Grosstaktik
| File:Cover of Grosstaktik 1972.png The cover lacking the Guidon Games imprint | |
| Designer(s) | Leon Tucker |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Guidon Games |
| Publication date | 1972 |
| Genre(s) | Pre-Napoleonic |
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Grosstaktik is a set of war game rules published by Guidon Games in 1972 for simulating eighteenth-century battles. The game was the first published by Guidon after its move from the American Midwest to Maine, and in the disorganization following the move, the cover was printed without the publisher's imprint.
Description
Grosstaktik is designed to simulate battles during the times of the War of the League of Augsburg, the War of Spanish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the War of American Independence. The booklet includes short descriptions of each of these conflicts.[1]
The rules are used in wargames that use metal or plastic military miniatures on a large flat surface or sandbox, and govern weapon fire and melee. The results of weapon fire are decided by casting a six-sided die and adding modifiers to account for factors such as distance. The types of weapon fire, in increasing order of deadliness, are carbines, solid shot batteries, muskets, rifles, and grape shot batteries.[1]
When enemy troops encounter each other, they cannot fire and must engage in melee. Each side rolls a six-sided die, multiplies the result by the number of units in action, and then adds modifiers to account for the quality and morale of the troops. The ratio of the higher and the lower number is then computed, and this ratio determines whether the side with the lower number stands fast, retires, is routed, or surrenders. Surrendering is the best result from the point of view of the victor, and occurs when the ratio is 2.5 to 1 or higher.[1]
Publication history
In 1970, Don Lowry and his wife Julie opened Lowry Hobbies in Belleville, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis. It started a mail-order business for wargamers and wargame modelers, but after some success selling Fast Rules, a set of WWII tank combat rules designed by Leon Tucker, Mike Reese and Gary Gygax of the LGTSA, Don Lowry founded Guidon Games.[2] In November of 1972, Don and Julie moved the business to Belfast, Maine.[2] The first game Lowry published from his new location was another set of rules by Leon Tucker, Grosstaktik. So disorganized was the new business that Lowry neglected to put a "Guidon Games" imprint on the product.[2]
Some time after Guidon Games went out of business in 1973, TSR acquired the company's remaindered stock, including unsold copies of Grosstaktik, and offered them for sale.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Grosstaktik (1972)". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Freeman, Jon (2012). Playing at the World. San Diego: Unreason Press. ISBN 978-0615642048. Search this book on
External links
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