It is 10 years since the publication of 'Bloody Big BATTLES!' in October 2014. I therefore feel I should mark the occasion with a few reflections.
We didn't set out to publish a ruleset. We just wanted to play some good games! This journey began 15 years ago with a remark by Dave Whaley in 2009, when he suggested we get back into wargaming the Franco-Prussian War. As the BBB introduction says:
'Our ambition this time round was clear: we wanted to tackle the major battles such as Gravelotte; to fit them on an 8’x4’ or smaller tabletop; and to fight them in their entirety, in a single evening, with typically 4 players. However, a survey of existing rules soon showed that there was nothing out there that quite met our requirements. Consequently we were obliged to write our own.'
After about three years, we had a solid set of rules that we were happy with and playing regularly - so happy, in fact, that we realised we ought to share the love and publish them. It then took another two or three years to refine and polish the rules until they were fit for publication, as well as writing and playtesting 25 scenarios to publish in the rulebook and in the companion 'Bloody Big European Battles!' scenario book.
BBB and BBEB were duly published 10 years ago. Their birth announcement was the first post on this BBBBlog. BBB was well received and obtained many positive reviews, which I have collected here. A lot has happened since then.
Most importantly, BBB itself met our stated ambition and has stood the test of time. Within our own core group at Oxford Wargames Society, it remains our staple diet, with someone running a BBB game at OWS virtually every week. We have refought literally 100s of different historical battles. The group itself has grown and thrived as wargamers of all persuasions are attracted by the happy gatherings in our corner of the village hall. It's great - we play a different battle, from a different war, producing a very different game, every week - without having to wrestle with a different ruleset each time. That plus a great bunch of mates has meant the past fifteen years have been the best in my wargaming life.
Nor is this just the niche obsession of a few Oxfordshire folk. BBB is not a commercial enterprise, simply an endeavour to share the love for wargaming big C19 battles, so there is no professional marketing effort to promote it. Nevertheless, the ripple effect of positive word-of-mouth has created a large global community of enthusiastic BBB players, as witness:
- 1,000 members of the BBB io group (join this and you can find lots of free scenarios and other useful stuff in the group files, including QR sheets in French, Italian and Hungarian!);
- 1,000 members of the BBB Facebook page (big thank you to Alan Millicheap for creating and maintaining this popular and active site).
That community includes a lot of excellent, seriously knowledgeable, creative people, many of whom have written scenarios and even additional BBB scenario books for their favourite campaigns. Let me list those published so far:
Bloody Big BALKAN Battles! (Dr Konstantinos Travlos)
Bloody Big Battles in INDIA! (Dr Mark Smith)
Bloody Big HUNGARY '48 Battles! (Chris Pringle)
NAPOLEON's Bloody Big Battles! (Dr Mark Smith)
Four more books on the Peninsular War, the American Civil War, and battles in Africa are in advanced stages of preparation. Further down the road, for those with more esoteric tastes, we hope to produce books on the Taiping Rebellion and the Russo-Japanese War. I'm sure it won't stop there: folks are tinkering with Seven Years War, Great Northern War, First World War ...
By popular demand, we also run an annual convention of BBB participation games, the BBB Bash Day. Its fifth iteration was in Daventry last year. You can find a report on it here, with links to reports on previous ones. Planning for the 2025 Bash Day has already begun, so watch this space.
So far, so good. What about other future plans? Maybe it's worth saying we are not planning to publish a 2nd Edition. Not to say there's nothing I would change - with the benefit of 15 years' experience, I can see things that could be refined - but the ruleset has proved so robust and popular that I don't feel a new edition is necessary.
What we are planning - and what I know will be popular - is to publish a pdf edition. This should be available via the SkirmishCampaigns website in the next few months.
There are so many people to thank: Dave Whaley for starting it all and being the heart and soul of BBB; Scott Fisher of SkirmishCampaigns for some crucial input early on and for publishing it; all the retailers who have supported BBB (especially Brigade Games and On Military Matters in the US; Caliver Books and North Star in the UK); the playtesters already acknowledged in the front of BBB; others who've joined our gang at OWS since - Luke & Ben A, Matt B, David B, Mark J, Crispin M, Bruce McC, Phil N, Nick O, Nigel S, Anton Van D; loyal partisans Alan Millicheap, Konstantinos Travlos and Vincent Tsao, for their invaluable support over the past decade; all my US buddies, especially Scott, Mark F, Rob G, CB and D Sean, who've indulged me running ACW BBB games for them (they have the right headgear, the right liquor, and the right accents); Jim Owczarski for bringing it to his Armchair Dragoons audience; and all you other great comrades I've met and interacted with at shows, online forums, etc., thanks to our shared enthusiasm.
Therefore, my heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement over the years. That's what really makes it all worthwhile and motivates me and the gang to keep building the BBB project. Here's to the next ten years!
