Home Forums Horse and Musket 18th Century Revised Twilight of the Sun King (1680-1720) and scenarios now available

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  • #53384
    Avatar photoHwiccee
    Participant

    An extensively revised version of the innovative Twilight of the Sun King rules and a scenario book are now available.

     

    The Twilight of the Sun King: Birth of the Age of Reason rules focus on the period 1680-1720. The rules are aimed at re-fighting large battles with moderate resources and in a relatively short time. Units are ‘brigades’ of about 2000 infantry or 1000 cavalry. Basing, figure size or unit size are not important. All measurements, movements, ranges, etc, are in ‘base widths’ and the players decide what this will be.

     

    The rules are simple to pick up but reflect the warfare of the period. For example, combat and morale are combined into a single dice roll. Play testers commented that you feel like an army commander and that the rules have a great period feel.

     

    The first scenario book, Louis XIV at War, features 10 battles as various sizes and types from Western Europe.

     

    Four from the War of the Grand Alliance (1688-1697) – Fleurus, Boyne, Landen/Neerwinden and Marsaglia.

     

    Six from the War of Spanish Succession (1701-14) – Luzzara, Speyerbach, Blenheim, Ramillies, Almansa and Almenar.

     

    A second scenario book will appear shortly with 10 battles from the Great Northern War (1700-1721) and the Ottoman wars of the era.

     

    The rules and scenarios are published by the Pike and Shot Society and can be obtained from them, http://www.pikeandshotsociety.org/, and other retail outlets.

     

    Yahoo group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TwilightSK/info

     

    Contact the author via [email protected]

    #53737
    Avatar photoKaptain Kobold
    Participant

    This is great news! I shall order a copy as immediately as my wife allows 🙂

    #53751
    Avatar photoMartinR
    Participant

    These are on my Christmas list

    "Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

    #53797
    Avatar photoKaptain Kobold
    Participant

    Is there a summary of the actual revisions anywhere please (just idle curiosity; I have a copy on order now). Thanks.

    #53806
    Avatar photoHwiccee
    Participant

    There is a review here which will give you some idea – http://www.wargamer.com/reviews/review-twilight-of-the-sun-king-second-edition/

    Also a Great Northern War scenario (Grodno 1706) in the Yahoo group files. I plan to put this online at some point but I am having technical problems. So contact me via e-mail address above and I will send it.

    #53831
    Avatar photoKaptain Kobold
    Participant

    Thanks very much for that. The review does focus very much on the core system, which I was aware of (having both the previous printed edition, and the issue of WI with the original core rules in), but there were a few tantalising hints of what to expect. I’m looking forward to receiving my copy once the carrier pigeons have wended their weary way from the UK to Australia.

    #53834
    Avatar photoHwiccee
    Participant

    OK well generally what we have done is aim the rules at doing this era specifically rather than the more general purpose approach of the previous editions. This is why it is not really a replacement of the previous editions. We have not change the core rules much but concentrated on changes designed to reflect the troop types  of  the era, the way battles were fought, etc. I know you play GNW with these rules so you will find that you will probably need to field many more Russians now as the Swedes are a hand full under these rules.

    I am happy to tell you more but less sure what you might be interested in. Meanwhile some comments from another forum by 2 others who like you know the original rules – they are not know to me.

    “Just got my copy in the mail last week. Very nice. Reading through it now. Initial impressions: The front and back cover are very poorly done. It is almost impossible to read the lettering over the graphics because of color choices. Do not let this dissuade you though, because INSIDE the content is VERY well laid out. Very good table of contents, the order of presentation is logical. The layout of the pages is clean and uncluttered, key points/terms are in bold faced type. A few diagrams to illustrate issues about facing are clear. The rules are well written and the language is clear.
    The rules are usable with units as Brigades or as Regiments. It is scale agnostic without having to convert anything. It uses “basewidths” as the unit of measure (but allows for smaller and larger sized units if so desired). It recommends a unit be 2 bases. No figure removal.
    If you liked the original, it is still definitely worth getting this edition. There is more period flavor (eastern european cavalry, Turks, jaegers, swedish Ga Pa tactics) good designer notes, more attention to artillery, flexibility with unit usage of pikes and platoon firing. The starter scenario (Great Northern War- I forget which battle) is a great intro with interesting historical notes. I’ll be hopefully getting that gamed this weekend. Overall, I’m very pleased and recommend it to anyone that is gaming WSS or GNW with more generic 18C rules that only give lip service to this earlier period.”

    and

    “I just received my copy, and I’ll second everything that daler240D said. My worry with the new set was that there would be a temptation to add too much to a uniquely light system, but the additions fall in two main camps: first, a much wider variety of unit types, and second, a matching expansion of possible modifiers to morale tests. This means that much of the added detail is “up front”, i.e. before the game starts in terms of designating troop types, and also that many of the added modifiers might only be used in certain campaigns or theatres. I don’t anticipate any slowdown in play, and the added depth is very welcome. The addition of the “Bombardment” phase (really just placing markers to indicate long range fire) seems like an elegant way to portray the disruptive effect of long range artillery fire on maneuver, which is always something that I thought should be depicted over pure casualty counts. The depth of the included scenario (Fraustadt 1706 GNW), along with the free example scenario on the yahoo group, really showcase the new system, and give great confidence in the scenario books.

    All in all, a real success for practical, old school wargaming with a new school design emphasis, and at a very friendly price point. The authors and the P&SS should be congratulated. The rules could and should really encourage interest in gaming this period. And, of course, I couldn’t help but start thinking of Napoleonic and even ACW variants! ;)”

    #55341
    Avatar photoPer Broden
    Participant

    We will be running two games with these rules this year – at Salute (22nd April) we will be doing Kalisz 1706 and at Joy of Six (19th July) Lesnaya 1708. You can read more about it here.

    Generic – https://rollaone.com/2016/09/19/towards-moscow-trilogy-tmt-part-1-overview/

    Lesnaya – https://rollaone.com/2016/07/31/lesnaya-1709-part-1/

    Kalisz – https://rollaone.com/2016/11/25/kalisz-1706-at-salute-2017-prologue-to-the-towards-moscow-trilogy/

    If you are at any of these shows please come by and say hello.

     

    #55428
    Avatar photoAnonymous
    Inactive

    Slightly off topic but would the Magister Miliitum (or any other manufacturer) 3mm figures make a suitable set for this era/rules since it doesn’t involve figure removal and uses Base Widths?

    #55453
    Avatar photoHwiccee
    Participant

    Slightly off topic but would the Magister Miliitum (or any other manufacturer) 3mm figures make a suitable set for this era/rules since it doesn’t involve figure removal and uses Base Widths?

    Yes it would work well for this. Each unit is a brigade and so you could literally depict each unit within the brigade on the bases. Indeed we are now working on amendments to these rules to cover the period 1620 – 1680 (the ECW and TYW mainly). We are doing this in 2mm which are a little different to the Magister Militun 3mm but basically very similar.

    #55461
    Avatar photoMartinR
    Participant

    All my WSS stuff is Irregular 2mm and based for TSK (two bases per Brigade, with a couple of battalions on each).

    "Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

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