For a long time I’ve been looking for a set of wargaming rules for the Arthurian age i.e. the Dark Age in Britain. Having tried lots of commercial rules, Vincent Tsao and I have written our own. Called Twilight of the Britons – Fast play rules for the English Invasion of Britain it is a variant of Twilight of the Sun-King (2001 version) . It covers the warfare in Britain from Roman departure (410 AD) until the English installed a Briton of Strathclyde as King of Scotland (1054 AD). The six page booklet contains only two pages of rules and four pages of army lists.
Twilight of the Sun-King
In 2001 I published a set of Fast-Play Rules for the Marlburian Period on this site. Andrew Coleby took these as a basis, refined them through play testing, and arranged for them to be published. You can buy them from Neil Rennoldson of the Pike and Shot Society.
Hits Remaining or Hits Taken – Game Design Musing
In our recent game of Twilight of the Britons, we used markers for the hits taken. But after the game Chris suggested moving to hits remaining. This post explains that element of Game Design and when I’m tempted to use these two contrasting mechanisms.
Twilight of the Britons – A Battle Report 2
Chris and Adam played tested Twilight of the Britons – a version of Twilight of the Sun King for the early medieval period in Britain.
Summary: Much better game. The shield wall clash was realistic but took too long to resolve. Battles on the wings were interesting and had an impact in the
Twilight of the Britons – A Battle Report 1
Vincent Tsao and I have been playing around with a version of Twilight of the Sun King for the early medieval period in Britain. I started with a rewrite of my original 2001 version of Twilight of the Sun King and incorporated ideas from Vincent’s Battle of Hastings variant. The result is called “Twilight of the Britons: Fast play rules for the English invasion of Britain”. I got Adam and Chris to give an early draft a go. So early I’d only written the rules that day, so isn’t wasn’t so good.
Summary: Too much dark age shield wall stodge. Not enough heroics. But a glimmer of hope for the rules.
Battle of Hastings under Twilight of the Sun King
Lately I’ve been thinking about how to apply my Twilight of the Sun-King rules outside of the War of Spanish Succession. I’ve also recently developed a preference for big bases. It happens that this battle report by Tom Loback and Vincent Tsao, submitted on the Yahoo Forum, combines both. It applies a variant of Twilight of the Sun-King rules to a Medieval setting, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, using units that are effectively big bases comprising four DBx elements in a group. I’ve put the battle report together with the photos. Both words and photos are Vincent’s.
Twilight of the Winter Queen: ToSK for the Thirty Years War and Lutzen Scenario
Andrew Coleby, co-author of Twilight of the Sun King, has come up with a variant for the Thirty Years War that he calls the ‘Twilight of the Winter Queen’. All words are Andrew’s.
Almanza – A Twilight of the Sun King Battle Report
Chris Harrod and I played my Almanza scenario using my 5mm figures on a newly painted 3’x2′ gaming board.
Optional Rules and Musings for Twilight of the Sun-King
The Yahoo Group: TwilightSK discuss various tweaks to the standard rules. In particular Tom Loback and Vincent Tsao of the Corlears Hook Fencibles generate lots of suggestions. This is my list of optional rules and/or musings based on that discussion. It is largely the suggestions of Tom and Vincent but with some twists of my own. Feel free to pick and choose from this list to tweak the official rules.
Chotusitz – A Twilight of the Sun King Battle Report
Tom Loback and Vincent Tsao provided this battle report…
Twilight of the Sun-King: Fast Play Rules for the Malburian Period
In 2001 I published a set of Fast-Play Rules for the Marlburian Period on this site. Andrew Coleby took these as a basis, refined them through play testing, and arranged for them to be published. They have since appeared as:
Sources for the Twilight of the Sun-King
Annotated bibliography for Twilight of the Sun-King rules.
Almanza Project for the War of Spanish Succession in the Peninsular
The idea was the refight the Battle of Almanza (25 April 1707) during the War of Spanish Succession.
Almanza – A Twilight of the Sun King Scenario
A Twilight of the Sun-King scenario for the War of Spanish Succession featuring the Battle of Almanza.
Twilight of the Sun-King (2001 version)
This is a set of fast play rules for the War of Spanish Succession including the campaigns of the Duke of Marlborough.
Design Notes for Twilight of the Sun-King
When writing Twilight of the Sun-King (specifically the original 2001 version) I kept in mind these principles.