AAR - Play testing Le Soldat

[JW Boots]

Le Soldat will cover the late 17th to early 19th century using the Arguing When.. Wargames system, previously published as Der Söldner. Today I played a test game focussed on testing the confrontation and combat mechanics. More in my blog at: https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/2024/12/08/blog-55-play-testing-le-soldat-focus-on-confrontations-and-combat/

[Redshank]

Le Soldat sounds really interesting. Will be following progress with interest.

[JW Boots]

Le Soldat sounds really interesting. Will be following progress with interest.

Thanks. I intend to update whenever I do another test game, and with X-mas coming up…

[Redshank]

Is there a convenient place to get a basic description of the key features of the rules? E.g., what is the ROSE? Or a "time-check"?

I am very interested in these rules as I am not much of a fan of IGOUGO systems.

[JW Boots]

Le Soldat will be based on Der Söldner that was published about a year ago. A good friend of mine wrote the following blog about it: http://pijlieblog.blogspot.com/2024/05/arguing-when-money-talks-der-soldner.html

Hopefully this gives you an idea.

Specifically on the ROSE. This stands for Round Of (near) Simultaneous Events. The game proceeds based on events that are about what happens at a certain place, with certain units, at a certain moment and for a certain amount of time. From one to any number of events make up a ROSE that structures the game and ensures some level of synchronization of an otherwise very free format game…

Time checks are an easy and straightforward alternative to a normal MATRIX argument for situation where the only question is whether or not something fits within the amount of time that is available.

Finally, I started a blog myself after the first test game for Der Söldner and have posted on every game since… This is mostly focussed on pike & shot, medieval and ancients, but may also give you further insights in how the game works. https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/

[Redshank]

Thanks for the explanations.

I read the following in your blog:

In the game several situations like this occurred. And I have to be frank that I felt Der Soldat handles it much better than any other ruleset I have played until now. At the mechanics level there is room for improvement in number of dice rolls, etc. But how these combats went looked a lot more than how it is described in literature. One one occasion the men in the defending unit lost their nerved by the impact of an advancing unit. This occurred at ±150 paces. The result was Maintain Position (MP) which in Der Soldat means the unit stays where it is and the men in it relieve their stress by shooting. One man probably starts which then triggers the others. The result is an uncontrolled shot that is hardly effective. In this case it wasn’t at all. This then gave the attacking unit the opportunity to fire a volley, or advance. The former was chosen, but proved to be ineffective as well, mainly because of the distance. We then had two units facing each other and the question which unit’s officers are able to get their men under control first and fire a volley, or do anything else to get rid of the other unit. Both unit’s cohesion is impacted. In Der Soldat firing also impacts the cohesion of a unit. Not as bad as the men loosing their nerves, but the stories in the historic record abound in which shooting resulted in loss of control. Units good at shooting where not crack shots, but those where the officers were able to keep the men under control better than others.

This sounds very interesting indeed. I have been looking for a system that works along these lines for some time. I am still struggling to see how exactly it works in practice, but I will keep exploring your blog and other sources.

[JW Boots]

That is indeed one of the key challenges for the design. I am heavily inspired by the works of du Picq, Nosworthy, and recently Murray’s Brains and Bullets on this aspect, i.e. the mental impact of being in combat that also includes seeing an enemy unit advance on you well before it actually charges… I feel this has not received the attention and inclusion it needs in many current rules… In the recent test games the current mechanics seems to work, but some finetuning, etc. Is still needed… work in progress…

[fred]

I’m intrigued by these rules (and probably more the earlier Der Soldner, which I own).

But I really am struggling to understand how these rules play as a game. Are there any videos available?

[LazyStudent]

Certainly very interesting, I will be highly likely to get a copy when these are available! From what I have read, I do like how these sounds as if they are similar to a set of rules called Code Napoleon, which were based one the variable length bound principal. I always liked that style as it made the battles feel more as described in the sources.

As an aside, is Der Söldner available in PDF at all?

[JW Boots]

I’m intrigued by these rules (and probably more the earlier Der Soldner, which I own).

But I really am struggling to understand how these rules play as a game. Are there any videos available?

That’s a good point and (still) is on my to-do list. However, at this moment I do not have the facilities for making a good video… I could do A video, and it doesn’t need to be perfect, but it takes a bit more than I currently have to do it right. As I said, it’s on the to-do list…

[JW Boots]

Certainly very interesting, I will be highly likely to get a copy when these are available! From what I have read, I do like how these sounds as if they are similar to a set of rules called Code Napoleon, which were based one the variable length bound principal. I always liked that style as it made the battles feel more as described in the sources.

As an aside, is Der Söldner available in PDF at all?

Unfortunately there is no PDF of Der Söldner. My publisher doesn’t and won’t do PDFs… The good news is that I have seen it once how its done and The Warrior, the Ancient and Medieval supplement, I did myself and is available as a free PDF, or harcopy via the Wargame Vault for printing plus P&P. Le Soldat I plan to do myself.

[LazyStudent]

OK. Unfortunate, but great that Le Soldat will be. The publisher wants 12.50€ to post from the Netherlands to Hamburg!!! Sorry, but at over half the price of the book that's too much

[JW Boots]

OK. Unfortunate, but great that Le Soldat will be. The publisher wants 12.50€ to post from the Netherlands to Hamburg!!! Sorry, but at over half the price of the book that's too much

Did you look at Amazon… it should also be available there… This is the link to amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Arguing-when-money-talks-miniature/dp/9464895810/ref=sr_1_1?crid=DD7QO8NEDV5C&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FlIRL7Y0O8a7ebT3fwRhQvDy2tTsR_6qQVYO_uwdMq1-hZ6py7u05NQ2jLPitTNcr2AlRVAUbNc8ov3nEUaIs8KcErIyM-COmqm9-cH-bHjUD7OQ4QD4WsH7TBIWTD72MfpHa8Jy_DKUhl-X0EAExNBD34aelvINluSS_Wsp7urR_mmI4u7FFGwcakVfhmIzyELmMr4rO2aJrenOvu3Vh5dapS5PwNVi2HGralu_ykL5STut09uaHOh_KZ4bkPCOwUycNcESS2Yuaf9UjnzxSQWRdiFvBa-RnYXHZTqO52V5bt5mACPqTqZNVWNgnyFdZ5elmxYkM5Dxjsdjhacin2RANPR1j9ChkDw086RVrRJUkxig9uzYiKOMvZ-fQyFKp0XmvH0Yi9I1b_ikmCu874r--UFqLGTRCK-a3AUq7fyVZYWorfUQ9KEXM9pgzsf6.ajrXMQGawZ6IIqqiJn8Uiy0owSZquaZonFlitYFgmRA&dib_tag=se&keywords=Jan+willem+boots&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1735487256&sprefix=jan+willem+boots%2Caps%2C71&sr=8-1

[LazyStudent]

Tbh, I have a personal problem with Amazon. Hence the wish to buy as much directly as possible. But I'm really interested in the rules, and I make exceptions with Amazon from time to time. So I'll see what they're offering. Thanks for the link.