In Deo Veritas game test; Boldon Hill 1644

[vtsaogames]

The AAR of my 15mm solo game test of these new rules can be found here.

A wild and exciting game resulted. So wild that in a campaign game I’d avoid battles unless the odds were heavily in my favor and instead seek sieges and small actions.. But the battles, wow.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[Who Asked This Joker]

Did you find the 4 page QRS a problem? Normally, I call a QRS larger than 2 pages a “mortal sin” in gaming.  It would also make me wonder how complex the rules really are if they require 2 extra pages for QRS?

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[Steve Johnson]

Thanks for the AAR and post game thoughts Vincent, that are very useful.

[Konstantinos Travlos]

Thanks !

[vtsaogames]

Most of the game can be handled by the first two pages of the QRS; turn sequence, movement. combat dice, saving throws, shooting results and melee results. The next two pages have retreats, impetuous pursuit, disorder/rally test, cohesion (morale test taken by any wing with routing/destroyed units, and general will (army level morale taken when at least one wing is worse than sound). Once one side goes about you check in the rules for pursuit/level of victory, which is simpler than I thought. If and when I can get a face to face game, the drill will likley be: play the turn through combat and reform/rally phases. Then point out any enemy wing with routed units and call for cohesion tests. I’m sure the compliment will be returned. Then if any enemy wings have negative results, call for a general will test. I imagine if you wanted a bloodier shoot ’em up you could dispense with the general will test or even the cohesion test. Without the general will test both armies in my test would have had to back off from each other, which would have given the defending Royalists a victory of sorts.

 

Number of combat dice table has 9 modifiers, some fairly rare. Saving throws table has one line with 11 modifiers. Shooting and melee results pretty straightforward. Impetuous pursuit has 20 modifiers, disorder/rally test has 23! Cohesion test has 14 modifiers. General will has none. Roll low.

 

Combat hits are not carried over from one turn to the next. Instead they determine the morale state of he unit, which can degrade from sound to disordered to disrupted to routed to sleeping with the fish.

 

I suspect an army of veterans like the Spanish would be a very tough customer. They get more saving throws, more combat dice in some cases, rally better and sound veteran infantry brigades are the only infantry that can affect post game pursuit.

 

One minor nit-pick: I prefer games where all die rolls are biased the saem way, either high is good or low is good. IDV has high rolls good for everything except the wing and army morale tests (cohesion and general will). For those you want a 1. There are no modifiers to the individual combat/saving dice. Modifiers are all to the number of dice rolled. 4+ either gives a possible hit or saves it. Pursuit, disorder/rally and cohesion modifiers affect the score of a single die.

I could see using this basic structure in different periods. Players give orders (attack, hold or retire) per wing and then turn cards to see what order they activate in.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[vtsaogames]

OK, got the second scenario set up, Boldon Hill again but with the extensive enclosed areas for the Royalist foot to deploy in. Last time I didn’t roll up the leader stats, just presumed they all were avreage types. I didn’t roll for events either. Perhaps I’ll do that this time. It may be a few days before the game is played and another one or two for the report to see the light of day. Tomorrow sees a car task, no gaming…

 

Edit: rolled up leader stats, the Royalist infantry wing CO is a politico, a dud. The Scottish cavalry wing is epxerienced.

I then rolled for events and both sides got one. The Scots got the ability to make one enemy wing move last in one turn. The Royalists got a cavalry raid beating up the enemy quarters. The Scots must select two cavalry brigades that leave the field to chase the raiders. That being two of their three brigades, I decided to drop the events. Will keep the leader skills since that doesn’t seem too much. Now to sit back and listen to WWOZ, the New Orleans radio station on the internet…

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[Steve Johnson]

Hmmm, strange to have different saves, where on some high is good, in others it’s bad. With all of the modifiers listed, I don’t think they’re for me. I prefer fairly simple but not simplistic rules, where you can focus on the game etc and not constantly refer to the rules. The players and scenario generation can add all of the flavour and friction without much trouble at all.

[OB]

Interesting report.  I’ve got the rules too but have yet to try them out.

OB
http://withob.blogspot.co.uk/

[Tony S]

I actually had these rules preordered months ago, but then Covid broke out, and I got an automated email that my order had been cancelled, due to the publisher being unable to supply the retailer I order them from.  I was going to order them again, as they are obviously available now, but your description of the QRS and the holes in the rules you found in your solo playtest has me thinking perhaps I’ll pass on these.  Thanks for posting your experience and thoughts.  (And avoid Windows 10 too?)

I’m still looking for a set of pike and shotte rules that I like.  So far, For King and Parliament is by far my favourite, but it would nice to find a set that covers Italian Wars, or TYW or Wars of Religion as well.

Over the years, I often found In Vino Veritas

Can’t argue that!

[vtsaogames]

Steve. all saving throws are 4+. What changes is the number of dice thrown. Ditto combat dice. The two tests that want low rolls are wing cohesion and army will tests.

 

Tony, I do think these rules could cover the Italian Wars and the French Wars of Religion without too many tweaks.

 

As for Windows 10, sadly support for Windows 7 was dropped at the start of the year. Since then it has gotten slower and slower, forcing me to go to Windows 10. A friend who is better at PC lore than I said he prefers Windows 7 but could not stay there.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[vtsaogames]

And another take of Bolden Hill, this time with enclosures for the Royalist foot to deploy in. Details here.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[vtsaogames]

Now for something rather different, Bolden Hill using Tilly’s Very Bad Day rules. It was short, brutal and decisive. Details here.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

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