The latest entry from the growing stable of wargaming rules from Graham Evans dropped into my mailbox this week. That rulebook is For Whom The Dice Rolls (FWTDR) covering brigade and divisional sized battles during the Spanish Civil War. Graham sent me a copy of the rules, fresh off the printing press, as an acknowledgement of my playtesting efforts.
Besides a small amount of reading on the conflict in fiction (Hemingway) and non-fiction (Beevor), I had little exposure to this war. Over four months of playtesting, I have learned a great deal more. |
| sample in-game photo |
To reciprocate for Graham's generosity, I painted up a battalion's worth of Basque infantry. These 15mm Peter Pig fellows will be winging their way to Graham soon.
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| 15mm Basque infantry |
For now, congratulations to Graham for publishing another interesting set of rules for yet another, somewhat obscure conflict. Let me know when you buy that vacation place in the Bahamas.
For more information, please visit: Wargaming for Grown-ups.
An interesting period for skirmishes but not not the list at the moment 🙂
ReplyDelete“At the moment “ is the key! SCW small unit tactics would be well-suited to your Bolt Action skirmishes.
DeleteSkirmish is a cheap way in (unless you want those big 28mm vehicles!) but it does undersell the epic side of the SCW a little bit. Good for fighting for the possession of the university library in Madrid, less so for one of the Republic's set piece offensives.
DeletePerhaps one day in 10mm
ReplyDeletePerhaps! These rules would work for 10s.
DeleteSure would. And 6mm too. I gave Pendraken a plug in the book. Leon's a great bloke (as is Martin at Peter Pig, and Ian at Irregular, so I'm happy if you support any of them).
DeleteWrite a review. As long as you say up front that you were involved in the development and that (apart from receiving a copy) you have no financial incentive, people will be able respect that. It's where the reviewer conceals the involvement, like people who backed the Kickstarter and don't want to appear to have been sold a pup, that I get annoyed.
ReplyDeletePS Those Basques look great.
OK, OK. Your blog summary is very good so I may approach a review from a different angle but then maybe I will stick to the tried and true method.
DeleteGlad you like the Basques. hopefully packaged and shipped on Monday.
Write from what you know and you can't go wrong. Hemingway may have said that.
DeleteHemingway may have said that phrase but every English teacher/professor has likely uttered those same words! Maybe they were all Hemingway devotees?
DeleteI heard that he's regarded as a quite good writer. Maybe that's why. Listened to his English teacher.
DeleteTouchè!
DeleteComing in late, but I think any concerns about assumptions and expectations of outside agency necessary to produce a "review" might easily be set aside by simply not pretending to produce a "review" and instead simply provide "perspectives," "observations," from your point of view as playtester/collaborator. It's not unusual, after all, to find "designers notes" in set of rules, for instance, this would be something like that, and Would be of equal interest and value, I think,
DeleteEd, you are never too late to add into the conversation! Thanks for weighing in!
DeleteI have been thinking along the same lines as you suggest. That is, perhaps, offer up some Player Notes with each post focusing upon a particular aspect of the rules. That way, I can highlight what I learned and how to progress toward more efficient and effective play. But, I am far from an expert in this so my positions may evolve over time.
If a broad overview or review of the rules does not pop up in a timely manner, I may go down that route too.
I think that as long as you are upfront about your connection in the review for anyone who isn't a regular reader (tsk tsk) I think a review by someone who has played the game and knows something of the development is worth ten reviews by people who have flipped through a copy and maybe set up one small test game.
ReplyDeleteReview and be damned!
I agree. And not just because I wrote the rules. I want to read something from someone who has actually played the damn things, as opposed to the "I love everything from xyz so I know I'm going to love these. 5 Stars!"
DeleteOf course, you are right, Ross. How many reviews have you read where you KNEW the reviewer had not played the game or at minimum only went through the motions maybe one time only?
DeleteGraham, some reviews leave me knowing less about a product than before I began!
DeleteLooks like a very interesting set: love the level of play (a personal fave) and brings the period into focus I think.
ReplyDelete...and I appreciate the title gives a nod to Hemingway - but well thought out :)
The title has dodged around. They were "Send Not To Know" for a while, and I considered "Game of Hope" as a nod to Malraux's novel, but Jon sort of convinced me the Hemingway link should be played up. If you want to know more about the rules there's a page of explanation on my blog. Just follow one of SCW links of the right - either Ebresa or Guadalajara.
DeleteHi Darren. This is a good level for gaming the period, I think. The tactics of combined arms usage comes forward at this level and Graham has done a good job making it all work sensibly. In fact, when tactics work as expected, the author has done his duty.
DeleteAlways nice to get a rule set drop through the door and these look a very nice production and at least you have ready appreciation of authors intent and the tempo of play etc. Nice touch in doing some Basque infantry as a thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe production is very good especially considering it is self-published without a massive publishing arm backing it up. Well, perhaps, Amazom.com is a massive publishing arm for today's self-publisher?
DeletePainting up a handful of new troops was a fun diversion for me as well.
Amazon do an excellent job of printing EXACTLY what you ask them to print. I use a DTP package and a linked Drawing package (Serif Page & Draw Plus) to get them to look like I want. Page Plus lets me writer by chapter, so I can re-order them if I want, and you can save the various paragraph formats to help you as well. It deals with page numbering and Contents and all that too. The view on screen is WYSIWYG, and it produces a PDF which Amazon can then process to a finished book (but funnily enough not Kindle very well - hence my use of WV for pdfs). The draw package lets me do the diagrams and bits and pieces in the Resources pack like the maps by combining simple elements. Great as I can't draw free hand. It also allows for things like formatting the background fills so I can get that cover effect, manipulate the photos for the "comic strip" type pictures. I wanted to produce something that would make people say "Are you sure this is self published?".
DeleteAnd it was a really kind thought offering to paint the Basques. I shall try not to wreck them when I do the bases.
"And it was a really kind thought offering to paint the Basques. I shall try not to wreck them when I do the bases."
DeleteAs long as you don't chuck them in despair when you open the package, I will be happy.
The only danger is I'll have to hide them away at the back so they don't show my fellows up. Or maybe I'll keep them off to one side and swap them in whenever I need to take a picture.
DeleteNot the level I play at but would be interested in your thoughts too, has you say you have played them which is a lot more than so called reviews have done.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, you will see my thoughts in print, Phil! I may focus on a few aspects of the rules but who knows what may come from these efforts. To paraphrase Hemingway, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a keyboard and bleed."
DeleteVery interesting, I'm tempted to have a go in 10mm.
ReplyDeleteI've no great knowledge of the period my reading being limited to Orwell and Beevor. That said I met three of the combatants over the years. That adds to my interest.
My reading on the period is light too but this work has reignited an interest in the period fostered from Hemingway and visits to Spain.
Delete10mm would work very well for this set of rules and level of operations.
The literature on the period is very good, and often very passionate. Orwell and Beevor are a good start. I put in an annotated Bibliography in the back of the rules. The Prendraken 10mm range is excellent as far as I can tell from the website, and is the most comprehensive in any figure size.
DeleteA period I enjoy playing, but using BKCII and now the wonderful SCW supplement:). I would like to read your review of the rules, even though I'm unlikely ever to play the game.
ReplyDeleteSteve, if you have settled upon a set of rules that works for you, perfect! Your frequent endorsements of BKCII have me very tempted to pick up a copy and see for myself. There are some interesting ideas in FWTDR.
DeleteMNG regular Richard L has run Blitzkrieg Commander for us (March last year, if you want to have a look). He'd probably run it again, if you were to ask him.
DeleteWhen you and Richard run low on games in your queue, I will suggest BKC. For now, I’m off to look for games on your blog.
DeleteNice addition to your rule books, and quite a generous trade for it as well, Jonathan!
ReplyDeleteAnother nice addition to the rulesbook library, for sure. With this addition to the library, Graham may have moved up into my top 5 for number of rules by an author list.
DeleteNow I want to know who the other four are!
DeleteThat was an interesting exercise. I figured most of my rules were specialized, one-off publications by a variety of authors with the exceptions of Featherstone, Grant, and Wesencraft. Featherstone and Grant were first and second in counts. Canadian Wargames Journal tied Wesencraft in third place at four rules' publications each. Tied for fifth at three rules each were yourself, Weigle, Hasenauer, Gush, and Thomas. That is pretty good company!
DeleteSartori would have come in tied for third with four rules if I had counted both the standard and basic versions of Impetvs and Baroque. I only counted the standard versions.
DeleteAh Ha! Good company indeed, and I have the capacity to close the gap, if only you succumb and buy more rules you don't need but look really nice.
DeleteTaiping Era book is very tempting.
DeleteI particularly like Taiping Era as a piece of design. It all fits together as a coherent whole.
DeleteThe book look fantastic so well done to Graham. Your several SCW encounters have all made entertaining reading. One of our group has an entire 28mm collection using lovely Empress figures and quite a number of horrendously expensive vehicles...and three or four planes per side!
ReplyDeleteThe book is a nice, thick compendium with reference material included along with the rules. Now, I need to go look up some of your SCW games.
DeleteYou could do the game with 28mm, but you'd need to do a bit of thinking about how you want to represent companies and so on, without increasing ranges too much and needing a barn to play in.
DeleteI can see the attraction of the SCW but know that it is a project I would never get around to, even though I have always been tempted by the Empress range.
ReplyDeleteSCW is not a project I am likely to tackle either but one never knows. It is a small step from painting a battalion of infantry for a friend to painting armies for oneself!
DeleteMy feeling is that for you to play anything that looks like an actual SCW battle you need to go down to 15mm in order to get the units on the table. And 15mm are so much quicker to paint....
DeleteI've always fancied the SCW myself, maybe one day?
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day. You have a Haitian Rebellion to finish up first.
DeleteTempting period and I would look forward to a review, 15mm makes sense but I don't think I can go smaller than 25mm!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
I don't get the "15mm is too small" argument. I wear varifocals. My eyesight is so bad I get free eye tests. I have to have the highest index glass I can get or my specs are the thickness of milk bottle bottoms, and give me headaches from the sheer weight. If I can paint 15mm (and even 6mm!) so can anyone. You just adjust what you paint on the figure. I don't tend to do the buttons on jackets in 6mm, for example, and I don't paint the eyes on 15mm.
DeleteIt is tempting, for sure. I know you prefer 25mm. I think all of your collections are 25s, aren’t they? Why nothing smaller than 25mm? Is it for the reason of painting or something else? I know as my eyes age, painting 25s provides more pleasure and less eye strain than painting 15mm or smaller.
DeleteI think, for me I am a figure painter who games and while I could paint smaller I wouldn't enjoy it as much and since painting the figures is almost the primary reason I don't want to paint smaller scales as I feel, wrongly or not that I'm okay with the detail level of 25/28s but wouldn't want to stretch to going smaller. I have painted 15mm in the past and just didn't enjoy it as much. I am willing to accept the incorrect ground scale because I like the drama of 28mm and also so I can stick to one scale for everything!
DeleteBest Iain
Now I'm certainly someone who paints in order to game. I have in the past painted figures for display, but now pretty much all my figure painting is with the intention of putting them on a table top and pushing them about. Occasionally they have discussions in places like TMP around "what do you like most about painting figures" or some such thing. My answer is usually "finishing so I can play games with them". Apparently that isn't the right answer.
DeleteUntil overtaken by the Pandemic, I was definitely painter, first, gamer second. Since late fall and remote gaming with Graham and Matt, I seem to be doing much more gaming. Have I swapped from painter to gamer? Not yet, I think!
DeleteIain, had I your foresight and stuck to one figure size, I would not hold terrain in multiple scales. However, I find having different figure sizes offer different gaming experiences.
This is indeed a very interesting and colourful period...
ReplyDeleteI am rather tempted by these rules...
I have had and sold off 20mm and 28mm collections in the past...
But not 15’s... hmmmm...
All the best. Aly
I remind you of what Oscar said about temptation - give in to it. Besides, as Jon has pointed out the rules themselves are a thing of beauty, even if you never play them.
DeleteTempting, indeed! I am sure Graham will provide instructions for ordering a copy.
Delete"Besides, as Jon has pointed out the rules themselves are a thing of beauty, even if you never play them."
DeleteDid I say this?
I paraphrased. I knew that was what you meant. :-)
DeleteAs for ordering... you can find them on Amazon worldwide. If you look them up there's a look inside facility to see how they shape up in terms of production style.
DeleteOK! I buy that argument. Sometimes, I have trouble putting what I mean into words.
DeleteIf one was to take the view that language was an artificial construct intended to convey our inner thoughts and emotions then that would explain it, as one could then perceive it as an inhibitor rather than en enabler of understanding. It would also explain why we value the e likes of Hemingway as they can say exactly what they mean and convey it in a way that touches emotion as well as intellect.
DeleteThe sheer breadth of historical periods in which you have an interest never ceases to amaze me Jonathan. Napoleonic to Biblical to Spanish Civil War...are you definitely one person and not a committee?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely one person with too many interests. Never met a period I didn’t like. Well, almost never.
DeleteLeast this time I get the reference in the title. 😀
ReplyDeleteSo you're a fan of English metaphysical poets of the 17th century too? That's great!
DeleteThat’s good!
DeleteI would be interested in hearing from you more about the rules. They look interesting. I know nothing about the period, outside of Hemingway's book (which I liked) so I would enjoy hearing more about them.
ReplyDeleteI am a Hemingway fan, myself and FWTBT has been read more than once.
DeleteI will try to provide a sense of the rules and how they work in future posts. Until then, you can check out some of my battle reports if you are interested in seeing them in action. Click on the Label, "For Whom the Dice Rolls."