Wargames Rules: Volley & Bayonet (Road to Glory Edition) Designed by Frank Chadwick and Greg Novak, Volley & Bayonet is a premier grand-tactical ruleset engineered specifically to simulate massive 18th and 19th-century battles where whole divisions and corps take center stage. For 18th-century linear warfare—particularly clashes between Austria and Prussia during the Seven Years War—the system excels at depicting grand operational manoeuvres, high command friction, and army-level morale without getting bogged down in individual battalion tracking. The core mechanics operate at a grand scale: single stands represent whole brigades or regiments, and game turns cover half an hour of real time. Combat is resolved swiftly using simple D6 dice pools determined by strength points, modified by order status and troop quality. Linear formations, stiff Prussian discipline, and heavy Austrian artillery concentrations are elegantly abstracted into army morale limits and exhaustion th...
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Looking forward to seeing how this pans out for you! Good to see this post appear in a timely manner too:).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support, Steve! I'm really excited to dive into this one. It feels like a proper win to have the post pop up on everyone's feeds in real-time after all that Blogger feed grief. I'll have the map framed and ready for action very soon!
DeleteGDW’s Soldier King is a classic.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jonathan. The area movement and clean map layout hold up remarkably well even today—it's easy to see why it has such a lasting reputation!
DeleteThanks for the shout out. It's a great game. The AI solo adaptation sounds interesting ( if scary!) Not sure I want to be beaten by a bot!
ReplyDeleteSee here for a version adapting to a miniatures campaign:
https://volleyandbayonet.wordpress.com/campaign-scenarios/
Neil
You're very welcome, Neil—your blog was the big spark behind getting this to the table! Don't worry, the solo bot isn't too intimidating; it's really just a simple set of dice mechanisms to drive decisions, though it definitely keeps you on your toes. Thanks for dropping that Volley & Bayonet link! I had actually come across it previously, and I'm planning to adapt its framework to work seamlessly with our Black Powder rules.
DeleteAn excellent map for running a campaign.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Peter! I completely agree. The map balance is ideal for multi-faction maneuvering—it gives just the right amount of space for grand strategy without needing a massive table setup. Looking forward to getting counters moving across it!
DeleteAn oldie, but goodie and really nice to get one in such good condition.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, Norm! I couldn't agree more—it really is a classic piece of GDW design, and finding a 1982 copy in such pristine condition was a real treat. I actually got the map mounted into a 24 × 36 in poster frame yesterday—it keeps the paper completely flat for moving counters across the board and doubles up as a great piece of wall art when not in use. It has so much retro charm and should make for a brilliant campaign engine!
DeleteThat looks very interesting Andy.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of it so looked it up on Google, sounds like a lot of fun and a concept adaptable to a campaign in a number of periods
Thanks, Ben! I was in the exact same boat—I'd actually never heard of it until I came across it while reading Neil Patterson's blog! Seeing his campaign posts got me curious, so I started Googling it myself and quickly fell down the rabbit hole. It's such a hidden gem from the 80s. As you say, that area-movement concept is so adaptable you could easily port it over to almost any period or setting. Are you thinking about setting up a campaign project of your own?
DeleteI will be interested to see how you sue this system to generate games involving figures on the tabletop Andy. Persuading your wife to play a wargame - you should be over in Iran arranging for the war to end!
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks for dropping by, Keith! Peace envoy duties might be a stretch, but getting the boss to the gaming table was definitely a major diplomatic victory—even if it meant conceding first choice of kingdom colours! I'm really keen to see how Soldier King drives the tabletop action for Black Powder. I'm still in the process of basing up the two 6mm armies I bought from Mersey Wargames—the Prussians are very nearly finished, but the Austrians aren't started yet. Fingers crossed, another couple of months should see them ready for the field!
DeleteHello Andy: it’s a pleasure to find your blog after you kindly visited mine! I thought I knew GDW’s stuff well but in their day I was more a fan of their SWW stuff (yes I still have my Europa games!) and this is new to me. It looks like a clever way to generate a campaign. Curious to see where this goes. Best, Michael
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog, Michael! It’s a real pleasure to have you drop by. Keeping hold of your Europa collection is brilliant—that’s proper wargaming history on your shelves! I must confess, I hadn't actually heard of GDW's catalogue until I stumbled across Soldier King on Neil Patterson's Aufklarungsabteilung blog and started digging into it. It definitely didn't get as much attention as their WWII behemoths, but its streamlined operational map is ideal for generating organic, high-stakes tabletop battles without a mountain of bookkeeping. Really looking forward to getting the campaign turns rolling!
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