Daniel MerseyThe Pikeman’s Lament: Pike and Shot Wargaming Rules (Osprey Wargames, 19)

I and my wargamer friends really enjoyed playing "Lion Rampant" by the same author. This appears to use the same system and I anticipate it should be equally enjoyable.

Osprey has been very busy putting out sets of miniature war gaming rules for different periods and this is just another get little set of rules.

I love the shot and pike era and have many rule sets for it. This book is the most complete but because of the detail it was a bit heavy to read.

Fun, easy to learn skirmish game for the Pike and Shot era. I'm looking to build a couple of ECW forces along with some Williamite Wars

Great game but not really popular

Mersey does it again! His tongue-in-cheek style makes his rules enjoyable in the reading and the playing.

Probably OK as a set of skirmishing in the 17th C. but this is in no way a set of rules for simulating battles.

Skirmish, simple, fun

Pikeman's Lament uses a very similar set of rules to Dan Mersey's other rules system Lion Rampant. While I found Lion Rampant to be a little too simple for my tastes I did at least appreciate the flexibility the rules provided for small scale medieval skirmishes. Unfortunately transferring the system to the English Civil War works less well.The rules aim to allow for small company level engagements, at which scale the tactics would have to vary from a typical civil war battle. If you have ever held an ECW pike you would know that it is not exactly a great weapon for a one on one melee. Without the formation of massed pikes a pikeman would be much better off dropping the 18' long pike and using a knife, or a rock.Likewise ECW muskets were notoriously unreliable, which was why musketeers fought in formation. On their own the time taken to set up the stand and load and fire the weapon made them impractical in a small scale skirmish. Again, the musketeer would be better off using the weapon as a club.Pikemans Lament however seems to imply that a small group of musketeers or pikemen would form up into a line or schiltron before engaging. Whle this might look like an ECW battle, on this scale it is just unrealistic.Like Lion Rampant the Pikemans Lament rules also focus on the leader of each company. Before the game you roll up the characteristics of each leader and this can win or lose you the battle before you place any figures on the table. In addition to this the game is set up to run campaigns where you follow the career of your leader character and his company. This is an unusual idea as only one player is going to win each encounter and be able to carry on his character.Pikeman's Lament is a quick, simple and well presented set of rules. I particularly like the informal writing style of the author, and the illustrations are great. However the rules do not allow you to recreate a realistic English Civil War engagement of any scale. With some work the rules could be modified but it might just be easier to look elsewhere.

Having used the medieval set from Osprey this is not just a reprint but introduces some additional layers but still remains simple but with many nuances. The traits and events are something we apply to the medieval set and whilst, like all wargames it is just a game of dice (luck), it results in a (usually) pleasant hour of so fun over the table. What this series has done is introduce more people to somewhat neglected periods and for the price of 2 boxes of plastic figures you have your army. It also encourages decent terrain on the tables so whilst far from historic or perfect it does what it says on the tin...

I've had a box full of Montrose Scots gathering dust for several years and my regular opponent likewise has a Parliamentary army. We'd played a few games of 'Pike and Shot' but weren't inspired by them. Having played a few games with various Dan Mersey rules sets I decided to give 'The Pikeman's Lament' a go. We played our first game yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.The rules are well written and straightforward to play. There are no long lists of die modifiers and after a few turns we didn't need to refer to the rules or the QRS sheet (from Osprey's website). The game was closely fought but I came out on top (just).The new rules are based on Dan Mersey's 'Lion Rampant' medieval rules. I've had these since they were released several years ago but have never got round to painting any figures for them - other projects got in the way. Having enjoyed 'The Pikeman's Lament' so much I will be purchasing some medieval troops to have a go with 'Lion Rampant' in the very near future.

These rules are great for fast, simple games but aren’t historically accurate in terms of unit sizes, frontages, tactics etc. If you want the latter get the Pike and Shotte rules from Warlord Games which are more detailed. However, The Pikeman’s Lament is thoroughly entertaining and gives a fun game that can be played in a few hours. Another great book in the Osprey war games series. Recommended.

Easy to pick up rules, no need to rebase loads of existing figures as the rules accommodate different basing systems.