My initial thoughts on The Portable Wargame by Bob Cordery:
https://wwiiwargaming.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-portable-wargame.html (https://wwiiwargaming.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-portable-wargame.html)
Steve, will be very interested to see how you progress in relation to the question of grids.
Excellent review, many thanks for the link.
I've been a fan of grids since I encountered Square Bashing many years ago.
Got that one tucked away with the intention of using it with the Perrys' Battle in a Box.
I had another quick game this evening which I enjoyed very much. Some more thoughts:
- Perfect rules for quick pick up games, as everything was done and dusted within an hour, including set up and taking down.
- Having looked at the hex option yesterday when at work, I prefer a standard hex grid for games before the 20thC, which is also the authors favoured option. This is down to a mix of game play and the visual appeal. I haven't given up on hexes yet as I still want to do a test board at some point.
- The rules could do with a little bit of clarification here and there, which I believe has been done in the companion book, but nothing that couldn't be sorted out with some common sense. Given that I play this solo, this is not a big issue.
- I need to knock up some scenic tiles to represent hills, woods and BUAs.
- Scenario wise I think the ones Neil Thomas' books will translate across quite easily; ditto the army lists etc.
- I want to add a bit more detail into my next game, using skirmishers with rifles for example as well as the odd Elite unite.
- I really enjoyed the exhaustion point rule, will really made you think about when to take hits and when it might be wiser to retreat.
I'm tempted to get his companion book as they contain more detail and some ideas on running a campaign. So far i've been really impressed with these rules as you may have gathered :D.
Ahhh, stop bigging these up!
(must resist, must resist . . . )
I am currently painting up an 1809 Austrian army to face off against my already painted French figures, Pendraken of course.
I plan to use the Division level rules with a few tweaks.
I will be using Heroscape tiles so that puts a bit of a limit on the number of figures in a hex. Shouldn't cause any problems.
My standard (4 SP's) infantry units will be 8 figures, 4 bases of 2 figures. These can represent column, line and square easily. Elite units (5 SP's) will have an additional base of 2 figures. I plan to remove whole bases as casualties.
Cavalry will be similar with a mixture of 2 figure and 1 figure bases. A standard cavalry unit will be 3 SP's, one 2 figure base and 2 one figure bases. An elite cavalry unit (4 SP's) will then be one 2 figure base and three 1 figure bases.
I plan to modify the Exhaustion Point rule in that Strength Points are only totalled up when a complete unit is lost so there will be circumstances where some units might be pulled back from combat to save them from elimination and others where 'weak' units will be hunted down to get their points to count. This might encourage commanders to keep reserves and to commit them to save other units when threatened.
I'll be blogging my experiences in due course.
Does anyone know that if I buy Developing the Portable Wargame, do I need the original book as well?
I would say 'Yes'. The Developing book does have a stand alone set of Ancients rules, plus Air rules that can be used as part of 'TPW' or just for air combats. I would start with the original book and see how you like them. I liked them so much I bought the Developing one, Nappies and Naval variants too.
Okay, thanks for that.
You're welcome :).
Oooh, a bit of searching has revealed Bob Cordery's blog, and there is a page of downloadable rules (https://wargamingmiscellanybackup.wordpress.com/free-downloadable-wargame-rules/).
Towards the bottom there some variants of the Portable Wargame. These are dated 2013, and are presumably earlier versions of the rules in the book(s)? Anyway, I can get to try these out, see if they're my sort of thing.
Played a first game with Steve last night, really good for a simple and social table encounter. Plenty of time to play, talk, get distracted, talk, play, get distracted, drink, play and play. In any particular order :-)
We drank? I don't remember that ;) :D.