Post by bruce on Sept 9, 2018 19:53:01 GMT
These rules have a long and successful history. Along with Age of Eagles, they have stood the test of time in the modern rules era. This is a grand tactical rule set, no tactical formations. It is adaptable to 6mm by scaling down the numbers. I am using a 4x4 revolving table for easy solo play. The default scale is 1 inch to 100 yards. Infantry on 3 inch base fronts move 16 inches per turn! But a change in scale does not change the game and allows for some big battles to be fought in a small space. My bases are already 1.5 inches, so I just halved the movement.
I must give our fellow gamer and Forum member TWR credit for running an excellent V&B website, with various resources. volleyandbayonet.wordpress.com/ I suggest you visit and take a look at designer Frank Chadwick’s Design Notes. Like Neil Thomas, Wilbur Gray, Stan Mustafa etc., Frank makes clear his reasoning regarding his rules, which for me leads to easy learning and understanding. And since TWR does a great job explaining the game mechanics, I suggest you look at his Introduction to Volley and Bayonet for a great summation of the main details, plenty of pictures and reports.
The first thing I noticed about VB is the organization of the rules. Each rule is simply numbered, 1-23. That’s it. They are each 1-2 pages, with examples where needed. Its clear, concise, and gives my tired mind an easy path towards getting a handle on the game. I can remember a lot of this almost right away!
There are the usual sections on movement, firing, melee, morale, etc. Units become disordered and may eventually rout, leaving the game. But units also recover from disorder and return to the fight. Commanders out of range cause units to lose some movement capacity. There are no fiddly formations, a unit is either marching or not. Unit facing is what matters in maneuver.
Combat hits and unit status ie, exhaustion are tracked on a roster. This has never been my favorite thing, but this is the best way to do rosters I have seen. First of all, they are easy to copy from the rules themselves, with pages of OOBs and hit marker sections. There are 8 excellent historical scenarios in the rules, but many more available on the website or in available collections. Second of all, they do make labeling and playing easy.
And that leads me to my conclusion. VB is wonderfully thought out and easy to learn and play. It gives you the feeling that you have been playing for a while right away. Results are satisfying and feel historical. I have not thought of any particular solo adaptions so far, but it would not be hard to amend these rules a bit.
And…they can be used for any horse and musket period with some modifications. Plenty of ACW and AWI, FPW scenarios. All told, one of the most sensible and enjoyable rule sets around. Bruce