By Fire and Sword – a historical wargame is the name of a battle system developed by the Wargamer company. We wanted to create a realistic, playable and dynamic wargame which recreates the 17th century wars fought by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Turkey, Muscovy, Sweden, Crimean Khanate and the Cossacks. Why the 17th century and the focus on Eastern Europe? The wars that were waged in the Eastern Europe during the 17th century are almost unknown to many wargamers all over the world. The Western European battlefields of the period were dominated by pike & shot infantry. In the Eastern Europe the western and eastern arts of war met. Combat was much more mobile and dynamic. In our opinion it was a unique situation. We wanted to try and recreate this in a wargame.

The game was completed in 2011, after 4 years of work, and published in Polish. At the moment the system includes the rulebook, and about 110 sets of figures, terrain elements and accessories. The system was enthusiastically received in Poland so we decided to develop it and prepare an English version. However the English edition of the game and its development by addition of more 17th century wars and campaigns requires additional funds. Kickstarter seemed the best place to acquire them and at the same time to promote our game. We would like to ask you to support a project that already exists and is successful but is limited by the language barrier and the fact that Wargamer is not a large company. These are not our dreams or plans for a distant future. Our game is ready and waits for your support so it can spread its wings. We hope that you will help us achieve this.

RULES

The By Fire and Sword wargame is a comprehensive system including game rules, historical background for the forces of all the combatants, battle group creation rules and scenarios, but most of all a huge number of wargaming figures representing all the military formations of the warring parties. The rules system allows for the use of a variety of tactics, formations and ways of warfare used during the 17th century by all armies participating in the conflicts. We placed particular emphasis on the issue of command and control on the battlefield and its effectiveness in various armies. Depending on the experience of gamers and number of figures available, as well as time and space for the game, By Fire and Sword battles can be played on 2 different levels. The number and types units available to the player depend on the level chosen. Game at the Skirmish level can be completed in less than an hour. The Divisional level enables recreating larger battles. In the future we will add new rules enabling playing truly epic battles. We hope that the Kickstarter campaign will help us achieve this goal.

Rulebook includes:

Chapter 1 – Introduction
Chapter 2 – Rules
Chapter 3 – Scenarios
Chapter 4 – Background and Army Lists

SCENARIOS

By Fire and Sword includes a unique scenario creation system allowing for realistic recreation of historical battles, as well as balanced rules for gaming “What if…” scenarios. For the creation of the rules we used a wide array of historical sources, the consultations of historians, own research and hands-on experience with 17th century arms and armor. What makes our system unique is that the players do not need to have armies of the same size or strength (usually dealt with by assigning point values to particular types of units). In By Fire and Sword forces of opposing armies are balanced by a unique system of scenarios and special effects.

Spoiler:

 wana10 wrote:
I've wanted this rulebook ever since i read some reviews of the Polish version and heard that it was being translated, but at $50 for the book and another $25 on top of that for shipping it's too much for me. Will have to wait till after the kickstarter and hope someplace more local will carry it.