Charge The Guns

Oh yes, hedgehogs. I just form the muskets on the flanks of the pike block. It is difficult to make it look ‘pretty’. As hedgehogs don’t get formed too often in our games, we’ve been able to live with it.

The ECW armies would have formed their pike and muskets up in the same depth, which was probably just 6 ranks deep. The depth of formations had thinned during the experience of the Thirty Years War on the continent. So strictly speaking your pike and musket should be the same depth. However, I actually have my pikes in three ranks of 6 figures.…[Read more]

A great looking game, Marco 👍

That is an excellent plan, Sadurian Mike. It does of course take longer to build two forces, but it allows you build the two armies for a particular battle or campaign and have everything for a fun game to put on. My regular gaming group tend to take this approach, often because we are not interested in collecting the same periods at the same…[Read more]

For ECW then most of your foot will be pike and shot. I’m afraid another decision stands before you (part of Pike Shotte’s flexibility). You will need to decide whether to field your foot formations of pike and shot either each as a single unit, or as three separate units, two shot and one pike. (This needs to be the same for both sides in a gam…[Read more]

The game assumes both sides have mostly regular sized units. Typically units fighting each other, to their fronts, fight one on one, with other friends being classed as ‘supports’. Small or large units should be uncommon, and so the theoretical issue you point out should not occur.

The rules were written to allow flexibility in basing ass…[Read more]

Hi Steve T, I think page 23 is trying to say that you may scale your unit frontages differently depending on how your figures are based. In an ideal world both sides need to end up with the same frontage for units (even if the number of figures doesn’t match).

If you look at the factors for units, two small match to one large. For my forces I h…[Read more]

Hi Sadurian Mike – sorry now one has been along to comment before now. I think you’ve uncovered a bit of an inconsistency in the lists and rules. I would proceed as you suggest.

I’ve never understood bow not being able to fire when charged – I suspect it was a rule for xbows and the ‘bow’ was left in by mistake, not sure. Luckily we always…[Read more]

Another great battle report, JW. It is interesting to see the expansion in remote gaming that happened in the pandemic.

Hi Tatertron – welcome to the Pike and Shotte period! A very colourful and interesting place to wargame. The Thirty Years War is one of my favourite conflicts for games. The Sun King armies shown in the rule book are really a slightly later part of the period and typically people don’t mix TYW and the later half of the 17th century armies t…[Read more]

A great looking game, JW! Fought to a bloody conclusion as well. A very enjoyable report.

Beautiful work there, Slartibartfast! Those units would grace anyone’s table top.

Hi Slartybartfast! Welcome to the forums.  You are always very welcome to post any questions – we all get a bit stuck and confused sometimes!

If your unit is disordered by the enemy shooting then in your next turn it can’t receive any orders as you say.  It can move on Initiative, but only to fall back from the unit that disordered it.  It does…[Read more]

Absolute beauties!

It sounds like a bloody engagement!  Lovely looking forces again.

A great looking, and sounding game.  It sounds like it was a close game.  When we’ve tried that scenario the game seemed to swing either way several times as well.

Mm.  Spain. Sounds a bit hot.  I think I’d like to have my pelisse off and flowing in the breeze.  I say “off”.

In the Osprey ‘Wellington’s Light Cavalry’ all of the hussars have it “off”.