Furioso initial thoughts

[Doom Beard 78]

I have been reading through the rules for Furioso and had the following observations/queries

1) Generals

The rules state that " Each army will have a number of generals leading it" . Looking at the army lists I note that there are no entries for generals. So, what is the number of generals you are entitled to, do you get them for free ( which would account for the fact that they do not have an assigned points cost value? I note that the size of the generals is not stipulated however, that is hardly an issue

2) Evading-  The rules permit certain troops to evade, however, such troops are then hampered by an imitative penalty next turn. It seems odd to me that troops such as Jinetes and Stradiotti are penalised for fighting in the manner for which they were famed.

3) Skirmish screens and dopplesoldner. Many of the pike units are entitled to a skirmish screen and the army rules in the lists state that " ... the cost of the skirmishers is factored in) ,many of the pikes allow for an attachment of either halbadiers/swordsmen/dopplesoldner ( "HSD") . There are no unit profiles included for HSD nor a points cost. The lack of a unit profile is not an issue as these troops effect is essentially abstracted ( a practical way of modelling their function) however, what is less clear is how much do they cost points wise, I had initially thought that their cost was factored in, in the same way that as the rules describe the skirmish screen however, this is not explicitly stated.   An example of the drafting , taken form the Swis list is as follows

 The cost of the skirmishers is factored in[ into the cost of the pike unit] . Each unit of Swiss pike will have one unit of Halbadiers.



Skirmish screens are described as skrimish crossbowmen, however, some of the lists such as the Spanish and the Holy Roman Empire do not have an entry for skirmish crossbow. The Spanish can take formed crossbow but not skirmishing ones, while the HRE have no access to crossbow equipped infantry, formed or otherwise. What factors ( i.e combat dice, shooting dice, armour etc) do these skirmish screens have?

The rules on skirmish screens are contained on page 14 they state

"The skirmishers will be kept within a distance of  one from the main pike.

One what, an inch, a centimetre, a meter, a base width?  I think  a word may have been lost at some stage in the production of these rules.

I am giving teh rules a try on Friday and have agreed the following fixes

1) each player gets one general for free
2) The HSD is free, one per unit
3) we assume that skirmish screens may be 1" from their unit

[Yarkshire Gamer]

We play a lot of Furioso and enjoy them a lot.

They do have holes in them and the layout could be a lot better and a playsheet is a must (We made our own).

Unfortunately some of your questions I can't answer as I don't use points and haven't even read that section if the rules 

We allocate Generals one per player (we usually play 3 per side) with additional Generals as we see fit, we also allocate general quality at random. I have made the general tokens into chits and we draw them at random for each general before the game.

Evading is a problem and something we worked on in the last game, I don't think the initiative penalty is an issue however, we have found, especially with Light Cavalry that it's an advantage to go last as you know where the enemy is to get in a position to annoy next turn.

The issue we had with the Evading was a lack of movement for some Cavalry that meant they could get caught by heavier Cavalry. As I say WIP.

Points for Skirmish Troops, see above, no idea, don't use points.

There are a lot of troop types missing as you suggest yourself they are easy enough to put together, the Italian Wars supplement contains a number of Mercenary units that fill some gaps.

As for the distance for Skirmish Troops from formed blocks we place dedicated Skirmish units for Pike Blocks in contact with the unit they are supporting, this distinguishes them from independent units of shot.

Hope that helps, there are few more changes we have made and if you want a copy of my wip playsheet let me know.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

[Doom Beard 78]

re: the skirmishers, the rules say that in 28mm all measurements are in inches, and so concluded that this must be within 1" of the rules.

A pity that Stephen Danes did not think of getting someone into proofread his rules.