Recently, I hosted a test game of Osprey's Honours of War rules. This has been designed for Seven Years War with rules emphasising fast playing and easy to grasp concepts. The game is focused on the ability of the individual brigade commanders whose command performance will affect the overall performance of the brigade and the modifiers that will be added or subtracted for the units in combat. To allow the game to last for the duration of the session, there is breaking point that requires taking the total number of troops and dividing them by two and rounding to the nearest whole number. If the number of units in one of the armies reaches this number then will begin retreating from the field.
The game was set up using Noel's 15mm War Spanish of the Spanish Succession range we set up basic game that everyone could get an idea of how the rules worked. The game pitted the French at against the slightly outnumbered allies. As this game was a test I did not include any National differences that would give additional benefits or disadvantages. With this introductory game started with both infantry and cavalry respectively engage each other with brutal results. As the evening progressed the Allies held out against the French who eventually reached their breaking point.
Everyone enjoyed the system although there are some qualms about whether this plays more as game rather than as a historical simulation. The former is probably true however the game works perfectly for three hour evening session and can be easy for anyone to pick up quickly. For the next game I will be having the game set around a specific scenario with some specific advantages and disadvantages for both sides. There are also optional rules that can be implemented into the game such as weather
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