Boshin War Skirmish Rules Comparison

[EnclavedMicrostate]

Hello all,

New post up on the blog after a long absence, going through the various (read: four) rule sets I've used for the Boshin War (so far), with thoughts on pros and cons of each, both in general terms and specifically for the Bakumatsu period.

https://cohortsofthedamned.blogspot.com/2024/04/comparing-skirmish-rules-for-boshin-war.html

[Matakakea]

I like the way you've laid this out. There's obviously a lot thought gone into it, and it should help people wanting to start in this period. Excellent work!

[traveller]

Very interesting comparison!
Just a note on TMWWBK, have you seen this:

https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=16715

[Cat]

Very nice summary chart for a comparative review, bravissimo!
 
Good luck with the ongoing quest.

[rokurota]

Very interesting comparison, thanks!

Btw, can share it on Bac Ninh website?

[EnclavedMicrostate]

Ah! A sudden rush of interest!

@Matakakea and @Cat

Thanks for the comment!

@traveller

I have not only seen, but indeed have a copy of that! I've played a couple of scenarios from the book (pre-blog), and while I think there's a lot of interesting ideas I'm not entirely sure how well they work using the forces from the TMWWBK core rules, as opposed to the suggested forces in the supplement. One of these days I might do an 1870s IJA force and get into the Satsuma Rebellion, so I may change my tune once I have a go at the scenarios as intended.

@rokurota

Absolutely happy for you to share the chart around!

[EnclavedMicrostate]

Bumping the thread a bit to note that following the Sharp Practice game on Tuesday, I introduced someone else to TMWWBK yesterday evening, which went over... interestingly.

https://cohortsofthedamned.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-men-who-would-be-wielders-of-great.html

[SJWi]

Thanks for this. I have three of the rulesets you mention ( not the Dadi and Piombo set).  I'm not a fan of TMWWBKs but that may be because the guy who was taking me through them didn't actually know them. I'm just about to re-start playing Ronin after a gap of 10 years, and as I have a copy of En Garde will do as you suggest.  We intend this for 16th century matters. As a gaming group we play a lot of SP. I guess Ronin and SP could be complementary for the period as the former is a true 1-1 skirmish game, with the latter being more "unit based".

One of my mates spotted your SP report of this week and may be trying to lure us into the Boshin Wars. Bac Minh  produce lovely figures but I haven't imported into the UK directly since BREXIT .   

[rokurota]

Thanks for this. I have three of the rulesets you mention ( not the Dadi and Piombo set).  I'm not a fan of TMWWBKs but that may be because the guy who was taking me through them didn't actually know them. I'm just about to re-start playing Ronin after a gap of 10 years, and as I have a copy of En Garde will do as you suggest.  We intend this for 16th century matters. As a gaming group we play a lot of SP. I guess Ronin and SP could be complementary for the period as the former is a true 1-1 skirmish game, with the latter being more "unit based".

One of my mates spotted your SP report of this week and may be trying to lure us into the Boshin Wars. Bac Minh  produce lovely figures but I haven't imported into the UK directly since BREXIT .

Bac Ninh Miniatures is a Spanish company, so not problem with Brexit. 

[Mudyinsquall]

Great comparison.

I found Sharp Practice works best, but then I tend to enjoy these most for their "fluffy" feel around 19th Century warfare.

The only thing I've found is if too many Breach Loaders are present it can devolve into very little maneuvering happening and too much shooting. I know the Lardies original intent wasn't to actually include Breach Loaders so this might explain it. I find it works best when forces are limited the amount of Breach Loaders they can bring.

[EnclavedMicrostate]

In my last game – which I see you have already read the post for! – I made use of a version of Simon Walker's smoke rules, where you have an extra die of a different colour every time you fire, and add smoke if the roll is equal to or less than the number of times you have fired this turn. It's not a perfect solution, but the fact that you end up with a roughly 45% chance of generating smoke when rolling two consecutive fire actions does create some incentive to move forwards (or, for skirmishers, possibly sideways) so that your fire stays effective.