I can still recall seeing the photos and reviews of those Greenwood and Ball Napoleonics, and early Peter Laing 15mm figures for the Marlburian Wars, in my monthly copies of Meccano Magazine or Military Modelling to which I subscribed as a teenager, feeling the inspiration to refight some of the battles of the period, although I only knew a few of the names at the time - Blenheim, Malplaquet. As a family we had little money, and the foreign currency and import restrictions in New Zrealand at the time were such that the very idea of buying figures from overseas was barely even a consideration, merely a dream.
My wargames career began therefore with the inevitable Airfix figures that were available from the local cycle shop, and so it went over the years. My introduction to the Volley and Bayonet rules began in 1999 when Brent introduced me to Adrian Powell, newly arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, with this amazing array of beautifully painted 15mm figures for all sorts of 'horse and musket' sub periods.
In the decades since, we have played battles ranging from the War of the Spanish Succession to the Boxer Rebellion, all with these same rules. The capacity of the rules to absorb subtle sub period tweaks, and to give a very accurate feel of battles of each period, has in all that time never ceased to amaze me.
The hankering for the Battles of Marlborough has never really left me though, even though I still haven't assembled and painted my own army for any of the combatants.
It has therefore been a real pleasure to help Adrian and Jon to play test some of the nineteen carefully researched scenarios that they have assembled in this their first wargames scenario collaboration.
Each scenario has been carefully researched. Both authors are experienced 'gamers and researchers. Adrian has been researching and assembling scenarios for Volley and Bayonet for several decades. His career as an architect is also on show with the beautiful maps included for every scenario, each of which is a major piece of research in itself. They related to me numerous occasions in which they had had to reconcile inaccurate maps and battle accounts, referring to real life geography to assist them in getting the maps as close as seems possible to the location at which each battle occurred.
Jon brings to the table a career as a research scientist including many years of work in scientific publishing, disciplines that he has applied very effectively to this work too. They comment in the introduction "In each scenario we have attempted to represent the organisation and numbers on each side. However, for many battles accurate information is unknown and frequently contradictory. In these cases we have made some assumptions base don best available information." This is Jon the scientist speaking. As a duo, their complementary skills are clear to see in this work.
Each scenario comes with historical background, deployment suggestions, maps, and Volley and Bayonet roster sheets that can simply be copied off and used in the games. The level of detail provided also (I suspect) means that adaptation to other rules sets pitched at a similar level of operational command would be a relatively simple task.
Often when I buy scenario books and attempt to play some of the games I am left to wonder if the writers ever actually play tested their creations, so unplayable do the games seem. In this case you can rest assured that every single scenario has been play tested multiple times to ensure that a range of outcomes is possible. That's not to say that some of the battles aren't tough for one side or the other to win, but you can be assured that in every case it is possible for either side to win the encounter. As they say in the introduction "The one caveat is that our consistent aim has been to produce "games" which can be won by either side".
The table of contents giving the list of battles:
A sample map:
A sample roster sheet giving an OOB:
Whether you want a source of playable battle scenarios that range in size from medium to larger battles, or a useful historical reference to some of the basic elements of the military history of the period, this book is a winner. It is printed in colour, with a range of illustrations of both art works representing the battles of the period and photos of some of their beautifully painted figures in play. There is a second book in the writing/play testing phase right now, so keep an eye out for more of this wargaming 'lusciousness'. For 'gamers of warfare in the age of reason, this is a must.
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| One of my early childhood influences |
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| Those teenage years .. at the time, this was a hobby 'winner' |
