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| Large Williamite battalions deployed for battle |
These rules have been developing for quite some time and I can hear some of you ask 'Why do we need another set of rules for the period from Wordtwister?' Very good question!
Beneath the Lily Banners works very well and has proved a good seller and popular so am I potentially loading up to shoot myself in the foot?
Here is the answer:
Beneath the Lily Banners is a grand scale rule system which suits big actions and can be adapted for smaller battles.
Donnybrook is a skirmish set of rules pure and simple. There is to my mind at least, a middle ground where battles were significant but not large. Killiecrankie, Sedgemoor, Newton, Dromore to name but a handful.
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| Jacobite gun position high on a hill top |
Although I love the symmetry of BLB units and the standardization of their size I recognize that often, regiments were of differing sizes in a battle. I have experimented with larger units before but rarely within the context of a game. They have usually been completed for a painting competition or similar. I have a hankering to paint larger units and play around with the frontage and depth to create even more interesting variations.
Creating more period flavour within a rule system has also been an ambition I have long harboured. With all this in mind I have finally got the new rule set to the play test stage.
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| King James's Foot Guards hold the key central position |
It is for small actions with a maximum of 8 units per side but normally 4 to 6. It is played on a 4 x 6 or 6 x 6 feet table (normally). It works on the same card driven principle as
Donnybrook. Units can vary in size from 6 to 60 models. BLB units in your collection can be used 'straight from the tin' or, you can add an extra couple of stands if you like. Units could represent companies, detachments and troops or battalions and squadrons.
Other basing configurations are easily accommodated. Game length is ideal for club night as will be seen from the several play test examples we show you over the next few months. The rules have a name but that won't be shared just yet. In terms of use the rules will fit without modification from the Thirty Years War right up to the AWI but the core period they are aimed at is 1660-1746.
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| Hard fighting Danes press the enemy right |
The system combines the fun and flavour of Donnybrook with serious decision making about formations, using pikes and bayonets, tactics and leadership. The pictures accompanying this introductory post show some moments from a play test game set in Ireland in 1691. The table is larger than the norm only because this was the first game we had played for months, my garage had been flooded out and the clean up operation prompted me to use extra tiles on the table to stop them lying on the floor which was drying out.
We kept our feet dry and had a great game with Bob as the Jacobite commander and Dave as the Williamite. We'll share the game action in the next couple of posts.
