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Beneath the Lily Banners
Wargame rules for 1660-1721
Barry Hilton
http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com
Well this is a novelty for me. I am not usually
allowed to do this sort of thing, as in not
allowed to do reviews for WJ. Apparently I
am way too critical and have been known to
be quite harsh in my judgements, or so I’m
told anyway. But as I’m very much enjoying
my Seven Year War (7YW) Rich Jones felt I
would enjoy these new rules.
(Editor’s comment: Shaun has a keen interest
in the 7YW period and is organising a fictional
campaign for Wargames Journal. Plus I felt
he had to be let off his leash at some point!
I was handed a copy of Beneath the Lily
Banners (BLB) for review by Rich on a bright
Sunday morning, then it rained. I hoped this
wasn’t an omen for the rules. As it turned
out it was more of an omen for my Roman
Legions that were just about to get butchered
by Rich’s Gauls (Editor - a quick play test of
the Impetus rules was taking place).
I quickly scanned through the 48 page perfect
bound glossy covered book and realised that
I was dealing with a period I knew very little about,
nestling between the English Civil War and Seven
Years war, it was a period that had snuck passed me,
which is a rarity to say the least. An era which saw the
phasing out of Pike with the arming of infantry with
Bayonets, the dawning of effective battlefield Artillery
and the emergence of large colourful field armies,
led more often than not by competent tacticians, as
Generals became more professional than political.
The period covered is 1660 to 1721 and the front
cover has a well animated painting of Red coats
fighting Blue coats and the cover and back cover
layout invites
the reader to open up. It is written by Barry Hilton of
the League of Augsburg. Anyone in the hobby that
has ever been to one of the big shows over the last 20
odd years knows, this means big battles with lots of
superb figures fighting over hand made terrain. These
rules are how you manage to do just that and are
firmly placed into the ‘old school’ format that seems
to be in vogue at the moment. Throughout the rules
are pictures of Barry’s extensive figure collection, not
only giving examples of allowed unit formations and
battle scenes, but also vignettes of period events such
as rampart storming and river crossings.

So the nit and indeed grit of the rules are laid out, as
the author says is in a very British fashion. Figures
need not be rebased, but remain as multiples of 6 foot
per base, 3 bases per unit or 3 mounted figures per
base for Cavalry, 3 or 4 bases per unit. Command and
Control is handled easily by a d10 roll to see what
percentage of the army activates, none to 100% by
unit. Orders are placed by unit before a big reveal at
the start of the turn proper. Units can only do the most
basic of orders; move, hold, rally or charge, although
all units in the army may attempt to shoot at enemy
units that move into range during the turn. The turn
sequence of Move/Shoot/Melee will be familiar to
anyone that has been involved in the hobby since
Charles Grant or indeed 1 st Edition Warhammer.
Movement is in inches and is the standard fare of ‘old
school’ gaming with 4” for foot and 8” for Cavalry,
with some variation for formation and terrain.
Chargers must declare and pass a morale test to charge,
defenders also test to stand and fire or counter charge.
Morale check failure limits the orders available and
the fighting ability of the unit. Musketry firing up to
12”, is accrued by base and cross referenced against a
modified d6 roll, while the casualties are marked off
in figures, until 50% of the figure count is reached
when bases begin to be removed, provided of course
the unit hasn’t been routed off the table by then.
Artillery fires as individual guns using multiple d10s
to kill figures at ranges up to 36” away, 48” for siege
guns. Melee uses the same casualty chart as firing
but a different set of modifiers; again casualties are
marked in figures. Cavalry melees against Infantry is
a very one sided affair which should be avoided at all
costs, the foot don’t get to fight back!! With these
basic rules come optional rules to give more flavour
without adding any complications, such as capturing
standards and in period specific rules for the Great
Northern war and warfare in the East, along with
guidelines for siege combat.
The book comes with 2 scenarios to play through, a
Williamite ambush of some raiding Jacobites (17 units
versus 9 units) which will allow the beginner to come
to terms with the simplicity of the rules. The second
scenario is a rearguard action by the Grand Alliance,
against the French, after the battle of Neerwinden,
(34 units versus 43 units) with the French pushing the
routing Allied forces, lots of Horse v Foot melee here

for the more sadistic of gamers. The book rounds out
with a list of campaigns fought during the time frame
and bibliography of books used. The rule set comes
with a laminated card QRS that appears complete and
in a very usable order.
The rules have certainly been tested to destruction
and already have a firm online following thanks to
the The League of Augsburg’s website and forums.
It uses an ‘old school’ format and hasn’t been written
to re-invent the hobby in its own image; rather it is a
very nice formalisation of the genre. It reminded me
of playing my first games of Napoleonic’s with ‘In
the Grand Manner’ rules, which to be honest isn’t a
bad thing.
What it isn’t is a book for the ‘Flames of War’ crowd
to pick up and start playing games in the dying years
of the pike and shot era. Although there are many
useful, and pretty, pictures of gaming units there is
no painting guide to follow, or indeed a set of army
lists for beginners to play ‘pick up’ games. While the
scenarios are there as specific examples of period
warfare, there is no pickup game scenario generator.
But it isn’t aimed at this crowd, so this isn’t so much
a criticism, rather an observation.
The website forum says to expect more articles and
scenarios in the wargames press.
(Editor: Barry has a superb BLB scenario in Issue
9 of Wargames Journal. It’s a superb read, well
illustrated and is a real must for our readers. Even if
you’re not into this period give it a read!)
So having ascertained who the rules are aimed at,
we end up with an uncluttered rule book, which is
a novelty in this day and age. I would go as far as to
say that BLB is a lean, mean killing machine of rules
for the gamer already committed to the period, but
to such an extent that a beginner will struggle to get
much of a kick-start from just this publication.
What I would have liked to see/read more of is an
explanation from the designer as to why the rules have
developed this way: Why are the bases for infantry
45mm by 50mm and not just 50mm square? Why
aren’t the cavalry based to the same frontage as the

foot? What is the rationale for Foot not being able to
fight back against Cavalry? I feel these design points
should at least be attempted to be explained, instead
of left in this ‘just so’ way.
These rules have the feel of being developed over
many years from a house or club fast play set of rules.
Again, this isn’t a criticism of them. These rules
have a tight feel to them, nothing sits ambiguously
bothering you. They play very well and do their job
accordingly.
BLB is a very nice set of rules for the big battalion
boys playing the conventions or running weekend
club battles in a gentlemanly game of tabletop warfare.
As you read the book you can’t help but get drawn
into the spectacle of gaming at a massive scale with
1,000s of figures on the tabletop, and you just know
these rules will play such a game well.
The author is clearly setting out his stall to support the
rules with articles across the wargames press and on
his own excellent web site, so I have no fears of these
rules lacking support. Excellent production values
(both with layout and print) makes this an appetising
book to devour for its price tag of £15.
You can watch out for some home grown WJ games
using these rules and we’re already thinking about a
weekend event using them. Final words: a very well
put together project that I’m sure the author is very
proud of.
Review by Shaun McTague of PEWC (Ponders End
Wargames Club)
AT A GLANCE
50 Pages - Full Colour - Perfect Bound plus A4 Full Colour QRF Sheet
Price: £15
Author: Barry Hilton
Available from http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com