Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: Draccan on September 28, 2016, 07:46:39 PM
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Hi
I got a bunch of By Fire and Sword models, I wanted to use for a Danish Homeland Defense army (1659).
Though I still have to paint them!
Anyone playing it? What do you think?
Cheers
Draccan
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Was interested in it but so far..... another project to get into. Look forward to seeing how you get on with it. :)
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I was on the fence about By Fire and Sword, but the price of the rules kept me from taking the leap. If the game was played in my area or if I played a demo game, I would have gotten it, but $75 was too much to gamble on an unproven rule system.
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Yep know what you mean it is a pricey rule book but it does look chock full of good stuff, as i said I am very tempted...... :)
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I was more tempted by the models than the rule book; but, like you guys, if some one around here was into it I would probably buy it.
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I think the rulebooks have a pretty high production value. All you really need is the first one. Tons of pages and colour and great photos.
I still haven't tried the game though...
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I play the game and like it quite a lot.
Most of the games have been on the skirmish level, two on divisional level. The skirmish level seems to work better.
Pros:
- for small scale action the flow of combat feels natural with lots of variation - good prepared infantry can shoot before melee,
fire can be saved to last moment if commander is able
- especially cavalry combat is swift, brutal and ends up with someone running away
- game mechanics have a way of handicapping superior forces so reasonable game can be fought between forces of different strengths
- theme of the game plunges one into East Central European theater that seems to have lot more variance than say English Civil war or even Thirty Years War
- magnificent Wilanow tourney in Warsaw.
Cons:
- even though flow of actions feels natural once mastered there are lots of stages, so learning the rules simply by the book is challenging
- revisions have been made to the rule book, some of them game changing in the Deluge update - these sholud be in revised rulebook though, so if getting just the rules book check which edition You are getting
- original official rules are in Polish and English ones are just a gaming aid, containing some odd translations - so reading the By Fire and Sword forum FAQ may be helpful and for some parts even necessary
- in competitive play list optimizing and scenario choosing seems to be the key to victory, this may not be a con to everyone but for me it is not the most enjoyable part of the game
But overall I must say I quite like the game.
I have played Poles, Ottomans, Danzig militia and Swedes and got a bit different gaming experience with each.
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Great overview of the game, many thanks for posting this. I think I will be giving it a go, it looks decent enough to try. :)
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I have it, and The Deluge supplement - I like the rules although I've only really tried them out solo as time and space always get in the way!
Some of the figures are not the easisest to paint (although that may be me), but once painted up they look really good. Have a look around on the board - there's a few threads with pics of games, Anatoli especially springs to mind.
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Fun rules. Scenario-driven skirmishes with the potential to have forces of very different strengths.
Skirmish forces are notionally regiments acting as advance or rear guards, or detached garrison troops etc.
Games can be reasonably quick and don't take a lot of space - tables 1 metre square are the ideal.
The Deluge book adds a few more nationalities into the mix and doubles the number of scenarios.
Army lists don't work as a "shopping list" of points per unit, but instead have a simple organisation chart that have numbers down the side and units in black or grey. You pick a number as your basic strength, and any unit in black at that level (or above) is your force. If you want any of the greys they are optional extras and generally add more points to your choice. The options are given at the foot of the list.
Command is essential, more so in some scenarios which involve splitting forces, and there are some really tricky scenarios.
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I guess it is time to whip out and paint those models !!
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Haven't tried a Danish force (yet).
But considered it a few times.
Just picked up the new "Warsaw" campaign booklet.
Some seriously challenging scenarios (as you might expect for a big historical refight)
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While I am not a player personally (only painting models)
But system is very solid.
And quite fun to play.
I like how armies are constructed a lot.
I agree with Julfdi points.
Never played competitive nor I plan on to but tournaments are huge thing here in Poland - largest Non-GW games Ive ever seen - so tourney elements are present in rules, although they shouldn't matter in casual game.
You should give the game a try.
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Hey Draccan
I've had the rules since they came out in English and always really wanted to play them at my club. Sadly I've never managed to convince any of my club members to join. I have a reasonably sized Polish force and a very small Swedish force that I've tried out a few games with. The game really gets interesting though when both know the rules and have prepared their forces from home.
Being based in Copenhagen you could try "Dansk Figurspilsforening". As fare as I know they have started playing it.
If you plan on going to Horisont in Odense (18.-20. now.)I would be more than happy to bring my miniatures. We could give it a go then.
Cheers
Erik
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I bought the BFaS rules without any particular intention of playing them. I have no interest in duplicating my 28mm collection in 15mm form, and not much more interest in adapting the rules to a different model scale. Even if I did, the rules look more complicated than I prefer (not that there's anything wrong with the rules, I'm just not very brainy about that sort of thing).
They were still worth every penny to me, though, as a reference for Eastern European troop types and force compositions. The book brings together a ton of information not easily located in English, based on primary sources not available in English at all. I even used the BFaS lists as a reference to develop some Cossack, Russian and Tatar army lists for Warlord Games' Pike & Shotte system.
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I have been interested in this game for a while, however 15mm does not Interest me much at the moment. Is it possible to adapt this to 28mm scale? what figures would work best for the period? Right now I have warlord mostly, seems about right though, any other suggestions?
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I have been interested in this game for a while, however 15mm does not Interest me much at the moment. Is it possible to adapt this to 28mm scale? what figures would work best for the period? Right now I have warlord mostly, seems about right though, any other suggestions?
Old Glory make excellent figures for this period in 28mm. IMO it's one of their best ranges.
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All ranges are optimised to 4cm bases, but otherwise mechanic is not overly attached to it. If you would like to play with 6cm bases it would be easiest to multiply everything by 1.5, which is quite easy as mostly 10 or 20cm are used, or for the same result make conversion 5cm to 3" (as 5cm is the smallest distance used during movement). That way everything is quite easy to measure, table size stay in affordable size and units have sufficent space to maneuvre.