Our group has recently be running games using the Perry brothers Valor and Fortitude rules. We had been on the look out for simple rules for running small and medium sized battles in various periods. Most of what we have tried are just too complex for most of our occasional horse and musket games. So far, we have used the rules for some more obscure conflicts. We will continue to explore them in other periods.
The rules were released with the October 2023 edition of Wargames Illustrated. I do not myself have a subscription to WI, so I was totally unaware of the rules. One of my gaming buddies mentioned them as a possibility for TYW and pointed me towards the Perry website. I found various version of the rules (short, printer friendly, full, different languages, etc.). In addition to the rules, there are army list sheets for various armies covering periods from the English Civil War to the Franco Prussian War. There are also a couple of standard scenarios to help learn the rules.
The rules themselves are very short in length (only four pages) and cover the basics of the system. These are then supplemented by army sheets that give specific period rules. This is similar to the style of Rank and File or Black Powder. However, the base rules are not nearly as meaty and the army list rules are much more impactful.
The first section of the rules are the “core rules”. This section covers how dice rolls and modifiers are applied in the mechanics. D6 are the sole dice used in the game. Either individually for things like commands and morale or as a group for fire and melee combat. In addition, the section covers how to reflect the different arms (infantry, cavalry, artillery and leaders), and organize brigades. For the game, the basic maneuver element is the battalion/regiment (depends on period), with the command element being a brigade.
Next we have a section on “game preparation”. This is just a few paragraphs covering creating your scenario, setting objectives, choosing your C-in-C and shuffling your Fate Deck. Not too much meat here. It is clear the rules are focused on the historical gamer, as there are not a long list of match point scenarios or set matches. The authors leave it up to the gamers to build their own scenarios. It is possible there may be some on their Facebook user group pages, but I am not a user of that platform, so am not really sure. For those that do not like to build their own scenarios, it is easy to either buy many of the scenario books for other rules that are on the market or download them from the web. It is just a base of counting battalions and brigades. The system does not have a standardized basing system, so players are free to use whatever they have. The only requirement is that base frontages are universal. Each army has a fate deck that is unique to its army. Well, the face cards are unique and the rest are the same… You basically take all the cards out of a playing deck of the same face (spades, clubs etc.), with each having a special rule attached to it. Frankly, I think I would find doing it that way maddening… For some of the armies, there are actual fate card available for download. For those that are not available, I would strongly suggest making your own (hopefully the writers will add more). If that is too much for you, then just print them from the army list, cut them out and add them to some playing cards!
Section three covers the “sequence of play” (the whole section in above), while for covers the “fate phase”. It is very streamlined, but its simplicity hides a great deal of subtlety. The order and limitations of the phases, when tied to the army rules can give all kinds of possibilities and sometimes frustrations! We start with the “fate phase”. Here, players pull a single card from the fate deck and add it to their unused stack. These care can provide various unit or brigade bonuses and even enemy penalties. We then move to the “fire phase”, where all units can shoot. However, with a few exceptions, if you shoot, you cannot move and do anything else! With the fire ranges being greater than the movement ranges and melee modifiers, this does away with the need to add a separate defense fire mechanic. One of the exceptions we have used is the skirmish rule. Whenever a unit is defined as being able to use this rule (this is very period and unit specific), it can fire at half effect and then try to do a normal movement in the movement phase. Then you have the horse artillery rule, that allows such units to fire and try to move in the moment phase. Then we have the “action phase”, which is the combined command and movement phase. For a Brigade to take an action, it must make a modified command roll (usually a 2+). If it is unsuccessful, it does nothing. If it is successful, it can be given a number of orders. Once the order is determined, the brigade units can perform their actions (move, rally, assault, retreat). Once all units have performed their actions, you move to the “melee phase” and fight all your close combats. There is not separate morale phase, as these checks are done as the causes take effect.
Now we start to get into the meat of the mechanics with the “fire phase”. This section covers how you determine the number of fire die, targets, line of sight and resolving the fires. The first rule is you have to fire at the closest eligible target. This does not necessarily mean the closest, as units can perform fire support (half dice) to other units. Basically, you choose your primary firing unit and target. You assign any supporting units and roll the dice as one pool. Once a target has been fired upon, not other fire can be directed against the unit. This means you have to think about your shots and the order you take them in to get the most of your fire combat.
That brings us to the “action phase”, which if the longest section of the rules. Here, you earn how to roll to get your brigade actions and the various actions that can be performed by the individual units. As mentioned earlier, you roll for the brigade. If successful, each unit can perform one of the designated actions. The actions include move, retreat, assault, double and rally. Moves means your units take a normal move (usually 8″ for infantry in line, 12″ for infantry in column and 18″ for cavalry. The movement is quite freewheeling, with the only restriction being that you cannot move any base farther than the maximum movement allowed. Some army sheets have restrictions on this and some move distances, to reflect the needs of the periods they represent. Retreat is basically the same as move and only applies to units within three inches of the enemy. It just restricts them a bit more than regular movement. Double allows units over twelve inches of the enemy to move at double speed, sort of a march type movement to get your units forward (or backward) quickly. Rally is an option you can take to try to get rid of hit markers on your units. Normally, you roll a D6 per hit. If you roll any sixes, you can remove the marker. If you are 12″ or more from the enemy, it becomes a five or six. As most units only take three or four hits before they are spent (and have to roll morale), this is an important order to keep you dinged up un its in the field. Finally, we have assault. Basically, you move your units forward into contact with the enemy. Like fire, you must close with the closest eligible enemy unit and have to get at least three figures into combat to count. Like everything else, each action is straight forward and simple. The trick is timing each to your advantage.
That brings us to section seven, the “action phase. This is where you complete all your melee combats. Generally speaking, each side rolls their dice, with the side having the higher total winning (with ties going to the attacker). Each successful roll causes a hit on the opponent. The loosing unit must take a morale check. Cavalry must fall back, if they do not defeat their opponent. If not, the looser must retreat. There are no breakthrough or exploitations in the basic rules. However, they do exist in the fate deck (as a card option) and for specific units in specific periods (as army rules). Basically, you line up your units, figure out the number of attacking dice and roll. The defender does the same thing and you determine the result.
Up to now, I have been vague on how fire and melee attacks actually work. This is because the next section of the rules covers these mechanics in full. After actions, this is the longest section (still only a dozen short paragraphs). The mechanics for fire and melee are basically the same. The players roll D6 and try to get hits. The number of dice rolled is based on the units fire or melee value in the army list. This ranges from one to five. This roll can be modified by things like having supporting fire (add one die), dense target (add one dice for artillery), Obscured target (half dice), enfilade (add one attack die), outflanked (defender uses half dice), melee support (add two dice for each additional unit in the melee) and brigade support (add one die if another same brigade unit is within three inches). These can be supplemented by fate cards the player is holding that has additional modifiers or by unit specific rules found in the army lists. Hits are determined based on a roll of four and over. This can be modified to a three, if the unit is fresh (unit has no hits) or a five, if the unit is shaken (hits equal to the tenacity value of the unit). Once again, quite straight forward.
The final mechanic covered is the morale system. Each unit in the game is assigned a tenacity level (1 -5). This is the number of hits it takes to force a morale test. Units are only marked up to their tenacity level and are then considered spent. Each time a unit that has reached it tenacity level takes hits, it must take a morale check. On a four plus is passes. If it fails, it is removed from the game (no routing units running all over the table). In couple of cases (artillery loosing in melee or cavalry defeating infantry in combat), the unit atomically fails and is removed from play. Anytime you have units within a brigade rout (removed from play) you have to take a fortitude test for the brigade, for each unit that routed. If any of the rolls fail, the brigade is marked as wavering and must remove rout any shaken unit still in play. The roll is passed on a four plus (modified by having your overall commander within 12″, having five or more units still active in the brigade or if all the remaining units in the brigade are shaken. In addition to the possible loss of units, you also give up one victory point to your opponent for the waiver. This means that once a brigade gets torn up, you are better getting it out of the fight, so it does not continue to generate victory points to your opponent for more failures.
This then gets us to the remaining sections, that cover winner determination, reinforcements and terrain effects. I am not going to go into all these in detail. Basically, the winner is the side that gets the most victory points (number of brigade failures and objectives held). So the game does not just turn into a shoot out, it is best to include a number of objectives to offset attackers losses. I think these should be somewhat limited to one side, depending not he importance of a given location on the battlefield and the fact that the attacker will be taking more losses earlier in the game and the objectives need to offset. The terrain rules just run through a number of types of terrain, how they affect movement and combat. In addition to some work around for special considerations that do not work with bases in normal contact (e.g. fighting over two sides of a wall on in a building) All fairly standard stuff for the average game.
The rules end with a section on examples of play, that includes some visual expanses, then a generic scenario. You then get two sample army lists for Napoleonic British and French. Finally, there are some designers notes and a quick reference sheet. The army lists have already been updated (the current versions are on the website for download. However, the ones in the rules are fine for getting in a few games. I think the quick reference guide could use with a little simplification, which I may take up at some point.
All in all, the rules hit most of the beats. They are simple, so the mechanics can be mastered by the occasional gamer as they play their first game. The individual army sheets provide variation over the periods, so you do not feel like you are playing the same game to represent ECW and ACW. The mechanics give enough subtatly for more experienced games to grab onto, through the timing of actions and use of fate card. All in all, I think these are a fine set of rules for someone wanting to play small historical battles and have a good time with your buddies. Did I mention that they are free? What’s not to like! You can find all the rules and support on the Perry Miniatures website:
https://www.perry-miniatures.com/valour-fortitude/
- Manteuffel