Helion Wargames Series

One King! is the perfect companion to the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 covering every encounter and unit in England, and for the first time in Scotland. Its sits alongside the book Fighting for Liberty as the ideal companion and provides the information needed to bring the Monmouth Rebellion to life on the tabletop. One King! includes fast play campaign rules that uses the strategies, maps, deployments, and military objectives allowing the enthusiast or wargamer to follow in the footsteps of the commanders - even change the course of history over a coffee. The battlefield plans give all the information needed to fight out all the encounters as accurately as possible. While the orders of battle and unit sheets will guide the tabletop wargamer in the recreation of their miniature armies or navies! One King! has everything for the wargamer or military enthusiast, even the chance to change the course of history and crown the one true King James II & VII.

The Battle of Leipzig was the biggest battle of the Napoleonic wars, involving over 500,000 men. Until the First World War, it was probably the biggest battle in human history. It was also known as the Battle of the Nations because it pitted the forces of France and its satellite states and allies (including Italians, Poles and forces from the minor German states), against those of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden. The fate of Europe hung in the balance. Napoleon’s defeat decided the outcome of the campaign of 1813 and pushed the French back to France. The battle took place over several days (14-19 October 1813 including the battle of Liebertwolkwitz), and naturally breaks down into distinct phases and sectors. This guide helps wargamers refight the battle on a table top with model soldiers, either as one large battle (suitable as a club game), or broken down into a series of smaller battles covering the different sectors. The smaller battles can be played as individual games or linked together in a mini-campaign, the latter giving strategic dilemmas for each of the commanders to resolve. The guide sets out the strategic situation in central Europe and contains a thorough but clear account of the historical battle. It provides detailed orders of battle of the opposing armies, scaled down orders of battle for game purposes, maps of the historical events, stylized maps for laying out wargames tables, and instructions for each scenario and the mini-campaign. Design notes explain the rationale and historical background to the scenario instructions. The scenario maps are set out on square grids for ease of setting up tabletop terrain. Any set of wargames rules for the period should be able to be used to play the scenarios. The key points for the game army lists are the number of units and their quality. There is a section that discusses the quality of the troops of the various nations involved. A discussion of the historical battle raises questions about the decisions made by the actual commanders. These can be explored by the wargame commanders, for example by their allocation of forces to different sectors (within historical constraints), their deployment within those sectors, or timing their use of reserves. Was Napoleon’s defeat inevitable? Wargaming is a form of counter-factual history, and the guide includes a variation which may answer the question, ‘What if Napoleon had recalled the Dresden garrison?’ Napoleon had agreed with Marshall St.Cyr that it would be madness to leave his 50,000 men in Dresden rather than concentrate French forces for the decisive battle Napoleon was seeking. What if Napoleon had not changed his mind?

Muskets & Springfields is designed for playing big battles in the American Civil War and is not model scale dependent and uses the player’s current basing system. The game is set at the operational level. The player is the army commander with sub command groups. This will be typically a Corps. In these rules a Corp is made up of several infantry brigades, mounted cavalry, and artillery batteries. If you wish you can also include Native American Indian warbands. The basic unit in wargaming terms is the infantry brigade, which are grouped into Corps or Divisions. The game system uses grids as the unit of measurement. The game space is broken into several square grids which represent 300 yards in ground scale. Taking a balance of the various drill guides of the period this is approximately equal to 600 men in two ranks. For a typical 6x4 playing space it is recommended a ratio width x depth of 1.5 x 1. A typical 6x4 table provides the following 12 (3600 yds) by 8 (2400 yds) of battlefield. Morale is handled at the corps level and attrition is held at the individual unit base. These rules have three levels of morale. This is not the usual average, veteran, elite often used. Instead, the format is designed to reflect the actual state of mind on the day. These are Unknown, Nervous and Steady. In a game, unless representing specific historical units all bases start as Unknown. The actual morale state is not known till the unit takes damage. The player then rolls against a chart which provides a score for the unit being Nervous or Steady. This is dependent on the year being played and if Confederate or Union. When a unit fails a morale check this is recorded against their parent corps. Once a corps reaches its break point it will then flee the battlefield. Attrition is held at the unit level. This represents loss of cohesion, battlefield casualties or supplies running low. A unit can absorb 6 hits before it is automatically destroyed. To facilitate a clean flow of play these rules also facilitate the use of sharpshooters and skirmishers. Turns use a bag-pull system in which it is possible for the non-active player to able to interdict the play.​