By Fire and Sword Two Player Starter is a 15mm scale wargame from Wargamer Game Studios covering the Deluge, a period in the mid 17th century that saw the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth take on a large proportion of Europe, Scandinavia and the Ottoman Empire for a myriad of the usual reasons. The 17th century European theatre in most wargamers’ eyes seems to begin and end with the English Civil War or the 30 Years War and this subsequent series of conflicts is often overlooked. The interesting and exciting thing about gaming this era is that you get the dour dressed pike and shotte blocks of the West as well as the flamboyance of forces such as the Ottoman and the Tartars, everything from horse archers to the famous Winged Hussars of Poland.
By Fire and Sword has been around for just over 12 years and in 2023 the company brought a second edition to Kickstarter. I bought into the game on release in 2012 but despite my excitement for the theatre and period (which baffled a Polish colleague who caught me reading ‘With Fire and Sword,’ the famous novel by beloved Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, a staple of any Polish school kids education apparently), I slid off the ruleset as I found the rules a little too cumbersome and complex for my tastes. I parked them and mothballed the miniatures in the back of my very deep wargaming cupboard, but was recently intrigued to hear second edition was a significant rewrite, promising faster, clearer game play with element basing, and a simplified rule system that still retained the character of the period.
The Kickstarter funded a new two player starter box which I will be unboxing and reviewing in this article. The starter set includes everything you need to play a two-player ‘skirmish’ level game of By Fire and Sword. In By Fire and Sword there are two levels of play: Skirmish, which sees around 4 to 6 units a side on a 4ft by 4ft table, and Task Force Level (on a good old 6 by 4) which is 8 or 9 units, The starter box provides two Skirmish level forces and a game at this level will take around an hour.
During this era lots of combat was carried out by cavalry forces and the starter box reflects this. The two forces, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottomans comprise various flavours of cavalry from the Gönüllülight horse archers of the Ottomans to the heavier mailed Polish Pancerni. While not large forces, being for the skirmish level of the game, there’s still a lot of models in the box, with around 90 well detailed plastic miniatures.
We’ve recently run an article about starting historical wargaming and the industry move towards ease of access to the hobby with starter style sets that would be more appealing to someone coming from the Games Workshop ecosystem. The irony is not lost on me that for such an obscure conflict (please don’t all write in dear Polish readers, I meant to this ignorant Brit) the By Fire and Sword Two Player Starter Set is one of the nicest starter boxes I’ve seen for a historical wargame. Absolutely everything is included to get two players up and running and playing a full skirmish level of the game.
Opening the slip case adorned with beautiful artwork depicting the charge of Winged Hussars, there is an inner box with two smaller separate boxes, a rulebook, a getting started introduction guide (more on this later) , a sheet of thick card counters and movement tools. Each small box has the national flag of the force on the front and within it are the minis, dice, movement trays, unit stat cards, sheets of flags, flag poles/spears and bases.
The minis themselves are curious in that the cavalry are two part – the horse and rider being separate, which, while not unusual in itself, the horses appear to be cast in a hard plastic similar to a Games Workshop miniature, while the riders are a softer thermoplastic akin to the sort of models you get in board games. However the detail is good on both materials and having painted the Polish force, paint up quickly and hold a good level of detail. I’ve now painted a lot of very big handlebar moustaches! There is quite a bit of flash on some of the riders which may be off putting to some, but the material is soft and it’s very easily dealt with by a sharp knife. The horses are fairly basic in detail but are sharply cast. Cavalry are not most peoples favourite to paint, so simple detail is no bad thing here. The bases and movement trays are the expected hard plastic and all fit together very well. There are also some beautifully detailed unit flags as well as banner poles to attach to the standard bearers’ hands with smaller copies of the banners you can stick to your unit cards if you wish to make it clearer what unit is which on the battlefield, which is a really nice touch.Â
The ‘Where to Start’ booklet does a concise and good job of explaining how to build the minis and which models go on which bases, including photos of painted examples as well as an overview of what each unit is, both historically, and how they play on the table. The booklet also includes a guide on how to set up your first game, and the two army lists included in the box. This set up and starter mission is really important because By Fire and Sword has taken an interesting approach to how its marketing its rule set.
In the starter box you will find the rulebook, a really well presented how to play guide. The second edition rules are much simpler than the first edition but are still on the slightly more complex end of the spectrum if you were coming to this fresh, but the diagrams and examples are nice and clear. What is not in the rulebook however is where it gets interesting, and explains the inclusion of a starter booklet. By Fire and Sword currently sell 4 softback books, all weighing in at a reasonable £20 or so. You have the main rule book, which is included in this starter box, the ten national army lists span two books and then the missions are in a separate ‘Playbook’. The included mission and set up rules in the ‘Where to Start’ booklet mirror the first mission in the ‘Playbook’, in which you can also find 15 other game types, covering both Skirmish and Task Force level as well as new rules for reconnaissance and vanguard mechanics .
For players interested in playing the larger Task Force level games there is also a Two Player Starter Set Upgrade box available which includes enough units and accessories to turn the starter set skirmish forces into full task Force armies. I think this is a really nice touch and makes it much easier for new players to buy into the system. New faction starter boxes are beginning to be released which copy the same format as this two player starter set, a skirmish level set and then a skirmish upgrade set for a full task Force list. A really good idea and I’m already eyeing some Swedes.Â
I’m looking forward to getting this to the table and will write a follow up article on how the game plays. It has some incredibly interesting mechanics, some that I’ve not really seen before and some that feel reassuringly familiar. I’m particularly struck by how well army composition and its impact on mission selection is handled. It’s very clever and adds a novel twist to army building. The minis, despite being all cavalry, were very fun and quick to paint, and I’m really pleased how they turned out. The paper banners were easy to use and really set the units off nicely, the whole element basing gives an opportunity for creative basing. I somehow managed to send the head of a dragoon sailing across the room to never be found again meaning I had a gap on the base, so a quick visit to my STL library and I found a little medieval cart to resize to 15mm and fill the space.
As a starter set, Wargamer Games Studio have smashed it out of the park. You get absolutely everything needed to play a two player game, the models are lovely, the whole game drips with theme and the inclusion of unit trays and unit cards gives a premium feel to the game. The box is groaning with content and it’s a fantastic introduction to a fascinating period of history that’s absolutely ripe with opportunity for gaming.
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