Harold Lotman

I really liked the articles on the Dutch Army. I would like to see more articles like those on the Dutch Army and the Saxon Rot & Blau Pulks. Can you help me with the following: for the Saxons I need to know the book strength of the Saxon Cheveau-Legers in 1754-5. 1 want to add the Karl Regt. to my Saxon wargame army. Also, which figures should I use for Saxon grenadiers of the line regiments? I may have to use tricorne hats.

When I finish my Saxons, I would like to start a small Hesse-Kassel army. How many horse and dragoon regiments did they have in 1754-5? Their names, distinctions, etc? Knotel was not much help. Also, does anyone have information concerning the organization of the Rot and Blau Wurzburg units? I have found them referred to as battalions and as regiments. Perhaps both are one battalion regiments? I could find no information on their book strengths. I am also looking for the book strength of the Anhalt-Zerbst battalion in Austrian service. Again, let me put in a plug for a figures column in your fine journal. Thanks so much for your help.

[Editor: I'm the one who talked Harold into buiilding a Saxon army for Age of Reason battles, given that others in his gaming circle had enough of the other usual powers, so I hope that some of the members can help him with his search for information. As for the two Wurzburg regiments my impression is that they were single-battalion regiments modelled along Austrian lines, but I have no basis for this opinion. Anyone out there have an answer?]

Keith Gaughan

I was interested in a number of points you made in the last issue. Like you I played Fire & Fury rules recently and was impressed by their clarity and fun-to-play ethos. (My friends hope to adapt them for a 6mm Napoleonic wargame) I wonder what are the most popular rules for SYW/WAS battles amongst your readers. My friends use a slim volume called "Wargame Rules for the Mid 18th Century" by Gareth Harding and published in the UK by TableTop Games. These certainly allow for a fastmoving game which seems to capture some of the historical flavor of the SYW. Modifications for different time periods or different types of warfare need to be appended( to cope with the WAS or Ottoman troops for example)Anyway, enough of these musings, I look forward to receiving and reading the issues of the SYW Journal.

[Editor: Charlie Sharpe sent me a copy of rules that are strongly influenced by Fire & Fury, with a few elementts borrowed from Age of Reason. I hope to try them out soon to see how they work. I suspect that most of us use our own or modified commercial rules, but Age of Reason seems to be most popular]

Peter Michels

I wanted to thank you for the extensive information you provided on the SYW and AWI armies, including the notes on Rusty's Rules formations and modifications you have made in the past. I found it enlightening and very useful. We have integrated many of the concepts into our battles and we now establish troop qualities as exceptions to the standing table of given troop quality. I also took your suggestion on increasing or decreasing the quality of a unit of troops in the campaign based on their actual battlefield performance. Of course, we have one unit of French SYW Horse that started at 2nd Rate and worked its way down to 4th Rate. We would lower its morale grade further, but we figured the green trainee replacements would keep it up above 5th Rate. Needless to say, their performance has been consistantly "exceptional" ! They have yet to withstand a charge, pass a morale check, win a melee and they've lost their standard so many times (twice) that the owner stopped issuing one to them (he painted a second command stand on it with black arm bands and a pitch black guidon). They are always amusing to have on the table, since both the owner and who ever he's playing against make bets on what turn they'll get their pants beaten off!

Over the past year, we have shifted to using Chris Engle's Matrix Game to handle campaign issues. We can generally do a whole year or at least a season of moves at one group gathering (once a month). This past year there was a genral uprising of the fiefdoms (Independents = AWl Americans, Queenland = AWI British, Konigsland = SYW Prussians, Sehr Mixen = Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and others of the SYW) against the Protectorate (SYW Austrians). This turned a small dispute (me and the Austrians) into a world wide conflagration when the Protectorate tried to conscript troops from the fiefdoms. They actually put aside a " war in progress " to declare war on the King and now the Austrians are more like the Prussians in the SYW, fighting a battle in one place, then running to the next endangered spot. This will probably be the last year of the campaign as the number of new units being painted is lessening (painting was one of the goals of the campaign - if you paint it, you can use it). I am actually painting an Austrian regiment of two battalions, since it seems as though they are regularly outnumbered. I may add it to my OB and claim that they are deserters. Anything is possible in this chaos. The campaign has been a lot of fun (another goal). Three of us came up with the idea and then kept the campaign group constrained to persons with a certain attitude (no rules lawyers or win-at-all-cost types).

There are now seven of us playing and building armies and we will be hosting some Rusty's Rules games in the next couple of years at the various west coast conventions, using more normal matchups (such Austrians vs. Prussians)

[Editor: It sounds as if Peter and friends are having a lot of fun with their campaign. I'd like to hear more about it. Last year they wrote to me and asked for some information on the morale ratings of SYW and AWI troops, as used in Rusty's Rules. I gave them my opinions, but added that on average, there probably wasn't a whole lot of difference in troop quality in various armies and therefore, it would be an interesting exercise to start out a campaign by making all troops average (or 3rd rate in a system where 1 is the highest and 4or 5 are the lowest) and raising or lowering their morale status based on their battlefield performance. Sounds like this has led to some highly entertaining moments on the table top, especially for a certain French cavalry unit. I also like the sense of humor displayed by that unit's owner. All rules sets are subject to interpretation and modification. If there is something that your group doesn't like in a particular set, then change or modify it as you see fit and enjoy your gaming experience.

Hal Thinglum

Thanks for the column (in MWAN); looks good. Being interested in the SYW, I'm interested in what you will be doing with it. It will be a welcome addition. Have been on a SYW painting " jag " in November having finished almost 180 figures - 37 figure battalions of British line (3) and Grenadiers (1); two-gun/13 gunners per battery of Prussian artillery and one of British artillery. Currently painting a two-gun French battery and then wrapping up what's on hand by doing twenty British and French gunners. This will give me a total (both sides) of four battalions of light infantry (24 figures each); 41 battalions of infantry (37 figures each); 16 regiments of cavalry (24 each); 15 batteries of artillery (2 guns/13 gunners with limbers and one ammo wagon). I want to add some of the Old Glory Prussian figures: a battalion of grenadiers, one of musketeers, and one to three of fusiliers. When they bring out the cavalry and artillery, I want to build up my cavalry to 10 regiments per side( thus, adding a total of 4 cavalry regiments), and two more artillery batteries( seven per side), and perhaps one more light infantry battalion per side.

Then for militia, I'll add four battalions of infantry, two regiments of cavalry, and one battery per side. I will use Marlburian Era figures (Old Glory) for the militia. This will give me almost 3,000 figures for the period. Silly, huh! Yeh, I know but they do look good! I guess I'm back to thinking about using Kershner & Wood's Age of Reason Rules. I wrote my own and used them for one game (Little Wars) and haven't done anything with them since then. Actually, Age of Reason is a well-written set and should be simple enough even for ME to use. I should get over this thing I have about using anyone's rules; I'd be a lot better off! Maybe if I took the time to play once in a while, it would be different for me - I don't know.

[Editor: Hal's letter reminds me to remind the members that I will be starting a regular column on the SYW in his fine MWAN publication beginning with Issue No. 78. As for Hal's painting mania, he has assembled an awesome collection of 25mm figures that it would be a splendid sight to behold, especially at a major wargame convention. I mean, 37 figure battalions -- WOW! ]

Charles Sharp

Got my issue of the SYW Journal last week, and note that you are interested in Fire & Fury modifications for the 18th Century. By one of those rare fortuitous coincidences, we just finished fighting a couple of large battles in our local club's early 18th century campaign using just such a variant of rules, and I'd just finished the latest rewrite of the draft set using " lessons learned " from the battles. So enclosed are a set of the latest draft of Fire & Furry , which started as a joke title for rules entirely devoted to periods when troops either wore full beards or furry hats, but has actually turned into a working set of 18th century rules. We've worked through three major battles so far without finding any 'show stopping' problems ...

Of course since the mechanisms are borrowed from other rules sets, I don't consider them commercially viable, but please take a look, maybe try a play, and let me know what you think. The more I extend my studies to the 1740's the more I realize that, except for the Prussian infantry, the armies are largely still tactically fighting the War of the Spanish Succession far more than they are fighting the SYW. If you look at the restrictions in both sets of rules( Fire & Furry and Age of Reason) on infantry trying to maneuver in open files without cadence compared to Prussian foot that's already in close files and in step, and add in a firing bonus ( in 1740, I'd have all Prussian regular musketeers and grenadiers firing at one morale grade higher, in addition to the Platoon Fire bonus) their battlefield superiority becomes obvious. Our players have become equally contemptuous of trotting pistoleers' chances attacking infantry in good order from the front, after watching squadron after squadron shot to fragments - we have a number of Napoleonic players who got converted to the early 18th century only after bloody lessons! Let me know if there is anything in either set of rules that would make a publishable article for the SYWA Journal; I'd still like to do a summary of the tactical differences between the 1740's and 1750's, because I suspect that most people don't realize what an enormous tactical change took place during that time.

[Editor: Charlie, I'd like your article ASAP, sounds great, particularly so since we have been covering the War of the Austrian Succession for much of the past three volumes. It would be helpful to have your research on hand as we begin to move forward into the SYW. One thing that we have lacked is articles that present a discussion of tactics. Charlie and Dean West, among others, are examples of people who take a serious study of tactics and doctrine with the objective of incorporating their findings into rules. I confess that I take a looser approach for fear of losing playability, however, both of the afore-mentioned individuals seemed to have bridged playability and tactically integrity in their approach to rules writing. Charlie's approach is to borrow a card movement system that he has used before, and marry it with Firv & Fury. maneuver and charge tables, and other items from Age of Reason , including the "army withdrawal test" which is one of the best wargaming devises that I have ever seen. It prevents 'fight to the last man" syndrome. I hope to try your rules soon ].

Mark Mocarski

I am sure that you are familiar with the television series from Canadian Television called Hawkeye . Do you or any members know if the series is available on video cassette? I understand that it is available in Canada, but I have no information on where to buy it or for how much. I have recorded about a dozen episodes and would like to purchase the entire series. Would you PLEASE put the word out for me on this?

[Editor: I vaguely recall reading an article about the filming of this TV series about a year ago, but had not seen or heard of it until your letter. Perhaps one of our Canadian members can help Mark or send the information to me and I will post it in the next available issue of the journal]

Miscellaneous Comments From Readers

Your editor is always eager to hear input from the readers, both good and bad, so that you can get the best possible journal. I lost the name and address of the following letter, but he makes some good points, so here goes:

"The news format skimps on 'news' features. I used to eagerly look forward to dozens of entries as it is the only way to stay abreast of things when you live in an isolated area. Please bring this back. It is the reason I subscribe. Interests include news segments, wargame organization/basing infor, uniform painting guides and figure reviews. Non-interests include wargame reports and too much general historical rehash."

[Editor: your point on the news section is well-taken and I will endeavor to make this section longer in future issues. One little problem, under the " old regime " , journals were published twice a year and hence there was more news to include in each issue, whereas with a quarterly journal, we cover the news more often and sometimes there just isn't anything new in the way of products to report about. Also, given the high quality of articles that I receive, sometimes I run out of space (even after expanding from 60 pages in the old format to 72 pages) and cut the news section short. Finally, a steady flow of letters from the readers will insure that there is lots of news to report. I'd love to have 12 pages of letters in each issue if possible. As for rehashing history, I don't believe that any other publication has covered such topics as Ottoman Turks, the Dutch armies, Hennersdorf Kesselsdorf Domstadtl, etc. nor do they translate as much material as we do. New computer software makes the latter possible. Also, we are a diverse group and some members are new to the period and need to hear about things that the "Old Guard" view as old hat or rehashed history; besides, I personally find the period so fascinating that I never get tired of reading a new perspective on Minden, Fontenoy, Kolin or Leuthen. I find that I learn something new with each issue.]

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