What was the last ruleset you played 2017?

[Leman]

As a keen TtS player, I have every intention of making these my go to ECW rules.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello d_Guy

1) What ruleset did you use in your last game? - For King and Parliament (newest draft).
2) What armies were confronted? - Early war Royalist v. Parliamentarian.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Marginally yes - had played To the Stongest before.
4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? - Yes
5) How many players were in the game? - Counting myself - one.

These are going to be some fun, fast play rules!

Are these rules just ECW/30YW pike and shot only or do they cover from late Italian Wars up? The discussions on the forum aren't clear on this. I have the rules but I must admit that life has prevented me having a good look at them. I'm atrtracting to their solitaire playability. Is there any news on their fantasy variant?

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[d_Guy]

First Grumpy, there are a few here that can answer that question in much greater detail but until they come along, to me they seem specifically geared to the ECW and broadly to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They would certainly adapt to the later TYW. The Late Italian Wars would fall well before where I think these rules would be designed to function. I think they can probably go forward through the Williamite Wars with no problem.

As you say they do have good solitaire playability and the potential for adapting much more in that direction (a grid based system being helpful in arranging "surprises").  As to a fantasy variant I am so far out on the fringe as to not even be aware if one is being contemplated. 

I think some fan work has be done in the fantasy realm for To the Srongest! bit could be wrong.

[Leman]

I am building TtS Italian Wars armies. If you go on the TtS forum you will find the area dedicated to the Italian Wars and the later C16th. There you can find amendments for using the original TtS rules for the troops of the C16th. There is also a strong implication that published rules for this period are planned for some time in the future. The TtS forum will enable you to contact Simon Miller directly to discuss these developments. Hope that helps.

[mollinary]

Hello d_Guy

Are these rules just ECW/30YW pike and shot only or do they cover from late Italian Wars up? The discussions on the forum aren't clear on this. I have the rules but I must admit that life has prevented me having a good look at them. I'm atrtracting to their solitaire playability. Is there any news on their fantasy variant?

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

Hi,

As you may have gathered from other posts on the forum,  I am Simon Miller's co-author for this set of rules.  The rules as currently written are aimed firmly at ECW. We looked at the idea of having a more wide ranging rule set, but decided against it on the grounds that it was the very breadth of other rulesets that I had found unsatisfactory - they didn't have the feel I was looking for. We also felt that if we started on a focussed period, we could concentrate on specific mechanic changes and get something produced in a manageable timescale. It has still taken us over a year of intensive playtesting to get to where we are today.  On completion, I think we both feel that the new basic mechanics will have the flexibility to go forward or backwards, for about a century or so. Certainly from my point of view, and my own interests, I will find it easier to move it forward towards WSS and the SYW. I think Simon's inclinations might take him in the other direction.  All that said, it  s a firm intention to look at what would be needed to make it useable for the 30YW as a priority. As Leman has said, the To the Strongest forum is a good place to explore your interests, and pose some questions.  I have a feeling that the earlier period might be easier to approach directly from the basic To the Strongest rules?

Best,

Mollinary

[Chad]

If the game mechanics are the same as To The Strongest, I can thoroughly recommend them.

[Leman]

Hi Grumpy,
I carried out a little experiment with my 28mm Swiss to see what they would look like for TtS. I have decided that the base is too deep (it is bigger than the standard deep base. I did this because pike in the Italian Wars are classed as extra deep, but as this applies to all of them I might as well use the official deep base) and that the figures are too widely spaced. I will therefore add some of the other painted Swiss to get a tighter formation, but this currently gives an idea of what I'm aiming for.



I would also recommend having a look at the Lead Adventure forum in the section on Pikes, muskets and flouncy shirts, which will guide you to some fantastic Italian Wars blogs

www.lead-adventure.de

[Roy]

The Rules Of Life.

Basically things don't always go your way, and the outcome is heavily influenced by either blind luck or good old fashioned cheating.

End of the game is always the same, though. No one wins. 

[mollinary]

If the game mechanics are the same as To The Strongest, I can thoroughly recommend them.

Yes Chad, the game mechanics are basically the same, so players familiar with TtS pick them up pretty quickly. To be fair, so do players who have never played TtS!  We will be putting a game on at COLOURS in Newbury on Saturday for those who want to come along and see, and perhaps take part.  The trick has been adapting mechanisms to new troop types, and creating new mechanisms of the same style to reflect weapons and tactics. Given the increased importance of firepower, for example, we felt we needed to include a new concept of 'return fire' , so any troops fired at, can, if able, fire back immediately. Seems to work!

Mollinary

[Steve J]

Well, yet another game I look forward to seeing on Saturday

[ErHo]

Most if not all responses are for tabletop, while we did use minis(6mm? Robotech Tactics) it was just for loose position markers.


1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? -

Robotech RPG

2) What armies were confronted? -

12 Zentaedi battlepods and 3 Maurauders

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? -

Yeah buddy!

4) and... was this the first time you used this ruleset? -

No sir, second time!

5) How many players were in the game? -

4 of the group regulars.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - MeG
2) What armies were confronted? - my Later Imperial Romans in 10mm vs My Mongols (used by Paul) in 10mm.
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - utterly
4a) Who won? - Paul conceded. I had killed 4/5 units of his I needed break him, and was closing on her s cam. He had killed 3.5 of mine out of 5 to break. I was closing on his camp rapidly too.
5) How many players were in the game? - two

My Romans out scouted, out shot and out fought the Mongols, I blew away his centre, my javelins armed Auxiliaries were able to out shoot his bow armed army, and I caught his evading cavalry three times in the rear with charges. My foot was out manoeuvring his cavalry, he had better and more generals, but we Romans didn't care!
Full report on 'blog tomorrow, in glorious 10mm action!

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello Mollinary, d_Guy and Leman

Hi,

As you may have gathered from other posts on the forum,  I am Simon Miller's co-author for this set of rules.  The rules as currently written are aimed firmly at ECW. We looked at the idea of having a more wide ranging rule set, but decided against it on the grounds that it was the very breadth of other rulesets that I had found unsatisfactory - they didn't have the feel I was looking for. We also felt that if we started on a focussed period, we could concentrate on specific mechanic changes and get something produced in a manageable timescale. It has still taken us over a year of intensive playtesting to get to where we are today.  On completion, I think we both feel that the new basic mechanics will have the flexibility to go forward or backwards, for about a century or so. Certainly from my point of view, and my own interests, I will find it easier to move it forward towards WSS and the SYW. I think Simon's inclinations might take him in the other direction.  All that said, it  s a firm intention to look at what would be needed to make it useable for the 30YW as a priority. As Leman has said, the To the Strongest forum is a good place to explore your interests, and pose some questions.  I have a feeling that the earlier period might be easier to approach directly from the basic To the Strongest rules?

Best,

Mollinary

Thanks for the replies. I can see that I'll have to tell my family to b*gger off and solve their own problems so I can sit down and read the rules .

I've signed up to the forum and, after I've read the rules and forum suggestions, I'm sure I can ask my usual inane questions. I think I'll see how it goes with an interim period like French Wars of Religion as well.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[Raider4]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - MeG

Sorry, but MeG is . . . ?

Cheers, Martyn
--

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Mortem et Gloriam
http://www.thewargameszone.org/62/The-Ancients-Zone-Mortem-et-Gloriam