En Garde! Swashbuckling Skirmish Wargames Rules - Review

[Dalauppror]

God morning

I have been fortunated to get a copy of the latest Osprey Wargaming rules, En Garde! Swashbuckling Skirmish Wargames Rules - OWG12 by Craig Woodfiled, so I thougth I put up a short review of the rules at my blog.

I hope you all will have a really nice sunday !

[pocoloco]

I got the rules some time ago but haven't had time to read them through, only to skim the different lists so I need to give a read to your review now

[robh]

That extract from the shooting phase......
 

I thought the days of taking a calculator with you to games had gone with Newbury and TTG rules.

[traveller]

Thanks for the review! Very helpful!

I was hoping these rules would provide a fast flowing game without the traditional mechanics but it seems not... I get a bit tempted though with the nice artwork, is the book worth it for only the pictures?

[manatic]

Thanks for the review! I think I'll stick to Ganesha Games' Flashing Steel for my swashbuckling.

[Dalauppror]

Glad to be of use.

I defenetly think you should give it some games if you are in to the period as the cost an´t that much as for oll Osprey wargames in the serie they give good period inspiration and for me it is alwasy nice to read rules, good or bad they give ideeas to the grale - The prefect set of wargaming rules;)

Haven´t read Ganesha Games' Flashing Steel so cant make any comparisson.

Best regards Michael

[pocoloco]

The shooting rule is very simple:

you roll 2d6 and add or subtract modifiers. The resulting number is the shooting roll. Then you deduct 6 from the score and if that result is greater than zero, you hit. That number also becomes your attack's wounding score to which you then add or subtract modifiers including target's armour.

Maybe it all could have been written "open" to be bit more clearer but no university maths needed, it seems

[Dalauppror]

The shooting rule is very simple:

you roll 2d6 and add or subtract modifiers. The resulting number is the shooting roll. Then you deduct 6 from the score and if that result is greater than zero, you hit. That number also becomes your attack's wounding score to which you then add or subtract modifiers including target's armour.

Maybe it all could have been written "open" to be bit more clearer but no university maths needed, it seems

Indeed as writen now it might scare people of... But as with most game rules every rule are easy when you have played a bunch of games, as back in the days when we played the RPG RoleMaster or RuleMaster as we called it...

[leadfool]

We played our first game on Friday.  We used it for a 4 way fight.  Small groups of 5 figures each because that was what we had.  Almost all of our figures were modeled with muskets or pistols, so we had a lot of shooting.  IT WAS VERY BLOODY.  Most figures were killed by shooting, in melee, the fights seemed to last a while, but with lots of wounds.  Of course we through together the lists and rereading afterwards  realized the forces were balanced but not in compliance with the "army lists" 
I think we will be playing with them some more.  Although no rule set survives contact with the Sacramento group.  I will try to include photos.

[WillieB]

Bought it today at Poldercon. Had a quick read through it but think that Donnybrook will remain my favourite for that period.

[manatic]

you roll 2d6 and add or subtract modifiers. The resulting number is the shooting roll. Then you deduct 6 from the score and if that result is greater than zero, you hit. That number also becomes your attack's wounding score to which you then add or subtract modifiers including target's armour.

Maybe it all could have been written "open" to be bit more clearer but no university maths needed, it seems

Wonder why they put the subtraction in there in the first place? You could just say "If the shooting roll after modifiers is larger than six, you hit."

[pocoloco]

Wonder why they put the subtraction in there in the first place? You could just say "If the shooting roll after modifiers is larger than six, you hit."

It becomes the wound roll.

If it was 6+ in the beginning, everything would be gone with the fist hit.

[Smith]

Wonder why they put the subtraction in there in the first place? You could just say "If the shooting roll after modifiers is larger than six, you hit."

The amount by which you hit also determines how much you're likely to wound an opponent. Without that subtraction, every attack would be doing +6 damage per strike.

Just a warning in case anyone is looking to house-rule things!

[manatic]

Ah, that makes a lot more sense then!

[Schogun]

Have the close combat rules changed at all from Ronin?