A look at V2 of Valour & Fortitude rules

[Norm]

V&F have been updated to V2 and are presently available as a free download on the Perry webside and will be given as a free hard copy supplement to the October edition of the Wargames Illustrated magazine.


Anyway, I have given them a quick run out on a small table, just to see how that works out and have done a blog write-up to give coverage of the sequence of play and game mechanics

LINK


https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2023/09/valour-fortitude-v2-on-table.html

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Thanks Norm.
I really like the look of these rules.  Despite only being a few pages long, they seem to capture the spirit of the Napoleonic Wars.  Order placed for WI this month.

[vodkafan]

Good concisely explained run through Norm, I look forward to seeing your bigger battle with two Brigades.

[bluewillow]

Nice one Norm,I have been helping with the translation to French plus play testing at the club.

A nice simple set of rules, yes a few holes but overall very playable. Just remember to test by sqn when playing with the cavalry!

Cheers
Matt

[Old Contemptable]

Thanks for this review. I downloaded it and hope to try it out soon.

[black hat miniatures]

Can't seem to comment on the blog at the moment (in anyway).

They seem an interesting set of rules but I am sticking to my resolve not to change rules on  whim just because something is new.  I am using Frog and Toad (slightly amended Neil Thomas) for Napoleonic and Neil Thomas again for FPW.  They work and I enjoy the games so I am staying with them.

There is something less stressful  and slightly freeing from having fixed on rules and not having to think - ooooh are these new rules going to be the perfect set?  They never are!

[forrester]

Call me Mr Thicky of Thicktown, but Im struggling to see how the number of figures in the unit plays a part?

[vtsaogames]

Call me Mr Thicky of Thicktown, but Im struggling to see how the number of figures in the unit plays a part?

They don't. The entire unit stays on the table until it routs. Once a unit takes hits = tenacity, it becomes shaken. Each additional hit requires a morale test. If the test fails, the unit routs and is removed. While there are references to how many figures for each unit, that means as the designer and the Perrys mount their figures. For my small units, I halve the number of figures more or less. As long as move distance etc. jive with unit frontage, it works. I find it helps to have 4 stands for a normal unit, makes forming square and such easier.

[DarkBlack]

Call me Mr Thicky of Thicktown, but Im struggling to see how the number of figures in the unit plays a part?

It looks like the some of the important rules and mechanics are on the army sheet, in the special rules and stats.

Not sure if it's what you're looking for; the Austrian army sheet has bigger units (more recommended figures), melee and higher tenacity (durability) stats than line Infantry from other nations army sheets.
There is also a rule for understrenght units on the army sheets, that lowers the number of figures (by half), the stats and point cost of the unit.

Other than that, a unit is a unit and moral is represented rather than losses.
The range of figures recommended for units seems to be to accommodate how collections might be based, so that rebasing isn't required, to play.

[Norm]

Call me Mr Thicky of Thicktown, but Im struggling to see how the number of figures in the unit plays a part?

When I first came across the rules, that was the question that first crossed my mind, but I now use it simply as a guide of what might ‘look right’.

I think the stated number of figures (which is range anyway) in part comes from the authors and groups heavy involvement with Black Powder rules which use Big, Regular, Small and Tiny sized units. I’m pretty sure that they are just wanting the visual thing to look ‘as right’ as it does with their other games - a sort of natural thing that fell out of their normal play experience.

I suppose the only practical impact is that a unit with a wide front has more chance of contacting or being contacted by an enemy and for a bigger frontage of line, there is more space (i.e. frontage) for two attacking assault columns to hit them.

For all my own games, even black powder, I only ever use 2 bases (3 bases in a small game) per unit and if one is large or small in game terms, I just put a marker next to the unit, if the rules refer to such things.

I have been playing Shadow of the Eagles and those rules just simply have standard sized units for everything and it does not upset play to any degree that I have noted.

[vtsaogames]

Ah, Valour & Fortitude and Shadow of the Eagles - I game-tested both. A rules butterfly, I'm afraid.