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TITLE: Polemos: Great Northern War (2005)

AUTHOR: Nick Dorrell

PUBLISHER: AdSigna Publications. www.adsigna.ca

PUBLICATION DATE: 2005

WEB SITE/SUPPORT FORUM:

• http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/polemos/ - Yahoo group for discussion of the rules.
• http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/  - scenarios, OOB’s and other information.
• https://www.baccus6mm.com/index.php?content=polemos – information about the rules

PRICE (with date): £15.00 (2008)

REVIEWED BY: The author

PERIOD COVERED:

The Great Northern War and other wars in the period 1700 – 1721

THE BOOK: Rule book is a staple bound 8.5” x 11” booklet with 80 pages. It has a color cover with a B&W interior with illustrations. It includes two card stock playsheets.

SCOPE: Grand Tactical/Operational

ARMY SIZE:

The rules use bases. Bases can be any size but typically 10 to 20 infantry and 5 to 10 cavalry per base. Minimum army size is 10 to 15 bases but more can easily be used.

BASE UNIT:

1 base of figures = about 1 battalion or about 250 cavalry

GAME SCALES:

• Ground scale – 1 base width = 200 paces
• Time scale – variable
• Figure/Base Ratio – 1 base = 400 to 600 infantry, 200 to 300 cavalry, 4 to 8 guns
• Recommended Figure size – any can be used but most commonly 15mm or less
• Table Size – 6’ by 4’ (180cm by 120 cm) or more
• Game Length: 3 hours or more

BASING SIZES:

Base sizes are dependant on a player chosen base width. Bases are mainly 1 base width wide and ½ a base with deep. Typically this is 6cm by 3cm but can be any size chosen by the player.

TURN SEQUENCE:

• Tempo Bidding: Bidding to decide who has the advantage/initiative this turn
• Bombarding: Suppressive artillery fire
• Tempo Player Turn: Tempo player moves, fires and conducts close combat, the other player may intervene.
• Non-tempo Player Turn: As above.
• Rally: Both sides rally units and shaken.

GAME MECHANICS:

Command is via Tempo Points which must be used to gain the initiative, move units, rally, etc.

Combat is both player roll a dice and receive modifiers for quality, tactics, situation, etc. Units receive levels of Shaken (3 or 4 is remove the base) and may suffer other effects such as retiring, etc.

Morale for individual units is by the command/combat system but higher formations (commands, wings or the army) take morale checks by attempting to roll under a target number.

D6 are used for everything.

ARMY LISTS/SCENARIOS:

Players can dice for random armies or choose from those available to a particular army.

The rules include 10 army lists including Narva, Kliszow, Lesnaja, Poltava and Helsingborg. Numerous other lists and some scenarios are available at http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/ The rules include a detailed guide to the armies, etc.

REVIEWER’S COMMENTS:

As I am the author I leave this to others to decide and comment on.

PLAYER’S COMMENTS:

If you’d like to read what other gamers think or share your own opinion please click here.

As I am the author I will as above generally leave this to others to decide and comment on. But I will say that I have successfully played many battles with these rules including many of the historical battles such as Narva and Poltava. Players have also used these rules for fighting battles in the West (Marlborough, Eugene, etc) and also they cover the wars against the Turks.

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