Not sure how I got onto this. Might have been when I idly googled Warhammer Historical, and turned up 1644 and its derivation Warhammer Historical English Civil War. I always preferred the turn-of-century style of GW games - not just the rules but the style of writing and illustration. So I read both of these. And then...
- Pike and Shotte
- To Kill a King (Pike and Shotte supplement)
- The Pikeman's Lament
- From Pike to Shot 1685-1720 (by Charles S. Grant)
- Ironsides (by Howard Whitehouse)
- Regiment of Foote (by Peter Pig)
- Dominion of Pike and Shot
- Wargaming Pike and Shot (by Donald Featherstone)
Not all of these are yet received or read, but ... yeah. I have half a mind to order the Pike and Shotte starter box and try Pikeman's Lament with it. (It would provide an opportunity to use the 28mm Warhammer walls I just got.)
Curiously, I can't find out exactly what's in the box! There are 58 pike and shot figures in addition to cavalry and "forlorn hope"/commanded shot, but the regiment shown in the pictures has 36 figures (12 pike, 24 shot). Two of those would be a lot more than 58 - and if it is a two-player starter, there ought to be two full regiments at the very least, which would mean each might number twenty-four plus some sort of command... All the reviews I can find focus on the rules rather than the minis, which seems unusual for starter sets.
Anyway, whatever there is ought to be enough for two small Pikeman's Lament forces. A lot of people (including my local gaming group) dislike the activation system of this series of rulesets, since there is a very good chance that some or even all of your units will just skip their turn, repeatedly. However, I think I have a way around that - specifically, the way Bob Cordery does it in Bundok and Bayonet. This is to allow the order to go through when failed, but any movement must be away from the enemy.
Partly it's just because it's the last one I've read, but the Dominion ruleset is my current focus. There is a lot of buzz on the Facebook Portable Wargame group about the series, and the fact that it is solo, quick and can be played with my small Wofun ECW collection is appealing. I printed it out and in the process discovered that material can be sent to the printer in "booklet" form - even more useful as I have been asked to make club copies of the 1981 Charge! too.
Speaking of the club, the annual "regatta" is tomorrow at the new location, and I hope to be there and provide a battle report and pics afterward. Hope your holidays and gaming gifts are as good as mine are shaping up to be. Til next time!
Ironsides is very good. I have adapted the core game engine for a number of different periods. Happy Holidays to you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation, and the good wishes. Happy holidays to you and yours, and good gaming in the new year!
DeleteI have enjoyed everything M. Whitehouse came up with. Always something new and creative.
DeleteI like much of his stuff, too, and would love to play his Gentleman's War if I can source shiny 54mm types. (Well, I've got Armies in Plastic and Little Wars Paperboys...)
DeleteI don't have 54mm, but can certainly use 28mm (either my Sudan or my Nap)
DeleteThe Dominion rule sets are very simple and lend themselves to tinkering, something I do quite a bit of. Speaking of which it might be worth checking out Alan Saunders (Captain Kobold, the Stronghold Rebuilt blog) tweaks and ECW campaign system for Dominion.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation! Regiment of Foote has an interesting not-quite-campaign system of incidents running up to the battle, too.
DeleteSince you mentioned the Portable Wargame group on Facebook, there is a Portable Pike & Shot Wargaming book which includes two sets of rules suitable for the ECW.
ReplyDeleteOK. I wrote one of them :)
As Mark notes above, I have played out a couple of campaigns using Dominion of Pike & Shot. It's good for a speedy resolution, and you can create an interesting narrative. Like all of the Dominion series, though, it lacks meat on the bones :)
I've done a little Portable Wargaming, but I need to hunt down a (large) hex mat before I can really get into much of it.
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