Bolts of War

Modern wargaming descends from the 1824 Kriegsspiel, an ingenious ruleset used by the Prussian Military. One of the hallmarks of this system is that it thought in terms you would think during war.  You don't think of your self as having a "d20+2" attack or a d6 damage die.  You would think, in the right circumstances of ratios like "we are about even with the enemy" (1:1) or "they have a slight edge" (3:2), or in terms of expected kills-per-minute.  

The original ruleset, while ingenious, was brutally complicated. Bolts of War is a series of Bare-Bolts wargames based on this ruleset, easier to learn, and playable with DIY pieces. 

Bolts of War - Core System tries to reduce the 1824 rules into a 1-page rules et (not counting combat tables).  

Bolts of War - Agincourt System applies the rules to Medieval warfare and is going to be expanded in the months to come to feature a wide variety of fantasy military units.  Rules for archery,  ransoming prisoners, trumpet communication, and saint relics are all included.  A citation page of references that inspired the decisions of the game's design is included.

Dicespiel - for those of us who have lots of dice but not a lot of nuts-and-bolts, a set of conventions for using pip d6s to represent various subunits.  Can be applied to the fill Agincourt System.  

Ruthless Ratios - an attempt to capture Kriegsspiel style ratios and outcomes without the need for charts.  For this one small wooden blocks or tokens may be best.

WW1898 - an alternate history Kriegsspiel in which WWI is started early due to the Martian invasion of "War of the Worlds"

This project is in Early Development - more is coming soon.  I am new to the to the study of War History and I am looking forward to learning more and sharing updated wargames here.