Jun 30, 2015

Blücher

Had a quick read through the Blücher rule set by Sam Mustafa. As most of my readers know I like Maurice very much, and although at the core it is a very different set, Blücher seems just as good. 
But the most important thing about it is that while it was written for larger scale Napoeonic engagements, the underlying mechanisms make it equally good to play pitched battles in the 17th century. Instead of larger formations, one unit or card would represent one regiment or smaller brigade. The characteristics aid in building armies that reflect their historical counterparts.
Below is a Swedish regiment of foot, fancied after the cards shown in the book - I'm cloning a bunch of other units as well. This makes it easy to carry whole armies in a very small space. I'm going to print them on some thicker matte paper, with national colours on the back and put them into card sleeves and I'm good to go.


A 'corps' and unit ID can be written on top along with an indicator that the unit is prepared (although, I imagine, a fancy marker would improve the looks).
For some change, a Swedish foot unit for example has artillery attached while a Spanish old tercio is more agile and can shoot and move in the same turn. In fact, the simple and elegant system allows for basically any period to be played where pitched battles took place.

And I believe I can just halve Lasalle units (those I painted and those I will) to create Napoleonic units for Blücher. 

4 comments:

  1. Very interesting idea, will look forward to seeing where you go with this

    Ian

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  2. Brilliant idea- I'm in the process of designing a miniatures version like this!

    Despertaferres.wordpress.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you very much - I was just thinking about Blücher's adaptability in these days again...

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