Never mind The Bill Hooks - rules release in next month's Wargames Illustrated

[Cubs]

"Okay Cubs, you've got this, you're painting those Napoleonic models for the article, your Star Wars guys are on hold, your WW2 Paras are on hold, your Gael-Norse are on hold, your Italo-Normans are on hold, your WW2 Early War guys are on hold, your Oldhammer Orcs are on hold, your Zulu War Brits are on hold and as for your Wars of the Roses guys ... well, nothing's happened to inspire you on that front for some time."

*Reads this thread.

"Goddammit ..."

[Nick2729]

The rules look interesting on first read. Will certainly give them a go.

Are they a short version of a full medieval ruleset or a full stand alone? I can see lots of extensions possible i Chevauchee/100YW, Barons Wars, Scottish/Border wars.......

[Maxromek]

 Just finished my first practice game and Yorkist Maks won (which may just be because I do consider myself a Yorkist )

I had to simplify some stuff to fit my 4'x3' board and the fact that I was playing against myself, but this was fast and very bloody. I had two roughly equal forces (each side had 2 units of archers and 2 units of other infantry split into two wards consisting of 1 archery + 1 infantry unit and a commander) and the armies started roughly 30" from each other, but it was all over in 2 turns. Yorkists decimated the Lancastrian infantry with bows and two well timed charges by their infantry. That was enough to get all the morale tokens.

Overall, I liked it very much. With a bigger table, bigger armies and establishing some fluff (like personalize commanders) this looks like a very good "weekday evening" game. Gotta get some of my mates to come and try it out. And, of course, build bigger armies

[Harry Faversham]

M, looking at the rules and conclusions you've drawn, how big do you reckon would be the army you need? The Knights of the Oblong Table have been living in peace and harmony with each other for a year now...
I'm suspicioned that's about to change!

[Harry Faversham]

"Okay Cubs, you've got this, you're painting those Napoleonic models for the article, your Star Wars guys are on hold, your WW2 Paras are on hold, your Gael-Norse are on hold, your Italo-Normans are on hold, your WW2 Early War guys are on hold, your Oldhammer Orcs are on hold, your Zulu War Brits are on hold and as for your Wars of the Roses guys ... well, nothing's happened to inspire you on that front for some time."

*Reads this thread.

"Goddammit ..."

Cubs mate, you cannot believe the joy and contentment I feel after reading your heartfelt snivel...
I really thought, it was only me who got into tangles like that!

 

[Winston]

I'll be playing for the first time tomorrow. I'll follow up with some pics and thoughts. Meanwhile, done a wee vid on the Utubes having had a read through and got an overview.

https://youtu.be/G90cKQ8lCyk

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Winston. I'll take a look

As of this morning, my local W H Smiths still have a stack of the August WI issue on the shelves, no sign of September's WI yet

[Cubs]

Cubs mate, you cannot believe the joy and contentment I feel after reading your heartfelt snivel...
I really thought, it was only me who got into tangles like that!

The struggle is real.

[Maxromek]

Harry,

The armies I played were between 70 and 80 points, I reckon 100 points per side (and not relying on Men-at-arms to pad up the numbers) will give a good game. But I also think even something like 150 would still be relatively "single evening"

[Captain Blood]

The struggle is real.

Go on Cubs, you know you want to... Brave young Owen Lloyd, the dastardly Turbervilles, and Lordship of Kenfig Castle await...

[Cubs]

Go on Cubs, you know you want to... Brave young Owen Lloyd, the dastardly Turbervilles, and Lordship of Kenfig Castle await...

Rhys ap Thomas ... a very interesting character and powerful landowner, despite not being a member of the nobility and only knighted on the field at Bosworth by Henry Tudor.

[Harry Faversham]

Harry,

The armies I played were between 70 and 80 points, I reckon 100 points per side (and not relying on Men-at-arms to pad up the numbers) will give a good game. But I also think even something like 150 would still be relatively "single evening"

Thanks for that, appreciated... the Knights of the Oblong Table are getting restless!

[OB]

Nice video Winston, just the right approach I thought.

I'm currently working on a review of Billhooks and the stat's for Irish/Border Horse and Galloglaich.  It's an easy enough conversion.

[Atheling]

After watching the video (cheers Winston) these rules look perfect for the Battle of Ferrybridge which was the prelude to Towton!

A game that I have always very much wanted to play as defeat to the Lancastrian or Yorkists one way or the other had such an impact on the battle.

Fab stuff. I eagerly await the postman! 

[Arcane Steve]

I'm not sure if I've posted this here before , but here's a link to one of our final play tests of Billhooks from my blog. It should help to give a flavour of how the game works:

https://arcanesceneryandmodels.co.uk/never-mind-the-bill-hooks-new-battle-report/

I hope that it is useful.