By Fire and Sword rules 3 part review (3/3 parts posted) 22/12

[Anatoli]

I have received a Polish copy of this mid 17th century wargame set in central and eastern Europe and decided to write a detailed review of the contents while the manufacturer is working on an English version due to be released in May 2012.

400pages thick, hardback, featuring rules/scenarios/army lists/history/unit descriptions and a bunch of other stuff.

Nations included in the rules are the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire, Tsar Russia, Cossacks and the Kingdom of Sweden.

The game is 15mm, makes use of "IGOYOUGO" but with a twist - you need commanders who all have their little pool of "orders". So you won't be able to control every unit every turn, and need commanders near units to make them act and react. The whole game is also written for use of centimeters - it says you are free to play the game with larger scale models but you will have to adjust the ranges doing so ( cm-> " is probably easy enough to do).

It also uses D10 instead of D6 dice.

The book being so thick and packed with content my review is divided into 3 parts and part 2 and 3 will be posted in the days to come.

1) Quality review of the book itself and brief overview of the contents
2) Focus on the rules themselves
3) Armies, nations and scenarios

So check my blog for part 1 where I also take a look at the promotional miniatures that accompanied the book itself. http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2011/12/with-fire-and-sword-rules-review-part-1.html

[Engel]

Wow, it looks great.

[abu iskander]

I've been slowly accumulating box after box of the miniatures and am really looking forward to the English release next year.  In the meantime, Google translate doesn't do a half bad job of translating the various PDFs on their website into whatever language you please.

Looks like the demo rules they had up there are gone now though.  Anyone got these?

[Anatoli]

Moving on to part two, I've written an extensive overview of the rules. They do not cover everything in absolute detail - but I hope it is detailed enough to give you sort of an understanding of how complex the rules are and hopefully it is all explained well enough for you to be able to compare the game mechanics with other rules out there.

I will post the 3rd and last part tomorrow, it will focus on army building, nations, national special rules, scenarios and a few other things still left to describe.
The feedback and amount of readers have been great; this shows that there is indeed interest for this historical period among the English speaking wargaming community.
I hope you guys will find this post and the following as interesting as the first.

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2011/12/by-fire-and-sword-rules-review-part-2.html

[Anatoli]

In my last part I highlight the bulk of what the book is made of. 250 pages of historical descriptions of units, armies, national special rules, army lists, army building, tactical rules, reconnaissance effects, the impact of being the underdog in battles and other stuff that make the rules come to life and feel like a true representation of historical forces, tactics and effects that would affect armies.

I would argue that this is the selling point of the book if you are not directly interested in the rules alone. The amount of research and passion of the authors put into this work really shines the brightest in this segment of the book.

Check my blog for the last part of my 3 part review of this massive tome: http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2011/12/by-fire-and-sword-rules-review-part-3.html