The men who would be kings (test game)

[shadowking1957]

Osprey publishing again got me buying from there wargame series, I pre ordered this one "The men who would be kings"  Colonial Wargame rules by Daniel Mersey, I received my cpy this week eagerly awaited and   was not disappointed at all ,  a set of rules that provides a game and entertainment and fun using  my large collection of  miniatures, the rule s are simple to remember  needing a play sheet of the stats and a basic QRS, the dice are D6 and away you go. I decided to give them a quick play test using the basic rules, and  a basic head on fight.
full report here http://shadowking-shadowkings.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-men-who-would-be-kings-test-game.html

















Conclusion a very  nice game system and extremely playable, the dice rolls work, the pins and  rally's are so very important also the discipline modifiers are so important. And  my thought ? A great game recommended to any colonial or Victorian gamer with a collection, or some one wanting alternative to large scale battle army's. next time more bits of rules to add but nothing that  was not missed this time , perhaps to enhance only!.

[fred]

Nice report.

Do units stay as units throughout the game? In other words would it work fine with multi-based figures?

[shadowking1957]

I would say  as your collection perhaps a counter to denote a formation change like close order .

[guitarheroandy]

Nice report.

Do units stay as units throughout the game? In other words would it work fine with multi-based figures?

Regulars are meant to be deployed in the traditional 2 ranks. They fight in 'open order' as a default setting but can form up into 'close order' to deliver devastating close-range volleys (and they fight better too like this) but are a better target for enemy marksmen when they do. If your figures are on multi bases all you'd need to do is keep the bases slightly apart for the default formation and move them together to mark 'close order'. For natives, multi basing will speed up movement and as they have no 'formation' there'll be no problem.

Basically, the system is flexible enough to enable most basing styles to work fine, even if you have to use casualty markers, etc, e.g. with full unit 'element' style basing.

[fred]

Thanks. That sounds great, more flexiblity than could be shown in 1 battle report.

I'm likely to go with 10mm figures on 40mm square bases. So 2 or 3 of these would make a regular unit and several a native unit. They could be deployed touching to represent formed, spread out for loose formation.

[guitarheroandy]

Thanks. That sounds great, more flexiblity than could be shown in 1 battle report.

I'm likely to go with 10mm figures on 40mm square bases. So 2 or 3 of these would make a regular unit and several a native unit. They could be deployed touching to represent formed, spread out for loose formation.

The game works best with 12 'men' per regular foot unit and 16 per native - I think regular cavalry is 8 and tribal 10 (although it will still work if you are a bit flexible, (e.g. tribal cavalry could operate in 12s) so if each of your bases represents 4 'men' (regardless of how many models you actually stick on it) that'd be generally close enough and would work very well! Good luck with it.

[fred]

Yes. I was thinking of something along the lines of 4 wounds per base.

And not worrying too much about the number of figures per base.

[charla51]

How realistic are the rules? That is, do the natives lose most of the time when faced with breech loading/magazine rifles? Or is it more like The Sword and the Flame's Hollywood-style game?

[SteveBurt]

I think it's Hollywood style; the design notes certainly say it is, but I've not played yet

[shadowking1957]

If I can say my view only , the rules are  fun and give a very entertaining game , Hollywood  "YES", characters making huge mistakes and heroic actions all are part .

[guitarheroandy]

How realistic are the rules? That is, do the natives lose most of the time when faced with breech loading/magazine rifles? Or is it more like The Sword and the Flame's Hollywood-style game?

The scenario is king! You need to play the ones in the book (or even better, make up your own!) to give the natives more of a chance. Encounter battles wouldn't be so good!

And yes...VERY Hollywood, but not completely unrealistic. It feels like a Colonial game should.

[charla51]

[ It feels like a Colonial game should.
[/quote]

I'm not sure how a Colonial game should 'feel'. Like a 'Gunga Din' 'Man who would be King' feel; or like an Omdurman massacre feel?

[Mad Guru]

If those were the only choices, I'd go for "Gunga Din"/"Man Who Would Be King" every time.

When it comes to my own colonial games (mostly set in the 1878-1880 Second Afghan War) I try for a combination of "historical" feel and "balance of play."  I think the key element to make that possible is scenario design.

[guitarheroandy]

[ It feels like a Colonial game should.

I'm not sure how a Colonial game should 'feel'. Like a 'Gunga Din' 'Man who would be King' feel; or like an Omdurman massacre feel?

You see, to me,Omdurman is not a typical Colonial battle. I think of Colonial warfare more along the lines of the desperate skirmishes (and bigger battles) on the NW Frontier or the 'touch & go' nature of Rorkes Drift, etc. I think of it as scenarios involving relieving besieged outposts, escorting supply trains, etc, not one-off pitched battles. Hollywood is also more about that with Gunga Din, etc...
The scale of the TMWWBK game also lends itself to those sorts of action.

[Sir Rodney Ffing]

Well, i'm persuaded and have ordered my copy.  No idea what figures I will be using, as with two other projects on the go at the moment, it will be a while before I can address anything else.  Probably either the Sudan or NWF when I get around to it.  In the meantime, didn't I see somewhere that it can be used with African explorer expeditions?