Saturday 29 October 2016

Collected reviews of BBB - Bloody Big BATTLES!

In the two years since publication of the "Bloody Big Battles!" rules and the companion scenario book, "Bloody Big European Battles!", BBB has had consistently positive feedback.

Now seems an appropriate time to collate in a convenient place some of the many good reviews that BBB has received so far. Below is a list of links that will take you either to full reviews or to selected quotes. Wherever possible I have linked direct to the source.

If you are interested in fighting large nineteenth-century battles and you aren't yet familiar with BBB, do yourself a favour and read what other players say about it.

"The Foreign Correspondent", journal of the Continental Wars Society.

Collected comments from many players.

"Miniature Wargames" magazine.

Keefsblogspot (by Keith Flint, author of the Honours of War SYW rules).

Very thorough review for "Deep Fried Happy Mice" by Vincent Tsao.

"Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy" magazine.

Doctor Phalanx review here
and some battle reports such as Gettysburg.

Don't Throw Bloody Spears at Me.

Two Marshals.

The Rat Report.

Mark's Gaming Blog.

"Lone Warrior" (Solo Wargamers Association), by Paul Le Long.
Related BBB Blog post.

Addition per 30 March 2021:

Peter Model in his video review of rules for Napoleonics says: "BBB is probably the best set of rules out there if you want to recreate a historical conflict".

Addition per 31 July 2022:

Shugyosha has posted 'The Ultimate Napoleonic Wargame Rules Review and Comparison' on his 'Wargaming Everything' blog. Of BBB, he says kindly: "When thinking of the biggest battles of the era, [...] BBB makes it actually possible in a manageable timeframe. [...] Among all true army level systems it is probably the best middle ground between playability and period flavor. This might sound like a compromise, but it is not. BBB stands on its own, and for me among the very top."

Addition per 25 August 2022:

On 7 June the "Wargamer's Block" blog posted a very positive "First impressions" review that starts out by saying "Quick summary: you should be buying it right now". Other nice remarks include "My first impressions are nothing short of enthusiastic"; "BBB uses the most elegant/realistic/functional incarnation of the dreaded 'roll to move' mechanic"; "scenarios are outstanding". He's done a subsequent post on the BBB Langensalza scenario in which he describes BBB as "a game you really should try sooner or later if you're remotely interested in 19th century warfare" and offers an A3 hex map and roster to enable the scenario to be played in a compact area with Kriegspiel blocks.

Addition per 25 January 2023:

Very positive review by Dave "The Northumbrian Wargamer" in Morpeth. Some highlights: "the rules are historically accurate, flow well and just, well, feel right. [...] Excellent rules, particularly for large encounters, hence the name!"

Addition per 4 May 2023:

As of this date BBB is rated an excellent 8.9 out of 10 (28 respondents) on the game review website BoardGameGeek.

Addition per 21 December 2023:

New purchaser Andrew Rolph had "a bit of praise" about "the quality of the rules writing. As far as I am concerned, they are practically the gold standard for presentation. They exhibit DBA/Barker levels of precision...but in sentences which do not suffer from multiple recursions and embedded subordination. I am particularly impressed by the terrain section which (regardless of whether it is realistic or accurate) is certainly comprehensive, elegant and precise in its definitions and explanation". He also said about the "Bloody Big Balkan Battles!" supplement: "Konstantinos' work is equally impressive a document and makes excellent use of the consistent scenario framework put forward within the main rules. Also pleasing to see so few typos. And the maps in the volume are excellent."



Friday 7 October 2016

"BBB has broken wargaming for me!"


I really liked this post on the BBB Yahoo group! Headlined "BBB has broken wargaming for me", the gist of it is that after having played Bloody Big Battles historical scenarios, the poster (Leadhead, Ph.D), can no longer find the pleasure he used to in generic points-based tournament wargames.

I thought about taking this as a pretext to waffle on about how after making the Fifth Prigoginic Leap there's no going back. But instead I'll limit myself to saying that I likewise now usually feel vaguely unsatisfied after any wargame that isn't an actual historical battle, and few games give me the same high as BBB does. I'll leave it to readers to speculate why this could be.

It's been a couple of weeks. I need my fix!