We recently played an Indian Mutiny game using the Perry Brothers Valour & Fortitude rules. The rules came out last year as an insert in the October 23 Wargames Illustrated magazine. I do not have a subscription to the magazine, so the release passed me by. However, with the planned game coming up, I checked out the Perry website and found the download section that has all the rules and a number of army lists available for free.
I read through the set online, dded a bookmark to my phone and printed the printer friendly version for a hard copy. The full version is sixteen pages long, with the actual rules taking up only four pages. The rest includes play examples, some army lists (Napoleonic British and French), designers notes, etc. There are basically three components you will need to play the rules. First is the rules, of course. Then the appropriate army lists for you period/battle and the fate cards (more on this shortly). All of this is available online to a large extent.
The system is designed with 28mm figures in mind. You can play them in smaller scales, but you will either need to make really large units or shrink the ground scale by 1/2 or 1/3, depending on your available table size.
The system has four game phases. It starts with the Fate phase, where players pull their available fate cards. Next comes the Fire Phase, where the active player fires and skirmished their units. Then the Action Phase, where the active player moves all eligible units are activated. Finally, there is the Melee Phase, where all the fights happen. Morale effects happen as they are caused during the various phases.
In the Fate Phase, the active player pulls one of their Fate cards. These can be used when appropriate and held from turn to turn. Each army has one of these decks, with most cards being the same. However, three of the cards are unique and provide abilities that are specific to the army in play. The army sheets show how you can use these cards by just using a single face of playing cards (Ace to King). For the Napoleonic period, you can find the actual cards for pint on the website. Frankly, I cannot image using regular playing cards, as it would be too hard to keep track of the abilities, as your playing hand gowns. As such, I would just print out the available cards or make your own for the armies that do not have already prepared ones. The cards give various minor advantages to the active player or in some cases disadvantages to the inactive player. They range from a re-roll here, to a plus one modifier there. It is an interesting system, that adds a bit of fog of war to the game and can make the difference if planned correctly.
The fire phase is obviously where all the shooting happens. Each unit has a weapon (only for reference), range and fire die listing on the army list. All units can fire normally rolling dice up to their fire factor. The number of dice is affected by the unit’s formation. There are also a couple of die roll modifiers. Basically, every roll of a modified 4+ causes a hit on the target unit.
Next the active player has to roll to activate each brigade (Brigades are the overall unit command) to perform various actions (move, fall back, skirmish, rally, etc). If the individual unit has fired, it cannot perform another action, generally. There are a few exceptions, with skirmishing and horse artillery coming to mind.
Movement is quite open. You basically measure the distance and move your figures in any direction. The only restriction is that no figure can move farther than its base move. Infantry in column get a twelve inch move and units in line move eight inches. Cavalry moves eighteen and artillery moves three when unlimbered. With that said, there are variations on these distances and some modifiers in different army lists to reflect the specifics of the army and periods represented. There are options for double moves outside eighteen inches and modifiers for terrain.
Melee works basically the same as fire combat, but with both players rolling dice. First the attacker rolls their dice (number and values modified) and then the defender does the same. The side with the most hits wins, with ties going to the attacker (unless the defender is on higher ground). The looser takes a morale test.
Like everything else, the morale system is also straight forward. Each unit has a Tenacity value. This is basically its morale level. Once a unit takes a number of hits equal to this value, it has to roll for morale. If it takes extra hits, it has to roll again for each extra hit. Once a unit equals its Tenacity, it is shaken and has some negative effects. If it falls its test, the unit routs and is removed from play. This basically means the number of models in a unit does not matter, as it is just total hits that count.
The next level of morale is the Fortitude test. This is basically Brigade morale. Each time a Brigade looses a unit, it has to take a Fortitude test. Basically, the player has to roll a D6 for every unit it looses during the game. There are modifiers to location of commander and size of brigade. If it passes, nothing happens. If it fails, the army gets a defeat marker (counts towards victory conditions), routs any shaken units and takes a hit to all units within six inches of the enemy. That is the hight level of formation morale in the game. It is interesting way to pile up victory points, without having to destroy the opponent’s army or have some convoluted system.
The system is not really designed for the rules lawyer, as it has a lot of simple mechanics that might require the occasional “agreement” in some situations. This is not surprising, as it fits the design philosophy of the writers.
The rules give the basic framework for the game and are universal for all the periods provided. If you go to the website, you will find army sheets (each army has a two page sheet) to cover ECW, AWI, ACW, Napoleonics, Franco Prussian and even the War of the Triple Alliance. Basically, if the Perry brothers sell the figures, they will have the lists. Anything else would have to be designed by the players. However, using the existing lists, this would not be too hard. Each sheet has the unit types and stats and the fate card listings for the army. In addition, there are various special rule abilities that apply to individual units and the armies. These are defined on the same sheets and give you everything you need to play the army (not including figures of course!).
All in all, this is a very simple and surprisingly elegant system well designed to play with a relatively large number of figures on the table. They are probably best to reflect a period divisional or small corps level engagement. They will work with smaller battles, but not huge set piece or small skirmish actions. defiantly, an easy system to pick up and play. They defiantly give you the simplicity of the toy soldier feel and fast play to ensure you can finish any game your start. At the price point (free), these are a must check out for any rank and flank gamer!
- Manteuffel