Rules are rules...

Still on the C18th ImagiNation thing at the moment and enjoying painting up the beautifully simple Spencer Smiths. However, they are not just for parading up and down the dining table, enjoyable as that is, they are for games and games need rules. This is where I usually come unstuck, unless I find a rare set that presses all the buttons (like Lion Rampant) I am rarely attached to any particular set of rules. This means that I have had to adopt a standard basing for my 28mm miniatures, based on the old Warhammer 20mm square for infantry, and then adapt the rules to fit my miniatures rather than the other way round.

I do love old-school rules though; uncomplicated, transparent and logical. Tony Bath's ancients, Charge! and Terry Wise's ACW rules are all sets that I have played and enjoyed over the years. Alas, these days I don't have the room or the money to invest in huge 28mm armies so I need something that plays like an Old School set but with units that are manageable, manoeuvrable and paintable within my limitations. Something between Neil Thomas's horse and musket rules from One Hour Wargames and Charge! should do the trick but since I can't find anything of that ilk commercially I will have to write something myself. Fortunately this is pretty much a solo wargaming project so I only have myself to please but even so, writing a set of rules is a daunting prospect. More on that when I have something on paper.

The test paints are coming along and I now have the first few done for my fledgeling ImagiNation, based loosely on the French immediately preceding the SYW. They will be pitched against a Germanic principality somewhere along the Franco-German border so I can use my old Warhammer buildings (or re-made versions like the cottage in the background below).

Musketeers and command from Infantry Regiment 1, all from Spencer Smiths C18th range

and the other side.

I am planning on having 18 musketeers and 6 grenadiers to a unit so that I can combine the grenadiers in the field. Obviously the rules will have to allow for this somehow. Apologies that there is no flag, I don't add the flag until the unit is finished, once they have their colour they are ready to go.

More next time...