Factions in a multi-player Thirty Years War Campaign

Factions for a Thirty Years War Campaign - Banner

I keep thinking about a multi-player Campaign for the Thirty Years War. Two of the big questions is how many factions and what are they? I take a quick look at board games for inspiration before taking a view. There are quite a few board games for the Thirty Years War. Many focus on simulating the entire war so I thought I have a look at what factions they have.

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Should I introduce baggage camps to Tilly’s Very Bad Day?

P1000834 Dutch Camp

Richard (doctorphalanx) has been encouraging me to introduce baggage camps into Tilly’s Very Bad Day. I like painting up camps for DBA and I already have a camp for my Dutch army of the Thirty years War. My question is, was looting the baggage train/camp a significant event in any battles of the Thirty years War or English Civil War?

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Big Lutzen – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Scenario

Table - Lutzen - Tillys Very Bad Day v4 - Banner

This is a big Tilly’s Very Bad Day scenario for the Battle of Lutzen (16 November 1632). An outnumbered Imperialist army must hold a strong defensive position until reinforcements arrive. Historically this battle is where King Gustavus died, so was a key moment in the Thirty Years War. In game terms this is a big game on a big table with big armies.

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Metal Measuring Sticks for Big Bases and Small

Sticks-00 measurement sticks - Banner

I’ve been playing DBA for years, and all measurement is in multiples of 1 inch. However, many games are moving to base width as a measurement, which for most people are the 40mm wide DBx bases. But I’ve moved to Big Bases including for Big Base DBA. That means I need 2 inch measurements and 80mm measurements. Here is how I solved this problem.

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Imperialists beat Swedes – 2 Player Game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

Tilly-105 Locked in melee

Adam and Chris played an Imperialist versus Swedish match up of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. Adam and Chris have a very different play style to Jamie and I so this game played out in an interesting way. Very gritty with one giant scrimmage forming. Eventually Adam’s Imperialists took the day. We were playing several draft rules for a major revision.

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Making dragoons more effective in Tilly’s Very Bad Day

30YW-800 - Catholic - Dragoons

In my lost post on making under represented unit types more effective in Tilly’s Very Bad Day, I have a look at dragoons in the Thirty Years War. Under the rules their main competition is shot and light horse, both under represented troop types. Based on my previous thinking on those troop types I propose some ways to modify the rules to make dragoons more valuable/useful/effective.

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Making light horse more effective in Tilly’s Very Bad Day

30YW-797 - Catholic - Croat

In my week of musing on unit types in Tilly’s Very Bad Day, I thought I’d outline what light horse represent and contrast them to (heavy) horse in the Thirty Years War. I also consider some ways to modify the rules to make light horse more valuable/useful/effective.

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Making (commanded) shot more effective in Tilly’s Very Bad Day

30YW-805 - Catholic - Shot

We’ve been playing Tilly’s Very Bad Day for a while and it clear some unit types don’t make the grade compared to Pike+Shot and horse. Shot, dragoons, light horse and even cannons are all unpopular. So I’m going to run a short series of posts this week with the theme of making these unit types more effective. Not surprisingly I’m starting to form ideas for a major new version of the rules.

I start with Shot because I was just musing on types of (commanded) shot in Tilly’s Very Bad Day.

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Musing on Large Pike+shot in Tilly’s Very Bad Day

Swedish Yellow Brigade

In Tilly’s Very Bad Day all pike+shot are the same. But Tilly, after whom the rules are name, was fond of the older style big tercios and Richard (doctorphalanx) has been encouraging me to do something about this.

And Tilly wasn’t alone in the appreciation of big brigades. Gustavus Adophus invented the Swedish Brigade of the Thirty Years War and this was as big as Tilly’s tercios although the interior configuration differed.

What to do with the large pike+shot units in Tilly’s Very Bad Day?

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Spanish beat Swedes – 2 player game of Tilly’s Very Bad Day

Tilly-477 Infantry melee - Left - Banner

Jamie and I played a Spanish versus Swedes match up of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. In a very exciting game my Spanish eventually prevailed. We introduced a house rule to make chequerboard more effective and both focused on this aspect of the game with some interesting conclusions.

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