Horse & Musket Volume III: Crucible of War

by

Hollandspiele

 This is the third volume in the Horse & Musket game series. The first, 'Dawn of an Era', is needed to play the series (the second volume is 'Sport of Kings'). As with every Hollandspiele game I have played, minimalism is the key word. Don't think that this means that game play is compromised; it's far from it. The minimalist approach means that instead of a fifty to sixty page rulebook, you get only the real meat in these wargames. 

 The game is a tactical one that gives the players various battles from the 'Age of Reason'. In this instance, the battles start in 1755 at Monongahela in North America , to 1762 at Freiburg in 1762. As you can guess the main subject is the Seven Years War. A few of the battles take place in North America, but most take place in central Europe. The exception would be Plassey on the sub-continent of India. The game comes with the following:

An updated set of Scenario Special Rule cards

A sheet of counters with new units and markers

Volume III specific Player Aid with charts

Rulebook

 The markers that are unique to Volume III include 'Woods markers', 'Fortified Town', and 'Square markers'. 

 The game components are just like every Hollandspiele game I have played. They are fully functional, but are not the fancy hand drawn maps etc. that sometimes come with games from the Age of Reason. The map is a blank slate that you add tiles of water, woods, and towns etc. to. The colors are muted, but still pleasing to the eye. The counters are a bit different. These have vibrant colors, and the portraits of the commanders are first rate.The counters themselves are very well made and seem thicker and sturdier.

 The new additions/revised rules for this volume take up just about a full page. These include:

Delayed Bayonet Charge
Movement Cadence marching
Artillery Fire Vs. Charges

 These are the Optional Rules that can be used with Volume III:

Nationality Rules (use these from Volume III, and not the ones that came with the earlier games)
Square
Volley Fire

 This is the sequence of play:

1. Player A rolls and determines random action points available to the command action points and stored action points for his total.
2. Player A spends his action points one at a time and performs allowable actions in any order he wishes.
3. Check victory
4. Player B rolls and determines random action points available to the command action points and stored action points for his total.
5. Player B spends his action points one at a time and performs allowable actions in any order he wishes.
6. Check victory
7. End turn - move turn marker ahead one space on the turn record chart and go to Step 1.

 As you can see, the game play adds the fog of war to both sides with the random action point rolls. The player must also consider when and where to actually spend theses points. Do you wait and see how your defense is holding up on this turn, or do you start your counter-attack now? Like all great wargames the Horse & Musket series does a stellar job of putting the player in the shoes of the generals from this time period. The game also has enough chrome to make you believe you are fighting in the 18th century and not a stamped out WWII era game with different names for the units. 

 
The leaders Montcalm, Wolfe, Friedrich der Grosse, Daun, and the battles of Leuthen, Kolin, Minden are all here along with a great many more. To see what I mean about the minimal approach, let us look at the Battle of Leuthen. This battle was one of the larger ones from this time. The Prussians have only eight pieces on the board, not counting leaders. The Austrians have a total of thirteen counters that you to have to order around like a good cardboard general. So, just like all of Hollandspiele's games the player can concentrate on his strategy, and not his manual dexterity. The battles of the Prussians against the Russians are my favorites. 

  Hollandspiele is a relatively new company, but it already has a large catalog of games for many tastes, from straight wargames to political simulations. They have quickly become one of my favorite publishers and a big thanks to them for letting me review this volume of Horse & Musket.

 Here are the links to the other volumes:
https://hollandspiele.com/products/horse-musket-dawn-of-an-era

https://hollandspiele.com/products/horse-musket-sport-of-kings

Robert

Horse and Musket: Dawn of an Era

by

Hollandspiele

 I normally only have one game at a time set up, that is until Horse and Musket showed up at my door. I had to figure out a way to set it up and play it. For those of us who are interested in the wars of Louis XIV, this is almost the Holy Grail. The campaigns and battles of Marlborough during the War of The Spanish Succession have had a lot of games designed about them (I should know I own almost all of them). Some games even allow you to fight battles from earlier in the Sun King's reign. This game allows you to fight battles from 1683 until 1720. So this includes the Nine Years' War or the War of The Grand Alliance. This war was fought from 1688-1997. What this means is that you can now refight the battles of French Marshals Catinat and Luxembourg. The game actually allows you to start your tour of the Horse and Musket era in 1683 and fight to save or keep besieging Vienna during the Ottoman's last gasp toward conquering Europe. This is a list of the battles included:


Vienna - September 12, 1683 – “We came, we saw, and God Conquered.”
Sedgemoor - July 6, 1685 – The Bloody Assizes
Killiecrankie - July 27, 1689 – Slaughter at Sundown
Fleurus - July 1, 1690 – The French Cannae
Aughrim - July 22, 1691 – Bloody Hollow
La Prairie - August 11, 1691 – Double Ambush
Neerwinden - July 29, 1693 – Le Tapissier de Nôtre Dame
Marsaglia - October 4, 1693 – The Massed Bayonet Charge is Born
Narva - November 30, 1700 – Charles XII Smashes the Russian Army
Chiari - September 1, 1701 – Catinat’s Last Battle
Klissow - July 19, 1702 – Charles XII Invades Poland
Blenheim - August 13, 1704 – “A Famous Victory”
Fraustadt - February 13, 1706 – The Swedish Cannae
Turin - September 7, 1706 – Eugene’s Greatest Victory
Almansa - April 25, 1707 – Battle of the Exiles
Poltava - July 8, 1709 – The Student Surpasses the Master
Malplaquet - September 11, 1709 – Mort et convoi de l'invincible Malbrough
Villaviciosa - December 10, 1710 – A Bourbon on the Spanish Throne
Sheriffmuir - November 13, 1715 – Confusion on the Moors
Glen Shiel - June 10, 1719 – Rob Roy’s Last Battle

 The map for the game is 16"x 32". It is a 'blank slate' type of map. To represent the different battles, there are geomorphic tiles to be used in the hexes. So this allows the player to be creative and make up his own scenarios once he has played through the ones that come with the game. To me, the geomorphic tiles have an old type style to them that sets the tone for the game. 

The game comes with a 15 page rule book. It also comes with a 27 page scenario booklet. At the end of the scenario booklet are 6 pages of historical notes on the battles and the era.

The core rules are only 10 pages long. To these are added another 38 optional rules. Some of these are listed 'highly recommended'. Then there are ones that are 'strongly recommended'. This is the funny yet entirely true warning before the optional rules:

 "STOP! NO, SERIOUSLY READ THIS

 You've reached the end of the core rules. What follows are Optional Rules. For your first few games, please use the core rules only. I know almost every rulebook says this, and you ignore that and jump right in for the 'real stuff', but we really mean it this time. Once you've gotten a grip on the core rules, you can add one or more of the thirty-eight optional rules that follow."

This is a list of the units that you get to command:

Elite infantry

Line infantry

Light infantry

Militia

Cavalry

Hussar

Dragoon

Native

Irregular

Highlander - these ones are not immortal

Artillery

Leaders

The game turn sequence is:

1. Player A rolls and determines random action points available and adds to the Command Action Points and stored Action Points for his total.

2. Player A spends Action Points one at a time and performs allowable actions in any order he wishes.

3. Check Victory

4. Player B rolls and determines random Action Points available and adds to the Command Action Points and stored Action Points for his total.

5. Player B spends Action Points one at a time and performs allowable actions in any order he wishes.

6. Check Victory

7. End turn - move turn marker ahead one space on CAP Track, and go back to step 1.

 So along with Marshal Luxembourg you get to try and do better than Charles XII, Marlborough, Villars, and Prince Eugene. If it was a movie what a cast you would have! 

  The game uses very few pieces to represent the forces in each battle. This might be a turn off to some gamers who love to see their army all lined up and taking up most of their side of the map. To me, the small number of counters mean that you will have to spend much less time to set up the game and start playing. I don't think that the low counter use detracts from the game play either. There are still a multitude of tactics and plans that you can come up with to win your battle. Once you are set with the rules and start using the optional ones is when the game really shines. It gives the player the feel of fighting battles in the 17th and 18th century. I would say that the game is easy to play and not simple. There is a really big difference between the two. I have played a few of Mr, Chick's games, and I am a real fan. It is not just because of the time period, but I am also a fan of the games' designs and mechanics.

Robert