Close Fire & European Order: XVII – The Field of Battle - 1600-1700

Close Fire & European Order are wargames rules originally designed to re-create battles of the early 18th C in Europe with miniature figures. Many of the rule mechanisms have been developed from Andy Callan’s American War of Independence rules- Loose Files and American Scramble, which were originally published in Wargames Illustrated no. 1.
This version is an adaptation which takes the rules back in time to the era of ‘pike and shot.’ The main focus of the 17th Century adaptation is the time of the Thirty Years War and the English Civil Wars (1620-1660). It also covers the early wars of Louis XIV of France up to the end of the 1600s.

The historical period covered by Close Fire XVII is one of transition from medieval to early-modern warfare marked by the increasing ascendancy of infantry and the transition from pike to shot.

At the heart of the rule mechanisms is the concept of Disorder Points (DPs). These were invented by Andy Callan for his American War of Independence rules and have proven to be an enduring and elegant way of reflecting the variable state of morale and combat effectiveness. A unit will incur DPs for manoeuvre, receiving fire, close combat and morale, and they will loose them by halting to redress ranks or through the intervention of a leader. The system is easy to use, does not require any paper work and dispenses with the need for lots of morale checks.

—extracted description from the rules introduction