Partizan Scenario Books

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Partizan Press, who have for so long published a whole host of Civil War titles, publish a number of ECW scenario books. These are advertised as 'for use with any ECW rules system', but will they?

I have tried them with Forlorn Hope, 1644 and Twilight of Divine Right. The only real 'nod' to Partizan's house ruleset, Forlorn Hope, being the addition of unit 'class' and 'type' in the army lists. 

So will they work with any rules? The scenarios themselves work 'straight out of the bag', but the army lists will require a little work: the Forlorn Hope classifications will give you a good basis on which to 'translate' the army lists to your preferred rules (even if you aren't familiar with FH).


All volumes are approximately A4 sized, with full colour card covers. Illustrated throughout with line drawings and maps, Gaming Scenarios Vol 1 also includes some full colour flag sheets sized for 25mm, 15mm and 6mm figures. The more recent volumes also feature some monochrome photographs.

Whilst primarily historical scenarios, there are one or two fictional 'what if?' scenarios. All scenarios give descriptions of the historical events, maps, deployment and orders of battle.

An example of a scenario map

An army list example (not Shieldfield in case you were wondering)

The English Civil War Gaming Scenarios series has recently been joined by Volume 5.

Volume 1 covers:-

  • Newburn 1640
  • Powick Bridge 1642
  • Ripple Field 1643
  • Whalley 1643
  • Roundway Down 1643
  • Cheriton 1644
  • Alford 1645
  • Philipaugh 1645
  • Dumfries & Galloway 1651
  • Worcester 1651
  • London 1659

Volume 2 covers:-
  • Second Modbury 1643
  • Beacon Hill 1643
  • Stratton 1643
  • Alton & Arundel 1643
  • Relief of the second siege of Newark 1644
  • Tipton Green 1644
  • Montgomery 1644
  • Ledbury 1645
  • Auldearn 1645
  • Denbigh Green 1645
  • Winnington Bridge 1659

Volume 3 covers:- 
  • Coventry 1642
  • Southam & Dunsmore Heath 1642
  • Siege of Manchester 1642
  • Storming of Leeds 16433
  • Selby 1644
  • Tippermuir 1644
  • Wistanstow 1645
  • Langport 1645
  • Willoughby Field 1648
  • Battle of the Severn 1655

Volume 4 covers:- 
  • First Aylesbury 1642
  • Bradford 1642
  • Highnam House 1643
  • Gainsborough 1643
  • Shieldfield 1644
  • Inverlochy 1645
  • Sherburn-in-Elmet 1645
  • Ballaghkillgevill & Benburb 1646
  • Y Dalar Hir 1648
  • St Ouen's Bay 1651
  • Lambert's Rising 1660

Volume 5 covers:-
  • Babylon Hill 1642 
  • Piercebridge 1642
  • Little Dean 1643
  • Caversham Bridge 1643
  • Grantham 1643
  • Action near Oddington 1643
  • Attack on Wem & Lee Bridge 1643
  • Cropredy Bridge 1644 (3 scenarios from different times of the day)
  • Evesham 1645
  • Hambledon Hill 1645 (the first scenario I've seen involving clubmen!)
  • Rearguard Action at Chorley 1648
  • Winwick Pass 1648
Campaign Scenario volume 1 focuses upon the 1643 conflict between Waller and Hopton in the South West

  • Glastonbury and Chewton Mendip
  • Stoke Lane
  • Monckton Farlegh & Claverton Down
  • Freezing Hill
  • Lansdowne
  • Chippenham, Rowde & Beckhampton
  • Devizes
  • Roundway Down
Wargaming English Civil War Cavalry Actions, is as the title suggest focussed upon those actions that were pretty much solely horse on horse fights, or cavalry fights as subplots of larger battles. 


It covers:-
  • Powick Bridge 1642
  • Edgehill 1642
  • Hopton Heath 1643
  • Chalgrove Field 1643
  • Lansdown Hill 1643
  • Marston Moor 1644
  • Naseby 1645
  • Dunbar 1650
  • Worcester 1651
The final title in the Partizan scenario stable is English Civil War Sieges: Rules & Scenarios for Wargamers. 


Two thirds of the volume is effectively a rules book for sieges. Sieges made up a large proportion of the conflict of the Wars, and these siege rules are hands down the most comprehensive siege rules around. Rules cover obstacles such as gabions, pitfalls, chevaux de frise; mining operations; fire ships; mortars; grenadoes; and petards (as well as pretty much everything else you can think of). Scenarios covered:- 
  • Gloucester south gate 1643
  • Windsor 1642
  • Chester 1645-6
  • Bristol 1643
  • Basing House 1645
Just in case anyone is wondering, no I'm not on commission from Partizan/Caliver - I wish I was, it would have saved me a blooming fortune. I bought all of these myself, at full price.

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Thanks.




Comments

  1. nundanket19 July 2022 at 00:46

    Never realised there were so many of them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar19 July 2022 at 15:23

      They do sort of creep up on you. If I had to recommend just one, it would be the siege book.

      Delete
  2. Dex McHenry19 July 2022 at 08:17

    Excellent synopsis. I have a number of the individual pamphlets Partisan Press used to do covering individual battles (e.g. Stuart Peachey's Modbury 1643). Are you able to say whether these volumes draw on those or are they completely different?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar19 July 2022 at 15:25

      Thanks Dex. I don't have any of the individual battle books so can't help I'm afraid.

      I have the Forlorn Hope scenario books (review coming here soon), which are outstanding.

      Delete
  3. SquadPainter21 July 2022 at 13:08

    I've considered purchasing the Partizan scenario books for a while now, but I've never seen how they actually portray a scenario. How do the maps look? How is an order of battle listed? I recently picked up Lipscombe's The English Civil War – an Atlas and Concise History of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Would the Partizan books add more to that work to justify their cost? Questions, questions. Thanks for the quick overview of these volumes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21 July 2022 at 16:48

      Must confess that I don't rate Lipscomb's Atlas very highly. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful book, and it deserves a place on the shelf. But it has too many errors, and is seriously lacking in an index . The index issue makes it almost unusable as a dip in and out book.

      These scenario books are much more gamer friendly. I'll take and post some images of a map and an army list as soon as I get a chance.

      (If it is a specific battle that you are interested in, the very LD Forlorn Hope scenarios are the best! Reviews of those coming soon.)

      Delete
    2. Radar21 July 2022 at 16:50

      In case you were wondering, the above is from me - bl@*#y phone being strange

      Delete
    3. SquadPainter24 July 2022 at 21:00

      Ha! I had a feeling that was you. I could tell by the voice of your message. Yes! A write-up of how these books portray a scenario would be quite helpful. I'm partial to For King & Parliament right now for 15mm, so I've considered purchasing a Partizan scenario book that has a FK&P scenario already... it would sort of give me a template on how I might generate other FK&P scenarios from the booklets.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous20 August 2022 at 23:35

    Are these books still available or 'out of print' ? as I believe they were published almost 20 years ago in 2003.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar21 August 2022 at 06:50

      Still very much in print - volume 5 has only just been published

      Delete

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