Wednesday, January 4, 2017

22 days to release...The Pikeman´s Lament



So it is just 22 days to the release of my and Dan Merseys Pike and Shot wargamin rules The Pikeman´s Lament that are published by Osprey, so I thought it was time to post some about the rules or at least some AAR´s and sample forces so you know wnat to paint while waiting:)

There have been some articles published in the wargaming press about The Pikeman´s Lament, Wargaming, Soldiers and Strategy Issue 88 have an review and in Issue 87 some  ECW scenarios writen by your´s truly. In Miniature Wargames magazine issue 405 you have a short mention in the "Forward Observer" column. You of course also have the Wargames Illustrated flipthrought video.

The Pikeman's Lament have its core rules are very similar to the seemingly popular Lion Rampant rules system. But lots has changed regarding troop types, and there's more characterisation of your leader - for all you role-players in denial!.

There are a bunch of Sample Companies in the book from different pike and shot era conflicts, but no specific "Contry or conflict" army lists. As in this level of gaming you can use more or less whatever troops you fancy in your company, that you Historical knowledge tells you was used in the force you try to depict. Some fun new scenarios round the book off.

Below you find some pages samples from The Pikemn´s Lament and also some pictures of the minis I used to depict Oberst Eberstein.s Swedish Hores Company at Poserna 15 November 1632 as shown on the last sample page from the rulebook below.

The sample company was made up of

3 units of Gallopers @ 4 points each
1 unit of a Regimental Gun @ 4 points
4 units of Commanded Shot @ 2 points each

This is a quite mobile and hard hitting Company, true Sewdish style with Galloper Cavalry to chase down the enmemy that have been soften up or broken by the Regimental gun and the Commanded Shot. As the Commanded Shot are quite fast even infantry they can keep good pace with the Gallopers. It is important that the Gallopers dosent ruch in advance as the enemy will most surely beat them if they havent been soften up by shot fire from the Commanded Shot. It would ofcourse possible to field the 4 units of Commanded Shot as 2 units of Shots to get a bit more stamina,firerange and firepower, but they would lack in mobility and have a hard time to catch up with the Gallopers.

The Company are made up of 18 Cavalry models, 24 Shot models and 1 light gun with 6 crew models. (minis is Warlord, most plastic, and the gun is from Wargames Factory)









19 comments:

  1. Congrats Michael, looking forward to seeing the final product. I know several people who are going to buy a copy after playing the game.

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    1. Thanks Matt! And a special thank you for helping out with the playtest of the rules and for setting up demo games. Appreciated!!!

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  2. Very nice h'orderves! Troops ready and waiting.

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  3. It certainly seems to be receiving very favourable reviews Michael, well done Sir.

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    1. Good to here, have you found any reviews online that i haven't ?

      Thanks for helping out with stunning oictures of you collection for the rules !!!

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  4. Looking forward to seeing the book up close!

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  5. ...and that little teaser has just made the waiting for my copy worse! I'll keep busy painting my troops...

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  6. The pikeman's lament is certainly on my "to get" list. I just have to figure out which two armies to recuit. I'm pretty certain that one army will be Sweden tough...

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  7. Best of luck on your new book. I hope the rules sell well for you. Happy New Year.

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  8. Michael, I am so very excited about this new release. You must be very proud, and quite rightly so! I have ordered my copy, and shall be painting up some figures specially for a game.

    Can I please ask a question about basing? You've used round bases - and these look fantastic. It might be an obvious question, but why did you choose round bases and not rectangular or square bases (which tend to get used in a lot of other Renaissance rules). I'm sure it's to do with the skirmish nature of the rules, but perhaps you could let me know....

    Well done again!!!

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    1. Thank you Sidney!!!

      Indeed very exited! I really hope you like the rules.

      The rules dosen't need special basing, most system work, even multibased, just keep track of the unit strengh.

      I have started to use My 1,2,3 basing as i really like the look of the units and that the units dosen't look so Tidy on the gaming table as they di with squarbases, people tend to line upp the Square bases to much for a skirmish game i think, more or less imposible with My basing :)

      You van read more here:
      http://dalauppror.blogspot.se/2015/11/123-basing.html?m=1

      Best regards Michael

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    2. Thanks so much, Michael! I am really sorry to have missed your basing post the first time around! I think that looks like a great basing system. I am so very much looking forward to the rules arriving! Very best regards!

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  9. So Pike and shot are done as separate units or is that just an example of specific army?

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  10. Really looking forward to this. Would it cover Great Northern War or is it all 17th century?

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    1. Thank you !!!

      The game are 1618-1721... But work some before and some after, I have even used the rules for Napoleonic.

      You can find a GNW and a Napoleonic AAR in this blog post:

      https://dalauppror.blogspot.se/2016/10/finnish-and-swedis-military-cooperation.html?m=0



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  11. Looks Fantastic, Michael! Can't wait to get my copy!

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