Nevermind the Billhooks Deluxe

 

A Game for All Seasons?

When first I discovered Nevermind the Billhooks as a free game in Wargames Illustrated way back in ye olden days of 2020 I was immediately struck by it’s apparent simplicity and its’ rather quaint old fashioned approach. “Ah!”  I thought “This is pure Featherstone! I shall like this!”  and I bought the magazine and took it home and read it.

  It soon became obvious that it was so much more than just Old School Wargames! Billhooks has an innovative card system, random activation and special events that make it very modern indeed. And Billux has some game mechanics that are surprisingly subtle and require some tactical thought.

  At the time I had no figures for this game. I had no knowledge of the history of the period other than some vague notion about Bosworth being the “other important battle after Hastings” and that Richard III is not just a rhyming slang for pooh, he was real person and a child killer and the embodiment of pure evil. (Ricardians discuss!)

In fact, of all the periods to wargame, this was one I had long ago decided against. There are limited troop types, there's no tactical finesse and there are no gloriously colourful tabards or shields to paint. I never thought I would be where I am now with over 200 figures in my (far from complete) WotR collection, a working knowledge of the period and a fascination for the history, particularly the local history.

I have played over 40 games of Billhooks now and  they have all been different. They have all been entertaining, all of them have felt like a battle from history, they have all told a story, a Billhooks game is less a simulation and more of a narrative event and I have enjoyed every one of them.

  The game is interactive and fast paced. There are no dull “just sat watching” moments. There have been many nail-biting moments (complete last-minute reversals of fortune are common in this game) and moments of pure hilarity

The cards add an element rarely found in most wargames and can cause chaos when least expected or produce a winning gambit when all looks lost. 

 

Andy Callan himself declares, is a fun game of toy soldiers and is not in any way an attempt to simulate actual historical warfare, however, games of Billhooks do tend to play out in a way that feels historically right. The game captures the essence of the period well and while there are often entertaining routs and slaughters, other battles will be nailbiters.

 Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory happens every third game or so!

A brief synopsis of Billhooks. It is a “small battles” game where each side has an army usually organised in three wards of several companies of 12 Billmen or 12 Archers supported by bands of six skirmishers and/or a Great Gonne. Cavalry are organised in Squadrons of eight. The game uses d6 and inches.

The game starts with a Manoeuvre phase where each player takes turns to move a unit, they may move the same unit each time or a different one. This continues until one side or the other shoots and then the game proper begins.

Each ward has a leader who has a rating ranging from Dolt to Hero. There is a deck of cards containing one for each leader in the game and two bonus cards. Each turn a card is turned up if it is a leader then he is activated giving orders to his units, each of which may then perform two actions, usually move or shoot. Bonus cards trigger events. The last card is never turned up, if it is a leader card, he misses his turn!

Shooting and melee are dealt with very simply. You roll buckets of dice to get hits and your opponent rolls to save. In melee, you both roll at the same time which keeps both players active.

Each player has a number of coin tokens equivalent to the number of units in their army. Every time a unit is daunted as the result of a failed morale test or is destroyed, a coin  or two if destroyed, are surrendered into a communal pile. When a player cannot surrender a coin as there are none left then he loses the game. You can also win the game by killing the enemy commander in chief or routing him from the field.

If you have never played the game, here is a link to some tutorials

Billhhooks Tutorials

And now there is Never Mind the Billhooks Deluxe.

I received the PDF several weeks ago to write an article for Wargames Illustrated, which will appear in December’s issue, WI 420, and I received the book two weeks ago. I have hardly put it down since. 

I am blown away by the production values of this book. All its new-book-smelling-goodness is almost too much to describe. It is well laid out and beautifully illustrated throughout with glorious photographs of exquisitely painted minis. And all this for only twenty five quid!

 

  Weird heraldic devices stalk through its 180 pages like animated gargoyles at the best kind of rave and there are decorative roses climbing the margins. Illuminated chapter numbers are another small detail that add to that overall feeling of Medievalness. It looks and feels, and smells, like pure quality. Great care has been taken over the look of the thing and it is clearly a work of love.

Andy has rewritten the original Billhooks rules and this forms the Core Rules of the game and are part of the Albion chapter, which is about the Wars of the Roses. A lot of effort has been spent here clarifying the old rules and changing rules that did not work.  

There is a summary of the new rules on page 39 and it is evident that the author has listened to players and responded by making changes that improve the game.

However, the old adage, and Mr Callans personal motto “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” also rings true and fans of the game will find that it is essentially the same game, however, it works better than before, it is easier to read, it has lost none of its Billhooks character and is much improved by its new layout. 

The game is written with new players in mind with pictorial examples of movement, melee and shooting with well written, clearly explained sections on each aspect of the game. Stats for shooting, movement, saving throws etc appear in tables in the text and also at the back of the book as handy page sized charts.

Left-Coin of the realm sir?

 Don’t mind if I do!

 The heart of the book, its main substance, is what makes it Deluxe. Ninety-one pages detailing seven new Conflicts in seven different theatres, with Albion, this makes eight. Each theatre brings new aspects to the game.

Albion - The Wars of the Roses. A few minor changes. Many loose ends gathered in! Morale rules much clearer. Melee rules changed so that a melee may only be fought over a maximum of three turns.

Gallia - The Hundred Years’ War. Introduces new formations, including the Herce formation for English troops and Knight blocks for the French. Jinets!

Bohemia - The Hussite Wars.  War waggons! And light artillery!

Helvetia - The Swiss-Burgundian War. Triple company pike and halberdier blocks! Double pike blocks of four companies! Holy Heck! Burgindians have mounted crossbows and Organ guns!

Italia - The Italian Wars. Spanish colunelas, sword and buckler men, French Gendarmes, lots of artillery, mobile horse drawn artillery

Northumbria - The Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. Interesting scenario in two parts Reiving and street fighting. Cattle rustling

Lusitania - Late Medieval Portugal. Skirmisher heavy mobile armies

Hibernia - Warfare in Ireland. Gallowglasses, armoured Loons with giant swords and Kerns!

There is something for everyone! A game for all seasons! From the massed Pikes of the Swiss to the small bands of Reivers in Scotland.

Each section has an introduction, some of which are written by guest authors, describing the history and the context of the conflict. These are succinct but well written and I found them interesting, informative and an enjoyable read. I particularly liked the Portuguese section, Lusitania, as this is all new to me.

Andy writes with the confidence of one well versed in Medieval history and his words though often informal, sometimes humorous in nature, carry authority.  Tim Gordon writes the Northumbria section, Joao Pedro Especial deals with Lusitania, and OB tackles Hibernia. Gallia, the hundred years war is dealt with in style by Simon McDowall and Pavel Mancar brings his wisdom to the section on the Hussites.

 They all similarly demonstrate a specific knowledge of their subject, each introduction is written in an engaging and informative manner.  

Each section then goes on to describe changes to the Core Rules and the special rules for each conflict and for each new troop type. These are described in the same manner for each Region which makes understanding them much easier and helps with navigation through the rulebook. The detail is astonishing. I can think of no other set of historical rules that does this.

For each Theatre/Conflict there is a section on Army Unit Organisation outlining permissible formations for each type of soldier and Army Restrictions as well as notes on Troop Quality and how each theatre differs from the Core Rules. Then there are sections dealing with each aspect of the game for each Region. These are Leaders, Orders, Actions (with an Action Chart for each theatre as each army may have its own specific actions such the Reivers “Pillage and Loot!”) Movement, Shooting, Melee, Morale, and Winning the Battle (Victory Conditions)

Once familiarity is gained with the Core Rules it will be possible to play by just referring to these sections.

 Then, and this is a really exciting bit, there is a scenario, sometimes two, for each theatre. Some great thought has gone into these and they cover a wide range of situations. Some of them have their own special rules.

   From a Spanish/French force advancing up a beach against an English army with the tide fast advancing behind them, to Knights Hospitallers facing off against Hussite War Waggons in a swampy field, to a two-parter Scots Reivers raid, to a pitched battle from the Italian Wars. There is something for everybody in this game

As if all this Billhooky goodness is not enough there then follows a Painting, Modelling and Kit-bashing Grand Master Class by the Grand master himself Richard Lloyd, Lead Adventurers Forums’ Captain Blood.

  What Richard doesn’t know about this aspect of the hobby isn’t worth knowing and these thirty pages are full of golden advice, top tips and how-to-do’s.

   There is a twenty-step step-by-step guide to painting a figure, followed by a section on modelling basics, tips on working with green stuff, gloop, different glues and terrain pieces and how to create bases. And a really useful bit on making Markers and Tokens for the game. These are fantastic by the way, and would certainly improve the look of any table.

I particularly like the Daunted marker created with a dead cavalry figure and his equally dead horse! If you want to see what it looks like painted, you will have to buy the rules!

  Richard finishes off with a lovely section on kit-bashing and how to get the best from a cheap box of Perry figures

The last twenty pages are evenly split between quick reference charts and the cards and tokens required for the game. The Special Event cards are one of the things that make this game what it is-different! They bring variety and surprise and also a gurt big dollop of period flavour. They ensure that no two games will ever be the same. There are nine for the Core Game which are commonly used for all the theatres and three theatre specific cards for each of the eight Theatres, making a deck of twelve possible special events in each battle. The game works in such a  way that there can only ever be two Special Events used in any one battle so they do not overpower the game but ensure that every battle becomes an unique experience

I should point out that Deluxe is written as a purely historical game. Each conflict/theatre is designed to be self-contained and playing with armies from different theatres will lead to an imbalance of forces.  Not that has ever stopped anyone and it would be weird if as gamers, we didn’t try to break the system! I suspect it will soon become clear which armies are the Davids and which are the Goliaths, and adjustments in the form of handicaps or bonuses will be possible and are indeed likely to work.

So, is there anything the book doesn’t include? Anything that could have been done better?  Well, no, not really. All books benefit from an Index to be sure, but this book is so well constructed, so easy to navigate, it is hardly necessary and as it may well have further delayed publication to include one, I can happily live without it.

There are some conflicts/theatres that have not covered, Eastern Europe, HRE, the Ottomans, the Crusades, although they are arguably of an earlier era, maybe these are material for possible future expansions or supplements. 

What next I wonder?  Will Billhooks become a franchise? Never Mind the Balrogs has been mentioned at BASH and Nevermind the Rowlocks has actually been played at Partisan.  

   Personally, I would love to see Mr Callan’s inimitable take on a campaign system for Billhooks.

   Deluxe is a great game, but it has left me with a big problem. With all that choice, which Army do I build next?

Page 13! Definitely my favourite page!