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| The climax of Fleurus is one of the larger scenarios. Orbat is from the the previous chapter- Walcourt. |
When pulling together the content for A Taste of Victory! I had some choices to make. I am bothered by rehashing as an activity. Often when a subject is covered by various authors the same topics get hit again and again. This means when deeper research or enquiry need to take place, the same old chesnuts pop up. Enthusiasts learn nothing knew - as a German friend once said to me.. the same old soup reheated yet again. I think two of the most obvious examples are War in Ireland - BOYNE. War of the Spanish Succession - BLENHEIM. Information on these two battles predicate very lazy and inaccurate assumptions such as - The Jacobite Army was a joke team and the British won the War of the Spanish Succession.Neither staement requires any further qualification.
I wanted this first hardback scenario book to break some new turf and provide avenues for exploration. I also wanted to create tight gaming situations which could be played at home of an afternoon or evening. Set ups that wouldn't break the bank or the motivation before they were ready to go.
At the same time, I didn't want the battles to be too obscure or off the beaten track that gamers would not want to game them.
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| Somerset Rising out encouraged by the local squire. |
As a first attempt at a compilation I am very happy with the choices. It has a nice balance between the familiar:
Vienna 1683
Killiecrankie 1689
The Boyne 1690
Steinkirke 1692
Neerwinden 1693
And the obscure:
Halmstadt 1676
Herderbosch 1689
Newtown 1689
Duleek 1690
Kalamata 1685
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| French battery at Duleek July 1st 1690 |
It also has the credible what if/ alternative route to a credible outcome based on historical campaigns or actions which nearly but didn't quite happen:
Jew's Mount 1683
Quebec 1690
Martinique 1693
Salisbury Plain 1685
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| The New Tangier Regiment in theatre 1683 |
And finally, battles which should have a much higher profile but tend to be ignored because information is not as readily available:
Walcourt 1689
Fleurus 1690
Aughrim 1691
Orbassano 1693
All the scenarios have been built around either the whole battle (if small enough) or a key moment in the action if larger. Part of the joy of pulling together such a book is getting to play the games. Many of the battles I had played many times before but some were new to me and all the more enjoyable for that.
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| The Sedgemoor alternative - a 'square go' on Salibury Plain. |
If the book proves popular, the good news is I have so much accrued data for the period that I could produce volume after volume. So many conflicts played out across the period 1660 - 1720 that there is a rich seam to be mined in terms of gaming collateral.
Thanks so for for the healthy pre orders. If others want to avail themselves of that offer you can find it here:
PREORDER A TASTE OF VICTORY! (North America)