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 Mac and Lee by Hollandspiele  The 1862 Peninsula Campaign was at the very beginning a bold stroke to move around the Confederate Army in No...

Mac and Lee by Hollandspiele Mac and Lee by Hollandspiele

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Hollandspiele




 Mac and Lee


by


Hollandspiele





 The 1862 Peninsula Campaign was at the very beginning a bold stroke to move around the Confederate Army in Northen Virginia. In actuality, it turned out much like the Anzio invasion. A whale had been beached, and that was about it. Little Mac (George McClellan), could not, for the life of him, understand the reality of the situation. The Pinkerton Agency told him that he was outnumbered two to one and he either believed them outright or used it as an excuse for his own doubts and fears. Whatever it was, his attack on Richmond progressed slower than a sloth descending a tree to do its business. Joseph E. Johnston had his own fears and doubts to deal with. He let Little Mac saunter ever so slowly to the very gates of Richmond. Had it actually come to a siege Little Mac's artillery would have pounded Richmond to dust. If, that is, he let them actually open fire. His nightmares of massive Confederate forces clouded his campaign from start to finish. Once Johnston was wounded, when he finally attacked at the Battle of Seven Pines, Robert E. Lee was summoned to take command of the Confederate Army. From this moment on Little Mac believed to his core that he had to be vastly outnumbered for the Confederates to attack him. He went into an almost mental breakdown and left his forces to mostly deal with the Confederates on their own. Lee was presented several times with opportunities to deal the Union forces a crushing blow. Instead, his forces rarely did anything correctly from a military point of view. He either could not get his subordinates to do anything, or they decided to attack the Union forces where they were the strongest. Porter Alexander believed that during this period, now called the Seven Days Battles, was the only time that the South could have won independence. Is it actually possible to put such a strange campaign into a game? Let us find out if Hollandspiele and the designer John Theissen have actually succeeded in doing so.





 This is what comes with the game:


22" x 34" mapsheet

184 counters

8-page series rulebook

12-page module rulebook

2 display sheets

1 double-sided player aid

28 special event cards

1 six-sided die





 The box and its contents are standard Hollandspiele fare. The map needs some coercion to lay flat. A piece of plexiglass or a few books on top for a bit fixes the issue. The map is reminiscent of a spruced-up map from SPI or AH. It is meant to be a wargame map and not a wall decoration. In this it serves its purpose admirably. The terrain is easy to discern and there are no ambiguities. About one third of the map is taken up by charts and tables. These are in large print and have enough separation so that all the information is easily discernable. The counters are a little dark in color, but their information is large enough to be read without squinting. The number of actual units on the board is very small, which is a hallmark of Hollandspiele's American Civil War Operational Series. They are Corps sized for the Union and Division for the South (Not until after this campaign were Corps introduced to the Confederate Armies). The Series Rulebook is eight pages long. It does have some color thrown in for aesthetics. The print is nice and large. The Module Rulebook is actually ten pages long. First is an excellent five page write up about the campaign by Doug Miller. Then there are four pages of Module rules for Mac and Lee. This follows the same format as the Series Rulebook. There are three Player Aids. These are standard size and in full color. The first one has the Terrain Chart on one side with multiple tables on the reverse side. The other two Player Aids are Strength tracks for both sides in the two scenarios that come with the game. Next up are the Special Events Cards. These are the standard game size and are nicely done. The only problem with the cards is that they contain so much information that the type is rather small. Again, the above components are the standard fare for Hollandspiele. There is nothing wrong with this. They just veer toward meaty games in play instead of artwork for the components. 





 The Sequence of Play is:

A. First Player

  1. Reinforcement

  2. Movement

  3. Combat

  4. Recovery

B. Second player same as above.


 The scale of the game is:

Time: One day per turn.

Hex size: 4.9 miles per hex

Men: About 3000 men per Strength Point.





 A game can be incredibly plain Jane in the components and still be on your table for months at a time. Conversely, some games belong in the Louvre but are never brought out to play. So, now we will go into the game itself.





 As I mentioned, this is an incredibly hard campaign to design a game around. Little Mac should have been able to swamp the Confederates and been in Richmond in no time flat. There have been many theories put forward to explain his actions, or more correctly non-actions, during the campaign. So, the designer has to take into account that the Union Army was operating with a large ball and chain attached, mainly its commander. Then on the Confederate side you have Johnston who seemed just as reticent to engage the Union troops (This was shown throughout the war). The designer chose to simulate this with a Caution & Uncertainty Roll. Each side's Caution Level is kept track of, and this simulates the oddness of the first part of this campaign. Both sides are like old Walruses who are stuck in the mud glaring at each other. At times this will be a bit maddening for the player, just as it was for Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Once Robert E. Lee shows up, the campaign usually turns abruptly into constant battles. This again shows how much the designer worked to make the game historically accurate. As Little Mac you cannot just ignore his foibles and and use your army to say, maybe fight the enemy. As Johnston, you can retreat only so far before you are heading toward the Appalachians. I love games where the designer puts you into the shoes of the commanders but also gives you the opportunities and restraints that those commanders had to deal with. This includes seeing hordes of butternut soldiers where there are none. The game also comes with 'Dummy Counters' for the Confederate Player to use to confuse Little Mac that much more. 


 The Victory Conditions for each scenario are based mostly on the control of Richmond (again historically based). The Union Player receives ten points if they occupy Richmond at any time and another ten points if they control it at the end of the game. If the Union Player never scores these points the Confederate Player receives twenty points at the end of the game. You can also get Victory Points for disrupting and eliminating the other side's forces as long as any of your units are not disrupted or eliminated in the combat. Each side must also take a Rest Turn during each quarter-month segment. This is not enforced during the first turn or during July. 


 Thank you very much Hollandspiele for allowing me to review this game. I am a deeply read student of the campaign and I am very impressed on how Mr. Theissen has been able to give us almost a simulation of it. Hollandspiele has just released an expansion to 'The Grass Crown: Battles of the Roman Republic'. It is called 'The Grass Crown II' and it includes eight new scenarios. The link to my review of The Grass Crown will be below. They have also released 'Horse and Musket V Age of Napoleon'.


Robert

Hollandspiele:

Hollandspiele

Mac and Lee:

Mac and Lee – Hollandspiele

The Grass Crown review:

The Grass Crown by Hollandspiele - A Wargamers Needful Things


  The Grass Crown by Hollandspiele   The Grass Crown was the Roman Republic's highest honor. It was given for actions that saved a legio...

The Grass Crown by Hollandspiele The Grass Crown by Hollandspiele

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Hollandspiele





 The Grass Crown


by


Hollandspiele





  The Grass Crown was the Roman Republic's highest honor. It was given for actions that saved a legion or the entire army. Some of the Romans honored with it are: 

Quintis Sertorius

Scipio Aemillianus

Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Felix)

Publius Decius Mus (received two Grass Crowns)

 The Grass Crown continued through the whole of the Republic to be thought of as the greatest achievement of a Roman. That is, until it was sullied and thrown in the mud when it was given to Octavian for being Caesar's heir or throwing up the most in his tent during a battle (sorry, just a bit bitter). This is why Hollandspiele chose the name The Grass Crown for their second game in the 'Shields and Swords Ancients' series. The Grass Crown is about battles during the Roman Republic.


Contents


 This is what comes with the game:


17" x 22" Mapsheet

(3) Countersheets

28-page Rulebook

12-page Battle Book

A Brief and Digressive (But Mostly Accurate) Military History of the Roman Republic, With Jokes, a 28-page supplement

(2) eight-sided dice


 This is the Hollandspiele write up about the game:

"This second game in the Shields & Swords Ancients series recreates ten battles spanning nearly three hundred years of Roman history. As was the case with the first game, With It or On It (2019), The Grass Crown is a fresh, innovative taken on familiar material. The primary unit of maneuver is a "Wing" which itself consists of ten or so individual counters. Losses can be resolved by flipping the individual unit that was attacked, or by flipping any unit adjacent to it. Unrelenting pressure in the right places can prompt a Rout Check, causing the line to collapse. As the result of a single attack, multiple units can find themselves in your dead pile.

This simple but compelling theme sees many variations thanks to special rules that chart the evolution of Roman warfare, and contrasts them with the rigid Greek Phalanx, the sophisticated army of Hannibal, and the ferocity of the Gauls.

The ten battles are: Heraclea, Asculum, Trebbia, Zama, Pydna, Second Citra, Vercellae, Pharsalus, Thapsus, and Munda."


The three counter sheets

 So, we have two battles with Romans against Pyrrhus. Then two with Romans versus Hannibal. The next two battles are of Romans versus Jugurtha in North Africa, and then against the Cimbrians. The group of ten is rounded out by three battles of Caesar versus the Republicans (Pompey, and Cato etc.). I understand the choice of battles, but I would have preferred to have one where Sulla is in charge and not just an underling to Marius (wow, that puts a bad taste in my mouth). The battles show the Roman Legions against a wide variety of different enemies. They face phalanxes, barbarians, and then other Romans, with various allies. I would also have liked to have Magnesia in the group, but it is essentially another battle against phalanxes. The game is also setup like the almost fifty year old SPI PRESTAGS games. Meaning, that with some reading you can come up with forces to play out any battle you want from these eras. 




 The components are your typical Hollanspiele ones. This means that we are going more for functional, rather than pieces of artwork. The map is a terrain free green one, made up of squares instead of hexes (more on this later). The counters are large at 9/16", and are both color and alphabetically coded. They are not 'busy' at all, and are very easy to read. The Rulebook is twenty-eight pages long and the insets are in color. The Battle Book is twelve pages long, and has the setups for the different battles. The last page of both the Rulebook and the Battle Book has the Sequence of Play, Combat Results Table, and other reference material. The Military History of the Roman Republic is twenty-eight pages long and is worth the price of the game alone. The illustrations in the book were done by John Leech (1817-1864). He was known for his work in the magazine Punch. They were originally used in the book 'The Comic History of Rome' published in 1851. They, and the writing, are hilarious. While the author, Amabel Holland, has her tongue firmly embedded in her cheek, it is nonetheless an accurate history. I read a history book of Rome by Isaac Asimov, and it is just as informative and entertaining as his book was. The components are all up to snuff. So, what about the game itself?




 As was mentioned, this is the second game in the 'Shields & Swords Ancients' series. After a while I fell in love with the first design. The non-use of hexes threw me at first, but it made a ton of sense in the end. You cannot expect phalanxes, or legions, to operate as 21st century skirmishers. 


  The first game, 'With It or On It', was about battles in Greece before Alexander the possibly Great. So, besides two battles that had the Persians in them (Plataea and Marathon) it was phalanx versus phalanx battles. The designer explains that the rules had to be increased for this game because of the difference between battlefield tactics and changes compared to the older battles in the first game. This game does show the growth and change that took place in the legions between the time period shown. Marius's Mules are much more competent and deadly than the Roman Armies faced by Pyrrhus, and possibly Hannibal. Rome was an eclectic society one all levels. Be they Gods, or battlefield tactics. The manipular legion though can be placed at the feet of Roman intellect, and it enabled them to rule most of the known world. 




 This is the Sequence of Play:


1. Command Phase

2. Action Phase

    a, Skirmish Phase

    b. Rally Phase

    c. Move Phase

    d. Combat Phase

3. Victory Phase

4. Initiative Phase




  There is way more to this game than meets the eye. When you first open the box, you might be thinking that this is a beer & pretzels game. In no way, shape, or form, is this one of those. One of the best things about the scenarios and the rules is that you can see the progression of Roman battlefield tactics, and their actual formations. I absolutely love it when a game can teach a player something. This does not mean that the game is just a boring rendition of history. There is just enough friction of war put into the mix to make the battles seem fresh each time. I admit I am a sucker for anything that games the Macedonian phalanx against the Roman legion. This game lets you play out those encounters to see the strength and weakness of each of those formations.

 One of the many innovative rules deals with 'brittle' units. When checking in combat if a unit receives an exhausted result the owning player must turn one of his units, or that one, to its reverse side. If it has two stripes, it is a brittle unit and is immediately eliminated. Just when things seem to be going your way a bit of friction will reduce you to a Nervous Nellie.






 I want to say thank you very much to Hollandspiele games for letting me review this, and other, games. I want to especially congratulate Amabel Holland for her design acumen and her sense of humor. This series of games is a must own for anyone who has the ancients bug. I see on BGG that an expansion is already planned with more battles and different units. Please take a look at all of their games, but especially the 'Horse & Musket' series. You will find many battles that have never been gamed before.


Robert

Hollandspiele:

Hollandspiele

The Grass Crown:

The Grass Crown – Hollandspiele

With it or on it:

With It Or On It – Hollandspiele










With It Or On It by Hollandspiele "With it or on it". This is what Spartan mothers would tell their...

With it Or On It by Hollandspiele With it Or On It by Hollandspiele

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Hollandspiele




With It Or On It

by

Hollandspiele






"With it or on it". This is what Spartan mothers would tell their sons, meaning bring back your shield or die on the battlefield. This is an excellent name for a tactical battle game based in Ancient Greece. Quite a few games have tried to recreate hoplite warfare for the wargamer. Let us see what is in the box:

17" x 22" mapsheet
176 counters
8-page rulebook
16 page Battle Book
1 eight-sided die




 As usual, minimalism is the key word when describing a Hollandspiele game. This one seems to have more counters than their other games, but that is the only thing that differs. The counters are large at 5/8", and the artwork on them is workmanlike. They are done in a manner that makes it easy to distinguish the different types of units. Speaking of the units, there are only four different types. These are:

Hoplite
Heavy Infantry
Light Infantry
Light Horse




 You will notice the absence of archers, slingers, and javelin men. This is a design decision that we will get into shortly. The map is as plain as plain can be, and it is made up of squares, not hexes. There is also absolutely no terrain at all except clear hexes. The rulebook is only seven pages long with the CRT etc. on the back page. The Battle Book is larger, and is filled with the background history of the battles and the setups for each of the scenarios.  The historical write up about the background history and the battles is well done. These are the battles that are included:

Marathon 490 BC
Plataea 479 BC
Tanagra 457 BC
Olpae 426 BC
Delium 424 BC
Mantinea 418 BC




 You will notice that these battles are either from the Greco-Persian Wars or early in the Peloponnesian War. This game is designer Tom Russell's first game in the Swords and Shields II ancient series. Swords and Shields I was based on battles from the Middle Ages. 
This is the sequence of play:

1. Command Phase
2. Action Phase
  a. Skirmish Phase(s)
  b. Rally Phase
  c. Move Phase(s)
  d. Combat Phase
3. Victory Phase
4. Initiative Phase




 Now to the rules; these are exceedingly short and sweet, but a bit deceptive. The rulebook, although well written, has no examples of play. The game mechanics are so different from other ancient games that at least one or two would have been a good addition to the rulebook. Mr. Russell has done some very good videos about the game, and there will be links below. These were a godsend. Remember the lack of skirmishers? Well the design decision behind that is they are actually present on the battlefield, but not actually represented by cardboard units. All units have a skirmimish zone that extends three hexes in front of them. So when your troops enter the skirmish zone they must stop and take die rolls against their exhaustion (exhaustion is used instead of casualties in the game). Your command decisions, movement, rally, and combat are all given to your separate 'Wings'. These are units that are color coded the same. These are the commands that can be used for each wing:

Move/Combat
Skirmish/Rally
Strategos/Bonus

 As you can see, you cannot move and initiate combat at the same time. The Strategos counter allows you to give one command for all of your wings. This however lowers your Rally Limit by one (each scenario has a Rally Limit listed for each side to begin with). The Bonus counter gives you a few different pluses, from combat to rally. Leaders are also handled quite differently from the norm. In each scenario, both sides are given a set amount of leaders for each wing. Thus, the player knows how many leaders he has in a wing. However, during setup the leader side of the counter is put face down, and the player sets up not knowing where they are. When a unit is picked by the player to suffer exhaustion due to the CRT, the counter is then flipped over to its obverse. At this time you might find that it just suffers losses, or routs (it was brittle to begin with), or find a leader underneath. I will quote from the rulebook on the rule for elimination and rout:

 "9.5 Elimination & Rout Units that are Eliminated are removed from play, scoring Victory Points (VP) for the opposing player; the opposing player should group these Units off to the side of the map in whatever way makes it convenient for them to keep count. If a Revealed Leader is Eliminated, its side's Rally Limit is reduced by one.
 Whenever a player's Unit or Leader is Eliminated as a result of Combat, it immediately triggers a simultaneous Rout Check for all Foot Units (not Horse) in all of that player's Wings. Units that fail the check are Eliminated; Units that pass the check are not.13 Units Eliminated via a Rout Check do not themselves trigger another Rout Check, but if multiple Units are Eliminated as a result of Combat, multiple Rout Checks will be triggered.

 To pass a Rout Check,  it must be adjacent to at least two friendly Units in the same Wing, or  it must be adjacent to at least one friendly Unit in the same Wing, that itself satisfies the first condition."


 So if you have a unit by itself that is eliminated (through exhaustion or poor play), it can take a whole slew of other units with it. This is a part of playing that seems very historically accurate, but is also extremely troubling for the player in question.




 I was fully prepared not to like the game, and in reading the rules I really didn't see how they could actually work. I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that they actually do work and the results seem to match history. I am not saying the battles all play out the same way, but the results seem to fit with the history we know about these battles, especially the fact that one minute you have a line of infantry and the next a routed wing. Thank you Hollandspiele for letting me review another great game. For those of you who may be put off by the lack of hexes, no terrain, and skirmishers please look at the rules and watch the videos. You might be as surprised as I was.

Here are the links to the games and videos:

Hollandspiele
With It Or On It:
Play:
Robert



Antony and Cleopatra by Hollandspiele    "Hail, Antony's Legions". Thus began a fif...

Antony and Cleopatra by Hollandspiele Antony and Cleopatra by Hollandspiele

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Hollandspiele











Antony and Cleopatra


by


Hollandspiele 











 "Hail, Antony's Legions". Thus began a fifty plus year love of Ancient Rome, and then all of Ancient History. It also started a love of brunettes, but I digress. Was Antony so besotted with love that he lost all of his strategic and tactical sense? Was Actium inevitable or just a fluke? Hollandspiele has allowed us to kick Octavian's butt (we don't use that other name, he is always Octavian). Enough about the history and brunettes, how is this new game?







 This is what comes with the game:


  • (1) 22" x 34" map
  • (88) 5/8" counters
  • 12-page rulebook
  • 4-page Player Aid
  • 2 Player Display Sheets
  • 20 Province Cards
  • 1 six-sided die


 If you have been following the blog you will know that I love Hollandspiele's games, especially ones designed by John Theissen. His games have a small footprint as far as counters go. However, even with a small amount of counters he is still able to give the player a multitude of choices, both strategic and tactical. This game is no exception to the rule. 








 The map is not overly colorful, but I really like it. It has large hexes to help with the amount of counters which could be in one of them. The counters are your standard Hollandspiele's fare. Not the prettiest, but totally useful? The cards are very well done and the most artistic of the components. The rulebook is in black and white. It is set up very well and is easy to read and understand. Setup is easy.







 This is the sequence of play:

Each side adds up their respective Resource Points. The higher total is the first player.

Random Events Phase
 A. Storm Check
 B. Invasion Check
First Player Turn
Second Player Turn

This is a Player Turn:
A. Reinforcement Phase
B. Defection Phase
C. Movement Phase
D. Combat Phase
E. Attrition Phase

 The Western Player also has a Phase called 'Troubles Phase'

The Combat Phase has these Phases:
1. Attacker Declaration
2. Retreat Before Combat
3. Odds Calculation
4. Combat Results Table
5. Losses, Retreats, And Advances







 The only rule that I have a problem with is this one. Both Antony and Octavian give a favorable shift in Land Combat. For Antony it's totally understandable. Octavian couldn't tell one end of a pilum from the other. If anything, troops commanded by him should get a minus shift. Agrippa gives a favorable shift for Naval Combat for the Western Player.







 
The Western (Octavian) starts with eight 'Experienced' legions, with three more as first turn reinforcement. The Eastern (Antony), starts with six 'Experienced' legions, with one as a first turn reinforcement. However, the Eastern player also has four regular legions at the start. The Western Player can also reinforce his troops with eight experienced legions from the Off-Map Garrisons. If the amount of legions Off-Map goes below eight, the Western Player has a 'Troubles' Phase. This represents invasions or rebellions that occur Off-Map. If either of this happens the Western Player cannot take any more Off-Map reinforcements until the Off-Map number of 'Experienced' legions reaches eight again. The naval might of the Eastern player is pretty daunting for the Western player. These are the separate naval forces:



Western Player

Light Squadrons - six

Transports - one



Eastern Player

Heavy Squadrons - six

Light Squadrons - two

Transports - three



 So you can see that the Eastern Player can effectively strike where he wants to. It takes two turns to build Squadron reinforcements, all other units only take one turn.






 The game plays and feels very historical. You do not feel that you are moving troops and ships from a generic point in time. The game is won by Prestige Points. You gain or lose points by losing/winning battles or if your capital is captured. If you or the other player has five or more points than the other player, the higher player can try to cause the lower players troops or a province of his. This is something that happened frequently in all of the Roman Civil Wars.







 I am very impressed with the game. The player is given so many choices in the game. Offense, defense, what do you choose? If you do play badly or are getting bad rolls, it is hard and takes a good player to pull your irons out of the fire. Thank you, Hollandspiele for letting me review a great game on one of my favorite subjects. Now, get to work on the Civil War between Sulla and Marius. Of course, I will take Pompey Magnus versus Caesar (it is so hard to write that name).



Robert

Horse & Musket Volume III: Crucible of War by Hollandspiele  This is the third volume in the Horse & Mus...

Horse & Musket Volume III: Crucible of War by Hollandspiele Horse & Musket Volume III: Crucible of War by Hollandspiele

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Hollandspiele



by








 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
hpssims.com