I have, for some time, been interested in playing Horse & Musket: Dawn of an era from Hollandspiele. It is the first game in a series that allow you to play battles from across the world and charts the progress in infantry and cavalry tactics from 1683 to the end of the US Civil War.
Now I am not a student of the period and I was not interested in the period prior to seeing this game. I want to play this game almost specifically for how it looks on the table. It seems like a shallow reason to want a game but I am design and graphic fixated and so it seems appropriate.
I have looked into getting the game several times but, for reasons outside the control of Hollndspiele, shipping from the US to Canada for their games is prohibitive unless I was buying the entire series. As it happens I recently met up with long-time chum Brian Rempel and he presented me with a print-and-play version that he had put together. I will try to post some pictures of it as he has done an incredible job. Certainly better than I ever could. The map even folds up! Hollandspiele has all of the Horse & Musket games available as pnp versions from Wargame Vault so if I want to expand the system I can get the PDF versions and hopefully Brian can show me how he did such a great job.
So what is it about the game that is so visually appealing? The game is played on a map very similar to the Command & Colour series. In fact I have seen several pictures online of people using old C&C maps to play the game. Previous the map was printed in three pieces which might have lead people to reuse their old C&C boards. That isn’t the case now. The terrain is laid out in the same fashion as C&C with hex tiles with terrain features placed on them.
The board is white with a grey stochastic pattern printed on it to simulate terrain. It is an odd colour choice but it works. I can’t tell you why it works but it does. The terrain tiles have a brown pattern laid over this with the terrain items on top with a slight shadow. It is very subtle and it provides you a visual cue about the terrain without overpowering the rest of the map.
The counters are 5/8″ and printed in multiple colours for each nation represented in the game. The pnp version that Brian picked up has the updated graphics from the 2021 redesign of the game and they are noticeably better than the counters originally produced. The counters are quite small given the size of the hexes and given the low density of counters in most of the scenarios it is surprising that they didn’t make 1″ counters. I can only assume that the company that produces their games only has options for the 5/8″ size. The counters are easy to read when playing and they have a minimum of data on them so the size really isn’t that much of an issue.
Putting together a scenario is quite simple once you get the hang of it. The lettering on the hexes is a bit pale so it is sometimes difficult to see them. Units are shown on the map by type (Light Infantry, Militia, Dragoons etc) and also by their Morale points if they don’t use the highest value available for that type. In the Sedgemoor scenario the British Elite Infantry are noted as being EL3 because the unit starts as a 4 Morale unit. Hexes with multiple units in them or with a Leader in them have a graphic on the map showing the hex number and then a listing in the scenario detailing what is in the hex.
What complicates the scenarios, and the game in general, are the special rules that can apply to units. The game covers a long period of time and sometimes has units on the field which are hampered or enhanced in some fashion. In the Sedgemoor scenario the Monmouth Rebel forces have Matchlocks and Pikes and their cavalry are Inferior Horsemen. All of the British Infantry are also armed with pikes. It means that the counters aren’t the ultimate source of all the unit abilities and you’ll have to refer to the scenario for everything. I believe that in the expansions there are scenario cards that allow you to put reminders of the appropriate rules on the table while playing.
Horse & Musket uses a troop type/quality indicator as well as a Morale factor to determine a unit’s effectiveness, and capabilities, on the battlefield and also to determine how long they will stand and fight. Scenario rules can then modify those troops further. In H&M what is most important is training and morale. You don’t track damage in the game but ‘hits’ reduce the Morale making units less effective until they just bugger off and don’t fight any more. Leaders can rally units to improve their Morale and better trained units, like elite Infantry, start off with a higher Morale when deployed.
The combat system in Horse & Musket uses three charts to determine what a unit needs to ‘hit’ in the game based on the scale of the conflict. These can range from Small Battles to Grand Battles. Some units will lose range brackets based on the increased ground scale or be restricted in the number of dice they can roll. Units typically roll 3 D10 to determine combat results with a 7, 8 or 9 typically being needed to score a hit depending on range and the unit’s training. Units that are at a lower Morale level (typically 1-2) will roll fewer dice and Elite units will roll more.
It is simple system that has a few exceptions to it, like withdrawal from combat , that throw a bit of a curve the first time you run into them. There is an example of play in the rulebook that does a good job of explaining the basics of the game. The game also comes with a few pages of optional rules that you can add to the game. The biggest one is the addition of formation and facing rules which add a bit more realism to the game but are probably not a good idea to try until you’ve played a scenario or two.
The game certainly looks like a Command and Colours product but it plays quite differently than one. Each force generates Command Points each turn which are used to get your units to move and/or attack. There are no cards that let you move a set of units and so you are allowed to play the game as you want and not be let down by the random draw of cards. The C&C games can be fun but I much prefer a game that has command restrictions but still lets you move when and where you need to.
I have the Sedgemoor scenario set up and ready to play. I have also been hitting Wikipedia to look for more information about the period and the battles involved. I will post some more about the game after I have played through Sedgemoor and had some practical experience in how all the moving parts of the game fit together.
Pile of dice 
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