North Star - French Wilderness Force

Having decided that I was going to go for the "larger" French & Indian War 28mm figure ranges (North Star, Galloping Major, Redoubt) for my Muskets & Tomahawks project, I picked up the French Wilderness Force from North Star.  You get 23 figures in a plastic box and they are accompanied with some plastic bases:

1 Compagnie Franche de la Marine Officer
10 Compagnie Franches de la Marine
6 Coureurs des Bois
6 Huron Indians

This gives me a 200 point force for Muskets & Tomahawks.  The figures needed a little cleaning up with a little bit of flash and loads of run offs but otherwise I am pretty pleased with them.  Here are a few photos:

  

First Look: Muskets & Tomahawks

So whilst I was at the Broadside 2012 show I had a look at Muskets & Tomahawks from Studio Tomahawk (the chaps who brought us Saga).  I had been wondering about whether to get these rules since Salute 2012 and having read a few positive reviews I gave into temptation.

Muskets & Tomahawks is subtitled Skirmishes in North America during the 18th Century and is clearly aimed at the French & Indian War, the Indian Rebellions and the American War of Independence.  It's a 62 page paperback booklet with an accompanying deck of 45 cards. Whilst the covers are in colour the interior is black and white but all with a glossy finish.  The text is in a two column format interspersed with various examples and optional elements along with photographs, mainly of wargames figures and scenarios.

The rules are clearly laid out and relatively straightforward; there are a few clunky translations from the original French (including some bits that weren't) but these don't really detract from the whole.  The sequence of play is driven by the cards, the special feature here is that different troop types have different numbers of cards in the deck with differing numbers of actions permitted when they are drawn.  So Regulars will activate less frequently but have more actions per activation than Indians for example.  The card deck can also contain Event cards and other scenario or rule specific cards.  The standard approach does not include an end of turn card (like the Too Fat Lardies rules) although this is given as an optional rule.

Following the main rule sections is a scenario generator which contains three standard sizes of games, scenery set up and a set of simple but cleverly structured tables to provide an interesting mix of objectives for the two sides.  The game sizes are build around table size and point values (which isn't something I am usually keen on, but I can see how it is beneficial for a generating games on the night).

Next up is a section detailing the various combatants, a brief background and their characteristics.  This is followed by three appendices detailing the six scenario objectives, 31 side plots for individual officers (which will add an interesting dynamic to any scenario) and 36 random events.  Then finally there is a single page quick reference sheet.

The rules look very interesting to me and with Northstar producing a range of figures of accompany them I can see they are likely to provide a significant source of distraction from my current projects!

First Look: Maurice

Since four possible choices for rules for my Marlburian project clearly weren't enough, I decided to pick up a copy of Maurice too.

The main rulebook is softback and 112 pages long.  It is split into two main sections, the Basic Game and the Advanced Game.   The first section covers the introduction, game set up, an overview of play, movement, volley & bombardment (firing), combat and some housekeeping.  The second section covers Epic (campaign) Points, Notables (personalities), optional advanced rules, historical scenarios, the Succession Wars campaign system and the Quick Reference Sheets.  The book is US letter size, generally in two columns and full colour.  The rules are clearly explained with examples, diagrams and interspersed with pictures of figures etc.

The rules are intended to cover a century of warare - 1690 to 1790.  This is quite a range and there were a significant changes in tactics over that time.  In addition, the unit and ground scales are flexible.  So these are clearly intended to lean more towards the game end rather than the simulation end of the spectrum.

Units are artillery, regular or irregular infantry and cavalry.  They are intended to be represented by four bases although other than for formation representation I am not sure this is critical as there is no figure or base removal.  Distances are all stated in "Base Widths" and so can be used irrespective of the actual basing of the figures.

The system relies heavily on cards, is IGO-UGO but with the chance to interrupt actions if you have the appropriate card.  The cards themselves are available separately (in a rather nice box), you can download the ones for the Basic Game from the website (but not for the Advanced Game).  A card based system for random terrain generation is included based around a fairly standard table set up and there is a points based system to create pick up and play games.

Each player has an initial hand of cards, which is usually larger for the player designated as the attacker.  These Action Cards are either Interrupt Cards (which can be played in the opponent's turn), Event Cards (which may be played to cause the card text to come into effect) or Modifier Cards (which can be used to improve the various Actions).  All the cards have a Span number on them as well and can be played for this rather than their other role (more of than later).

A game is played in alternating rounds with the attacker going first.  The active player can decide whether there will be a volley phase in the round (where infantry will fire) although the passive player can reverse this decision if they have the appropriate card.  The active player then has a choice to Pass, play an Event or play an Action.  Passing allows you to draw three cards into your hand (up to a normal maximum total hand size of 10) but do nothing else.  Playing an Event allows you to play an Event Card and have the text occur but does not allow you to draw any cards.  Playing an Action allows you to activate a group of units to march, charge, rally or, if they are artillery, bombard.  The more aggressive the action the less cards you get the draw into your hand.

The groups of units you can activate are quite limited, they must be of the same type, in the same formation and in the terrain that has the same impact on movement.  In order to activate a group you need to play cards the sum of whose Span numbers is equivalent to or greater than the distance between the C in C and the nearest unit of the group.  In addition you can play Modifier Cards which are relevant to the action they are performing.

Movement is dependent on unit type, formation and terrain and formation changes are neatly handled with both having the appropriate limitations for the period.  Oblique movement is available as an advanced rule to be included for games later in the periods covered.

Firing consists of a roll to hit which must then be converted to a Disruption.  Units can usually take 4 Disruptions before they evaporate.  The rally action can be used to remove Disruptions.  Melee is an opposed dice roll added to a modified combat value for the unit quality (Elite, Trained, Conscript etc.).

A game will run until the card deck has been run through a couple of times (a reshuffle card is added after the first time through, which allows the discard deck to be shuffled back into the draw pile and then removed after it appears) or when an Army's morale breaks.  If the card deck is exhausted then night is deemed to have fallen and control of a pre-determined objective determines victory.

The advanced rules provide for Epic Points which are useable in a campaign context; Notables who are attached to individual units and can provide them with benefits or, indeed handicaps (this is the age of nepotism!); reinforcements, engineering, pikes, additional artillery rules and an outline of how to play with two players per side (using two card decks, I note).

Guidance for scenario designers is also included along with three historical scenarios - the Battles of Fontenoy in 1745, Kolin in 1757 and Brandywine in 1777.  The Succession Wars section then provides a simply framework for playing campaigns and there are a few FAQs and the five page QRS to finish off (although it should be noted that the QRS is bound in and there isn't a separate one provided - a pdf is available to download though).

Overall, I am impressed by the presentation (although it ought to be good considering the price!), the card based approach looks very interesting but I am slightly worried that it may end up being a little too abstract - only actually playing will tell that though.  It will certainly be interesting to compare these to the other rules I have for the period.

Project Update

As 2009 rushes by I thought it might be an idea to collect my thoughts as to the "current" projects. These have changed a little from the plan I outlined in December but that's par for the course. Here's what's been happening with my 2008 projects:

28mm Winter War
The Soviets are now based with only a mortar to be completed. I am about to start on the second Bolt Action Miniatures building and, of course, there are the Snapdragon revetments to paint up.

28mm Spanish Civil War
Having based up quite a few for one of the gaming weekends the remainder, including the Assaltos, Carlists, Moroccan Regulares and the Falange are in progress. The Grand Manner buildings have worked out nicely and I'm still toying with the idea of getting their church (on the back of a project later down the list!)

28mm WW1
The early war Brits are nearly all based, apart from the HMGs. I still have some additional figures for the early and later war Germans to finish basing and the late war French to get around to. I'm hoping that the upcoming TooFatLardies rules will spur me into action on these. In any event I am planning to stage a game for late April which should force me to make some progress!

28mm Irish War of Independence
I'm afraid that this hasn't moved forward much since the last game; however, that did prompt me to get the Crossley tenders painted. In reality I only have the Sloppy Jalopy armoured car to assemble and I suspect that my 1938 project may benefit from having that available. Again the BEF figures I have bought, mainly for 1938, will also be useable for the British Army and so will widen the possible scenarios. I am hoping that someone will produce the Lancia armoured carriers:

Musketeer did suggest that they might but were having casting issues IIRC.

28mm Tudor Irish
OK, I have to own up on this one - there has been no real progress at all here. I suspect this is partly because I have been caught up in other things and party because I still have to settle on which rules to use (or to write my own). I often find that without that element being sorted it is difficult to see when a project will make it to the table and so they often get parked.

Moving on to 2009:

28mm Early WW2
The Foundry and Crusader British, German and French figures are being painted at the moment and I've picked up a couple of pieces of armour for the Germans but I am waiting for the launch of the new BEF Miniatures (allegedly at Salute) to see what I can get for the Brits and the French.

28mm 1938 A Very British Civil War
Originally a minor spin off from the previous project this one has really taken on a life of its own and I have been spending quite a bit of time looking around for figures, vehicles and terrain to bring this period to life. The big advantage is the obvious overlap with my Operation Sealion plans and so most of the generic stuff I pick up will work for either.

Musketeer have been the main source for the specific 1938 figures and their BUF and BEF (to be used as Regulars or Territorials as appropriate) are off for painting. I will also be using figures from the early WW2 and IWI projects along with a few appropriate SCW ones. I am also hoping to get some of the upcoming Musketeer militia at Salute (which may also find their way into WW2 as LDV).

Given that terrain has been more difficult to find I have been trying to look for pieces to make the table more obviously English. Picked up some telephone boxes (you can't get more quinticentially English than that - can you?) from Black Cat Bases:


As you can see they've got the basic look but I can't understand why they didn't make them square. The casting is a little on the basic side too. These will need a bit of work but it will be interesting to see if they look better once they're tidied up and painted.

I'm pleased with the Grand Manner manor house which will work nicely and I have my eye on a couple of other pieces which might work but I'd like to have a look at them in the flesh (or is that the resin) at Salute before buying as they are a major "investment".

28mm Wild West
This is pretty much ready to go. Ideally I could do with a couple more buildings to bulk out the town but the figures are painted and based and I plan to use the Two Hour Wargames Six Gun Sound rules. I just need to come up with some scenarios.

28mm Polar Bear Expedition
I managed to pick up the HLBS figures but I now need to work out what to use for opposition. Lenin does have some Copplestone figures in greatcoats so they may well do in the interim but it would be nice to get some which are based with snow (his are for Back of Beyond)!

28mm Greek Myth
No real progress here as yet. Lenin will be painting these figures for me and he's been snowed under with other stuff so I suspect they'll be a little while yet. I have picked up some buts and pieces of minor set dressing but that's pretty much all.

28mm Napoleonics
This wasn't on the agenda in December but I have been thinking of expanding my existing small collection of Peninsular figures for a while and the TooFatLardies' Sharp Practice rules have provided the springboard. I plan to get quite a few more Front Rank figures at Salute to enable a much larger game to be put on. The other reason this has resurfaced is that it gives me an opportunity to use those Grand Manner buildings I mentioned earlier.

15mm early WW2
I have some figures ready for this but it has been on a back burner for a little while. I am thinking of starting a small Operation Sealion campaign with the larger games at 15mm (possibly using a tweaked version of Spearhead) tied in with the 28mm skirmish games. Only time will tell whether this comes off!

15mm Seven Years War
I've had a decent collection of figures to do French & Indian Wars for a number of years now. When I put them together I conciously got the British figures in the traditional tricornes rather than the F&IW campaign dress so that I could use them for the European theatre at some future time. I am thinking of kicking this off again but we'll need to see if it has the "legs" to actually get to the table. I will be putting on a F&IW game in early April which may spur me on though.

Friedrich - A Euro/War game Hybrid?

I managed to pick up a copy of Friedrich at Orc's Nest last week. It's a boardgame about the Seven Years War for 3 or 4 players (though there are two 2 player scenarios) pitting one player (as Friedrich) against the others, although only one player can win.

On first sight it looks like a cross between a Euro game and a Wargame with the wooden pieces, control chits and point to point map, and the mechanics repeat that approach - conflict but with a pretty streamlined system (combat using cards). The historic flavour is enhanced with the use of the Fate deck which introduces real events into the game - some of these eliminate individual nations but all the allies have a fall back to work with.

I've only managed to read the rules so far but it looks very interesting - particularly as the hybrid nature of the game should give it a wider appeal than my more traditional wargames.

Quebec 1759

I managed to pick up a copy of the Columbia Games block wargame Quebec 1759 on eBay recently. It was actually an old Gamma II edition but other than a couple of very minor production differences the games are identical. The box sleeve was a little more badly damaged than I was expecting but the game was complete and the block bags still sealed and unstickered - though after C&C:A I would have been happy to get one with the stickers already fixed. I've only had a chance to read though the rules so far and it's pretty much as expected. It was one of Gamma II/Columbia's early games (first published in 1972) and so is somewhat less sophisticated than their later offerings but that's what I was looking for - I want a range of games I can play with different sets of people. My other half likes board and card games but isn't keen on wargames as they're "too thinky". I'm hoping something simpler like Quebec 1759 might allow a foot in the door. Who knows - but it's got to be worth a try!