The League of Augsburg / 9 Years War / James in Ireland

[Westmarcher]

The League of Augsburg range is looking really attractive and by all accounts, paints up well (particularly as illustrated on this forum). Not unnaturally, I therefore find myself drawn to this period. Question is, "What rules to use?"

I probably need to give them another go but I have both Ga Pa and Beneath the Lily Banners (1st Ed.)* and found these slightly disappointing and not really my thing (both being rather prescriptive regarding base sizes and, for my old brain, poorly written). Any other suggestions / recommendations for this period?


* or as Angus Konstam said, Beneath the Billy Banners(!)

[Hwiccee]

We use a set called Twilight of the Sun King for large battles. You fight historic battles with 1 or 2 players a side. We use the new version which should be out later in the year. The old version is still around and sold by the Pike and Shot society.

For smaller more tactical actions we are modifying our ECW rules to cover this era - these http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/WWAE.htm. Hopefully more news on these later in the year.

In both of these basing is however you want and the other measurements come from the base size.

I am not a fan of Lily (or Billy) Banners but Ga Pa is good if you take the time to work them out. The author is Swedish and so sometimes the English is 'tricky'. Also I am not sure they actually cover this war, but it wouldn't be difficult to modify them. Other than this though they are a nice set with some good ideas.

[Leman]

A friend of mine invested a lot of time and dosh in Under the Lilly Banners, including special status markers etc. but found them too convoluted to play. He now plays either DBR or more recently the Impetus version for this period called Basic Baroque on the Impetus website. There is a full-scale version in development.

[Sandinista]

I use Pike & Shotte and find them most enjoyable, gives a good game with sizeable forces in about 3 hours.

Cheers
Ian

[Westmarcher]

Thanks for your recommendations, chaps. Like the idea of base widths - given the different scales of miniatures on offer these days I think all new rules should try to be base orientated, leaving you to decide the base size and shove as many figures on as you want depending on your preferences, figure scale and wallet.

I think I might hold back on the short term and look out for the new version of Twilight, Hwiccee, and also the proposed variation of your own ECW rules (I believe one reviewer compared them to a mixture of Loose Files and American Scramble & Forlorn Hope - which might be quite good because one was slick and fast and the the other, whilst promising much with some features I liked, could be slightly slow).

I should have mentioned I used to have DBR, Leman - I ended up re-writing some parts of these rules in plain English to make them playable - before selling them many years ago along with my ECW collection. I see Impetus gets good reviews however so hopefully the Baroque version will be just as good if not better. also, something of a relief that its not just me who was disappointed with the Billy Banners.

I like Black Powder, Ian, and so Pike & Shotte from the same stable was always a candidate but I've been wary of them because a lot of people don't seem to like them for various reasons. One 'criticism' I think I once read is that some people don't like Pike being treated separately from Shot(?) within a unit - treating them differently sounds right to me - in my mind, they weren't one unit but a 'combined arms' team that acted as one unit or separately (e.g., commanded shot) if necessary (if that sounds right!). Cheers!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I us FogR, but I'm strange like that...

[Leman]

If you standardise your base widths, e.g. 40mm, 30mm, 25mm, then all sorts of rules come within grasp, e.g. I play BP with 10mm figures on smallish bases using cms instead of inches.

[Nosher]

I us FogR, but I'm strange like that...

Another vote for FoGR

[gregernest]

And another!

[Leman]

I also will be preparing FOGR Italian Wars armies - picked up 60 arquebusiers at Vapnartak - the new 'French' variety in the Flodden range. Many will become Spanish.

[parkerm17]

What is FogR?   Being incredibly ancient I don't do text speak and find abbreviations a problem. but these sound to be the most recommended.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello parkerm17

What is FogR?   Being incredibly ancient I don't do text speak and find abbreviations a problem. but these sound to be the most recommended.

FOGR is Field of Glory Renaissance http://www.slitherine.com/games/fog_r. I'd have a look through reviews and battle reports on the interweb to see if they tick your boxes.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[FierceKitty]

EVERYONE ends up rewriting DBR to try to restore sanity!

[Zippee]

I would heartily recommend Baroque - its new, its fresh and its really quite lovely.

[oldblindjohn]

I just received FoGR and found them to be somewhat cumbersome.
I have not played them yet, but the read through was trying.
I think still prefer Beneath the Lily Banners.
If some has played both I would like to hear a comparison.