Twighlight of the Sun King rules

[wkeyser]

Hi
I have large number figures mount in battalions and would like to try Twilight of the Sun King rules but use battalions instead of Brigades. Has any one tried this and if so how does it work.

Thanks

[Hwiccee]

Hi wkeyser,


I have not done this but I know others have with few problems. They have just used the rules as written but adjusted the scale to fit, see below.

Yet you might want to just play it as it is and use your battalions as brigades. The rules are very flexible and the basic distance used is half of the frontage of a unit when in Line. For example Cavalry move 3 times this distance in line. All infantry and cavalry units should have the same frontage but that frontage can be whatever you like.

So you could use one of your battalions as a brigade/unit and then the distances would be multiples of half the frontage of one of your battalions. But also you could use 4 of your battalions as a brigade/unit and the distances would be multiples of the frontage of 2 of your battalions.

I would recommend thinking about the size of table you want to use. If you have a unit frontage of about 120mm then most historical battles can be fought on a table 1.8 meters long (6 feet). If you have a unit frontage of 240mm then you will need a 3.6m table!

As a guide the battle of Blenheim is about 40 infantry and cavalry units a side. If you have a unit frontage of 120mm then this is fought on a 2.4 meter table (8 feet) - Blenheim is one of the bigger battles.

So in short I don't think you will have any probems doing this but you might want to just use 1 or more of your battalions as a brigade and play that way.

I hope that helps.

[wkeyser]

Thanks that helps. I have 5mm heroics and Ross figures on 4cm bases two bases per battalion of rank firing and three for platoon firing. I use Captain Genreal at the moment but I think I will try it as battalions.

Hopefully I can give some follow up here once we play a game or two.

[Hwiccee]

OK I see.

I think I would recommend either using 2 or 3 bases as the standard frontage. i.e. don't use 1 of the platoon firing bases or combine three rank firing units to make 2 game units. As you are familiar with the Captain General rules you could also space out the rank firing units.

In short the rules work best if the units all have the same frontage. In the rules a unit is a variable number of battalions/squadrons with around the same frontage and so individual battalion/squadron frontage is not important.

There is a version of the rules on the way, very slowly, for doing games with battalions as the units. This will feature units of different frontage but that is more to do with the number of men in it than the number of ranks. The number of ranks will be a factor but usually it is not in reality. This game will also focus more on the smaller scale tactics.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing how you get on.