To the Last Gaiter Button

[Leman]

Square Bashing are a set of rules by Peter Pig for the period 1898-1928. One of my regular opponents made a few period specific modifications to use them for FPW, eg heavy batteries only do off-board bombardment, which is an army asset in the rules and varies from army to army. It was very easy to come up with the variations for Krupp 6pdrs vis-a-vis French 12lb guns. Another modification gave French 4lb guns an extra factor at close range to simulate the attachment of mitrailleuse batteries. Prussian infantry have no ranged fire, they only combat square to square and so on. The rules are on Peter Pig's website, easy to reach via Google. I will be away for the next week, but post if you would like a full breakdown of the rules mods we have used. They gave us  very enjoyable games with historical outcomes, and it's gratifying to refight Froeschwiller on a 4'x3' table which gives 48 squares to play with.

[Hwiccee]

Lol...actually I'm using 6mm Polemos bases (60x60).  Think I'm going to actually go with one base is equivelent to a regiment.  Probably using hit markers to mark wear on the unit instead of removing smaller bases as prescribed in the rules.  I love the grand scope of Franco Prussian battles, and this set seems to erally hit that note.  Haven't played it yet, but it sounds like it might be one of the better ideas for the large scale engagements. 

Anyone else toy around with single bases to represent regiments?  How did it work out?

The rules we used in the other Nachod game are basically this scale. The figures are based for Polemos (60x30) but these are cut into smaller bases (typically one of 40 x30 and one of 20x30). In our rules we in effect count 1 Polemos base as 3 Fire and Fury style bases. You can see this in the photos. If you look at say the first few you can see the bases. In the first photo (and in more detail in the ones after) for example you can see Hertwegh's Austrian brigade in Attack Column facing up to the Prussians. This is 3 Polemos style bases one behind each other or in our game 9 Fire and Fury style bases (3x3 bases). Notice as well that the arriving brigade (Rosenweig's) is the same (except for the Jagers - more on this later) but in march column. Each of these units is a brigade (i.e. 2 regiments) and the scale of the rules is 1 Fire and Fury base = about 600 men. Original Fire and Fury is 1 base = 100/150 men. This makes French brigades about 6 Fire and Fury bases (2 Polemos) and Austrian/Prussian around 9 Fire and Fury bases.

So not exactly 1 base = 1 regiment but close. Having 1 base = 600 men means we get to keep jagers and other units which are normally only a battalion. In the rules you can use these in various ways. In the first photos you can see Rosenweig's brigade has their jager battalion (a single base) fighting as just another infantry unit in the brigade - it is the dark base on the left in the 2nd rank, effectively making this unit a 10 base unit. Hertwegh's brigade has instead deployed it's jagers as a separate unit (to the right of it) operating in skirmish mode.

This idea works well and does mean that games like Nachod (a Corps a side) are very easy to play 1 vs 1 game. While larger battles are a lot more practical.

[julesav]

Dour Puritan

I'm certainly interested in an FPW variant of Square Bashing - I'd be even more interested in a variant for 1866 APW though! Lol! I'll be looking to buy the Real Time Wargames rules sets now too!

Cheers

Jules

[mollinary]

Dour Puritan

I'm certainly interested in an FPW variant of Square Bashing - I'd be even more interested in a variant for 1866 APW though! Lol! I'll be looking to buy the Real Time Wargames rules sets now too!

Cheers

Jules

Good Decision Jules, you get a lot of bang for your buck with RTW!

Mollinary

[Leman]

APW 1866 might be pushing things back a little too far owing to the muzzle loaders of the Austrians.