Like many wargamers I have over the years bought new rulesets as the were published, hoping that they were going to be the ideal set of wargames rules - the wargaming equivalent of Nirvana. With each successive purchase, and resulting disappointment when the rules failed to deliver, I became more despondent. This search for that ultimate set has seen my shelves bulge with discarded rules, The group I play with (The Ilkley Lads from West Yorkshire in the UK) being forced to learn, and then try out, each of the new rules. This problem was exaccerbated by the number of different periods our group plays. Switching periods and rules puts a strain on the umpire and rarely allow's gamers to understand in depth a set of rules. What we needed was a set of rules that covered all the periods we game in, from the War of the Roses to the 2nd World War, that are easy and fun to play and, imporiantly, allowed games to play like battles read. I had thought this was a Utopian pipe dream. But then I discovered Piquet. I had first heard of Piquet when I read a MWAN article by Bob Jones, the author of Piquet master rules, on the concepts and design philosophy behind the rules. The basic core rules cover all periods of time and once learned allow period hopping without the need to learn or relearn different sets of rules. Each period is covered by a separate supplement that defines the period specific rules and army lists. The range of periods covered is a testament to the strong Piquet game design The game philosophy is, in my, opinion, a radical break from the normal movecountermove game with fixed turns and sequences. In Piquet the only thing that is certain is the uncertainty of battle. Having obtained a copy of the Master Rules with the Napoleonic Supplement our group took die few steps in de-learning all those concepts and principles associated with traditional move-countennove school of wargame rules. With each successive game we came to realise that what we held in our hands was not just another set of wargame rules, ultimately destined to collect dust on my shelves, but was indeed the Utopian set I had at least always sought. It is now over 3 years since my first game with Piquet and my enthusiasm for the rules, and indeed wargames generally. has never been greater. In fact our group the, Ilkley Lads, are currenth writing the 17th Century Warfare Supplement Anchor of Faith - which includes the English Civil and Thirty Years Wars (a couple of Hats favourite gaining periods). We are also playtesting a set of World War I dogfight rules which are very Piquetesque in their design. This past year has also seen us start putting on demo and participation games at various wargame shows in the UK using different Piquet Supplements. The current list of available Supplements is as follows: Ancients to Feudal (3000 BC.-1200 AD.) - Archon Supplement Medieval (1200-1600) - Band of Brothers Supplement Marlborough, SYW & AWI (1690-1790) - Cartouche Supplement Napoleonic (1790-1820) - Les Grognards Supplement Napoleonic Tactical Combat - Chef de Piquet Supplement Grand Tactical Napoleonic Combat - Grand Piquet Supplement ACW & FPW (1860-187 1) - Hallowed Ground Supplement Colonial (1850-1914) - The Din of Battle Supplement Early 20th Century (1904-1936) - Barrage Supplement. WW.II (1936-1945) - The Blitzkrieg Supplement In addition the following supplements are all various stages of development but all should be available later this or early next year. TYW-ECW (1600-1690) - Anchor of Faith Supplement 19" Centur - v Warftire (1820-1900) - Cap & Ball Supplement Early 20th Century (1904-1936) - Barrage Supplement Vietnam (1965-1973) - Forgotten Heroes Supplement Fantasy - Scaramax Supplement Theatre of War - Campaign Supplement If you are interested in finding out more about Piquet then the following website is very useful place to start. www.piquet.com This website provides full description of designer concepts behind the rules, details of the various supplements currently available. The links page will also get you into official and unofficial websites located in the US, UK and Australia. You can order Piquet online or via a number of outlets. For UK and European distribution try either Caliver Books or Wargamesworld. Piquet also has a very active and enjoyable, email group. For details visit the following website: http://www.onelist.community/piquet For those without Internet access you can subscribe by sending an email to. Piquet-subscribe@onelist.com To wet your appetite, and perhaps give a flavour of the rules, I have included the following Naval Rules, which were originally published on the Piquel website. The rules are written by James Roach and edited by myself and are a supplement to the core Piquet Rules. Back to MWAN #106 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com