Rules Recommendation for 6/10mm TYW

[JW Boots]

Might I suggest Der Söldner. We have played a number of games in 10mm, as the mechanics are scale agnostic… Check blog-37 where we did Turnhout in 10mm and at various levels: strategic, operational and tactical: https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/2023/11/06/strategic-operational-and-tactical-play-in-one-game-another-go-at-the-battle-of-turnhout-1597/

The startpage of the blog, now called Arguing When… Wargames, is at: https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/

[SJWi]

JW. Many thanks. Since you posted I have been following up your link and looking at other reviews. It does sound intriguing and I sense would be attractive to my gaming friends. However I have a few questions given my lack of detailed knowledge of 17th century European warfare

(1). How much  historical detail do you need to be able to "run the narrative" that seems to be the key underpinning principle of the rules?

(2) Do the rules dictate historical formations or is everything more abstracted?

(3) How big a game/battle is it practical to run given the narrative/dialogue part of the game. If you have to discuss  every tactical action I guess this can be quite time consuming. Your "Turnhout" game seemed to involve relatively few units so I was wondering if there was a practical size limit to battles. That said one of the scenarios is Marston Moor!

I'm tempted to spend the cash but any answers to my queries will make my decision better informed. 

For your information I plan to buy 10mm pre-coloured paper figures from "Peter's Paperboys" so will hopefully be able to get my TYW armies onto the table relatively quickly.               

[JW Boots]

Hi SWJi… knowledge of the period is helpful for building the narrative, but this comes with a big however… The aim I set myself was to develop a set that allows wargamers to play a battle based on their knowledge, preferences, opinions, and how they like to play it. This means that if you want to go deep and get into all kinds of small details than you can. If you prefer a more general story than that is possible too. As an author I do not want to prescribe how you play your game. All I want is to provide simple mechanics that facilitate a good and enjoyable discussion to build a narrative of a battle as it develops during the game on your tabletop. Note that the basic rules are for two players and a game-master, as a good discussion with three is more entertaining than just the two, but, as one reviewer put it: it is a game for gentleman (http://pijlieblog.blogspot.com/2024/05/arguing-when-money-talks-der-soldner.html). And frankly, I play mostly two player games in good spirits.

Specifically on the formations. The rules are based on units either being in formation or not. Deployment took a lot of time in the period and once deployed, at least in my view, formation changes weren’t happening at a scale as, for instance, during the Napoleonic period. What formation that is for a given unit and what that means is captured through keywords in the MATRIX, which can be customised as needed by the scenario or any other aspect of the game at hand. In other words, it is not dictated nor abstract. I would rather say subjective and descriptive.

That also applies to the scale. Turnhout we played indeed some small scale actions because these occurred as a result of strategic and operational decisions taken by the players. Although small, these well real nail biters… On the other end of the scale, and although not in this period, is Gaugamela that we played at the Joy of Six earlier this year in 6mm at a 120 x 240 cm table (see: https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/2024/07/18/blog-49-the-joy-of-six-2024/). Again, the rules are meant to be flexible to suit your needs, not mine.

One more thing on scale. You may indeed get bogged down in discussing all tactical details. However, one doesn’t have to. The game only calls for resolving arguments when needed, desired, or when it might result in an interesting twist in the narrative. The only mandatory arguments are combat resolutions. All the rest is up to the players. The overarching name Arguing When… Wargames, that I now use, is directly derived from that. So not everything requires a full discussion. Or as one player once put it: never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake!

In case ancients and medieval are also of interest, you might consider downloading The Warrior ( https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/arguing-when-cultures-clash-the-warrior/). This is a free pdf supplement and might also help to give you further insights.

[SJWi]

JW, many thanks for the comprehensive reply. I guess my question about formations was really about basing of figures. Looking at the various rulesets that have been "recommended"; some require particular base sizes, others need individual figures removal, others dictate figures being in particular formations. Unless you are very lucky this rather limits your army to a particular rule set . I very much want a "rules agnostic" army, something I have managed with ancients using Simon Miller's "To the Strongest".

I will look at "The Warrior" as ancients/medieval is actually my main period of interest. At last count I think I had 23 painted 28mm armies with 4 unpainted ones in my stash.

Regards.. 

[JW Boots]

Hi SJWi, Der Söldner does not prescribe any basing. Whatever fits or is available will work.

[JW Boots]

To add, at the back of The Warrior I have put a sheet, which can also be downloaded from my blog site, with examples for movement sticks. What you will find is a system that does not use exact distances but colour gradients to indicate roughly how much a unit could cover in a certain amount of time. The system is more subjective and descriptive instead of objective and numeric, and for that a precise and dictated basing system would be unsuitable, hence I did not add it.

[SJWi]

JW. Thanks for the answers. Starting to sound better and better....