Crikey, this has been a busy month. Work has been hectic, but I have managed to tinker away on a few wargaming projects.
My main interest has been knocking together a set of quick-play rules for the early C20th, to cover WW1, Back of Beyond, Very British Civil War (VBCW)RCW, SCW and the Italo-Abyssinian war (among others). To this end I have been reading through a lot of published stuff, including some older gems such as Charles Grant's "Battle!" to garner ideas. I have ended up with a game that looks a bit like "Rapid Fire!" but plays more like the board game "Squad Leader" (but fast). First playtest was last night at the club. I had my battalion of the Borsetshire regiment (4 companies + command unit) supported by a couple of platoons of Vickers MGs and two companies of Turkoman levies. On the other side was a mixed SCW/VBCW force of approximately the same size (about 60 figures for each side) supported by a HMG. The game played well and even with the unfamiliar rules we were finished well inside 3 hours and the time flew by. The rules were deadly enough to fee "in-period" but not so deadly that using tactics became irrelevant. The game lasted around 12 turns and it felt "right" or close to it.
Next I have to think about rules for armoured cars. We'll get to artillery later :-)
On the painting front I have been dealing with some British Lewis Gunners (Copplestone) to beef-up the Borsetshires. Other projects are ticking over and I will get back to them very soon.
Oh, and Partizan was good, but I was knackered...
cheers!
My main interest has been knocking together a set of quick-play rules for the early C20th, to cover WW1, Back of Beyond, Very British Civil War (VBCW)RCW, SCW and the Italo-Abyssinian war (among others). To this end I have been reading through a lot of published stuff, including some older gems such as Charles Grant's "Battle!" to garner ideas. I have ended up with a game that looks a bit like "Rapid Fire!" but plays more like the board game "Squad Leader" (but fast). First playtest was last night at the club. I had my battalion of the Borsetshire regiment (4 companies + command unit) supported by a couple of platoons of Vickers MGs and two companies of Turkoman levies. On the other side was a mixed SCW/VBCW force of approximately the same size (about 60 figures for each side) supported by a HMG. The game played well and even with the unfamiliar rules we were finished well inside 3 hours and the time flew by. The rules were deadly enough to fee "in-period" but not so deadly that using tactics became irrelevant. The game lasted around 12 turns and it felt "right" or close to it.
Next I have to think about rules for armoured cars. We'll get to artillery later :-)
On the painting front I have been dealing with some British Lewis Gunners (Copplestone) to beef-up the Borsetshires. Other projects are ticking over and I will get back to them very soon.
Oh, and Partizan was good, but I was knackered...
cheers!
Have you considered Too Fat Lardies "Through the Mud & Blood"?
ReplyDelete(http://toofatlardies.co.uk/)
Sounds fun - are you planning to publish the new rules?
ReplyDeleteI might have a figure manufacturer interested in taking the rules forward through development and into publication. If this falls through, then I'll put htem up online in the future.
ReplyDeleteI have looked at Mud & Blood and it has some nice ideas, but ultimatley I don't like card-driven games very much.
I'd love to see more of your Crusaders, Steve, if you've made any more progress on them?
ReplyDeleteTake care, I hope all is well.
Ed.