The bravery founded upon the hope of recompense, upon the fear of punishment, upon the experience of success, upon rage, upon ignorance of dangers, is common bravery, and does not merit the name. True bravery proposes a just end, measures the dangers, and, if it is necessary, the affront, with coldness.
- Francois de La Noue
Welcome friend, to the page that asks, "Rome or Geneva, or Wittenburg"?
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Contact us
The Perfect Captain
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A complete system of warfare for 16th Century Europe
Including Large & Small scale land warfare modules, one for
Naval warfare, a Campaign, a Siege Game, and piracy in the Caribbean!
Spanish Fury, Actions!
"Sixteenth century commanders and military commentators naturally realized that these different forms of warfare required different types of soldier: one for garrison duty and mass manoeuvres, the other for guerilla action. On the whole they agreed that it was more difficult to find troops who excelled in skirmish-and-surprise, in what the English called 'Actions' of war."
Geoffrey Parker, The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567-1659
What now?
What now? The Spanish Fury system now has modules for Sieges, Field Battles, and Naval Engagements. The Campaign system is just around the corner. One more element was needed to finish the project, and that’s Actions! These rules cover conflicts involving at most 2500 men, at the least about 300. All types of low-level fighting are covered; minor battles, ambushes, raids, prison-breaks, cattle rustling and the storming of forts!
The basic unit of the game is the squadron, which is composed of somewhere between 25-50 men. These are often the size of weak companies, but we use the term company to cover the next administrative level, composed of several squadrons, somewhere between 150-250 men. Each company has a Captain, who has great influence on his men. The overall commander of a side is called a Colonel.
We’ve tried to portray just about every troop type in Europe in these rules, from Irish Kern to Spanish Musketeers. One of our favorite elements of this game is its expandability and "accessable chrome". Anyone can add their favorite forgotten troop type, from Cimaroon to Lap scouts riding Reindeer!
Amusement
Lets face it, that's what we wrote these rules for. We tried not to take them too seriously. That said they aren't goofy- that's not our way. We like to think of them as not really fast play, but they play fast, and loose. You can use them for a serious part of campaign play or a quick one-off for a rainy day. You can play historical scenarios (which we've included) and some for laughs (try the Border scenarios).
Got 40 figures? You got an ARMY, man!
In fact, you can start having fun with about 20 figures, and we've got the scenarios to prove it.... If you've based your army for other rules, don't fret. Use'em for our system! We're easy. While we recommend 1" square bases, with 2-4 figures per base, just about anything will work. Have you always wanted to do a sixteenth century army, but didn't or couldn't face the expense? Didn't want to get into skirmish gaming? Never fear; Start that Irish Army of Tyrone's you've dreamed about. How about a compact body of musket-toting Monks & Jesuits (yes, they are covered in our game)?
Officers
Captains and Colonels also have characteristics that they add to troops they command. Thus a company of Huguenot shot may be Canny due to the experience of their Captain. Some Captains are not so helpful. The can remove characteristics from the company they command, turning Tough Scots Levy Pikemen into average Jocks! More than that, Officers can be Heroic, Cowardly, Swordsmen, Bookish, and Inspirational. You'll soon love the good ones, and hate to spare ones, and know them by name as well.
So What's different?
The scale, for one thing. This is not a skirmish game. Individual figures are fine for some, but leave us cold. The actions they cover are a little too insignificant. You don't get much feel for a period. We have, however, added the amusing element of individual characters and characteristics that are in some skirmish games. The smaller the scale, the more you want to intimately get involved with your troops (minds out of the gutter, please). So, we went and did it. There are over 40 distinct troop-types. Not only that, but they are really different. Most of them have particular characteristics.
Borderers, Highlanders and most Irish troops are Canny. They are experts at spotting and laying ambushes. Petronels and Light Lancers are Slippery. Hard to force into close combat, and harder to keep there. Huguenot Millers & Swiss Pikemen are Fanatical. Spaniards are Disciplined. Walloon Musketeers are Expert shots. Gallowglasses are Terrible, and consequently nobody feels comfortable facing them. Dutch Sea Beggars are Undisciplined. Royal Guards are Tough. There's more. Some troops have more than one characteristic. The aforementioned Borderers are Canny, Slippery AND Undisciplined!
Sounds Complicated!
Complicated? The Captain? You're new to the company, aren't you? This is supposed to be fun! What we did was make a little deck of cards, one for each company type. There are a handful of numbers on each card. Relax. You'll be an expert in no time. Further, you can finish a battle in an hour and a half. All you'll have in front of you (aside from your figures) is 2-6 cards representing your army. If fact, one of the members of our yahoo group was kind enough to put together a brief example of play!!! Check it out right here
Scenarios.....?
We have includes 21 scenarios with the rules. Most of them require a unique force generation system we have included, so that each nationality has a potential of 54 different force and troops type compositions. Thus no scenario will ever by the same, and players are always unsure of the opposing forces....
Is there a Campaign game?
There sure is. For small level campaigning we have "A La Huguenotte", with three historical campaign scenarios. Spanish fury, Campaign!, though made for large scale troops movements, often generates small scale battles that can be played with actions.
I heard you have a variant for the English civil War...
You heard right. "Very Civile Actions" covers the same scale and same situations but for the ECW with armies in England AND in Scotland. Tinker Fox was designed as a campaign for this variant!
