Donnybrook Skirmish Rules - A Personal Review

I swear I’ll never buy another 25mm period…………. ever heard yourself say that??

But my hand has been forced by Messers Harrison and Hilton, of the League of Augsberg/Beneath the Lily Banner fame. As some of may be aware I’m quite partial to the floppy hat and frilly shirt period, infact  I’ve been collecting 15mm figures for the NYW for some time now… don’t you know??

So when there were murmurs of a new skirmish set of rules from Messers Harrison and Hilton on the Fighting Talk Forum, I was instantly hooked, although a bit miffed, I haven’t even finished the 15’s yet, do I really need to buy more figures and 25’s at that???

That inner voice (you know him) kept goading me, you know you want to Ray, yeh but?, just get them, treat yourself, but I haven’t finished the 15mm NYW or my FIW or my Flodden figures?? Really??

Then before I knew what I was doing an order had been placed………then the figures arrived a couple of days later!!

Bacon's Rebellion 1676

Any way on with the review of Donnybrook.........

If you’re interested and like any war in between the years 1660 and 1760 and you want to play skirmish games, then this is the only set of rules you’ll need!

For £27 plus postage, aside from the actual rules, you'll be buying 110 pages worth of Faction guides. Scenarios, Period history, great looking photos, some of which are included in this review and an excellent comic strip format example scenario.

Savages attack Scottish settlers in panama

I’ve got to admit I’m quite surprised and very pleased at how simple but effective the rules are. Long gone are the days when I want to play an in-depth complicated set of rules.

I can’t recommend them enough??

French Dragoon's in defence Namur, 1695

The Rules

Donnybrook uses a card driven turn system, one card for each unit and hero or character.

And its time to get out all the odd shaped dice that have been laying unused in a box as well, you’ll need D4, D6, D8, D10 & D12, these dice represent the ability level of units and characters, for Firing, Morale and Melee, needing 6+ to hit or pass your check.

Tangiers 1683 

You’ll need to pick a faction from the Army Lists, your choices are

Army, Civilian Mob, Covenanters, Cultists, Highlanders, Outlaws, Rapparees & Tribal.

I’ve picked Army and Tribal to fight the Tangiers War in 1661-84

You then have to choose which level of game you want to play, there are three levels.

A Basic 4 point force, A standard 6 point force and a Large 8 point force.

The first 2 levels can be played on a 4x4 table, while you may need a bigger table for the larger  8 force army.

For each point of you army you may choose a unit to field from the following list:

12 Recruits or 9 Mounted Recruits

8 Drilled or 6 Mounted Drilled

4 Elites or 3 Mounted Elites.

So as an example, your 4 point army could consist of

1 x 12 Recruits, (who use a D6) 2x 8 Drilled (who use a D8) and 1 x 3 Mounted Elites (who use D10)

No Surrender. Co Tyrone 1689

You also get a free Hero/Character and with each point you spend you can add another lesser character eg: Sergeants, a Standard Bearer or even a Imam, Master of Hounds or Doxy??

Charging Cult Bodyguard

Although the rules are written primarily with the years 1660 - 1760 in mind, I can’t see why they can’t be used for earlier and later periods of history, there’s already talk of the Three Musketeers, the Spanish Inquisition, Cossacks,  Samurai, AWI, Vendee Revolt, Border Reivers and the Scanian War.

So I think your options could be endless??

It will take me a while to get my new 25mm Warfare figures painted, so I’m going to work on the lists to make a FIW faction for my 15mm figures for both sides….....should be fun!!

If you’re interested in the rules pop over to the League of Augsberg site where you can buy them direct!  

 All photos are used with kind permission of Clarence Harrison and Barry Hilton and are from the collections of Barry Hilton and Dave O’Brien.

In the name of Roma - WWII Scenarios for Winter 1941 - A Personal review

Last month I was asked by fellow blogger Chris Stoeson from Wargamer's Odds and Ends to review his soon to be released PDF set of WWII scenarios based on the actions of the 80th Roma Infantry Regiment on the Eastern Front from August to December 1941.
The scenarios are designed to be used for three sets of rules the TwoFatLardies ruleset "I Ain't Been Shot Mum 3rd edition, Troops Weapons and Tactics and also Chain of Command.

Now I don't claim to be a WWII expert at all, if anything I've only a basic historical knowledge, but I had no clue whatsoever that the Italian army fought the Russians in Russia during WWII.

Chris on the other hand did, he has produced a string of fascinating facts about the CSIR or the Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia. From the 10th of July 1941 when they were first mobilized until around the 12th December when winter weather forced them and the Germans to halt their attacks.

These facts include the story of the Italian hero, Santino Lutri, who advanced forward on the town of Pokrovskoje on his motorbike along with his compatriot Germano Narduzzi. Unfortunately their bikes became bogged down in mud along the road while trying to free them they came under Soviet fire from machine-guns, anti tank guns, artillery, small arms and even seven tanks! Lutri and Narduzzi were both wounded but remained exposed to gather information as to the positions of the Soviet armour and weapons, only after he was sure the intelligence was correct did Lutri manage to return to headquarters to report his findings, he also insisted that his partner Narduzzi's wounds to be attended to first even though he had a serious chest wound. This concern for his fellow soldier cost Lutri his life. For his actions he was awarded the first "Medaglia d'oro al valor militare" The Gold Bravery Military Medal of the Eastern Front. He became the first Italian casualty in the East.

The booklet runs a full 152 pages and includes optional rule amendments for the three sets already mentioned including a Padre Card which is very similar to the Big Man card in IABSM and the Avanti! card which can only be used by aggressive troops, much like the Uhraah! card.

Chris also included detailed information on the composition of both the Italian and Russian armies including support, weapons and armour.

But the main focus should be on the 6 Campaigns. Each Campaign has between 4 and 6 scenarios in them including detailed maps of the terrain for the gamer to layout on their tabletop, all in all there are 30 scenarios, including the great named Cabbages and Wells. These campaign's will run you through the trials and tribulations of the Italian and Russian forces during their bitter fight for survival.

Here's the Soviet Briefing for scenario 4 in Campaign 4 - Cabbages and Wells

"Your men are exhausted. Your battalion has been relocating peasants further back East. Your men have been under orders to burn these small villages, poison wells and make sure nothing is left behind for the fascists. Your company commander nearly broke down when he stooped to pick up a small child’s doll that was left in front of the smoldering ruins of the last village. The lives that are being ruined are beginning to get to all of you. One more village lies ahead. You have been promised that you will be taken to the rear after this."

Objective

Burn the town. Poison the well. Deny the town to the enemy. The 3rd squad has a cart with

combustibles for the houses and poison for the well.

and the Italian

"As the column continues grinding forward, your platoon has led the way. You are moving rapidly from village to village to reach the next objective. So far, you have passed through a hellish landscape. The villages you have found recently have been burned ruins. The harvests have been either burned in place or removed. You see a thin column of smoke on the horizon. What you assumed was another burned out and destroyed village turned out to be smoke from a chimney. It looks like this town has not faced the ravages of the Soviets. Best to seize this before it is destroyed. Besides a good night sleep in a building would be welcome. Last night you were strapped to a tree to avoid sliding under the mud."

Objective

Take the village before it is destroyed.

So if your interested in WWII and if you fancy something a little different from the more well known theatres of the war,  for the measly sum of US $11, you can purchase this fine piece of work.

To buy the PDF file all you have to do is send Chris a Paypal payment of $11 to     cstoesen@corecard.com, then he will email it back to you asap. 

For a FREE sample of the rules click the following LINK

Even if WWII's not really your thing or you've no interest in fighting the Italian-Russian campaign in 1941, you could modify the scenarios to any period and or any rule set you prefer. I've got my eye on the Cabbages and Wells scenario for a FIW game already!!!

Ray

Dux Bellorum - A Personal Review

Some of you may have already seen or even written a review on the new rules Dux Bellorum, by Dan Mersey. I've been meaning to write up mine for some time now, but school holidays and life just got in the way, so its a bit later than I would really have liked to but here goes anyway. 

As I previously said you may have seen other reviews, so I won't warble on too much about the technical side of the rules and I'll keep my review quite simple. There are two great indepth reviews over on Ferb's blog and on Dalauppror as well. Also a top notch interview with Dan himself in the recent issue of Wargames Illustrated, so check them both out if you can. 

Early last month I answered a blog post an Dan's blog, and received a free copy of the rules a week or two later!!! Nice one!!!! But you can buy them on Amazon here, for a measly £8.39. Which in my opinion is a bargin. Its always difficult with new rules and their pricing. I've bought rules for £30, read them and thought they were rubbish, and been quite sick and angry that I've wasted my £30, ( like I'm you have?) but at under a tenner, you just can't go wrong!!

This has always been one of my favourite period's and I've never even played it before?? As you may have read previously on my blog, my favourite books are the Bernard Cornwell Warlord Chronicles, so these fit right in there!

 The main thing I like about these rules is they are simple and effective. Dan set out some ground rules as he developed the game, which fit in perfectly with my idea of a great game. 

• "A Simple non tournament ruleset concentrating on playing, not learning." Now I'm all for complicated rulesets, but sometimes I'd just want to play a game that's not going to leave me with a banging headache and the wish to strangle my opponent.
• "Keep the emphasis that its a game not a simulation. "
• "Present optional rules without cluttering the basic game" I used to play another set of Dark Age Rules that no longer exist, I'm not stupid (I'm sure some will disagree!) but some rules are to technical we used to end up forgetting everything and the game wouldn't work properly. It was hard work reffing them.
• "Engage players in every phase of the game, give them choices to make" Now I like this idea! It's great when you have to make a choice in a game, what unit to move and when to move it, there is no, all your troops can move. So you best make the right decision or else!!!
• "Flexible army lists, that retain the character of each army." Some rules don't work with army lists, but these do, they'e very simple to read and understand and give you the feel of what they are supposed to be.
• "Represent close combat as a swirling, dangerous mass rather than a well co-ordinated battle line." It's rather to simulate that in a game, but Dux Bellorum seem to do just that!
• "Differentiate between offensive and defensive foot troops and allow armies to be foot or mounted" Just as they should.
• "Convey the spirit of Dark Age Battles without being too technical" Some will like this idea, some won't. I do!

Like I said I won't go into the technical side of the rules, but after reading them several times, I've found myself trawling the internet for some 15mm Romano-British figures on far too many occasions. I've resisted up until now, but I'm not sure how long I can hold...............Thanks Dan!!!!!!

Beneath the Lily Banners 2 a short review

Earlier in the month I pre-ordered Beneath the Lily Banners second edition, by Barry Hilton from The League of Augsburg's shop it duly arrived the day after posting, and very impressive it is too!

Beneath the Lily Banners is a tabletop wargaming rule system designed to give players a real flavour for the tactics and troops used in Europe during the period 1660-1721. The game play is simple and quick to master. The mechanics are based on simultaneous movement regulated by easy to understand orders. The game can be played in 28mm or 15mm scale. 6-8 units per side will give two or three hours of fun. The rules will easily accommodate 100 units per side for grand battle scenarios. The 2nd edition has many refined mechanisms for orders, shooting, close combat and morale. The book has an updated events section with 52 "playing card" controlled events to add challenges and entertainment to the game play. The rules contain supplementary chapters for gaming the Great Northern Wars, Eastern Wars against the Ottoman Empire and King William's war in North America 1689-1690.

The book contain several uniform guides for the English, Dutch, Danes, French, Irish and Swedes. These guides as I'm sure some of you already know come in the form of painted figures by painters, Pat Conner, Clarence Harrison, Dave Imrie and Brian Philips. Also included are a short painting guide from these fine fellows.
Barry has included 5 army lists, the French Army 1688-1697, the French Army 1688-1697 Expansion, the Grand Alliance 1688-1697, Williamite Army of Scotland 1689 and Swedish 1709. I'm painting up a 15mm Grand Alliance army and now need to get my finger or paintbrush to be precise and get some more cavalry painted!
The book is full is photo's of extremely well painted figures, which is enough to make any gamers mouth water and personally make me feel quite inadequate with a brush.
Another great item in the book is the scenario, "Steinbeke, July 1692", which contains an order of battle and a reinforcement table, also a run through of how Dave and Barry's version of the game went.
I very much like the events card system which will add a little spice to the game, if you decide to use it, using a normal pack of cards, Hearts effect officers, Clubs effect the troops, Spades effect weather or terrain and Diamonds are Acts of God!! What ever you do don't throw the King of Diamonds???

All in all I'd advise any wargamer, whether the Grand Alliance is your thing or not to get a copy of these rules. Well done Barry and Clarence!!!