Archive for the ‘Diary’ Category

Revised Rules – the BBS

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

I have finished the first revision of my ECW rules. There were several minor alterations (moving costs, names of troops) and one major update to the turn mechanics. This has increased the battle-deck from 24 to 32 cards (the classic piquet or bezique pack) and introduced the concept of a phase initiative.

The use of the bezique deck as the battle-deck has prompted me to name my rules paradigm the “Bezique Battle System” (BBS), and to set up a new site, beziquebattles.com, to explore its possibilities. Initially I will adapt the system for use with 25mm hexes and card tokens for elements (essentially it becomes a board game) for play testing the ECW rules further.

After that I will see about using the BBS to produce rules for the Punic Wars and possibly the Napoleonic campaigns.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Diary, Wargaming | No Comments »

Slow progress

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Real life is slowing the pace of my wargaming plans. I am still writing the software to enable me to play-test my ECW rules but it’ll be a few more weeks before I’m done.

This means my first rule revision will be sometime in April rather than March. My plans are to then start painting and building my armies so as to move from virtual play-testing to table-top play-testing. This may lead to a second revision in June, and a scenarios volume to accompany the rules.

Tags: ,
Posted in Diary, General, Wargaming | No Comments »

This Peaceable Land

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Yesterday I finished writing my ECW 6mm solo rules, This Peaceable Land – now all I need to do is play-test them! As I am still awaiting the arrival of some painting equipment, and I’ve yet to order my hex-mat, I intend to play some virtual games using MapMaker and a program I am writing to implement my set of rules.

Tags: ,
Posted in Diary, Wargaming | No Comments »

Parcels Arrive

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Nearly all the paraphernalia ordered last week has now arrived. The one exception is the order placed with a non-wargaming company for hands-free magnifiers and desk lighting – and this was the first order placed!

My paints and brushes plus a book, The English Civil War, 1642-1651, an illustrated military history were obtained from Caliver Books, while more brushes plus some bases were purchased from Angel Barracks.

I’m now thinking of using Keltenbard as the setting for my initial foray into figure painting and army building. With no need for historical research this might just make shorter the time to my first actual game!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Diary, Keltenbard, Wargaming | No Comments »

Polyhedral dice and cards

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Having found these rules I intend dropping my design criterion that called for the use of six-sided dice only. I find the idea of adopting differently shaped dice to by-pass the need for extensive cross-tables of fire/melee/morale factors a brilliant one.

I am also considering using cards to form a play-deck with which to orchestrate the action within each bound, but need to give this more careful thought.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Diary, Wargaming | No Comments »

Paints, Brushes and Bases

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

It’s about a month since my last post but I’ve just not found the time until this week either to update the site and blog, or to further my wargaming plans.

Yesterday though I ordered some lamps and magnifiers to use when painting, and today I ordered paints, brushes and bases. I’ve also found time to pursue my study of the sets of rules, and started to jot down my own ideas.

Depending on how long the paint and stuff takes to arrive, I might start to write the rule reviews.

Posted in Wargaming | No Comments »

Polemos Rules

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

On eBay last week, managed to bid and win a set of first-edition Polemos English Civil War rules. They arrived safely in the post this morning.

Posted in Wargaming | No Comments »

New Host

Friday, December 11th, 2009

17th Century Warfare has moved to a new host and in the process has acquired a new look.

The old blog posts will, in time, be moved to the new site as will the articles that have been or are being written.

Posted in General | No Comments »

ECW Rules

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Have made a start on my rules review article, setting out my evaluation criteria and listing the rules I will be reviewing, namely:

  • WRG 1420-1700
  • DBR
  • PoW Renaissance
  • Forlorn Hope
  • 1644
  • Don’t tell them Pike
  • Jackson Gamers ECW
  • For King or For Parliament
  • For Parliament or King
  • Pike and Shot

I would like to review the Polemos ECW rules as well but cannot find a copy of the out-of-print first edition and I don’t think the second edition has been published yet. If anyone knows where I can get a copy, or if you know of any other rules that I should review, then please leave a comment.

Posted in Wargaming | No Comments »

Introduction

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

After some 40 years I am returning to a hobby that occupied much of my teenage years, namely Wargaming. For those who haven’t come across this hobby it involves the recreation of battles, historical or imagined, using miniature models (aka toy soldiers).

Back in my teens I fought battles from the ancient period almost exclusively. This time I have decided to embrace the late renaissance period, and intend to make a start by investigating the English Civil War, both in historical terms and in gaming terms.

On the gaming side I will look at:

  • rule sets
  • figure scales
  • figures available
  • painting
  • cost

and will post articles and photos of battles fought.

Posted in General | No Comments »