Monday 27 May 2013

So is it time for Maurice then?

I've been deliberating over trying 'Men Under Fire' without 54mm figures. Ahhh, decisions, decisions.

SOoo...the other set of rules recently acquired is 'Maurice' (that's 'Mor-ees' as opposed to 'Morris', which is how we normally pronounce it in this neck de la woods). Was very interested in this for a number of reasons:




(1) It covers late C17th (well 1690...so it's the Boyne - what's not to love?). Well, at least there's a paragraph covering pike/shot formations. It also goes as far as the AWI...yay!
(2) It uses card mechanics. Granted, such systems are always interesting (and mostly crap) but these cards just might work.
(3) The rulebook is gorgeous (ok, I'm a sucker for that).
(4) There are very nice looking campaign rules which just might enable me to do the Irish campaign I've been wanting to do for so long.
(5) I don't have to paint anything and can play with available figures. (actually this is key!!! though I may have to blow dust from them...)



So...Men Under Fire is shelved in the interim...

Maurice...to follow.

Thursday 16 May 2013

Men Under Fire

As there are some figures to paint for the next Snappy Nappy game, I've been considering a quick playtest of the 'Men Under Fire' WWII rules from Test of Battle. I've always loved the old GDW/ToB stuff so Men Under Fire is welcome. I think I once tried the old yahoo group playtest ('Men Against Fire' perhaps - I can't remember) where the scale was such that one 54mm figure represented two effectives. These rules have changed that a little - where one figure is one man (God's own true WWII scale) and they are very 'old school', and I do love the suggestion that figures be mounted 'diagonally' on a square base (see pic) so that the arc of fire can be immediately obvious from the base alignment - inspired idea.

More to follow here, although I don't really have enough 54mm painted, and will be conducting the playtest in 20mm (sadly). A couple of 54mm US Paras and an old Airfix Russian soldier shown in the pic though, mounted diagonally for effect.