War is Hell. Goes without saying. The wars that raged up to the dawn of the modern age were particularly brutal though. Up close and personal brutal. We call it Getting Medieval for a reason.
Archaeologists give us a butcher’s list of injuries inflicted in the battlefield melees of the period, but the conflicts of the time weren’t always fought on the battle field. When we picture historical warfare, from the Bronze Age to the Napoleonic, we picture serried ranks of infantry stretching for miles across hills and plains, pounding cavalry charges, barrages of devastating artillery.
We don’t usually picture city fights. But they happened – at Mansurah in 1250 CE, at Carthage in 146 BCE; in Constantinople in 1453 and Acre in 1799 – armies found themselves fighting desperate, brutal melees in tight streets and narrow alleyways, where swords had no room to swing but were driven forward by massed bodies and sheer panic to sink deep into their targets. Where heavy, crushing weapons – maces and hammers and staves – were swung overhead, again and again to pummel screaming soldiers into the filthy mud. Where flights of arrows and crossbow bolts would fill the tight confines between buildings and there was simply nowhere to hide.
Where courage and rage and luck proved to be the thin line between life and death.
“Streets of Blood and Fire” is a tactical skirmish wargame designed to evoke the atmosphere and feel of such battles, the desperate scramble of close urban combat in a period where such conflicts are often overlooked. These rules don’t cover any one, specific period; they can be used to simulate brutal street-to-street fighting from the dawn of history to the dawn of the modern world. It’s a versatile game, a tactical game and as fast moving as a sword in the shadows.
So gather your forces and prepare to face your opponent. The enemy have breached the walls. Will you hold the city? Sack the city? Or just burn it all down?
Any Historical Period – from Bronze Age to Napoleonic
Small Forces – 20 to 30 miniatures a side
2 Foot Play Area and D6 Resolution
Fast, simple rules with real tactical depth
Unit Progression, Short Campaign Rules & 3 Variant Scenarios Included.
