Friday, February 5

Wargamer's Newsletter - "English Civil War Rules"

Absolutely chuffed to nuts to have these in my hands as of this week.. a real slice of history complete with typed text and original spelling mistakes and also "anomalies" (see musketeer movement for an example it varies between 12" and 9" depending on section😁).. but in summary...
  • this is a game for friends - the sheer number of opportunities for varying interpretations means they aren't really suited to tournament play!
  • Individually based figures
  • No figure scale, so no guidance on unit sizes - his pike stand example has approximately 36 figures though
  • Firing per group of 6 (that seems standard for Featherstone rules of this period) so units of 24 or 36 make sense
  • The morale rules for units the first time they are fired on look fun!
  • I like the mechanism for altering the percentage of casualties according to the range
  • Movement/firing only by written orders, but there is no turn sequence - I suspect the intent is that everything is simultaneous. Non-moving units take priority in any firing but how the order of who does what for the rest is decided is not mentioned. I suspect morale is done right at the end.
  • I love the occasional design inputs to explain why rules are written as they are..

Click on any of the following for a bigger view...

 
 
A real blast from the past.. 
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14 comments:

  1. Norm05/02/2021, 12:29

    Thank you .... a gem!

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    1. Steve-the-Wargamer05/02/2021, 15:01

      Cheers Norm.. it's important to me to make sure that these things are made available for posterity.. yes, they are probably old fashioned now but at the time they were HUGELY influential...

      Delete
  2. The Jolly Broom Man05/02/2021, 12:35

    Oh my God, that is so old school! Bloody fantastic. Where did you get it from ?

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    1. Steve-the-Wargamer05/02/2021, 15:07

      JBM - got them via one of the old school wargame groups on Farcebook.. chap who used to run the Bunker Wargame Centre picked up all of Don's old printed matter, chuffed to nuts to also get at the same time a copy of the old Western Gunfight Skirmish Rules (v1 and v2!), Phil Barkers WWII Normandy rules, and also Don's 1880/Colonial Rules..

      Delete
    2. The Jolly Broom Man05/02/2021, 22:39

      I think you hit the motherload there matey!

      Delete
  3. Steve J.05/02/2021, 15:11

    Old school they maybe, but still worth reading for the ideas contained therein. Thanks for sharing:)

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    1. Steve-the-Wargamer06/02/2021, 10:43

      Steve J. - absolutely right.. don't think anyone would wnt to play thm s is now.. but there's a couple of interesting idea's in there..

      Delete
  4. MurdocK05/02/2021, 17:53

    Awesome find and thank you for sharing!

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    1. Steve-the-Wargamer06/02/2021, 10:43

      Cheers MurdocK - been enjoying your ECW games!

      Delete
  5. 'Lee.06/02/2021, 08:55

    Wonderful Steve, I can almost hear the sound of them being cranked out (by hand) on the old Gestetner :)

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    1. Steve-the-Wargamer06/02/2021, 10:46

      Cheers Lee.. and that smell... people wax lyrical about the smell of burnt MDF or resin these days, but back in the day you could smell the Newsletter arriving a day before it got there.. LOL.. what was it, a kind of methylated spirits smell..?? and purplish print... happy days..

      Delete
  6. David06/02/2021, 11:36

    Grand find which I'm sure some will appreciate.

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  7. Jubilo07/02/2021, 23:42

    Amazing how old school nostalgia seems so seductive.

    ReplyDelete

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