Won by the Sword

Won by the Sword is the first game in Ben Hull's Great Campaigns of the Thirty Years War series. It is a two-player game of operational warfare in the 17th Century. Armies maneuver on a point to point map of Southern Germany based on the road network available at the time. Each game is centered around a major battle or full campaign season. A Turn is a month divided into a variable number of impulses. Each army has a hand of Campaign Cards that control the amount of activity it may perform, the supplies it must expend, and a special action. Each impulse features one card play per army. Forces are concealed off map so players are faced with limited knowledge of the enemy. The major activities are maneuver, foraging, besieging fortifications, and an occasional battle. Won by the Sword is a low-complexity game with emphasis on the players maneuvering their forces, but many decisions await. The low rules complexity allows each player, rather than being encumbered with rules, to focus on choices regarding how to manage his campaign. 

Scale:

·  1 Turn = 4-6 Impulses (5-7 Days of Activity each) for a Month

·  A game is based on the months surrounding a major battle or a full campaign season if the players want a longer game. A battle game is 3 or 4 turns and can be played in about 3 hours. A full campaign season is 7-9 turns and takes 5-6 hours to play.

·  Map Scale is approximately 1:480,000 or 1"=12km

·  Infantry Regiments are 800-1000 men

·  Cavalry Regiments are 400-500 men

·  Artillery Units are 8-10 Guns

·  Detachments are 2-3 Companies of 200-300 men

·  Baggage Points represent Food, Munitions (mostly Gunpowder) and Money as well as necessary wagons, people, horses and camp followers 

Battle Games:

·  Nördlingen 1634

·  Tuttlingen 1643

·  Freiburg 1644

·  Mergentheim 1645

·  Alerheim 1645

Full Campaigns:

·  1632 - The Lion of the North Goes South - Gustav Adolf's Campaign against Bavaria

·  1634 - Swedes are pushed out of the South

·  1638 - Weimar's Triumph - Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar leads his German corps in French service to turn the tide of the war in the South

·  1644 - French battle to secure the Breisgau and Baden, Bavarians defend masterfully

·  1645 - Struggle for Württemburg - French and Bavrians fight a seesaw battle for control of Württemburg and Nördlingen area

·  1646 - Turenne's Triumph - French and Swedes launch a joint campaign to bring Bavaria to her knees

·  1648 - The Bitter End - Zusmarshausen, again a combined French - Swedish force strikes into the heart of a resurgent Bavaria 

Game Design:  Ben Hull

Components:

·        1 34x22 Map (Strasburg to Passau West to East, Würzburg to Munich North to South)

·        Appoximately 460-500 two-sided counters (final count TBD, first cut is 460)

·        1 Deck of 55 Cards, 48 Cards are the Campaign Deck, 1 Initiative Card, 2x3 Quick Reference Cards

·        1 8.5x11 Battle Board

·        2 8.5x11 Player Force Cards

·        2 Player Aid Cards 11x17 folded to give 4 8.5x11 Panels

·        1 10 Sided Die

·        1 Rules Booklet

·        1 Play Booklet