Partizan - Die Kriegskunst

"Die Kriegskunst is an informative and highly attractive set of rules that combines a realistic tactical level treatment with well-developed command rules. It should prove of great value to anyone interested in Seven Years Wargaming."

Brent Nosworthy, author of The Anatomy of Victory

Die Kriegskunst (“The Art of War”) owes its origins to the “Napoleonic” rules set General de Brigade, written by Dave Brown, which in turn was a development of Peter Gilder’s old-school In the Grand Manner. The premise of General de Brigade was that players command a division, and with a figure ratio of 1 figure equals 20 men then the battalions on the tabletop were larger than ones you’d normally find on the wargames table. In fact they represent the antithesis of the trend of the past decade or so, where brigades could be represented by a solitary stand or two of figures! Consequently you didn’t use General de Brigade to refight Waterloo in its entirety (although it has been done), but you used them to fight a smaller battle, where the visual appeal of large battalions could come to the fore. In short, one of the great attractions of these rules lies in their aesthetic qualities – games usually look great!

In Die Kriegskunst we made the decision to alter the figure ratio, which is now 1:40 rather than 1:20. the main reason for this was that it offered a compromise – units still looked good, with an average of 20 figures per battalion, while it also allowed us to attempt refights of historical battles in their entirety, or at least by concentrating on the centre of the action. After all, battles were often smaller than later “Napoleonic” engagements, so this allows you to put yourself in the shoes of Frederick the Great, or Loudon, Daun and Saltykov. However, those die-hard old-school wargamers out there will be pleased to learn that Die Kriegskunst works equally well at the old 1:20 figure ratio, so you can still field your big battalions if you really want to!