I am a big fan of Mike Lambo's solitaire wargame books. They are completes games with rules, maps, and even counters. All you need is a couple of dice and you're ready to play.
Mr. Lambo has produced two books on the American Civil War. I have played several games and enjoyed them. However, I started to think, what if I used different rulesets with the maps?
Today I decided to use Mike Lambo's map of the Battle of Big Bethel. The armies would be deployed and activated using the rules in the book. However, movement and combat would use Stronghold Rebuilt's "See the Elephant" rules. I enjoy the StE rules and they can make for an unpredictable game. I did use Battle Cry dice, ignoring the crossed swords, unless a general was targeted.
As I thought, it was a fun game. About half way through I realized; what are the victory conditions? The rulebook said that a Union unit must hold the Church hex. I suddenly realized that the church was unoccupied and exposed to a Union attack! I must admit that suddenly the Confederate strategy changed rapidly, and a couple of units had to retreat to protect the church.
In the end a Union unit did capture the church, but the Confederates drove the Union troops out of the church, and back across the river. At that point I called the gamea Confederate victory.
Sounds like a good game. I also like to use scenarios from one author with rules by another.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like his ECW book, in which pikemen and musketeers operated independently as if they were separate units. But one could certainly use the hex gridded maps therein with other rules, such as those in Bob Cordery's Portable Pike and Shot Wargames, that better portray ECW tactics.
ReplyDeleteNo reason why one shouldn't use published scenarios with whatever set of rules one prefers, provided they are not so linked to the author's intended rules that 'translating' them to suit another set is difficult or extremely tedious to do.