WSS Rule decision help

[old smokie]

Just got into the WSS period and need some help deciding on which rules to use, can't make my mind up I have Maurice, Polemos, Lace wars not really taken with any of them  

The main problem is I already have a pile of stuff based, Pendraken 10mm figures, infantry and cavalry on 30mmx30mm bases and artillery on 40mmx40mm bases and definitely don't want to try re-basing the figures, tried before and it was a disaster ruined three stands of figures . My infantry consist of 5 bases per unit and the cavalry 3 bases per unit, the artillery is the usual one model gun representing x amount of guns.

Looking for rules with stand removal rather than figure removal, not chart or paperwork heavy, also units being a decent size not one or two bases per unit as some seem to be.

any help appreciated  

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I'm going to get screamed at...

Volley and Bayonet have linear rules.
Or...
Black Powder - Last Argument of Kings, with A LARGE pinch of salt?

[old smokie]

Black Powder - Last Argument of Kings do you need the main Black Powder rules to use this ?

[JimLeCat]

Have you looking at Might and Reason?

[mollinary]

Prepare to be shocked - I agree with Mad Lemmey on this! 

Volley and Bayonet are not everyone's cup of tea, but I believe that they are at their best in the linear period of the eighteenth century, where infantry are based on regiment stands which are linear, rather than their usual square bases.  Not sure if this variant is included in the Second Edition, which i think is more Napoleonic focused, but they were certainly contained in the first edition.  "simple and elegant" sums them up nicely, I think.  I wouldn't worry about rebasing. The standard rules would give you an infantry unit on a three inch wide by one and a half inch deep base. If you want to keep this ratio then you can go for 60mm units and adjust accordingly.   I would also not worry overly about the depth. If you want your units to be 150mm long then why not, just remember to adjust the movement distances and firing ranges.

Mollinary

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

BP needs core rules too...

[Fenton]

There is a very nice free supplement for WSS on the Might and Reason website

[Chad]

Have had no issues with Maurice and the original BP gives
a good game. The guy who wrote the Last Argument
Of Kings has, in my opinion, little knowledge of the WSS given
the nonsense about Eugene's command at. Blenheim.

One of the interesting sets I have tried are on the Warflag
Site.

Chad

[sunjester]

We have had fun with Black Powder for WSS, using our own amendments  http://lasthussar.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/war-of-spanish-succession-for-black-powder/

[Sandinista]

Use Pike & Shotte for early years, my favourite rule set

[Ferb]

Maurice

[Hussargeneral]

Beneath the Lily Banners work for me, as long as you have both sides based the same it will work. Three elements per Battalion. I really rate them. Designed for the period, playable with the right flavour.

[Chad]

I had forgotten Beneath the Lily Banners. Agree they work.

Chad

[Bernie]

Hi Chad

The guy who wrote the Last Argument
Of Kings has, in my opinion, little knowledge of the WSS given
the nonsense about Eugene's command at. Blenheim.

Do not know the rules Last Argument of Kings, but can you summarise the problems the designer has created for himself?

[sunjester]

My feeling on The Last Argument of Kings is that it takes 7YW army lists and shoehorns them into WSS. I bought it with high hopes, read it once, then left it on the shelf.

[Chad]

Bernie

I am in complete agreement with Sunjester on this.

I had 2 problems:

Platoon Firing - The only reference to this in WSS is the incident at Malplaquet. People more knowledgeable on the period than myself have long since demonstrated that this reference by Parker is extremely suspect, given that Parker was not actually at the battle and that the two regiments mentioned were on different parts of the battlefield. In LAOK it is still applied.

The other area that caused me concern was the reference to Eugene and his 20,000 Austrians at the battle of Blenheim. Anyone who has done even a minimum amount of research into the battle knows that there were most certainly NOT 20,000 Austrians there. For example, Eugene's infantry were Prissian and Danish. From this I personally drew the conclusion that the author really had insufficient knowledge of WSS to produce rules supposedly to cover the period.

Chad

[rexhurley]

You could always try Shako V1 or 2, V1 had a SYW supplement but either way the rules work, oprders, brigades, linear formations and constraints.

Alternatively Under the Lily Banners work to without Pike, as does Maurice and numerous others.

Lace Wars from Partizan another possibility but I'm not fan of them, or Warmaster Ancients using the shot type troops for something left field....

Cheers Rex

[old smokie]

Thanks guys for all the advice and help  me headhurts even more now 

[Fenton]

http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/18th-century.html

The Corporal John ones are meant to be good I hear

[Bernie]

Hi Chad & Sunjester & Others

Wow! No wonder you question his design. Suppose it is always the problem when you try to apply a rule set for one period and then try and force it into a different one

Always best to go back to first principles of the period you are gaming and design for the specific period then you can give it the flavour of the times