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Hello Loqers’ Everywhere! The sound of battle on Valon is changing. The whip crack of the musket and pistol is being drowned out by the roar of mighty cannon and the bang thump of howitzers along with the wiz bang of rockets. Flintloque 3rd edition is moving into the realm of artillery this year with the third book in the new 3rd edition series – Grapeshotte . Pray tell us more you say... why I surely will my powder burnt friends. You can learn more about the concept of what the new edition of Grapeshotte is going to be by visiting Orcs in the Webbe and their Christmas Eve interview 2009. For this esteemed column I will focus on other aspects of this expansion book that is to come in the spring of 2010. These other focuses will be a comparison to the original Grapeshotte book of 1997 and this new edition, how the adding of artillery might change the way Flintloque is played, the public playtest of the new mechanics and then some words on artillery in scenarios and my own favoured use of the 'big guns' in play. I have heard it asked by many and we have looked at this before in the last 'Inside the Alternative' column concerning Death in the Snow (the second Flintloque 3rd edition book based on the older 'Deadloque' expansion of the 1990's) if you already own Grapeshotte then what is in it for you to have the new edition once it is released? In answer I would like to compare the two editions. The original Grapeshotte from 1997 is a great read and contains not only artillery rules but also the armoury and nine scenarios to play out, all in ninety six pages. If you have a copy of this book then well done, its been out of print for more than a decade and my own copy is rather dog eared with use. This original edition was packaged as a boxed set along with two white metal artillery pieces, some metal scenic items and three separate templates to track artillery fire. The new edition will give you updated and improved mechanics for the use of all kinds of artillery with Flintloque 3rd edition, the new edition of the game. The new book will also be ninety six pages but its total word count looks like it will be more than double that of the 1997 book. The templates are going to be included as pull out pages in the rear of the book, just like with War in Catalucia and Death in the Snow. The new edition though is much more than an update on the original as the artillery rules (plus much more on sieges, fortifications and specialist troop types which the original did not cover) is only a part of the book. The new armoury section will give you all the firelocks and artillery pieces used by EVERY nation on Valon (from pistols to cannons plus exotics) including more on those in the original edition plus all the nations not featured in the original such as Burrovia and Taffsea. There will also be vehicle rules and other specialist articles to expand your depth of play in Flintloque 3rd edition. The new edition will be more than the original could ever be for your games of Flintloque. In conclusion therefore if you possess a copy of the original edition, treasure it, it’s a collectors piece now. The new book will far exceed your expectations from the original. You will want to own it and it will keep you coming back to it for a quick re-read time after time. Some of those who asked me about why a new edition of Grapeshotte was needed also asked how the inclusion of artillery would change the way that gamers played Flintloque. By putting artillery of any kind into your games it will change them yes. This is the short answer. But why? Artillery is by its very nature in the era of black powder the most complex and powerful entity on land. It is the black powder war version of tanks, planes and all the large scale hitting power that scares soldiers the most in modern war; its the force multiplier. All artillery pieces from the smallest to the largest need a gun crew (character troop type Gunner) and this means up to twelve characters dedicated to serving one weapon. This costs a player a lot of points but it gives that player a lot of fire power at a range that personal firelocks cannot hope to achieve. Artillery leads to nail biting tension too. Can you reload your piece before the enemy reaches it? Do you load roundshotte (cannon ball) or cannister (a kind of huge shotgun shell) to knock down foes or buildings like skittles or blast them apart in a hail of lead at a closer range? Will your Gunners get picked off by fire as they load? And so it goes on. Using artillery pieces in your games will change them but not unbalance them as long as you respect their power and the cost of that power to the defender and the attacker in play and in points cost. The original Grapeshotte had a page of 'designers notes' and I intend to keep this and to expand it further. These pages will tell you how to use artillery, tactics and techniques for winning with and defeating big guns. Don't think that sticking a nine pounder and crew into your games will lead to automatic victory. Playing with points will soon have you finding that Experienced Elf Gun Crew of six plus the piece means you are facing a section of some ten to sixteen Orc regulars for the same points. Playing with scenarios only? We have found that poor use and timing of your big shot weapon can lead to defeat as easily as it leads to a win. A well written scenario such as an assault on a breach will see challenges to both sides. Artillery in Flintloque is no 'uber' weapon (or 'cheese' as some gamers term it), it changes the balance sure, but as before skill and tactics count for more than special rules or characters as in some other game systems. Don't be naïve though. Advancing your lads into the mouth of a huge 24lb cannon loaded with grapeshotte (impact strength of some 50 odd compared to a musket's 6 at that range) will almost always be suicide for most of them. Read the book, learn the tactics and play accordingly. Just as the soldiers of Valon have to do to survive the Mordredian Wars. So how do you balance a scenario which features artillery? There are many ways to do this but I will focus on three simple ways in the space I have here. Firstly you can do it with Points Values. Including any artillery piece even the smallest will add significantly to the points you are using up. Then you must add the Gun Crew and again a decent selection of experience ratings will add more to your points. As a result an artillery piece and crew will allow you the power of the big guns but allow your opponent to add one of this own or to add many more characters on foot or mounted for the same points. This will balance your game to the extent that tactics will take over once more. Secondly you can do it with good Scenario design. When creating a scenario in the traditional way no points values are required, the scenario and its goals do all the needed work. Good scenario design will have artillery placed in ways that seem right. For example the Heavy Cannon with its large crew will be sited high up on fortifications or in a clear flat area. Places a commander would think it would do its best work. Attackers facing the artillery piece will most of the time know it is there and will seek cover as a result, sneaking up and avoiding direct lines of fire. Also of course you can have the artillery piece unloaded and its gunners not ready for action giving tension as the attackers try to reach it before its ready to blast them away. Thirdly you can balance scenarios with artillery by use of Terrain. Artillery with direct shots such as cannon have terrible trouble with hills and valleys blocking or losing their lines of fire. Howitzers and Mortars while able to ‘drop’ shotte over terrain features using indirect fire overcome this problem but have their own; minimum range. Shelle cannot be used at ranges where personal firelocks are effective and while they can use cannister this form of ammunition is direct fire like that of a cannon and means the drop shotte advantage is lost. Terrain which makes for rough going for artillery such as snow and sand, mud and low walls means that characters can get around the edges of artillery fields and ranges of fire to attack at angles which the gunners cannot cope with. My own personal favourite large scale weapon in Flintloque is the Mortar. Some might be surprised to hear that as most would say Cannon in my experience of players but let me tell you all why. The mortar is undervalued. Sure it is not as glamorous as a bloody big cannon but it can really assist your characters especially in bigger games of Flintloque. Look at its statistics, it cannot fire at shorter ranges but it can reach a range no other weapon in the game can; right up to a monster 145cm using Fuze shotte. This allows you to harass the enemy at massive range for many turns and also to keep the mortar and crew protected as decent rated characters will be able to shoot up to the ranges needed before the mortar can come into play. I used, in testing here at AA, a Medium size Mortar with an average selection of rating crew along with six average to experienced Albion 105th Rifleorcs with Bakur Rifles. I had the enemy Elves pinned and was able to do significant damage to their two Medium rated cannon and small section of Voltiguers. Terrain had an impact too as the mortar is an indirect fire weapon sighing it behind a level one hill allowed me to protect it and then try to blast the enemy gun crews. As with the last two books in the 3rd edition series there is a public playtest of the majority of the new mechanics being hosted on the Notables Yahoo Group and direct via email to Alternative Armies. It runs from the 15th of January to the 12th of February 2010 and has a free PDF download of sixteen pages giving you the chance to play and comment. As before all comments on the mechanics earn the gamer a mention in the credits of the new book. What will the playtest point out? Who knows... why not come along and see! Alternative Armies will be supporting Grapeshotte with the release of many new miniatures into the World of Valon. I cannot go into a lot of details here (I would not like to tease you too much by hitching my skirts up too high!) but I can say that a new type of artillery piece along with several new artillery crews, sets of engineers and sappers and also guard class infantry and mounted infantry (both new troop types in Grapeshotte) will all make an appearance. Some of these new miniatures will be featured as photos in the new book but the statistics for all will be present. So until the next column, keep playing, keep having fun and make sure your Flints are sharp and your Loques greased! Gavin Syme
January 2010 Webmaster's Note You can contact Gavin Syme at Alternative Armies about Grapeshotte or about anything else he's mentioned here on sales@alternative-armies.com The Notables Yahoo group can be found here and Alternative Armies' webstore can be found here. |
