Hi chaps,

What suggestions do you have for using the LoA figures?

I've been looking at the new ECW set with cut out paper figures by Peter Dennis and it looks the right kind of level - simple but with period feel. It's not a period I know much about so would like the rules to guide the game to a period feel and result without the players needing to know the period too well.

I have Irregular Wars which might stretch this late - but these are more large skirmish rather than massed battle.

I suspect I am looking for a unit made of a few bases. 40mm square would be nice.

Thanks in advance.

What about Baroque. I think it caters for this period?...

Yes it does.

I like Pike and Shotte gives a good game in 3 hours

Cheers
Ian

Baroque for me, covers 1560-1700 - and there are official amendments in the pipeline to take them through WSS as well (I'm hoping that will give us GNW too)

Guys down the club say FOG R are really good for 17th century as well although I have never played them

I'd go FogR

Beneath The Billy Lily Banners is the only LoA specific rules I know of - but, whilst reasonably popular (see LoA blog and website), not everyone's cup of tea. 

I have not heard a single positive report for the above. FOGR are a good set, but far from simple. Pike and Shotte are a Black Powder derivative, thus they have a 'chatty' rulebook, which means crucial rules sometimes crop up in passing or are even where you'd least expect to fond them. Baroque are a very nice set, but only 3 bases to a unit, so not for those looking to mimic all sorts of formations (see FOGR for that).

First choice would be FoG R, second Baroque

Thanks chaps lots to look into.

Baroque sounds good, but I've looked at Impetus before and failed to under stand it. It's of interest that it covers ECW too. 

FoGR - from what I've read  about it, it sounds pretty complex and competitors orientated

Pike and Shotte - we have played lots of HC but really didn't get on with BP. Again these could be used earlier which is good. What is bad is the toolkit nature.   

How about Donnybrook by League of Ausberg

Hello

I've always liked playing with Victory Without Quarter, an ECW rule set (https://gcooksonblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/victory-without-quarter-rules.pdf). There is a forum at http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/fightingtalk/viewforum.php?f=20&sid=a484943db2f8a5ff1cba8380bc1c45c1 that may be able to help with modification. They are a simple and fun rule set, card based activation, etc. I was always going to tinker with them to bring them up to Siege of Vienna 1680s  but I needed to get one of these....



Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

I like Lily Banner.

Thanks GoM, VWQ look interesting - have printed a copy to peruse further. The idea of card activation appeals in theory. I will see how it feels in practise.

Beneath the Lily Banners - does anyone have a link to some favourable reviews - found 1 that was not too impressed - mainly due to lots of small turns, I think.

Donnybrook - this is smaller scale actions than I'm looking for.

I think you'll find Baroque a much easier set to get to grips with than the original Impetus - the Italian to English is much improved, although alas not perfect and the mechaniocs both more streamlined , easier and better explained.

If there's a particular aspect of the Impetus set that you need assistance with, happy to step you through it, at heart it's pretty straight forward.

I've heard good things about VWQ but not played them.

BTLB is rather old school, judging by your initial comments I doubt its what you're looking for (it is very pretty and has lots of good info, the guys know their stuff), neither is FOG-R I suspect, Pike & Shotte is too early, LOA is allegedly covered by BP but I think its a stretch. Maurice kind of covers it but it's not tailor made.

Decent late 17th C rules are a bit thin on the ground hence the relief at Baroque being released (FOG being far to fiddly for my taste), everything else is distinctly elderly or a bit of a stretch.

Donnybrook are fun but not the right scale - it'd be like doing Wagram with Sharp Practice, technically do-able but in reality just daft

You can pick Baroque up from Wargames Vault as a PDF for a tenner - probably worth the gamble.

Hello

Quote from: fred. on 03 July 2016, 09:05:17 PM
Thanks GoM, VWQ look interesting - have printed a copy to peruse further. The idea of card activation appeals in theory. I will see how it feels in practise.

Card activation works ok for small number of units (and I use it for this) but I think you need brigade cards for larger scale battles. Discussed here for VWQ http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/fightingtalk/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3359&sid=b384aa76720cf836ae9b39bae01dc817

Also saw these rules that might be interesting http://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/twilight-of-sun-king.html http://balagan.info/twilight-of-the-sun-king-2001-version and http://balagan.info/optional-rules-and-musings-for-twilight-of-the-sun-king they're the original Twilight of the Sun King, current version available from the P&S Society. Saw that Kaptan Kobold tried using a d10 and thought of you  .

Edit - Oops, just went to the P&S Society page and it doesn't look like they sell TotSK any more.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

An updated version of the Twilight of the Sun King rules is imminent, along with a scenario booklet with 10 LoA and WSS battles. A second scenario booklet with 10 GNW and Ottoman battles should follow.

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps, I have the following for perusal:

Wargame the English Civil War by Peter Dennis - this is a short set of fairly simple rules, but with some interesting stuff around multi-round combats, designed to work with the paper cut-out figures that come with the rules. The core of the rules are not dissimilar to VWQ, but straight IGOUGO rather than card activation.

Victory without Quarter - card activated, fairly straight forward rules, certainly look good for solo due to card activation

Baroque - picked this up on PDF, rather than the printed book. The most complex of the 3, and the broadest in coverage. Easier to understand than Basic Impetus that I really struggled with, but I'm still working though all of this - it could do with a simple outline of the core mechanisms, with the extra details and complexities presented after. Really like the big Tercio bases.

The good news is that all 3 would work with a unit of 3 x 40x40mm bases (wargame the ECW probably would like you to have 6 bases, but lots of the pictures show 3).

Next step is some trial games to see what actually works - and then sort some figures out. Well sort out the figures I already have to see what armies they would make (and buy the extras that will obviously be needed)

I still think that Tony Barr's RenaissanceMaster is worth a look...if you can't locate it, bung me an email & I'll zap over to you