: Currently, Bombardment requires 2 cards vs Pass (one less drawn, one to activate), not to mention preventing any other actions. 4 guns would inflict 1 disruption on average, making it a poor use of an action vs rally which might remove 3-4 disruptions. Using this modification, it becomes worthwhile to buy a battery of artillery, as historical]
Artillery charged by any part of the charging enemy unit ending in their firing arc can have one Canister shot (2 dice per gun) before the melee is resolved. Any artillery that is in range and arc and part of the same battery can fire.
[Purpose: Currently, Artillery can be easily destroyed by a cavalry charge from outside cannister range. With this change, charging Artillery frontally is difficult, as it should be]

RALLY
No unit can rally off its last disruption inflicted by enemy fire, once a unit is disrupted by enemy fire one is permanent. Roll your number of disruptions minus 1 dice for rallys.
[Purpose: It is unrealistic and disheartening to have an almost dead unit return to full strength. It also enables attrition, eg a bombardment to soften up the enemy line before attacking. Currently this would be useless as all damage would be rallied off faster than it is inflicted.]

LETHAL VOLLEYS
Instead of rerolling hits that fail to disrupt, Lethal volley will give a +1 on the disruption roll. So Elites will disrupt on a 4-6, Trained on 3-6 and Conscript on 2-6.
Also costs 18 points not 12
[Purpose: Lethal volleys is currently so effective that it is hard to address by increasing the points cost. This reduces its lethality from +50% vs Trained units to +33%]

CAVALRY
+2 Combat Modifier for Cavalry charging Infantry in the Open
[Purpose: Currently cavalry is not very effective, infantry are much better value. Historically, a charge could break enemy units] Look at von Seydlitz as an example.