With Fire and Sword (wargame)

Freelance game designer Peter Hollinger, who had a particular interest in the Thirty Years' War, created With Fire and Sword, which was then published by Simulations Canada in 1983 with a print run of 1000 copies.

[1] In Issue 27 of The Wargamer, Christoper Vorder Bruegge found many problems with this game, starting with the map, which he felt contained a lot of errors and distortions due to the hex grid.

Bruegge liked the movement system, calling it "the best feature of the game", but had issues with the rules for unpaid troops, and for leader casualties during combat.

Bruegge concluded on a negative note, saying, "The game is not very historical, has an inadequate counter mix, is played on a grotesque map, and offers limited strategic possibilities ...

It plays rather quickly (only winter attrition and Victory Point calculations are tedious) and it gives a good idea of the three phases of the war.