We interrupt this programme.....

with some top news

Actually a couple of bits...

1. Horse and Musket: Dawn of an Era

By Sean Chick, top bloke and designer of Frederick's War:  

"Horse and Musket: Dawn of an Era is a simple tactical game based on the Hold the Line system that covers the development of musket warfare from Vienna in 1683 and Sedgemoor in 1685 to Appomattox in 1865. Volume I will cover warfare in the west from 1683-1739, when the bayonet replaced the pike."

Check out the blurb at BGG.

I can't wait. Sean needs a publisher!

2. Hold the Line

"Received a note from Worthington Publishing that the Hold the Line System will be remastered after the first of 2016. Kudos to Worthington -- this is a good system."

BGG rumour or not? Who knows.

Its a surprise!

New game by Worthington in the works

Worthington have a lot of current development and production activity but none of it is up my street. However, here is a sneak preview.....

I can't see this happening for a while, certainly not this year but something to look forward to.

Back from more holidays!

And its raining....

I have had another week off, that makes a whole two weeks this summer. This time I and the family have been in Norfolk.

As you can see, nice weather, great light and a lovely time. Now we are back it has started to rain and may do so for some time. Never mind, I have been doing some thinking, not of the ponderous sort but more focused on a couple of specific problems I set myself.

1. Tannenberg: I spent some time looking at my preferred combat model (from Worthington's Holdfast) and continue to think that it is probably a good fit. I took some prints of my work on the OB on holiday with me and discovered that I didn't think very much of my research! Next step is to revisit the books and bash out another one. A bit disappointing. especially when the map had gone so well.

2. OHW Napoleonics: I was incited to take Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames with me by two things, firstly Kaptain Kobold's latest version of his OHW Great Northern War variant and, secondly, Max Foy's latest thoughts on how to play simple Napoleonic battles on a hex grid "Maneuvering in hexes". This set me to thinking about doing a version of my In a Cocked Hex rules for Napoleonics. Essentially this would be an excuse to give the Cocked Hex rules another going over, look at the Kaptain's variant rules on combat (rolling to hit rather than just rolling for casualties) and then having another go at my hex grid variant of Neil's Napoleonic rules. 

I'll sleep on this and give it another think tomorrow!

New stuff

Just in time for Xmas

As all gentlemen know, Xmas is a time of socks, ties and other unnecessary presents (monogrammed golf tees for example). A wise chap usually stocks up with a couple of essential presents for himself to enjoy in the odd quiet moment over the holidays. They don't have to be expensive.......

Ground Pounders

Some time ago Quick and Easy Games produced a free rules booklet for use with Dark Dream Studios Space Battles plastic figures. This was conveniently called Space Battles. They have now come up with a new version of the rules, Ground Pounders, which is based on their almost as cheap generic toy soldier rules called Battlefields.

I think this kind of stuff is great. I'm not a fan of £30 rule books. What I do need is good ideas that look like fun and you can't say fairer than this......

Two Buck Games

Two Buck have released a couple of new games Wake Island and AWI Battles 4. Wake Island looks interesting (1941 in the Pacific). 

The AWI game contains 9 mini scenarios, each with its own map:

• Monmouth (initial)
• Monmouth (final)
• Harlem Heights
• Fort Washington
• Ticonderoga Defiant
• Paulus Hook
• Red Bank
• Bound Brook
• Fort Clinton

This follows on from three other collections which cover a total of 28 AWI mini battles plus a larger game on Brandywine.

I can't find a picture of this latest AWI pack but here is one of the earlier ones.....

Both of these are great value at $5 each (inflation strikes even at Two Buck Games) and they can be downloaded from Wargames Downloads. Possibly one, or even two, for Boxing Day!

Combat Leader

Minden Games have a great reputation for tactical games. They are the people that brought us Retro, Squad Leader made simple (for thickies like me). Their latest game is Combat Leader (Eastern Front 1941) which looks like a nice infantry only tactical (man to man) game. This picture gives a flavour of the components.

This might be Retro the "game", as opposed to just the rules, as it has a real Squad Leader feel. I'll keep this on the radar. It is hard copy only and comes in at US $32.90 for the basic game and first expansion (urban warfare). Not very cheap but not perhaps the sort of investment required by Combat Commander or similar. See update below!

Holdfast

This is my real Xmas present this year. I collected it from the Post Office this morning. A simple block game of Barbarossa and 1942. It has great reviews and, although a bit on the pricey side, seems to have enormous replay value. 

The rules look really straightforward and the big plus is that they plan to do more WW2 campaigns. The next one is the Bulge. Top!

This is getting a bit scarce, I could find only one shop with it in stock (Leisure Games, London), so if you are after this, get in quick.

I haven't posted much recently because, having reached an interim stage with Plan B, I've found yet another really interesting project. This one is KISS My Arras! Not an original title (someone else thought of it before me) but this is my effort at using KISS Rommel to play the battle of Arras 1940. Essentially, a tactical version of KISS at roughly company/platoon level. More on this in due course.

Update: I see that Norm Smith has just reviewed the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit 10th anniversary edition. This looks good and is only US$25 so it might be a good alternative to Combat Leader, if not precisely the same scale.

Scotland Rising!

New stuff for Xmas

I got Scotland Rising through the Kickstarter exercise over the summer. This is a really good game about the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The game is an interesting twist on the Hold the Line system, one I enjoy very much.

As has been pointed out by various reviewers, although a good game it is pretty expensive for what it is. I had hoped that it would come with two stretch goals, additional games covering Stirling Bridge 1297 and Falkirk 1298. The bad news was that the Kickstarter didn't get that far. The good news is that both extras are being made available as print n play games from the Worthington Games website.

Both maps are available as PDFs. These are smaller than the Bannockburn map and come in at 11" by 17" and are easily produced at the local print shoppe. 

The Stirling Bridge rules and set-up map (see below) have now been made available. There is a promise of the additional material for Falkirk before Xmas.

Both games can be played with the counters from the Bannockburn game (a pity we don't get a Wallace counter!). These should provide a nice, and very cheap, diversion over the holidays.

Talking of diversions, it should shortly be time for the Consim World annual funding drive so we can expect a few more freebies to come from that.

Waterloo a la Carte Part 2

Nearly ready for play testing....

I have single mindedly pursued this little project over the past few weeks. This is quite a difficult feat given my inclination to wander so I'm pleased that I have got to the play test stage. This means:

Counters: Check. Ready for sticking and cutting out (they are on an A4 label and I can't make them any bigger).
Map: Check. Taken to the print shop and printed out on A3 card-stock
Rules: Check. Hastily cobbled together and ready for bashing during play testing.

I have no idea how this will play. The rules themselves, the scale of the map and the counters give me a really good feeling. I'm hoping that there is some magic here where things come together. If not, well there's loads more things to be cracking on with. AAR as soon as I can manage one. Feel free to have a go.

Napoleonic hex grid game part 2

And not without some diversionary activity!

Earlier this month I completed my first attempt at turning Neil Thomas' Napoleonic rules into a hex based game using an 8 by 6 hex grid. I have now had a chance to reflect on this at the seaside and have brought home some further thoughts as well as lots of extra sand....

Waterloo on an 8 by 6 hex grid

One of my earlier issues was how do I test out the rules before my Wurttembergers are ready? The answer is to knock up some counters and play on a hex map. I found that the map I drew at the beach bore a close resemblance to the battlefield of Waterloo so that is what I have ended up doing. I have also developed an OB which sees 14 French units battle it out with 13 Anglo-Dutch and Prussian units. More on this shortly.

One solution is to simply use the tiny chaps from the Worthington Games' 100 Days game as illustrated above. This looks good and formations can be shown. Another option is to make my own counters. I have had a go and come up with some nice Austrian and Bavarian types.

Corporal Jones is second from left

The Bavarians are considerably smarter!

These are based on nice images from the Junior General website and these are by Daniel Harper and J Bignell respectively.

Last, but definitely not least, I have pondered the rules and made some changes in the new v2. I have reduced the movement distances for cavalry and have generally made it easier for units to change facing as well as removing quite a few other restrictions. As with the first attempt, the idea is to have a simple game with lots of rock, scissors and paper effects. We will see how these play out but I suspect further work will be needed.

Hold the Line: Scotland Rising Review

An unusual post for me, I've had to work out how to put in the video link! I don't normally post videos, the reason for this one being the subject. I have invested in the Kickstarter project for this game and am hoping that there will be sufficient backers to achieve a couple of key goals, the first is the inclusion of a separate game on the battle of Stirling bridge in 1297 and the second a game on the battle of Falkirk in 1298.

Marco concludes that this is a good game, which I would fully expect coming from the Hold the Line stable, but that if Bannockburn is the only game in the box it probably is not value for money. Personally I'd love to have Bannockburn, Stirling Bridge and Falkirk, but with 15 days to go and a cool $4,000 off the pace just for Stirling bridge, I'm not holding my breath.

The game is due out in August and I'm looking forward to it. From my point of view the simple mechanics and the subject are likely to get the kids engaged with this game. It will be worth it just to do that.

Hurrah, I've done something new!

I've backed a game on Kickstarter....

So, not that new for many folks but one for the diary for me. As well as the pleasure of doing something different I'm quite excited.

This is Worthington's new game, Scotland Rising: The Battle of Bannockburn 1314. Having just been to the Bannockburn Battlefield Centre I have developed a great interest in this game and am very much looking forward to playing it. 

You might ask, why not wait until it is released over here, surely the postage alone will make it unattractive? Well, yes you do pay for the privilege of living outside the US, $27 to be precise. However, this is a mere bagatelle given that the stretch goals are included in the basic pledge ($45) level. Subject to funding, this includes a hard mounted map board and two additional games, Falkirk and Stirling bridge. 

As to "attractive", the whole package looks great.

Worthington also now produce presentations for their games badged as "learn to play in five minutes". The link for this one is here. The game is due in August, just in time for a game with the wife before the big vote!