Unexpected gifts and In Deo Veritas

I don't think I have ever really mentioned anything to do with my working life.  I work in the world of tax, no not H.M. Revenue and Customs.  I did once work for them, well the Inland Revenue as it was back then, but not since 1999!  I now work for a niche tax consultancy which in turn is part of a larger US based corporation.  Usually at this time of year there are the usual corporate events to thank the staff for their efforts and this would normally include a nice bottle of something and a box of choccies.  Of course this year isn't normal, the Coronavirus has put paid to any staff get togethers and as we are all working remotely issuing physical gifts was going to be a nightmare.  So image my surprise, and pleasure to receive an email giving me the choice of a £100 Amazon voucher or a donation to a charity in the same amount in place of this years' Christmas get together and gift.

So there was I with an unexpected £100 burning a hole in my pocket and the whole of Amazon to go at!  I bought some additional Christmas gifts for the ever lovely Mrs E and the rest I spent on goodies.  A few painting materials and then military history/wargaming books.  In no particular order I splurged on:

• In Deo Veritas wargames rules for the 17th Century (Helion & Co)
• Twilight of Divine Right also 17th century rules (Pike and Shot Society)
• A rabble of gentility - The Northern Horse (Helion & Co)
• In the Emperor's Service - Wallenstein's Army 1625 - 34 (Helion & Co)

All books I wouldn't have thought of purchasing apart from my unexpected windfall.  The Helion & Co books are all from their 'Century of the Soldier' range which covers the pike and shot period with the current focus being on European conflicts in that period.  I'm very impressed with what I have seen so far.  Good production values, excellent content and coverage of stuff that hasn't previously been easily available in English language material.

I also downloaded a copy of the 'Tilly's very bad day' free rules for the Thirty Years War.  These are by Steve Thomas who co authored the first edition of Twilight of the Sun King, the predecessor to Twilight of Divine Right.  'In Deo Veritas' arrived on Friday so I have had chance to skim read both sets and I also read a few reviews of Twilight (as my set hasn't arrived yet).

The good production values start with the cover 

All three sets claim to be fast play and in each case they do this, at least partly, by using manoeuvre units which are brigade or tercio sized.  Less units means less things to move so faster play, seems to be the idea.  

One common criticism I keep seeing in reviews of all three sets is that the definition being used of these brigades or tercio sized units is imprecise both in terminology and unit size.  To be fair to the authors, I had the same issue with my rules mainly because there is no standardisation between armies as to what to call military units, especially of foot.  This leads to a need for rules to use a catch all title for all armies, at all places and times in the period which didn't really exist.  The complaint being that it makes it hard to convert orders of battle for use under these rules if you don't know what a brigade actually is.  I would have thought that this would have been easily dealt with by explaining the problem upfront.  IDV especially seems to play fairly fast and loose with the concept.  The rules include about a half-dozen sample battle scenarios and one of these is Marston Moor 1644.  This is a battle I know fairly well having lived close to the battlefield for a number of years and having based my 6mm army on the forces deployed at that battle.  The scenario order of battle reduces the number of actual units by between a half and a third.  Some of the amalgamations make sense as they match known composite formations but others don't.  Some description of the process would have been helpful.  As it is it presumes either no interest in the actual battle or an in depth knowledge good enough to allow the player to work things out from scratch! 

I can't help but think that this will loose some of the period flavour. The 17th Century was a period of military evolution and part of this showed as different formations and tactical styles at brigade level.  Now I may be wrong here and those differences may well shine through in play.  Reading has made me decide that as I have a fair few 17th Century figures in 6mm that I will give 'In Deo Veritas' a try out.  I will then be able to compare the feel with the rules I have written which are more flexible on formations and tactics as the manoeuvre units are less restricted.  I'm hoping for some inspiration on unit basing and victory conditions as a minimum out come and perhaps even a 'Road to Damascus' moment producing a conversion to this approach to fast play.