Bloody Big Battles compared

[TSmitter]

Hi,

Has anyone played Bloody Big Battles and also an old set called Fire and Furia France, they were modifiers of Fire and Fury?

Bloody Big Battles looks to be similar but with a bigger scale. What other differences are there?

Thanks

[Ithoriel]

Not a period I'm interested in so on that front I'm not much use.

However several forum members play BBB and there has been mention of Fire And Furia Francese so I'm sure someone will have some info for you.

Since this is your first post let me say hi and welcome to what I've found to be a friendly, helpful and informative forum.

If you've been lurking here you may already realise that the forum is often as weird as it is wonderful with a liberal dash of in-jokes and insanity and a tendency to derail threads. If that last should happen to this or other threads a gentle nudge will usually get things back on track.

[Leon]

First off, welcome to the Forum!

Bloody Big Battles looks to be similar but with a bigger scale. What other differences are there?

The author of BBB does browse the forum from time to time, so he might be along to give some help here.

[Chris Pringle]

Thanks for your interest in BBB. I don't know F&FF well enough to make a direct comparison, and besides, I prefer not to comment on other folks' rules. But I'm happy to mention a few things I think are distinctive or significant about BBB.

The game has been ruthlessly simplified to make it fast and fun and get the job done.
It is geared to a 6'x4' table, 4 players, 3 to 4 hours (though there are a number of scenarios for smaller 2-person, 2-hour games).
Movement, firing and assault are all resolved using 2D6.
Movement rolls integrate command and control elements such as difficult terrain and poor doctrine.
Execution of movement is very simple to avoid fiddly calculations and minimize argument.
All movement and firing distances are in 3" increments so everything is clear and simple and easy to memorise.
Minimal modifiers throughout - enough for realism, few enough to avoid brain pain.
Firing rolls integrate morale results so charges can be stopped by fire.
The scale of the game allows playing huge battles.
There are something like 55 historical scenarios now, mostly freely available via the Yahoo group.

But I also suggest you read some reviews of BBB (of which there are now quite a few about). E.g., Miniature Wargames # 383; or The Foreign Correspondent #105; or online reviews such as this one: http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.fr/2015/03/deep-fried-happy-mice-another-review-of.html ; or plenty more that you can find via my BBBBlog, labeled "Review of BBB": http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.fr/.

You'd be welcome to join the BBB Yahoo group and find out what players have to say.

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

[Leman]

I have played  both games and was rather disappointed with Furia Francese and it's offspring, Blud and Eisen. I agree with Chris' comments above about brain pain - far too complex with regards to morale, and too much emphasis on formations requiring a huge number of figures and an equally large table. I much prefer the BBB system of fighting a major battle on a 6'x4' or smaller table, with an affordable number of figures, clear victory conditions and a set time to complete the battle. I also appreciate the support given on the Yahoo group site and the ready supply of scenarios there (it got me into the Pacific War 1878-84). In fifty years of wargaming this is one of only half a dozen rule sets that I have really enjoyed. To finish here's a shot of the BBB Spicheren scenario which I put on at the Liverpool club.

[Westmarcher]

Very nice layout! 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Hello and welcome

[Aksu]

Hullo,
apologies for a noob question: what would be a good playable army size for BBB (in bases) for a "normal" scenario, if one was inclined to start yet another mid 19th Century project?
Crimean or 1866 could be interesting, and BBB does sound like a good set of rules.
Cheers,
Aksu

[Techno]

Welcome again, TS.
Cheers - Phil

[Leman]

Balaclava is a good starter for the Crimea requiring in bases:

Infantry: Russian 42, British 19, French 20, Turkish 4

Cavalry: Russian 6, British 4, French 2

Artillery: Russian 4, British 7, French 2

[Chris Pringle]

In fifty years of wargaming this is one of only half a dozen rule sets that I have really enjoyed.

Andy, many thanks for your endorsement, and also for giving Aksu the Balaclava numbers.

Hi Aksu, thanks for the question. There's a document in the Yahoo group files, "Bloody Big European Battles scenario size and bases required", which lists how many bases you need to play the scenarios in the BBEB scenario book, including the 4-scenario Crimean War mini-campaign. You really don't need many bases to have a good game. The smallest Franco-Prussian War scenarios we've done use as few as 32 German bases vs 39 French.

Hope this helps, and if you have more questions, please fire away.
Chris

[Shedman]

Welcome to the forum

this is one of only half a dozen rule sets that I have really enjoyed

I have to second Leman's comment - your layout looks superb btw

I use it for 1859 Franco-Austrian war and the Russo-Japanese war  - two totally different wars but they work really well with the single ruleset - sans peaufinage

[Leman]

Back in the 80s I invested heavily in 15mm ACW and Johnny Reb II, which I played happily for many years (although rarely completing a game owing to the complexity of the rules). More recently I bought Regimental F&F, and have never completed a game (the last time I played, about 6 months ago, I was playing a segment of Gettysburg - after four sessions totalling 12 hours we packed up having reached turn 9 of 18 turns). My last four games with those figures have all been BBB, and all fought to a conclusion in one or two evening sessions.

[fsn]

Hello Mr Smitter.

Welcome to the forum.

[ronan]

Stop talking about these rules, I will now have to buy them ! 
How does they play solo ? ( half of my games are solo )

Leman : I also used Johnny Reb II and played a lot, and it was Ok for small fights. Then we switched to the  JR III. It was a bit faster.
"Modern" rules seem to go the right way, "the times they are a changin' "
( I like Piquet FoB for the ACW, now )