The other problem has been the lack of a set of rules that's really inspired me.
I was probably still a teenager when I bought a copy of the George Gush/WRG rules and originally based my 15mm Samurai with them in mind. No actual games came of it though.
Later on I bought Irregular Miniatures 6mm Ottoman Turk and Hussite armies and the De Bellis Renationis (DBR) rules, again by WRG. Again the rules didn't sufficiently fire my enthusiasm.
It occurs to me now, though, that in building up my Polish and Turkish forces for Maurice or Black Powder, I've accidentally acquired enough models to be able to play another set of rules that have been sitting unused for years - Tom Penn's Renaissance Principles of War. So I think I might have a go sometime this weekend.
A simple, solo, late 17th century clash should give me an idea of whether these rules will do the job. I have the first edition and I know from having reread them this morning that there's imprecise language that will annoy me but I shall persevere and see where we get to.
Will my renaissance gaming see a renaissance? Report to follow....
4 comments:
I'm glad I'm not the only one annoyed by imprecise language in rules.
One day I'm going to do a blog post on why verbose rules are best :)
Ren POW's latest is "one terrain piece per two square feet of table". So do I grid the table into 1.4142 foot squares or do I assume he means "per two foot square"?
Well so far that's been a most frustrating experience. This is a set of rules that desperately needs more explanation of the basic mechanics. I've played about a turn and a half but I'm really not sure I'm doing it right.
I'm beginning to think about purchasing a copy of Pike and Shotte.
We've played PoW Renaissance for years (you will see some bat reps on my blog). Once you get used to the rules, its a breeze. They always seem to produce battles with wild swings in fortune where it looks disasterous one turn then marvellous the next. The slow degredation of unit strength means that morale rolls become harder to pass and so weaker units are moved away from danger and reserves called up to maintain cohesion. Flanks are key but also what unit you pitch against what unit is also crucial. In PowR you'll find that the pike is king in some periods but gunpowder troops in numbers can prevail. We find it an excellent set of rules but games can take hours to complete.
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