Song of Drums and Shakos

By Ganesha Games
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Paperback, 35 pages
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 (1 Rating)
Song of Drums and Shakos
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WINNER: BEST HISTORICAL RULES AWARD AT ORIGINS 2009 Song of Drums and Shakos is a fast play Napoleonic skirmish game based on the popular *Song of Blades and Heroes* mechanics. Muster your squad. Deploy your soldiers and fire volleys at the enemy...and when the moment of truth comes, fix bayonets and charge! - Three scenarios included - Simple, elegant system where your tactical decisions matter - Playable in any scale with single based models - All major troop types represented: 160+ profiles (French, British, Prussian, Russian, and Austrian) - Easy measuring system - No bookkeeping - Point system for building up your Squad - Play with as little as 5-6 elite to 20 inexperienced soldiers in a standard game - Playable on a small table (60x60 cm for 15mm) - Simple yet subtle command system, with Officers and NCO - Two or more players, 30-45 minutes for a full game - Ideal introductory rule set to small actions in the Napoleonic Era.
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Nov. 8, 2009 By Bard
http://lazywargamer.blogspot.com/2009/11/song-of-drums-and-shakos-quick-first.html

I've only given the rules a quick first reading, but my initial impressions are very favorable.

The game uses what I view to be a clever, yet mechanically simple system for activating your figures. Each man has a quality rating, and you have to roll that number or more on a d6 to activate him. You can roll 1d6, 2d6 or 3d6 as you wish, and for each success you get to perform one action for that figure. However, if you roll two failures simultaneously (i.e. for the same man), that figure gets to perform an action for any success he may have had (e.g. he could have rolled 3d6 and had one success and two... More > failures), and then your turn ends and play passes to your opponent.

Figures can perform individual actions and group actions, and they can engage in ranged or close combat. Each troop class (e.g. line infantry, grenadier, hussar, cuirassier, etc.) has different modifiers for combat strength and weapon type. Troops can also have special skills, such as leadership, scouting, musician, etc. and the different nationalities (French, Austrian, British, Prussian, Russian) also have different characteristics.

There are rules for setting up terrain for random scenarios and for building squads using point values for each class of soldier. The game also comes with three pre-made scenarios: "Forlorn Hope" (an attack on a portion of a small fortress), "Foraging Mission" (a raid on an enemy livestock yard), and "Assault at the Farm" (an attack to clear an area around a river crossing, overlooked by a farm).

In all, the actual rules mechanisms take up about 13 pages (pages 3-4, 6-16). One page in the middle of that range (page 5) has all the rules for terrain set-up, which of course do not really "count" since you obviously do no need to memorize them. Additionally nearly every page has an illustration of some sort (mostly decorative) that takes up anywhere from one quarter to one half the page. So the actual rules are really not that long. After the actual rules themselves, there are about three-and-a-half pages listing the special characteristics different troop classes might have (pages 17-20), and a half page of national characteristics (page 20). The scenarios take up three pages (pages 21-23), and the rosters of troop classes, capabilities and point values take up five pages (pages 24-28). There are also four pages of historical background notes (pages 29-33), and finally a one-page quick reference sheet (page 34).

The rules are easily adaptable to a number of scales. All measurements are made in "sticks," of which there are three types -- short, medium and long. Once you've cut your measuring sticks for your particular scale, you are ready to go -- there is no need to make conversions of any sort. At 15mm scale the game is played on a 2'x2' area, at 20/25/28mm on a 3' x 3' area, and at 40mm+ on a 4'x4' area. This is nice if you have limited space, or if you have, say, a 6' x 4' table, but, like me, you hate to have papers, charts, dice, etc. lying on your playing area spoiling the visual effect (which is the whole point of playing miniatures in the first place for many of us).

Having read through the rules once, I cannot wait to give them a first try. Because, as is the case with so many skirmish games, they focus primarily on the mechanisms of man-to-man combat, with things like special abilities, and weapons characteristics and national traits "overlaid" atop that basic mechanism, I think the rules may be adaptable to a wide range of periods, especially over the century preceding and the century following the Napoleonic era. < Less
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Product Details

Copyright Ganesha Games/Sergio Laliscia (Standard Copyright License)
Edition First Edition, Origins Nomination printing
Publisher Ganesha Games
Published July 4, 2009
Language English
Pages 35
 
Binding Perfect-bound Paperback
Interior Ink Black & white
Dimensions (inches) 8.5 wide × 11.0 tall

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