SYW: Austrians v Prussians: Maurice Lite

[Fenton]

The Ottoman Turks of this period are a nice army to...*hint hint*

[rexhurley]

Thanks Edward - this is my permanent set-up (I know how lucky I am - why would you want to put cars in a 20' x 20' garage anyway??!) - the table is ~5.5ft x ~4ft: to be fair, I wasn't particularly using either of the far ends either (I had the cards & dice etc lurking on there) so the battle area for this was probably about 4ft x 4ft really.

You'll be fine with those basings: the Lite rules describe 'squarish' bases  

Full rules state (Lite probably do to)

"It is not necessary to rebase your figures for Maurice as long as your bases meet the following criteria:

The width of a single base should be the same across your army, whther that base is for infantry, cavalry or artillery.

The depth of a base can vary with figures of different sizes, but the ideal situation is for infantry and cavalry bases to be "squarish" or rectangles that are no more than twice as wide as they are deep".

A couple of other paragrpahs then Sam closes with "The most important criterion is that you and your opponent use the same system for basing your figures.  the second most important criterion is that you like the way your figures look!"

Have fun

PS: I'm personally doing mine on 30x20 8 foot or 5 skirm per base, cav can tmake up my mind between 3 cav or a 30x40 base with 6 per base and also using 30x40mm for guns with 4-6 gunners per base normally 5 30mm circles for my Generals some progress pics to come soon.

[Aart Brouwer]

Following this thread: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,4823.0.html I found time to have a quick scrap using the Maurice Lite rules; I'm not normally a fan of card-driven games but found these to flow nicely - and the 'feel' of the game was much more satisfying than I've found for the SYW when I've used Black Powder.

You're not the ony one on this board who says so, Major General. Can you please elaborate on what exactly makes Maurice so good?

You see, I have a few BP-playing buddies who might be very interested because we're in for a bit of a change. But I can't very well ask them to cough up 40 quid on a rumour.

Cheers,
Aart

P.S. Oh, and nice piccies there too!

[nikharwood]

You're not the ony one on this board who says so, Major General. Can you please elaborate on what exactly makes Maurice so good?

You see, I have a few BP-playing buddies who might be very interested because we're in for a bit of a change. But I can't very well ask them to cough up 40 quid on a rumour.

Cheers,
Aart

P.S. Oh, and nice piccies there too!

Thanks Aart (& good to see you back BTW)

Right - where to start? Probably first by saying that, to date, I have hated pretty much every game that has cards in it (apart from *actual* card games, natch). This one seems to be the exception that proves that rule. I also need to say that I've not played the full game yet (am reading these through this week but work keeps getting in the way) - but on a couple of read-throughs of the Lite version - plus this bat rep - I was convinced enough to part with my hard-earned...

Some basic thoughts - that have been echoed by others:

- I quite like BP: but it has never 'grabbed' me...some parts feel clunky & overblown somehow, despite their simplicity. Perhaps it's simply because they're not Warmaster. And I love Warmaster.
- BP, naturally, covers a lot of ground - and some things don't 'fit' or 'feel' right without having to muck about with loads of stuff added on to vanilla units - which, on one level, is fine - but it really is essentially a fudge which seems unsatisfying I guess; I think it's suited very well to Naps & ACW - but doesn't cut it for me with SYW
- Maurice concentrates on 1690-1790: a narrower spectrum and is therefore a better 'fit' for the period
- it consciously attempts to accommodate characterisation (indeed, calls it 'roleplaying') - without the puerility of BP's approach...
- it is flexible & fast: this is a decisive ruleset I think
- it, through its simplicity, avoids over-doing things - whilst still retaining complexity & chaos
- it recreates fog of war simply - through the card-driven mechanic which includes interrupts & events etc - plus it forces you to not just make decisions but take command: I *like* this
- it's very pretty
- it has a funny name
- the book smells nice (no, really)

Some of my points there are throwaway - but I'd encourage you to download the freebie Lite version & give it a run-out: I think you'll know within the first turn whether you & your group will like this before having to hand over the casheroonie.  

[Aart Brouwer]

Wow, how about that for a friendly neighbour! I get a whole essay in response

- it consciously attempts to accommodate characterisation (indeed, calls it 'roleplaying') - without the puerility of BP's approach...
- it is flexible & fast: this is a decisive ruleset I think
- it, through its simplicity, avoids over-doing things - whilst still retaining complexity & chaos
- it recreates fog of war simply - through the card-driven mechanic which includes interrupts & events etc - plus it forces you to not just make decisions but take command: I *like* this

I'm not sure I like the role-playing aspect. BTW that's what the wife said last night! .. ah ha... ha ha?... joke falls totally flat, man buries face in pint...

But the other points I highlighted really stand out. Those should be enough to get the chaps' attention. Thanks mate!

*off to download trial version*

Cheers,
Aart

[fred.]

Like Nik I haven't actually managed a game of the full version yet.

The lite version is good, but the full version seems so much more complete. Some things that are very simple in the lite version have more depth in the full version.

It has a lot of period feel, not least due to the artwork. I don't know how well the rules would transfer to earlier or later periods.

Role-playing - while this is mention a few times my take is that it is more like characterisation of a few notable commanders.  If you want to go the whole imagi-nation route then this is well supported, but far from essential.

See if you like the style of the lite version, if you do the full version (with cards) is well worth buying