Great Northern War

Wargamer's Guide to
GNR Rules

By Cory Ring


The following is an attempt to briefly review some of the more popular and accessible sets of wargaming rules for the Great Northern War (1700-1721). It is quite rare indeed to find a set of rules written specifically for the GNW, and therefore by default this article must also cover the wars of Marlborough in western Europe. With that already said, let us continue...

WARFARE IN THE AGE OF REASON

DETAILS: Written by Tod Kershner and published by the Emperor's Press. This fine set of rules covers the entire 18th Century from the Era of Marlbourgh to the American Revolution. The figure scale is 1:50 and the ground scale is 1 inch equals 50 yards. Each turn represents the passage of 30-60 minutes.

BASING: A typical infantry battalion consists of 12 figures and is mounted three figures to a base with a frontage of 1 1/8" and a depth of 1/2" (for I 5mm figures). Line formation consists of four stands strung out end to end. WAR handles 15mm and 25mm figures equally well and contains basing info (and other tables) for both scales. Many gamers have experimented with doubling the units sizes for AOR, and I have found that with a few minor rule adjustments this works (and looks) great.

CONTENTS: The rulebook includes army lists for the GNW and Marlbourgh period (Great Britain, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony), and special rules for pikes, dismounted dragons, and civilian artillery drivers. A campaign system (including map), siege supplement, quick reference sheet, tactical suggestions, and bibliography (including movies) are also included.

COMMENTS: This set of rules plays quickly and yields an enjoyable, historical game. The basic rules are easy to learn, but charts/tables should be kept handy, as they are plentiful and often needed. A nice touch are the numerous examples, historical quotes and line drawings that are interspersed throughout the text. The army lists and troop morale grades are quite restrictive. and should only be used as a guideline. The campaign supplement works well enough to be played as a "stand alone" boardgame. Highly recommended.

LA GUERRE DU ROI

DETAILS: La Guerre du Roi is the 1688-1740 supplement for the "Koenig Krieg" game system (SYW). LGDR was written by Barry Gray and is currently being printed by Frei Korps 15, although I believe that now Outland Games has published the newest edition with all three volumes together. It is not a stand alone rules set (one must have a copy of KK in order to play), and it can be found tucked away in the back of the KK siege supplement booklet "Festung Krieg". Figure scale is 1:50; ground scale is 1" equals 200 tcet, and one game turn represents 15 minutes.

BASING: A typical infantry battalion consists of twelve 1 5mm figures and should bc based four figures to a stand with a frontage of 2 1/4" and a depth of 1".

CONTENTS: As a supplement, La Guerre du Roi primarily contains the rules modifications needed in order to move back in time from the Seven Years War to the 1688-1740 period. Each rules section from KK that requires modification is listed along with the necessary changes. Extensive army lists and commander ratings for the period are also provided. Gustav and I disagreed with a few of these ratings, but at any rate it does provide a good starting point for your games.

COMMENTS: Koenig Krieg has long been a favorite ofthe local gaming group, and is a quality SYW rules sets, a Guerre du Roi is also quite good, but it suffers in that it was not originally designed as a GNW/Marlbourgh set. The majority of the modifications and new rules are really just restrictions that tend to over-emphasize the difficulty of maneuvering and command / control in this period as compared to the SYW.

These rules, including: disorder, restricted command / control, and limited exploitation tend to create a less dynamic game overall. The rules do however, try to include many historical components in that they allow for greater Swedish "charge potential", pikes, cavalry fire, an elite heavy cavalry class and fewer skirmishers. Another supplement, "Der Grosse Konig: Rules for Strategic Campaigns of the Seven Years War", is also available and could be easily modified for GNW campaigns.

WARGAMING THE AGE OF MARLBOROUGH

DETAILS: Written by Pat Condray and published by Editions Brokaw. This is an inexpensive and short set of rules (12 pages), which includes provisions specifically for the GNW. The figure ratio is 1:40-60; no time or ground scale is provided.

BASING: A typical infantry battalion consists of 12 15mm figures mounted on four bases with a frontage of "about" 1" per base. There is a nice page of drawings and graphics in the rules illustrating how the figures should be based and what the various formations should look like.

CONTENTS: The rules contain some notes on the origin and development of Pat's rules (the "Le Kriegspiel" series), the rules themselves (movement, fire and morale), and some optional rules and comments.

COMMENTS: These rules are not complex, and provide a very quick and enjoyable game. Because of the short length of the rules book however, most rules topics are not covered in great depth and any gamer wishing to use these rules as his regular set should be prepared to draw up a page or two of house rules, or try to catch up with Pat at a convention for a few explanations.

W.H.C. MARLBURIAN RULES

DETAILS: This is the house set of Marlburian rules used at the Wargames Holiday Center in England. This set appeared in print in issue number 58 of Wargames Illustrated and was written by Mike Ingham, "just 24 hours before the first Marlburian guests arrived at the W.H.C." No specific figure, time, or ground scales are given.

BASING: The average infantry battalion in these rules is comprised of 16 25mm figures mounted on four bases, each two figures deep. No frontage is given, but I would recommend 3/4" per infantry figure.

CONTENTS AND COMMENTS: A disclaimer at the beginning of the rules states that they are an "off the cuff" and "totally unplay-tested" set of rules. In actuality they work very well considering their quick generation and short length (5 pages, including game tables, photos and magazine adds). These quality rules are fastened together with very sound and familiar mechanics, and are no problem at all to pick up, read, and begin play the same day. Try to find a back issue!

WARGAME RULES FOR THE 1680-1721 PERIOD:

DETAILS: Written by Stuart Asquith and published by Jessica Productions. Figure, time and ground scales have again been avoided (anybody notice a trend here?), but that doesn't matter, since these rules play beautifully without them.

BASING: Individually mounted 25mm figures are suggested (20mm x 40mm bases), but other schemes would work as well. A typical infantry battalion should consist of 21 figures deployed in two ranks (officer, standard bearer, drummer and 18 musketeers). The rules will accommodate units of up to 30 figures however, and I have found that 24 figure infantry battalions work well enough, and can then also be utilized for other systems (two 12 figure battalions or one battalion at 1:30).

CONTENTS: The rules booklet contains a nice introduction (with designer's notes), the basic rules (with plenty of examples), and a good number of fire/melee/morale charts. There are also some advertisements from various figure manufacturers, which are helpful for the gamer just getting into the period.

COMMENTS: These rules use an awkward firing mechanism, same size units regardless of nationality (21 figures), unpredictable movement rules, and an unusual morale system, but they provide one of the best GNW games around! The simple rules work great together and provide for a very fast, furious, and fun game. They require a few house modifications for the GNW however, as they concentrate mainly on the tactics and actions of Western Europe.

Some other sets:

Gladiator Games and WRG both have Marlborough period sets of rules in print, however they were unavailable for review. Jim Brokaw's rules "Will you go to Flanders" is another good set of "magazine rules" and can be found in issue #69 of The Courier (available on MagWeb in The Courier--RL).

"Ridiculous Vanity", published by Hoplite Research, concentrates on this same period, but in my opinion really offers nothing new or innovative. They do offer a set of campaign rules that might be of interest to some players however.

Also keep in mind that with a little knowledge of the period, your favorite set of "horse and musket" rules might be easily converted for the GNW. Rick Priestly's ECW rules "1644" (originally designed as a Marlb. set), Armati, Rusty's Rules, Johnny Reb, DBA and Napoleon's Battles might all make good candidates, depending upon the scope and scale desired. Check with your local hobby shop or favorite mail order company for availability and current pricing of all of these rule sets.

Great Northern War Section

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© Copyright 1997 Hal Thinglum

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