Mit Blut und Eisen

'Mit Blut und Eisen' are rules for European style battles in the period 1840 - 1880. Battles in the rest of the world can also be fought a long as the forces are similar to those used in Europe at the time. For example the American Civil War.

The focus of the rules is on the Crimean War (1853-56), the Franco-Austrian War of 1859, the American Civil War (1861-1865), the War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Details of other conflicts during the period will be available later.

The rules are for large battles of this period. The players will usually command a Corps or other large part of a full army, if not the whole army. One base usually represents 600 infantry, 300 cavalry or 12 guns. A unit is usually 3 to 12 bases and represents a brigade.

They are a stand alone set which aim to capture the feel of these rules but with changes to reflect the warfare of the period. This includes obvious factors such as for the variety of weapons and tactics of the wars of the period. Key to these are individual movement/morale tables for each army in each conflict designed to reflect that army's performance. For example, there is not a single movement/morale table for the Franco Prussian War but four tables. For the two sides there are one each for the early part of the war, the Imperial phase, with another two for the later part of the war, the Republican phase. While the French movement/morale table for the 1859 is different to the Franco Prussian tables. Other major changes are the use of three six sided dice and rules for Corps and Army Morale.

In addition to the PDF rules the package includes the following supporting material -

Period Material Documents:

Fire and Fiasco: Crimean War (1853-1856)
La Furia Francese: Italian War of 1859
A House Divided: American Civil War (1861-1865)
Two Kings, a Kaiser and Koniggratz: The War of 1866 (Bohemia and Italy)
Thunder in the West: The War of 1866 (Germany)
Nach Paris: Franco Prussian War (1870-1871) - The Imperial Phase
The Empire Republic Strikes Back: Franco Prussian War (1870-1871) - The Republican Phase

Play Sheets:

Nine play sheets for various combinations of combatants in the various wars.

UPDATE: Over time we will be updating the existing scenarios on the site to these rules.

All of the scenarios are available as documents in the Archive

The currently update scenarios are

New Scenarios

Fredericksburg 1862.

A Yahoo group supporting these rules is HERE.

How to get the rules:

The rules are only available as a PDF at the moment. A PDF copy costs £9.30

PDF copies will be sent directly to your mail box as an attachment to an e-mail. Remember to include the e-mail address you wish the material sent to. Please also insure that there is sufficient room in your 'Inbox' to accept delivery, especially with large orders. 'Spam Filters' sometimes send incoming mail into your 'Trash' or similar folder. Please check that this has not happened if you have not received the rules.

To use a PDF you will need 'Acobat Adobe Reader'. Download this for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Payment:

Payment can be by cheque, by PayPal if you have an account or via PayPal and using your credit card if you do not have a PayPal account. Payment must be in British Pounds (£ or GBP).

Cheque:

Please make all cheques payable to: N.Dorrell.

PayPal:

You do not have to have a PayPal account to use this. You can pay using your credit card via PayPal. Make payments by PayPal to hwiccee@hotmail.com .