I have been somewhat remiss with my blog of late, not in terms of blog posts per se, but in being able to blog about suitably grand, not to say megalomaniacly huge, games as is my usual wont.
The reason has been that my uni club, lead by my fellow ex Naval Officer and all round good egg Caesar, signed up to play test Sam Mustafa's most recent rule writing project, Blucher.
Being accepted into this select fraternity of 'Honour' playtesters required the invoking and swearing of the most terrible and inviolate oaths to not divulge anything about the rules or game development, electronically. Which has been pretty damn hard, frankly, as its been very interesting...
But to return reluctantly to my point, it has taken valuable wargaming time away from my usual pastime of organising unfeasibly large games, hence the dearth of posts, and a couple of tediously wordy fillers-in just to keep my blogging juices flowing.
However Sam today authorised the 'selective leaking' of this pre-proof illustration of the Austrian Army list, really I think just to gauge reaction to the presentation.
Please don't ask me why there are 2 illustrations of the Johan von Klenau, both different. Perhaps Sam has a really high opinion of this General, or perhaps like those other Austrians, the Strauses, there were 2 or 3... I know not - and it is a pre-proof!
As for the Blucher game itself, I'm not sure how much Sam wants us to give away...its a grand tactical game system, both for a mini campaign and battles, with the Brigade as the base unit. Whilst we approached the campaign aspect dutifully as a tedious chore, actually we had a lot of fun, and have enjoyed several evenings just playing through several campaigns...The 100 days campaign in particular is a scream and actually a good refresher on the strategic options open to the 3 commanders.
Anyway, that's it - leak duly leaked, and, for what its worth, my recommendation for what I have no doubt will become the default Napoleonic grand strategic ruleset - remember where you heard it first....
Post scriptum - this is the corrected version:, with only one of the Klenau brothers (?):
Well, the presentation is mint, so Sam can proceed with confidence! Thanks for putting that up Sparker.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the positive comment mate. By the looks of things the unit cards that will also be available instead of miniatures will also be lovely! Almost not worth getting the minis - almost!
DeleteIt's been a real insight watching Ralph play games with no miniatures. And even consider buying figures less than an inch in height :-D
DeleteLook forward to this release indeed I've been waiting since Lasalle came out....this scale is more my cup tea
ReplyDeleteHi Richard - yes I think you'll enjoy Blucher!
ReplyDeleteThanks for releasing what you can. I've been wanting to try a game at this scale for a while, and it's a long wait until Blucher comes out. From what I have seen already, though, patience looks like it will be rewarded.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sneak peak at this! Looking forward to seeing more :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you can maybe explain how the list works or is that shhh secret still stuff ;)
ReplyDeleteLooks like 3 corps of 4 some things is a min army size with only 1 sub commander lol
Pretty much how it is, except sub-commanders are an optional extra, rather than an essential, so only being allowed one isn't an issue.
DeleteI'm still a little disappointed that it isn't card based like Maurice, but I'm really looking forward to this, and I know we're going to be playing it a lot when it is out.
ReplyDeleteYes we've gotten used to card games after Maurice and Longstreet, but the combat mechanisms are so elegant you'll still like it. And I think Sam wants to put all his energy into producing the unit cards...
ReplyDeleteAny chances of a nice pic of a game in progress? No play aids or anything in sight, just a battle shot showing how it looks?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's allowed just yet Dave, anyway I don't have any such pictures, as its hardly photogenic with just plain old cards representing brigades. But the unit cards Sam is working on look pretty good, and of course using 6mil or 12mil models on a 75mm x 75mm base to represent a Brigade, with about 20 -30 of these on each side, will look pretty spectacular!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, especially the mini-campaign aspect. Years ago I took part in a Volley & Bayonet refight of Austerlitz, which look cool with masses of brigade bases and played quickly, but lacked the "elegant mechanisms" of which you speak IMHO. I'll be watching this space!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting these charts and providing the other bits of information. I will clearly buy a set of these rules when the come out.
ReplyDelete