Daniel Mersey returns with another book for the osprey
Wargaming Series. He also has penned Dux Bellorum, Lion Rampant, and Dragon Rampant. This only adds to his efforts
previously. He may be my favorite
designer in the series so far. As he
writes rules, he is not completely grounded in the history and instead adds a
good dose of “Hollywood” into his rulesets.
This set focuses on “Colonial Wargaming” which covers a broad
scope of time and conflicts across the globe.
That can be a daunting exercise.
However, his style may not be for everyone’s taste. Thankfully, his design style starts with his
objectives. This allows the reader to
judge for themselves how successful Mr. Mersey is at meeting them. In The
Men Who Would Be Kings his objectives were:
·
Quick play
·
Leaders and personalities to the fore
·
Small action focus
·
Broad troop types
·
Scenario driven
·
Reasonably balanced- with leaders,
personalities, and scenarios adding difficulty
With those criteria in mind, let’s dig into the book
itself.
Things I Liked
These are not a reskin of rules like Dragon Rampant was to LionRampant. You can see the core
mechanics that were built upon from Lion
Rampant, but they are a unique animal.
For example, each unit still has an “Activation Test” based on the
officer’s leadership and discipline of the unit. If failed, they will not act. In DragonRampant or Lion Rampant, that
would end your turn. That is not the
case in The Men Who Would Be Kings. Instead, that unit is inactive while other
units act. However, all units can do a “Free Action” without passing a
test. The Free action varies by unit
type. Regulars can always fire, while
natives can always Go To Ground. That
means our units can always do
something… but not necessarily what you wanted them to do.
This game has basic rules for solo-play/all players vs a
GM. This is nice to see. Interesting, in solo-play enemy units can
appear relatively close or far away.
They do not always start at the opposite side of the board. The solo-play rules allow you to be the
Colonials, Natives, or even Regulars vs. Regulars.
Force building is very easy and straight forward. Like LionRampant, each unit is a broad category.
The units are divided into three categories; Regulars, Irregulars, and
Natives. These are further broken up
into infantry, mounted infantry, or cavalry.
The designer essentially manages to break down a very complex period
into easily digestible chunks which allows the game to cover a wide array of
conflicts.
The mechanics are very easy. Each model rolls a dice and compares the
result to the unit’s stat. Every success
over the target number is a hit and removes an enemy model. Range and circumstances may impact the target
number. Range and cover dictate how many hits are needed to remove an enemy
model. The simple is relatively abstract
but easy to play.
Things I Do Not
Like
The game is essentially IGOUGO if I am reading it
right. Players determine
initiative. The winner may then choose a
unit, give it an order, and test to see if the order is carried out. The order is completed and the player moves
onto the next unit. This can lead to
long stretches of the opponent doing nothing more than removing models. This is somewhat mitigated by the size of the
forces involved.
There are no specific campaign rules in the book for
boasts and glory which was a bit disappointing since individual officers are
such a big deal in this game. Even a bit
of the old Glory and Boasts from the other books would have been a nice
add. However, it looks like they
replaced the campaign rules with the solo-play rules called Playing Against Mr.
Babbage.
Meh and Other
Uncertainties
In Dragon Rampant
or Lion Rampant, the leader of your
army was the only one with personalities that were randomly rolled. I personally was not a fan of these
Leadership traits in those rules as they were unbalancing. In these rules each Unit has randomized,
individual Leader skill and traits.
These range from hapless and terrible to remarkable leaders, with most
being somewhere in between. I find this
system works better in this game since you can use other officers in different
units to off-set. I think it will add to
the friction of the game. This will not
be to all players tastes.
There is a chance that the leaders of your Units will be
killed off. When casualties occur, there
is a random test to see if any were your leader. Leaderless troops typically have worse
leadership tests (unless they were led by a hapless twit, which is possible)
which makes the unit less reliable.
Terrain is abstracted to not impede play. Generally troops in terrain require more hits
to remove casualties. It also has some
impact on moving. Overall, the terrain
rules are designed to be quick and easy without getting in the way of the
game.
Pinning plays a big role in this game. Pinned units can only try to Rally and may
not take other actions. This limits
their ability to respond to the enemy. Units
are pinned by shooting, losing in melee, or seeing units wiped out nearby.
The game comes with a variety of scenarios to choose
from. The ones presented could fit
nicely into a campaign. The scenarios
presented look like modifications and updates to scenarios in the Lion Rampant book and possibly a handful
of new ones. There are also a handful of
optional rules including limited ammo which looks like a treat. This also includes some theater specific
rules.
Final Thoughts
I had been toying with the idea of making a game for the
Dakota War of 1862. I feel like these
rules would fit the bill for the Dakota War perfectly since much of the war was
smaller unit actions featuring irregular troops and natives. These rules fit the bill nicely. They would also work nicely for the
Italo-Turkish War, another game I wanted to put on.
However, I am not sure I am as sold on these rules as I
am on Mr. Mersey’s other works. He does
a great job of streamlining and simplifying force selection for a variety of
periods. He also achieves his design
objectives admirably. By those measures
this game is a success. However, one of
my most important elements in a game is Turn Sequence, and I am not satisfied
with the IGOUGO nature of the game.
That being said, I think this game fits a smaller scale
wargame better than Blackpowder. I prefer Blackpowder’s
push your luck turn mechanics, but Blackpowder
is pitched more at Regulars vs. Regulars than Colonial efforts. I think the streamlined nature of this game
and the scale suits itself well for a night of gaming with minimal effort. Therefore, I don’t think you can go wrong for
the price.
