An Update!

 Wow - it has been a long time since I updated my blog!   I don't know how that happened, other than, well, one gets busy and time goes by before you know it.

So, what have I been working on?

The biggest project is that I wrote a new set of rules and released them - Battle Command Musket to Rifle (1700-1900).   These were released in January 2023 and are available through the Piquet wargames website:   https://www.piquetwargames.com/product-page/battle-command-musket-to-rifle-1700-1900

I'll go into a lot more detail about these rules in future posts, but here is the summary:

Battle Command Musket to Rifle 1700-1900 introduces many more command decisions, while maintaining the fog of war through the use of a deck of sequence cards. The Action Matrix allows players to seize opportunities to emphasize specific actions, sometimes having to make a very hard decision on whether to use the card for only one Command group or to instead use the card for a much larger portion of the army. This allows players to get inside the command loop of the enemy and by the choices made, make the enemy face tough decisions of their own.
 
Armies with a better CiC will have opportunities for more flexibility and better choices than armies with lower rated CiCs. Battle Command is a fast, fun game that emphasizes command and fog of war more than any other game in the Field of Battle/Piquet stable of games. The decisions can be hard, but the rules are not.
 
Periods Covered
• War of Spanish Succession 1701-1714
• Great Northern War 1700-1721
• Jacobite Rebellion 1745-1746
• Seven Years War 1756-1763
• American War of Independence 1775-1783
• Napoleonic Wars 1799-1815
• Mexican-American War 1846-1848
• Anglo-Sikh Wars 1845-1846, 1848-1849
• Crimean War 1853-1856
• Franco-Austrian War 1859
• American Civil War 1861-1865
• Austro-Prussian War 1866
• Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871
• Russo-Turkish War 1877
• Anglo-Zulu War 1879
• Anglo-Sudan War 1881-1899

I've completed new armies, rebased everything to my new 2 stand per unit standard, completed major portions of other armies, completed playtesting and development of a new WW2 game we'll be publishing....and other stuff as well.

I'll post more details with photos of the new armies, units, games, etc.

There has been loss in our group and at home over this time period.  Terry Shockey passed away, which effected us all.   Terry was a sweet man that loved wargaming and all that went with it.   We miss him very much.    My wife Lisa and I lost our Jack Russell terrier, Toby, to cancer in March.   That was a hard loss as Toby was intertwined in our lives.   He was also a constant presence at our games, always finding an open chair to hop up onto so that he could survey the tabletop.   

We had planned on waiting to get a new pup, but an opportunity presented itself to get a new 8 week old Jack Russell Terrier.  A 10 hour drive to the breeder and we met our new puppy.

World - this is Henry!


Henry is a curious, loving shorty Jack.  He's so very smart....which gets him into problems at times!  I'm sure you'll be seeing more photos of Henry as he gets initiated into game days.

Speaking of game days, our next group game day is in about 2 1/2 weeks, period yet to be determined.  I'll make sure to post photos.

That's all for now.   More to follow!

First Test & Development Games of Pulse of Battle: Ancient & Medieval

 We had a smaller group yesterday for our first playtests of the new "Pulse of Battle: Ancient & Medieval" rules that I've started working on.   They'll be an expanded and modified version of Pulse of Battle, covering the ancient period up through the Swiss Burgundian war in the late 1400s.

The games we played were both Republican Romans vs. a Gaul army.   There's not a lot of nuance in playing a Gaul army, and not much tactical flexibility.   The Roman army is the complete opposite.   I didn't expect the Gauls to win (I used the same troop count for both sides in the first game) as I was primarily doing rule testing.   The Gauls didn't disappoint.   They were CRUSHED in the first game.  The Romans blew a wide hole in the middle of the Gaul army, decimating the Gaul's Army Morale Point total, and the Gauls happily failed their first Army Morale test.

The second game had the Gauls with about a 40% advantage in army size......and they still lost.   The Romans concentrated on the Gaul right flank, and the Gaul left flank couldn't get enough movement to ever get into the game.   The Gaul cavalry on the right had an opportunity to sweep around the Roman left/rear, but couldn't seem to get going.   

Photos follow below.

First Game!

 We were finally able to get back to gaming this past Saturday.   The start of the game was delayed a bit because everyone was so glad to see each other, and the stories were flying!

We played two SYW games, with the first armies that I finished during the pandemic - Austrians and Prussians.  This was their first time in battle.   Both games were close - the Austrians won the first game by a slim margin.   The commanders switched sides, and the Prussians won the second game by the tiniest margin.

During the second game, both sides were at 0 AMPs.  The Prussians decided to take a couple of low percentage artillery shots just to see if they could get an AMP paid to them by the Austrians for a UI loss, which would put them at least out of the danger zone with 0 AMPs.   Rolling a D4 vs. a D6, Greg R. rolled a 4 vs. a 1!   1 UI lost to the Austrians, and the morale point went to the Prussians.   Now a second fire, at a D4 vs. a D6, and Greg R. once again rolled a 4 vs. a 1!!  That's a 1 in 576 chance of occurring!!!   The next Prussian card was turned.....and it was the Army Morale card!   Without the drama of the artillery fire successes, the Prussians would have been forced to check morale to see if they remained in the battle.   Whew.    

Two more times both sides were at 0 AMPs, but eventually the Prussians crept up a couple of AMPs and finally the Austrians turned an Army Morale card when they had 0 AMPs.....and they failed.    What a game!

This was the first time using a couple of my new Cigar Box Battle mats.   They are awesome!   I just used them over my terrain squares terrain, and I loved the smooth hill shapes.

I'll finish this post with a random assortment of some game photos.

New Product Updates

 Wow - I'm almost posting regularly!  It has only been 5 months since the last post....

We (Piquet Inc.) are just about ready to release Eric Burgess' fantastic set of siege rules, titled "Vauban's Wars".    You can read more about VW on Eric's blog:  https://dinofbattle.blogspot.com/

There is also a set of casino quality cards that go with the game.

Both are available for pre-order here: https://www.piquetwargames.com/physical-historical-supplements

This set will become the standard by which all other siege games are measured.  Eric has done a fantastic job with the rules.

The other "new" set is Field of Battle, 3rd Edition.  Conveniently enough, the rulebook, sequence cards, and campaign tactical map cards are also available at:  https://www.piquetwargames.com/physical-historical-supplements

On new game development news, I'm working away on the WW2 tactical set - titled "Nothing Less Than Victory".   In this game, the basic unit of combat is a single stand squad (for infantry), a single stand weapon section (representing 2-3 weapons) and a single stand tank or vehicle (representing 2-3 vehicles).   It's pretty easy to get a full battalion on the table, and the game plays quickly.  My expectations are to have NLTV complete and published by early spring 2021.

I've also been doodling ideas for a couple of other games - a WW2 air game that is semi operational, yet also features rapid resolution of missions, allowing for encounters and dogfights.   I'm working on my 1/285th plane collection for this game, but have a ways to go before it gets more fleshed out.

I'm also jotting down ideas and procedures for a high level WW2 game where the basic unit for combat is the battalion.  In effect a player would be commanding around a division in the game, but there's no reason he couldn't command more.   I think it would be ideal for the Western Desert  or Russian campaigns.

And in the midst of all this "work" (its not work - its PLAY), I'm making great progress on my current miniatures painting progress - large ACW cavalry forces.  I'm making 12 mounted and dismounted cavalry units for each side.  The Confederate mounted forces are done and the Federal mounted forces are 2/3 done.  The dismounted units should paint much quicker.   I've always been fascinated by cavalry in the ACW and how it developed and was used.  Tons of interesting scenarios!

I'll start posting photos of my "pandemic" collections.   I finished (although nothing is ever finished) my SYW armies, rebased all of my ancient armies, mounted up armies for the WW2 battalion game, and did some more painting for my 25mm WW2 forces.   Pics to follow.....

Field of Battle 3rd Edition Now Available!

Field of Battle, 3rd Edition is now available for sale via the piquetwargames.com website.

We are also selling casino quality cards for the game - a set of sequence deck cards for FoB3 and it's campaign system Season of Battle, and a separate deck of cards with battlefield maps for use with Season of Battle.

This project has taken a long time - I think I probably started working on this 7-8 years ago.   A lot of work, but very enjoyable to go through the development and testing!

There's more discussion on the io group https://groups.io/g/PiquetFieldofBattle or on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/201897673911387/

Back Again!......With Updates

So.....I see it's been a while since my last post.

Lots of things happening.   Real life and hobby wise - both!  

Oh yeah, and the Broncos managed to suck again.  Luckily the coaching void that was Vance Joseph has been sent packing and that provides at least a glimmer of hope for Bronco fans worldwide.

Just a glimmer.

On the gaming front, I've been working on Field of Battle 3rd Edition, and doing a ton of work on Season of Battle, the campaign system to be included in FoB3.   I'm finally very happy with where SoB is, and it is mainly just some clean up in the rules for it to be "done".

We played two FPW games yesterday, with two run throughs of SoB to set the campaign situation for the second game and then the upcoming (date TBD) 3rd game in the campaign.

Yesterday was a bad day for the Prussians.  A crushing loss in Game 1, followed by a moderate loss in Game 2.  After all the campaign maneuvering played out, the French find themselves in the home area of the Prussians, in the Fall, with a very real chance of ending the campaign before winter hits.

As I didn't take enough photos for a play by play report of the game, I'll just post some representative photos.

 This photo shows the die roll for John's epic triple move, full cavalry brigade assault on the flank of a Prussian command.

 A distant shot, showing John's cavalry command and the distance to the Prussian target....in front of Terry's hands on the table.

 John's first cavalry regiment contacts the flank of a Krupp battery...

 And, that is what was left of the Krupp battery!

 John's second cavalry regiment contacts the flank of a Prussian infantry battalion.

And, that is what was left of the Prussian battalion!