Little-known Rules: War of the Roses by the Perfect Captain

Seems the English are just as fond of civil disobedience as the rest of us. Without really bothering to delve greatly into the matter (at eight years old, intellectual curiosity was very limited, under-developed, and mostly superficial anyway), I intuitively sided with the losing Lancastrian cause. Nearly sixty years later, I am still siding with the losing side simply because I know the value of what-ifs. Especially when wargaming. And, besides, ultimately the Lancastrians won when Henry defeated Richard III at Bosworth.

ACOS stands for A Coat of Steel which is set in the War of the Roses (1455-1487). It covers the main areas of conflict - England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. 

I am really liking the breakdown and detailing these rules provide into the period and how it was fought back then. 

Within the concept of the rules a Band, usually refers to a single 40mm stand representing 60-100 men. Whether this is historically the case deserve further investigation but for now I content to accept their explanation. Besides, it makes for an interesting appeal, and it's better than being called a "thingy". 

A group of bands (normally 3 or 4) belong to a Contingent while a Company comprises several contingents (ranging between 6 to 16 contingents - no more, no less). Scale for these rules is 28mm. Which allows scope for painting beautiful minis.

The Company is the basic tactical unit within the game, and must be led by a commander. Beyond that, as you rise up in organisational levels terms like Ward, Host, and Battel become more common and therefore the norm, especially in Campaign Mode (ACOP - A Coat of Paper). Like I said before, the rules are designed for company-level gaming but it is possible to wage large-scale tabletop conflicts. It means more players of course.

What is attracting me right now with this ruleset, i.e., wanting to pull out the paint brush and acrylics, are the coat-of-arms of those involved. These are part of the multitude of other files - cards, counters, personalities, scenarios - that seriously much colour to the ruleset. And it's a big plus rergarding The Perfect Captain; their production output is seriously good for Little Known rules.

Always found shield heraldry fascinating. There is colour. There is history. There is symbolism. And the perfect opportunity to create a colourful company, especially the standard bearer, is really motivating me to buy some minis and assemble a group together.

Which commander to choose from the eighty-odd has yet to be determined however. But I do know he will be Lancastrian-aligned. Although there are some nice shield emblems on theYorkist side too.

Leaders come in all degrees of competency and loyalty. I like the fact that you can have commanders on your own side suddenly turn Treacherous on you. Much like real-world situations. Gives it a spice from your usually bland commercially produced sets. 

I've already printed out Ironbow 2, Strongbow (the campaign mode), The Armies of Strongbow, and John Bull/Patriots (covering the period of the American Revolution up to 1815 on the North American continent). 

Also exploring my options in terms of suitable figurines, their availability within Australia, and type. My son is planning on travelling overseas to the UK next month so I could probably save on the pricey overseas postage if I can get my act together. 

I will test the waters, so to speak, with these various rules to some degree of commitment. 

There are other rulesets within the free grab bag from all those years ago. There is a set of seven modules based within the Pike and Shot era (16th-17th centuries) centred on the Spanish domination in European affairs at that time. Rules cover such specifics as conventional naval warfare, piracy in the New World, religious persecution (Hugenots), conventional land battles, sieges (coastal and fortifications). There is even a simple duelling module! And a Nordic ruleset covering the local wars of Scandinavia is tossed in for variety.

Of course, I should end this brief post back on the topic of English civil disobedience, namely that other great conflict that divided the nation: the English Civil War. There are three modules for this period - Planter Fox (Ireland module), Tinker Fox (core ruleset), and Very Civile Actions (campaign module).

There is a lot here to keep me occupied for many several years.

Little-known Rules: Iron Bow 2 - a Medieval wargaming project

Been looking beyond the Borodino Refight for a new modelling/gaming venture for some time now. Various ideas have been bandied about but nothing firm enough has emerged beyond initial enthusiasm which doesn't carry far. 

I did recall some old rulesets that were freely available from eight years back. What attracted me to them, besides being free, back then were their high quality production. They also covered various specific periods within the historical wargaming genre - from the Pelopponesian conflicts of the Ancient eras through to the numerous wars of the Middle and Renaissance periods right up to global conflicts of the early 19th century. 

The rules themselves were aimed at company-level (of low hundreds) operations. Not quite full-on large-scale battles but definitely not skirmish. And they cover not just land but naval actions. Nowadays all levels of wargaming are catered for in the twenty-first century. But these sets produced from the early 2000s (and earlier) were few and far between and often quite crude in their output production values, i.e, one or two Word-style pages and tables. 

I was indeed fortunate enough to find these treasure trove of rulesets.

I invested in a couple of sets many years back. The first was the Peloponnesian Wars. I managed, at that time, to assemble together, in 15mm, a small Spartan and Greek list. I had high hopes for future expansion but nought came of that. Even though I coaxed a fellow club member at the time to join in for a playtest, interest soon waned as something else soon caught my eye.

The next set was devoted to the Russian Civil War. Chose 20mm and accumulated a large enough list of both Bolsheviks and White Russians. Even had armoured vehicles. Started campaigning after playing a few small engagements to acclimatise myself to the rules. 

Of late, however, I've begun to rediscover renewed interest in starting a new wargaming/painting project. Hence the search for other rulesets from the publisher who offered a wide variety of period rulesets. These included both land and sea and stretched from Ancient times to early nineteenth century. 

Lately I've begun reviving interest enough to read through some of the rules, going so far as start prepping them for printing. 

The publisher of this veritable treasure chest of free rules is The Perfect Captain - a North American entity made up of several talented rules writers. One of their strengths is the production values pertaining to each ruleset produced. 

Their website (The Captain's Chest) is still active. However, downloading the still-listed rulesets is no longer possible as I recently found out the other day when I tried to download the Medieval set. EDIT: I have since learned the site shut down October 2020. Good news is that they're still active as a facebook group. 

Fortunately, for me, I had the sense to download the sets all those years ago. 

The ruleset I am interested in reviving Ironbow 2 which happens to be the core ruleset covering the Early Medieval period. It is not confined to one specific region; this is where Strongbow comes in being an expansion set that covers those lists not in IB2 - specifically all manner of feudal French (both northern France and south of the Loire valley, Flanders, German (Holy Roman Empire), the wild Irish, Scots, Welsh), 

Other expansions of the IR2 series include Alexius 1113 (Byzantine campaign against the marauding Seljuks), and Villehardouin (an IB2 scenario for the Byzantine-Archean War 1262-64). 

There is also Princes of the East (dealing with the First Crusade) and In The Shadow of Byzantium 2 (1205-60). Both of these are separate rulesets to IB2. 

I have lumped all these sets listed above into one grouping and called them Medieval. 

The main author of Ironbow 2, by the way, is Billy Toufexis (I believe) and it was released by The Perfect Captain in 2006.

I am focusing on the Strongbow expansion specifically to get me started on the road to discovery. And as I read through the document, it calls to mind Lion Rampant by Mr. Mersey. But apart from that single distinction Lion Rampant is very much a simplified generalised tabletop game wearing historical costume whereas IB2 seems more historically substantial and less gamey. Various factions have specific characteristics emphasised more than LR which tends to lump all types into neat gaming boxes.  

The usual hurdle remains, namely, adapting IB2 to solo gaming mode. But as this is par for course anyway, it's not really an issue. Just another step to actual play.