This game was organised by Martin using a set of rules called Wars of Empire, as we used it as an excuse to give our 54mm Funny Little Wars toys another outing. The scenario saw the Vulgarians (Martin's comedy Prussians) attempting another unprovoked invasion of Forbodia, supposedly in response to the assassination of the murderous Col. von Knickerbocker by a Forbodian patriot.
In WoE, infantry battalions are represented by four figures, jager btls by five and cavalry rgts by three.
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In the opening move of this outrage, Vulgarian Uhlans scour the otherwise peaceful countryside for plunder. |
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Forbodian cavalry arrive to guard the supply train. |
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The rest of the Forbodian Army arrives. |
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Jagers and artillery bravely take up position in the face of the vast Vulgarian horde. |
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King Boris appeared in person to direct operations. |
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Colonel Vulcanescu directs the artillery on 'Gun Hill' while in front, four infantry battalions prepare to do battle with the pointy-heads. |
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King Boris calmly issues orders to his devoted troops from his splendid Rolls-Royce. The car of a gentleman. |
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The Vulgarian CO, General von Grossenpantz poses in front of his Mercedes car. This vehicles showed signs of having been poorly assembled in Vulgaria. Rumours abound that it was supplied (in kit form) by Honest Vlad's Car Mart in Forbodia... |
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The Vulgarian hordes press forward in typically unimaginative fashion. |
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The photos of the game were all taken by fearless war correspondent (and Forbodian Court Photographer) Mat Bradic. |
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Such is Bradic's reputation that even the Vulgarians let him tour the battle field unmolested. |
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteLooks really inspiring - how did the rules work out? I have not seen these but would be keen to know more.
Love the photographer!
All the best,
DC
David Crook
ReplyDeleteThe rules gave a pretty good game. They use a squared grid(look carefully at the pics) with combat and to a degree movement based on rolling under a troop quality value. We rattled through the game in two hours.
Mat Bradic was introduced to the world last year: http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.com/2011/06/forbodias-court-photographer.html
Tim Gow,
ReplyDeleteA great - and very inspiring - battle report. I will try to find out more about the rules you used as they sound like they are a set of that will be of interest to me.
All the best,
Bob
Looks like appropriately serious fun.
ReplyDeleteHi Tim,
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing the photographer last year - a great addition to the look of the thing!
As for the rules are they commercially available? Grids are my thing and I would love to see a set.
All theb est,
DC
Bob Cordery
ReplyDeleteHopefully Martin will let us have more details of the rules.
Ross Mac
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can picture the environment of clinical seriousness in which the game was played....
David Crook
ReplyDeleteI believe it is a commercially published set. I'll ask MR for more info.
Wars of Empire (and its FPW brother, Wars of Empire II aka 'To the Last Gaiter Button') are one of a number of grid based rules produced by Realistic Modelling.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.realisticmodelling.com/catalog.asp?subrange=rules
They are vaguely Square Bashing based, but have a number of interesting innovations, not least the use of 'combat effectiveness' to determine almost everything and a clever variation on the use of initiative dice.
As they are grid based they'll work with any size of tabletop and scale of figure. In this case we managed a reinforced division sized engagement on a 6x4 with 54mm figures...
TtlGB includes a full campaign system for the FPW with maps, counters etc whereas Wars of Empire is aimed at the APW. I gently tweaked it for FLW as I don't believe the Forbodians are fans of storm columns, nor are they armed with rifles they don't know how to fire.
My latest grid based set of WW1 rules (Drumfire) borrows heavily from campaign system used in Realistic Modellings WW1 set, 'Playing Leapfrog'.
They are all very good rules, although some of the estimated playing times are a bit optimistic.
Anyway, never mind the rules, what abut the pretty toys? I am pleased to see the even handed reporting of this regrettable incident by the Forbodians.
ReplyDeleteThe Mercedes was indeed supplied in kit form from Forbodia, Vulgarians have better things to do than produce motor cars when a good sturdy Vulgarian horse will do the job.
Keen observers of military fashion will notice the driver from the the newly formed Schnelltruppen branch is wearing an experimental 'wrap' style jacket which may become popular in centuries to come. As befits such a dangerous activity, the insignia of the new motorised branch is naturally a deaths head, vaguely visible on his right sleeve.
Great report! And I have seen a lot of unusual 54mm figures!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Greetings
Peter
http://peterscave.blogspot.com/
Excellent report, a very enjoyable read. Matt Bradic is to be congratulated on his photographs. Mr.William Freese Greene (my blog) wants to know if he wears some sort of metal vest.
ReplyDeletePeter
ReplyDeleteThanks - they are virtually all plastic figures - from A Call to Arms, HAT, Italeri and Armies in Plastic.
Joppy
ReplyDeleteI will pass your kind words on to Mr Bradic. Mr.William Freese Greene is welcome to get in touch to discuss syndicating Mat's photos for his newspaper group. No metal vest is involved - but it is an interesting idea. I wonder it it'll catch on?