BANISH ALL THEIR FEARS Interview: Ben Hull and David Fox

The development of the flintlock musket and socket bayonet was one of the great revolutions of military technology. Early flintlocks appeared as far back as 1610; by the 1670's they were found more frequently in infantry arsenals, and their superiority over the slower, more cumbersome matchlock led to their adoption by western European militaries by 1695. The parallel invention of the socket bayonet, which attached to the exterior end of the barrel and allowed the musket to be fired with fixed bayonet, saw the end of the pike as anything except a badge of rank for NCO's. The foot soldier had thus completed his long journey from the ancient deliverer of shock to the modern bearer of firepower.

The BAYONET & MUSKET series will cover the period of the War of the League of Augsburg, 1688-1697, and the War of the Spanish Succession, 1702-1714. In western Europe, the figure of the great King of France, Louis XIV, dominated the scene, leading a newly united and energetic France to expand and secure its frontiers into Germany, Spain, northern Italy, and the Spanish Netherlands, a course which ran into the natural opposition of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Dutch United Provinces.

The rules and images shown here are not final

You cand find it in P500 you can also find Musket and Pike Dual Pack

1-Who are you and you favourite wargame/s?

Hello, my name is Ben Hull. I´m from United States and I live in Virginia. I work in Washington D.C. I retired from the Marine Corps. I am married and have three children. My children have grown up and live alone.

My deployment in Iraq 2009

I started playing war games when I was a teenager. Over the years I have played many games. From these I designed the games that I like to play. Musket & Pike and Fields of Fire by GMT.

David Fox. My top 3 favorite wargames would be: La Bataille de Moskowa, Fields of Fire and Squad Leader

2-Why did you decide to do this game?

My friend David Fox suggested it because he had read about the time and was very interested. Then I did some reading and adapted the “Musket & Pike” model to the times.

The era had huge armies in colorful uniforms and epic battles. The drama and style of war are interesting. He also presented design challenges that he wanted to address.

David Fox: The Marlborough period has always been a favorite of mine, and as you can see from my favorite wargame list I enjoy tactical wargames. So, a game on Marlborough-era battles hits both of those targets.

3-Can you talk about the mechanics?

Certainly, for those familiar with “Musket & Pike Battle Series” (MPBS) from GMT, it is an evolution of that system. Parts of it are streamlined to move the game along. For example, the combat system is much easier as there are many more units per side. Each player controls 24 to 36 units, but in this system the payer may have around 100 units. The system introduces a new layer of command that was not as developed in the MPBS era (1620-1670). This layer is the Brigade. The Brigade is a collection of infantry battalions or cavalry squadrons. The units in play are battalions and the cavalry units are 2 or 3 squadrons of cavalry. The Brigade has 1 of 3 orders March, Charge, or Dress Ranks. The March order is for movement, the Charge order is to attack, and the Dress Ranks is to reform units from the effects of combat. As the armies covered more physical space, the traditional three wings (left, center, and right) expanded to 3 to 6 avenues of approach, which are still called wings. Each wings has a wing commander and is divided into three zones or lines. The lines are front, support, and reserve. The function of the Wing Commander is to control order of the Brigades moving them as need back and forth between the lines and moving them to other wings. Each side has an Army Commander that can influence the Wings and speed up the commitment or transfer of brigade within or between wings.

To facilitate this command activity, there is a Command Display divided by wing and line where the Army and Wing Commanders perform their functions, with each brigade has a marker. On the game map are the infantry, cavalry, artillery units where movement and combat occurs. The Command Display (17 inches x 11 inches) significantly reduces map clutter helping the flow of play.

David Fox: Ben Hull’s answer works for both of us. I will add that the changes to the Musket & Pike system were made to model the effects of the very rapid technical upgrade from Matchlock Muskets and Pikes to Flintlock Muskets and Socket Bayonets by the armies of Western Europe circa 1700, and the increase in the size of standing professional, national armies in the late 1600’s.

4-How the different factions work?

The opposing armies in Banish All Their Fears had very similar organizations. The rapidly growing centralization of power in France, The United Provinces, and England created large standing national armies. These were structured and equipped with very similar units and equipment. The rapid adaption of the bayonet and flintlock musket increased the firepower and staying power of infantry. The battles were decided by the skills of the generals. The ability of the Army Commander (the player) to shift and commit brigades faster than his opponent is the key to victory.

David Fox: The two battles cover two different wars:

Blenheim, The War of the Spanish Succession. An allied faction of England, the United Provinces (modern Netherlands), Austria, Denmark and a number of German states—Hanover, Hesse-Kessel, Prussia, Wurttemberg—versus France as the major power with Bavarian and other smaller allied contingents.

Neerwinden, The War of the League of Augsburg, also known as War of the Grand Alliance or The Nine Years War. An allied faction of England, the United Provinces (modern Netherlands), Denmark, Spain, and a number of German states— Bavaria, Brandenburg (soon to become Prussia), Hanover-- versus France.

5-Scenarios and/or length of the game?

Our design goals were to fit a battle on a single map and be playable in a single session. This makes the ground scale around 200m per hex. A full battle contested to the end can take several hours, so it tends to be in the 4-5 hours to play out a battle. Keep in mind we are concentrating on the large battles where the armies had 50-70 thousand men per side. The Banish All Their Fears box comes with two battles: Neerwinden 1693 and Blenheim 1704. Given the large number of units per battle, we are targeting two battles per box in the series. Volume 2 is tentatively named “Over the Hills and Far Away” will have Steenkirk 1692 and Ramillies 1706 and the design work is complete. We have started work on Volume 3 tentatively title “The Devil Must Have Brought Them” with Oudenarde 1708 and Malplaquet 1709

6-Do you have another game/project in mind?

In addition to the Bayonet & Musket Series just described the Musket & Pike Dual Pack with updated Volume 1 and 2 of that series is off to the printers. We are looking forward to doing another dual pack with Volumes 3 and 4 as they are also out of print. Fields of Fire Bulge Expansion will be off to the printer in the next few days, and I am working on several expansions for that system. We have other designers as well working on additional content. As you may have noticed, I like to design a series so that a single set of rules can cover multiple games. This allows for players to learn once and play additional games and allows me to concentrate on the history. The historical research is where I find much of my enjoyment in the design process.

David Fox: Volume 2, tentatively titled OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY, has been heavily playtested. It will cover the battles of Ramillies and Steenkirk.