Franco Prussian war rules....who's playing?

[LondonPete51]

Good morning folks,

Have just begun this 10mm painting lark and quite pleased with my first unit - Prussian fusilier battalion.

Does anyone have recommendations for a good set of rules, particularly with easy to understand unit sizes.

Anyone even play this period in London and willing to take advantage of a beginner and his Prussian hordes? Having read several of the standards on the campaigns, it seems to me that if the French had got themselves together, even slightly, then they may have forced Bismarck and his chums to retire! Mein both....do not even think about it!!!!!!

Pete
Ealing W3

[Westmarcher]

Have just begun this 10mm painting lark

Gawd help you, London Pete! Don't worry, someone will soon be along to recommend the ultimate in FPW rules. Expect to hear Bloody Big Battles, Field of Battle 2, Black Powder and more. Gentleman of the Forum, please enlighten this man.

[toxicpixie]

Welcome to the forum

The immensely knowledgable doyens of the period will probably be along in a few minutes but either "Bloody Big Battles" or "Mitt blud und Eisen" should be cracking for the battles!

[Hwiccee]

Pete,


There are a lot of good rules out there for this period and many here play them, but they generally have different kinds of games in mind. So  suggest you give us some idea of what kind of game you want to do (unit sizes, size of battle, etc) and also maybe other rules you like - so we can suggest similar sets.

[mollinary]

Hi Pete,

Hwiccee is spot on.  This is a great period, and the Pendraken ranges are second to none.  If you can give us an idea of your ideal unit size, basing if you have decided on it, and the size of battles you fancy taking on, then we should be able suggest a variety of options.  Welcome to a shared obsession!


Mollinary

[paulr]

...
Have just begun this 10mm painting lark and quite pleased with my first unit - Prussian fusilier battalion.
....

Pictures please

And as Hwiccee said what scale of battle are you looking to play will guide the experts her on rule recommendations.

Do you want to be a Field Marshal, General, Brigadier, Colonel, ...

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Black Powder
Volley & Bayonet
Or
To The Last Gaiter Button.
All excellent rules for corps/army level games.

[KTravlos]

1870 and Bloody Big Battles as well. Great for fighting the historical campaigns

[Leman]

1870 - great set for background info as well as rules. Upcoming is 1871 for the Republican phase. Initially the rules were intended for 6mm figures on 30mm frontage to a battalion. despite this the scale means that quite a number of the scenarios are on 6'x10' tables. The author's photos of these are stunning, but i stopped using the rules when even modest battles like Spicheren took far too long to play.
Black Powder - How big you make the battle is up to you, but the info on the rulebook is very sparse and generally dismissive (in rather an impolite  and supercilious way) of later C19th European wargaming.
Bloody Big Battles - does what it says on the tin - allows you to fight the likes of Mars la Tour on a 6'x4' table. I like doing this in 6mm but it also works very well in 10mm. Owing to the scale of the game I find this works best using the next scale down buildings, which raises the blood pressure among some on this forum.
Field of Battle 2 - works very well for late C19th and also enables you to decide the level of game, so a unit can be a company, a battalion or a regiment, thus enabling most games to be played on a 6'x4' table.
Wargaming C19th Europe - again a system that allows big battles using a modest number of figures . The book includes scenarios and optional rules for Sedan and Mars la Tour. I've even played this version of Mars la Tour on a 6'x4' using 28mm figures.
On to Richmond - this ACW set has an FPW variant within it called Nach Paris. In this game units are regiments and each is operated on its own card, which provides a bit of friction and is great for solo play. The basing is quite large, being about 2" frontage.
Blood and Iron - the Wyre Forest Gamers' late C19th rules based on Fire and Fury. It is a downloadable set and comes complete with supplements for a variety of conflicts including the FPW.

There are any number of other sets out there, but those aimed at this period tend to be of the battalion level, factors for each gaiter button variety, and in my opinion don't give an enjoyable fast-flowing game. I will follow this post with a shot of a BBB game of Spicheren. BBB are my favourite historical scenario set for this period.

[Leman]

Bloody Big Battles Yahoo Group free scenario for Spicheren:

[Westmarcher]

Good stuff, Leman! Puts me in the mood for digging out my own wee guys.

[Chris Pringle]

Pete,

Since folks have been kind enough to mention "Bloody Big BATTLES!", let me add some more info.

For BBB don't think battalions as your base unit, think brigades or divisions, typically of 3 or 4 x 1" square bases. Most of the BBB FPW scenarios need about 70-80 bases a side, with a base being usually 1000-1500 men.

If that's the size of battle you might be interested in playing, I've collected lots of reviews of the rules on my BBB blog - search for the label "Review of BBB":
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Review%20of%20BBB
and be sure to click the "Older posts" button to find them all.

To help you construct your new armies, in the BBB Yahoo group files there's a spreadsheet which tells you exactly how many bases of each type you need for each scenario.

Chris
Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info

[Last Hussar]

Chris - you originally touted BBB as for historical scenarios, and gave the distinct impression (to me anyway) you couldn't do fictional/pickup games.

Is this true you take the GW approach (This is the approach my son was convinced that GW took when he was younger- that if you didn't play the 'Right' way, GW would tell you off, possibly take your figures away.)

[toxicpixie]

Players being as they are, there's a couple of groups developing what looks like a really good points system to sort pick up games that are historically plausible if not actually real

It's in the files section of the Yahoo! group and looks pretty good...

Chris has also sorted a spreadsheet that covers the troops needed for each actual historical battle BBB "officially" covers. That's a really useful piece of kit in its own right even if you don't play BBB!

[Leon]

Hi Pete, welcome to the Forum, the late 19th C. force is strong in these parts...  There's a load of chaps gaming this period on here so there should be lots of advice and opinions to choose from!