Review: The Men Who Would Be Kings

To play with my recently unearthed Anglo Zulu War armies we picked up Osprey's The Men Who Would Be Kings, by Dan Mersey - the same author as our much played Lion and Dragon Rampant.

While the rules are definitely in the same family tree, they are not just a carbon copy but a definite development with adjustments for the period and which reflect not just the improved technologies but the way in which armies were put together and used.


Bottom Line up Front: A lot of Fun, we had a blast.  Highly recommended.


The system will be very familiar to Lion/Dragon Rampant players but there are some key nuances which you will likely miss on the first swing (as we did).  One of these is that charge moves are not double your normal move, but now the addition of d6 inches. I like the uncertainty this presents as a Commander's decision point.


The moral effects are interesting and disrupting the enemy is all about pins.  Pinning the enemy really stops them in their tracks and if you can set up a crossfire to inflict multiple pins they will likely take another turn or two to recover.  Of course, if you focus all your firepower on one enemy units to do that, the other enemy units will close in with impunity...


The rules are definitely a simpler system to achieve speed so there are a few abstractions which players need to adjust to - for example, there is no reaction fire, so if your dapper redcoats get caught in the wrong spot they wont be getting a chance to fire a volley from their Martini-Henrys before those Zulus crash into them with those sharp assegais!


To achieve of intent of big battle vice a skirmish game, we adjusted the rules so that units are 3/4 strength from those in the book. Thus, Regular Infantry units are 8 points not 12, Tribal Infantry 12 vice 16 etc.  As the ratios remain the same, I do not believe this made any significant impact. We also used one stand (of 3 x 15mm figures) per unit strength vice 1 x 28mm Figure, and thus we were able to achieve a satisfying massed battle look vice it feeling like a skirmish game.

Under our adjusted unit sizes, this is a Regular Infantry unit at full strength with 8 stands of troops plus its Leader

There are also some neat rules for your tribal opponents to play on automatic rules, allowing the humans to play cooperatively and try to survive together; my very favourite way to play colonial games.

Finally, you get 30 different suggestions for different Colonial armies and their foes.
These include the usual Sons of Empire type lists, plus the French in Africa and the Italians in Ethiopia.

Dan Mersey has also published some additional rules on his blog which will be of interest to TMWWBK players: TMWWBK extra rules  you may also find this of interest: A little bit about Command & Control in my games

Another cracking and inexpensive offering from Osprey and which deliver a heck of a lot of fun. TMWWBK is the fourth of Dan Mersey's games now on my shelf and I'm sure it will not be my last.

Now I'm thinking about how I might combine TMWWBK and Dragon Rampant to play some VSF colonial gaming on Barsoom Mars...

Victory Without Quarter: Rules Review

Yes its been a dearth of ECW goodness around here but I think we are getting back on track now.  This week Dux and I were treated to a fantastic game of 28mm ECW by Millsy and got to play with all his lovely models - lots of pics and Battle reports here, here and here.

The Royalist Centre - from the wonderful collection of Millsy (a staunch and worthy King's man)

The rules we used were Victory Without Quarter by Clarence Harrison of Quindia Studios
Available (legally) off the Internet for free here: Link
These are my thoughts, noting that this was the only time I have played them.

Bottom Line Up Front - these are a fun, easy to pickup set of rules which really captured the period flavour without an overloading stack of detail.

The key mechanism is randomised card driven system.  Each unit has a card randomly shuffled into the deck so you don't know what order they will come in.  Shuffled in are Artillery units (both sides fire together), Reload Cards (which allow Volley Fire) and a Turn End card which ensures that you never know if a unit will get to activate or not before the deck is reshuffled.  The end result is a tense randomisation that can be as frustrating as heck, but definitely gives you the feeling that you aren't fully in control (which of course was exactly the situation).

Units get 2 or 3 dice per element to fire, depending on what they are, with 5+ (on a d6) being the target roll.  If you get three hits you inflict a casualty and cause a morale check roll.  After 3 casualties the unit dissolves.  Melee uses a similar to hit roll but the unit which inflicts more casualties winds the combat and repels the enemy unit.

Available units are Foote, Commanded Shotte, Dragoons (which can dismount obviously), Horse (Gallopers, Trotters, Cuirassiers) and Artillery (which is immobile) - each unit is comprised of 3-4 elements.  Army and Brigade Commanders are modelled individually. Units are rated as Veteran, Trained and Raw, which gives them various modifiers in Combat and to their morale test.

Overall, the system works nicely without getting too bogged down in detail. You can feel the difference between the different units types but its not overpowering.  The real challenge is trying to run a battle with random unit activation and no guarantee of any specific unit getting a turn before the turn over card shows up.  It was really enjoyable and we were quickly fighting the battle, not messing about with the rules.

With a view to 6mm battles vice 28mm scared ones, we've been thinking about how that might work with 12+ Regiments per side and single base units. We think that Brigading the formations would be the obvious way forward.  Looking forward to giving that a try sooner rather than later!

We are hoping to try the same scenario with a few different sets of rules too, so we can compare them: these have been a good start, and also in the mix are Baccus' Polemos and the newly published Baroque Impetus.

Thanks for the great day out and taking us through the rules Millsy!

Dux Brit: The Raiders

If you've been head down, bum up busy with the last weeks of the painting challenge and unwanted 1:1 scale modelling projects like me (stupid laundry...) you too may have missed the news from Lard Island that the first supplement for Dux Brittaniarum, The Raiders, will be released at Salute next month!

From the Lard Island Blog:

Great news for Dux Britanniarum fans who are attending Salute is that The Raiders supplement covering the Irish, Scotti and Picts will be released at Britain’s premier wargaming event in the heart of London’s docklands.

This long awaited supplement won’t just include the addition of the three new and exciting factions for Dux Britanniarum, but will also provide two beautiful new maps over which to fight your campaigns covering modern Ireland and Scotland. Once again the stunning artwork has been produced by Coral Sealey and we’re sure you’ll agree that they really set the tone for a campaign in the Age of Arthur.

The will to game in Arthurian Britain grows stronger in this Man Cave..

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?p=2542